How to Send Help Scout Ticket Assignments to Slack with Zapier

zapier.com > Dashboard > Create Zap

Create a new Zap and name it

Log in to zapier.com and click the orange 'Create Zap' button in the left sidebar. Give the Zap a name at the top — something like 'Help Scout Assignment → Slack DM' so it's easy to find later. You'll land on the trigger setup screen, which shows a search bar for apps. Naming it now saves confusion when you have multiple Help Scout Zaps running.

1. 1Click 'Create Zap' in the left sidebar
2. 2Click the untitled Zap name at the top and type a descriptive name
3. 3Click the 'Trigger' step box to begin app selection

Zap Editor > Trigger > App & Event

Select Help Scout as the trigger app

In the trigger search bar, type 'Help Scout' and select it from the dropdown. You'll see a list of available triggers on the right panel. Select 'Conversation Assigned' as the trigger event — this fires whenever a conversation is assigned or reassigned to any agent. Do not choose 'New Conversation' — that triggers on creation, not assignment.

1. 1Type 'Help Scout' in the 'Search for apps' field
2. 2Click 'Help Scout' in the results list
3. 3Click the 'Trigger Event' dropdown
4. 4Select 'Conversation Assigned'
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Trigger > Account

Connect your Help Scout account

Click 'Sign in to Help Scout' and a popup window will appear asking you to authorize Zapier. Log in with your Help Scout credentials if prompted, then click 'Allow'. You need to be a Help Scout Admin to grant this OAuth access — Manager-level accounts may not have permission to connect third-party apps. Once authorized, select the connected account from the dropdown and click Continue.

1. 1Click 'Sign in to Help Scout'
2. 2Log in to Help Scout in the popup window
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Zapier access
4. 4Select your authorized account from the dropdown
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Trigger > Configure

Configure the trigger mailbox

Zapier will show a 'Mailbox' field where you can optionally filter by a specific Help Scout mailbox. If your team uses multiple mailboxes (e.g., support@, billing@), select the relevant one here. Leave it blank to fire on assignments across all mailboxes. Click 'Continue' when done, then click 'Test trigger' to pull a real sample assignment.

1. 1Click the 'Mailbox' dropdown
2. 2Select a specific mailbox or leave blank for all mailboxes
3. 3Click 'Continue'
4. 4Click 'Test trigger' to load sample data

Zap Editor > Action > App & Event

Add a Slack action step

Click the '+' button below the trigger step to add an action. Search for 'Slack' and select it. For the action event, choose 'Send Direct Message' to notify the specific assignee, or 'Send Channel Message' if you want all assignments posted to a shared support channel. Direct message is usually better for accountability — the assigned agent gets a personal ping, not just a channel post they might miss.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the trigger step
2. 2Type 'Slack' in the search bar
3. 3Click 'Slack' in the results
4. 4Click the 'Action Event' dropdown
5. 5Select 'Send Direct Message' or 'Send Channel Message'
6. 6Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Action > Account

Connect your Slack workspace

Click 'Sign in to Slack' and authorize Zapier in the popup. You'll need to be a Slack workspace member with permission to send messages — standard member access is enough here, you don't need admin rights. Select the workspace from the dropdown, click Allow, and confirm the connected account appears in the Zapier panel.

1. 1Click 'Sign in to Slack'
2. 2Select your workspace in the Slack authorization popup
3. 3Click 'Allow'
4. 4Select the authorized Slack account in the dropdown
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Action > Configure

Map the recipient and message fields

In the 'To Username' field, map the Help Scout trigger field 'Assignee Email' — Slack will look up the user by email and send the DM to that person. In the 'Message Text' field, build your notification using the dynamic fields from the trigger. Include the ticket subject, customer name, and the conversation URL so the agent has everything they need without opening Help Scout. Keep the message under 280 characters so it renders cleanly in Slack's notification preview.

