Will this catch every status change, or only the ones I configure in the filter?

Only the ones in your router filters. If you set up branches for 'closed' and 'active' only, 'pending' and 'assigned' changes will pass through the router unmatched and be silently dropped. Add a fallback branch with no filter condition if you want to catch everything else and log it.

Does the free Make plan support this workflow?

Not for production. The free tier runs scenarios on a 15-minute schedule, which means ticket changes sit unnoticed for up to 15 minutes. Webhook-based instant triggering requires the Core plan ($9/month). For a team that needs real-time notifications, that's a necessary cost.

Can I send different messages to different Slack channels based on which Help Scout mailbox the ticket is in?

Yes. Add a filter condition to each router branch that checks both the ticket status AND the mailbox ID. A 'closed + mailbox 12345' branch posts to #support-billing while 'closed + mailbox 67890' posts to #support-technical. Make the mailbox IDs visible in Help Scout under Settings > Mailboxes.

What happens if Help Scout sends the same webhook event twice?

Make will process it twice and post a duplicate Slack message. Help Scout occasionally retries webhooks if it doesn't receive a 200 response fast enough from Make. To mitigate this, ensure Make responds quickly (no heavy processing before the Slack post) and check Help Scout's webhook delivery logs under Your Apps to spot retries.

Beginner~12 min setupCommunication & SupportVerified April 2026

How to Send Help Scout Ticket Updates to Slack with Make

Fires a Slack message to your support channel the moment a Help Scout ticket is closed, reopened, or reassigned — no manual checking required.

Steps and UI details are based on platform versions at time of writing — check each platform for the latest interface.

Make

Also on:Zapier N8n Power-automate Pipedream

Best for

Support teams of 5–30 people who need the rest of the company to see ticket activity without logging into Help Scout.

Not ideal for

Teams already using Help Scout's native Slack app — that handles basic notifications without any automation platform.

Sync type

real-time

Use case type

notification

Real-World Example

💡

A 12-person SaaS company routes all inbound support to Help Scout but runs operations in Slack. Their #support channel was silent — engineers and account managers had no idea when a critical ticket was closed or escalated without manually checking Help Scout. After this automation, every status change posts to #support within 30 seconds, including the assignee name, customer email, and a direct link to the conversation.

What Will This Cost?

Drag the slider to your expected monthly volume.

Monthly workflow runs

/mo

505005K50K

Each platform counts differently — Zapier: 1 task per trigger. Make: 1 operation per module per record. n8n: 1 execution per run.

$30/mo if billed monthly

Pipedream

$29/mo

Basic plan

Prices shown for annual billing. Based on published pricing as of April 2026.

Estimated ROI

1000

min saved/mo

$583

labor value/mo

Free

no platform cost

Based on ~2 min manual effort per operation at $35/hr fully loaded labor cost.

Implementation

Skip the setup

Import this workflow directly into Make

Copy the pre-built Make blueprint and paste it straight into Make. All modules, filters, and field mappings are already configured — you just need to connect your accounts.

Before You Start

Make sure you have everything ready.

Help Scout account with admin access to authorize OAuth apps and manage webhooks

Slack workspace admin or a user with permission to add apps to channels

Make account — free tier works for low-volume testing, but you need at least the Core plan for instant/webhook triggers in production

Help Scout API access enabled — confirm under Help Scout > Your Profile > API Keys that the API is not disabled for your plan

The target Slack channel already created and the Make Slack app added to it before building the scenario

Field Mapping

Map these fields between your apps.