1. 1Click the 'To Username' field and select 'Assignee Email' from the Help Scout trigger data
2. 2Click the 'Message Text' field
3. 3Type your message and insert dynamic fields: Subject, Customer Name, Conversation URL
4. 4Optionally set 'Send as a Bot' to Yes and give the bot a name like 'Help Scout'
5. 5Click 'Continue'

📬 New entry: {{1.name}}
Email: {{1.email}}
Details: {{1.description}}

Zap Editor > + (between steps) > Filter by Zapier

Add a Filter step to avoid re-assignment noise (optional but recommended)

Click '+' between the trigger and action steps to insert a Filter. Set the filter to 'Only continue if Assignee Email is not empty.' This prevents the Zap from firing when a ticket is unassigned (which Help Scout also logs as an assignment event with a blank assignee). Without this filter, you'll get Slack errors every time someone removes an assignee from a ticket.

1. 1Click the '+' icon between the trigger and action steps
2. 2Select 'Filter by Zapier'
3. 3Set Field to 'Assignee Email'
4. 4Set Condition to 'Exists' or '(Text) is not exactly' with a blank value
5. 5Click 'Continue'

Zap Editor > Action > Test

Test the full Zap

Click 'Test action' on the Slack step. Zapier will send a real Slack DM to the assignee email from your sample data — make sure that email belongs to a real Slack user in your workspace before testing, or the message will fail. Check Slack to confirm the message arrived with the correct subject, customer name, and link. If the test succeeds, you'll see a green 'Test was successful' banner in Zapier.

1. 1Click 'Test action'
2. 2Open Slack and check the DMs for the test user
3. 3Confirm the message text, link, and sender name look correct
4. 4Return to Zapier and verify the green success banner

Zap Editor > Publish Zap > Toggle On

Turn the Zap on

Click 'Publish Zap' in the top right corner. Toggle the Zap to 'On' if it isn't already. Zapier will now poll Help Scout every 1–15 minutes (every 1–2 minutes on paid plans, up to 15 minutes on free) for new assignment events. The Zap will run automatically from this point — no further action needed.

1. 1Click 'Publish Zap' in the top right
2. 2Confirm the toggle is set to 'On' (shown in blue)
3. 3Note the polling interval shown on the Zap dashboard

This Code by Zapier step runs between the Help Scout trigger and the Slack action. It formats a clean, consistent message string and flags tickets that are older than 2 hours at the time of assignment — so agents know immediately if they've inherited a stale ticket. Paste this into a 'Code by Zapier' step (Run JavaScript) and map the output 'message' field into your Slack message text field instead of building it manually in the Slack step.

const subject = inputData.subject || 'No subject';
const customerName = inputData.customer_name || 'Unknown customer';
const customerEmail = inputData.customer_email || '';

const subject = inputData.subject || 'No subject';
const customerName = inputData.customer_name || 'Unknown customer';
const customerEmail = inputData.customer_email || '';
const conversationUrl = inputData.conversation_url || '';
const assigneeName = inputData.assignee_name || 'You';
const createdAt = inputData.created_at ? new Date(inputData.created_at) : null;

let ageWarning = '';
if (createdAt) {
  const ageMs = Date.now() - createdAt.getTime();
  const ageHours = ageMs / (1000 * 60 * 60);
  if (ageHours > 2) {
    const ageDisplay = ageHours >= 24
      ? `${Math.floor(ageHours / 24)}d ${Math.floor(ageHours % 24)}h`
      : `${Math.floor(ageHours)}h ${Math.floor((ageHours % 1) * 60)}m`;
    ageWarning = ` ⚠️ This ticket is ${ageDisplay} old.`;
  }
}

const customerLine = customerEmail
  ? `${customerName} (${customerEmail})`
  : customerName;

const message = `📬 New ticket assigned to you, ${assigneeName}: *${subject}* — from ${customerLine}.${ageWarning}\nOpen it here: ${conversationUrl}`;

output = [{ message }];