Field	API Name	Description
Required
Conversation Subject		The ticket subject line — the primary human-readable identifier in your Slack message
Conversation Status		The new status of the ticket ('closed', 'active', 'pending') — used by the router to pick the correct Slack message branch
Customer Email		The email address of the customer who submitted the ticket — tells the support team who the ticket belongs to
Conversation URL		The direct link to the Help Scout conversation — lets anyone reading the Slack message open the ticket in one click

6 optional fields▸ show

Customer Name		The first and last name of the customer — makes the Slack message more readable than showing only an email address
Assignee User ID		The internal Help Scout user ID of the agent assigned to the ticket — must be resolved to a name via a Get User lookup before displaying in Slack
Assignee Name (resolved)		The human-readable name of the assigned agent, fetched from Help Scout's Get User module using the Assignee User ID
Mailbox Name		Which Help Scout mailbox the ticket belongs to — useful if your team manages multiple inboxes and wants to distinguish them in Slack
Conversation Number		The human-readable ticket number (e.g., #4821) — useful to reference in Slack threads without opening Help Scout
Updated At Timestamp		When the status change occurred — formatted via Make's formatDate() and appended to the Slack message for audit context

Step-by-Step Setup

Scenarios > + Create a new scenario

Create a new scenario in Make

Log into Make at make.com and click the blue 'Create a new scenario' button on the Scenarios dashboard. You'll land on the visual canvas with a single empty circle in the middle — this is your trigger module. Click that circle to open the app search panel. Type 'Help Scout' and select it from the results.

1Click 'Create a new scenario' in the top right of the Scenarios dashboard
2Click the large empty circle on the canvas
3Type 'Help Scout' in the search field
4Select 'Help Scout' from the app list

✓ What you should see: A module picker panel opens on the right showing all available Help Scout triggers and actions.

⚠

Common mistake — Make has two Help Scout apps listed — one labeled 'Help Scout' and an older 'Help Scout (Legacy)'. Pick the standard 'Help Scout' one. The legacy version does not support webhook-based triggers.

Help Scout module > Triggers > Watch Conversations

Select the Watch Conversations trigger

In the Help Scout module picker, scroll to the Triggers section and select 'Watch Conversations'. This trigger fires via webhook whenever a conversation (ticket) changes state in Help Scout. You'll be prompted to choose or create a Help Scout connection before configuring the trigger settings.

1Scroll to the 'Triggers' section in the module panel
2Click 'Watch Conversations'
3Click 'Add' next to the Connection field to create a new connection

✓ What you should see: A connection dialog opens asking for your Help Scout API credentials.

Make

click +

search apps

Slack

Select the Watch Conversatio…

Slack

module added

Help Scout module > Connection > Add > Sign in with Help Scout

Connect your Help Scout account

Make uses OAuth2 to connect to Help Scout. Click 'Sign in with Help Scout' in the connection dialog — this opens a Help Scout authorization window in your browser. Log in with a Help Scout admin account and click 'Allow'. Once authorized, you'll be returned to Make and the connection will appear with your mailbox name.

1Click 'Sign in with Help Scout' in the connection dialog
2Log in to Help Scout in the popup window
3Click 'Allow' to grant Make access
4Confirm the connection name back in Make and click 'Save'

✓ What you should see: The Connection field shows your Help Scout account name with a green checkmark. The trigger configuration fields become active below it.

⚠

Common mistake — You must connect with an account that has full mailbox access. Restricted agents cannot authorize OAuth apps — the auth will succeed but the webhook will silently fail to receive events.

Make settings

Connection

Choose a connection…Add

click Add

Slack

Authorize Make

popup window

✓

Connected

green checkmark

Help Scout module > Watch Conversations > Status / Mailbox ID / Limit

Configure the trigger event filters

In the Watch Conversations trigger settings, set the 'Status' filter to watch for the events you care about. For most teams this means selecting 'closed', 'active' (reopened), and 'pending'. You can also scope the trigger to a specific mailbox using the Mailbox ID field — leave it blank to watch all mailboxes. Set 'Limit' to 1 since this is a real-time webhook, not a polling fetch.

1Click the 'Status' dropdown and select the statuses you want to watch
2Optionally enter a Mailbox ID to scope to one inbox
3Set 'Limit' to 1
4Click 'OK' to save the trigger configuration

✓ What you should see: The trigger module on the canvas shows 'Watch Conversations' with a lightning bolt icon indicating it is webhook-based.

⚠

Common mistake — The 'Status' filter here controls which conversation states Make listens for. If you leave it blank, Make receives ALL conversation events including tag changes and note additions — your Slack channel will get flooded.

Slack

trigger

filter

Condition

matches criteria?

yes — passes through

no — skipped

Help Scout

notified

Make canvas > Run once | Help Scout > Your Profile > Your Apps

Register the Make webhook in Help Scout

Make needs to register a webhook URL in your Help Scout account to receive real-time events. Click 'Run once' at the bottom of the Make canvas — Make will display a webhook URL and start listening. Copy that URL. Then go to Help Scout > Your Profile > Your Apps, or use the Help Scout API to POST the webhook URL to /v2/webhooks with the events you want.

1Click 'Run once' on the Make canvas to generate and display the webhook URL
2Copy the displayed webhook URL
3In Help Scout, navigate to Your Profile > Your Apps (or use the Help Scout API at /v2/webhooks)
4Paste the Make webhook URL and select the conversation events to subscribe to
5Save the webhook in Help Scout

✓ What you should see: Help Scout confirms the webhook is saved. Back in Make, the scenario is in 'Waiting' state — it will activate as soon as Help Scout sends the first event.

⚠

Common mistake — Help Scout's UI only exposes basic webhook management. For fine-grained event subscriptions (e.g., only 'convo.status' events), you'll need to POST directly to the Help Scout API with a secret key. Make's built-in OAuth token does not automatically register webhooks — this is a manual step.

Canvas > trigger module > wrench icon > Add a router

Add a Router to handle different status types

Click the small wrench icon on the trigger module's output, then click 'Add a router'. A Router splits the flow so you can send different Slack messages for 'closed', 'reopened', and 'assigned' events rather than one generic message. Each branch of the router handles one status type. This keeps your Slack messages readable and context-specific.

1Hover over the right edge of the Help Scout trigger module
2Click the wrench/tool icon that appears
3Select 'Add a router'
4You will see the flow split into multiple branches on the canvas

✓ What you should see: A Router module appears on the canvas with three empty branches extending to the right.

Router > branch dotted line > Filter editor

Set filter conditions on each router branch

Click the dotted line on the first router branch to open the Filter editor. Set the condition to: 'Status' (from Help Scout output) 'Equal to' 'closed'. Repeat for the second branch with 'active' (which means reopened in Help Scout's API) and the third with 'assigned'. Make evaluates these filters top-to-bottom — only the first matching branch runs.

1Click the dotted line connecting the Router to the first empty module slot
2In the Filter panel, click '+ Add AND rule'
3Set the field to the Help Scout 'Status' variable from the trigger output
4Set the operator to 'Equal to' and the value to 'closed'
5Repeat for each branch with 'active' and 'assigned'

✓ What you should see: Each router branch shows a label with its filter condition (e.g., 'Status = closed') on the connecting line.

⚠

Common mistake — Help Scout's API returns the status 'active' for conversations that are reopened — not 'open' or 'reopened'. If you type 'reopened' in the filter, the branch will never fire.

Router branch > + > Slack > Create a Message

Add a Slack module to each router branch

Click the empty circle at the end of the first router branch and search for 'Slack'. Select 'Create a Message'. Connect your Slack workspace using OAuth when prompted. In the Channel field, type your support channel name (e.g., #support). You'll configure the message text in the next step. Repeat this for each router branch — closed, reopened, and assigned.

1Click the empty circle at the end of the first router branch
2Search for and select 'Slack'
3Choose 'Create a Message'
4Click 'Add' next to Connection and authorize Slack via OAuth
5Enter your channel name in the 'Channel' field (e.g., #support)

✓ What you should see: Three Slack 'Create a Message' modules appear on the canvas, one at the end of each router branch, each showing your Slack workspace connection.

⚠

Common mistake — You must add the Make Slack app to the target channel in Slack before messages will post. Go to the channel in Slack, click the channel name, select 'Integrations', and add Make. If you skip this, Make will return a 'channel_not_found' error even if the channel name is correct.

Slack module > Text field > variable picker

Write the Slack message text for each branch

Click into the first Slack module (the 'closed' branch). In the 'Text' field, use Make's variable picker to build a dynamic message. Click the variable icon to insert Help Scout fields directly. Build a message like: ':white_check_mark: Ticket closed — *{{subject}}* | Customer: {{customerEmail}} | Assigned to: {{assigneeName}} | <{{url}}|View in Help Scout>'. Repeat with different emoji and wording for the 'reopened' and 'assigned' branches.

1Click into the 'Text' field of the Slack module
2Type your static message prefix (e.g., ':white_check_mark: Ticket closed —')
3Click the variable picker icon and select 'Subject' from the Help Scout trigger output
4Continue building the message with Customer Email, Assignee Name, and the conversation URL
5Use Slack mrkdwn formatting: *bold*, <url|link text>

✓ What you should see: The Text field shows a mix of static text and orange-highlighted variable tokens from Help Scout. The preview at the bottom shows what the message will look like.

⚠

Common mistake — Map fields using the variable picker — don't type field names manually. Hand-typed variable names often have invisible spacing errors that produce blank output.

Message template

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

Make canvas > Run once | Help Scout > any conversation > Close

Test the scenario end-to-end

Click 'Run once' in Make to put the scenario in listening mode. Go to Help Scout and close a real or test conversation. Within 10–30 seconds, Make should receive the webhook payload and the scenario execution should appear on the canvas with green checkmarks on each module. Check your Slack channel to confirm the message posted with the correct ticket details.

1Click 'Run once' on the Make canvas
2Switch to Help Scout and open any conversation
3Change its status (close it, reopen it, or reassign it)
4Return to Make — the execution bubble should appear on the trigger module within 30 seconds
5Check the Slack channel for the posted message

✓ What you should see: Each module on the canvas shows a green bubble with '1' indicating it processed one record. Your Slack channel shows the formatted ticket status message with the correct subject, customer email, and link.

Make

▶ Run once

executed

✓

Slack

✓

Help Scout

🔔 notification

received

Make canvas > toggle switch (bottom left)

Activate the scenario

Once the test passes, click the toggle switch at the bottom left of the canvas to turn the scenario ON. The toggle turns blue and the scenario status changes to 'Active'. Make will now process every incoming Help Scout webhook in real time without you needing to click 'Run once' again. Set the scenario scheduling to 'Immediately' to ensure it doesn't queue.

1Click the toggle switch at the bottom left of the canvas
2Confirm the scenario status changes to 'Active' (blue toggle)
3Click 'Save' if prompted
4Verify the scenario appears as 'Active' on your Scenarios dashboard

✓ What you should see: The scenario dashboard shows the scenario with a blue 'Active' badge. The 'Last run' timestamp will update each time Help Scout sends a webhook.

Going live

Production Checklist

Before you turn this on for real, confirm each item.

Register the Make webhook URL in Help Scout under Your Apps or via POST /v2/webhooks — the scenario will not receive events without this

Applies when: webhook

Verify the Make Slack app is added as an integration to every channel you plan to post to

Test all three status branches (closed, active/reopened, assigned) individually before going live — not just one

Add a Help Scout 'Get User' lookup module to resolve assignee IDs to names — raw IDs in Slack messages will confuse your team

Wrap subject and body fields in decodeHTML() in the Slack Text field to prevent & and " from appearing in messages

Set Make scenario error handling to 'Send email alert' under Scenario Settings > Error handling so you know if the webhook pipeline breaks

Applies when: webhook

Confirm your Make plan includes instant/webhook triggers — the free Flex plan restricts scenarios to 15-minute polling intervals

Applies when: webhook

Troubleshooting

Common errors and how to fix them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about this workflow.

Analysis

VerdictWhy Make for this workflow

Use Make for this if your team wants conditional logic in the notification — different messages for different status types, different channels for different mailboxes, or assignee name lookups before posting. Make's visual Router module handles branching in under 5 minutes. If you just need a single generic message every time any ticket changes, Help Scout's native Slack integration does that for free without Make at all. Don't pay for Make to replicate what Help Scout already ships.

Cost

The math here is simple. Each Help Scout webhook event triggers one Make scenario execution. One execution uses 2–3 operations: one for the trigger, one for the Slack post, and one for the Get User lookup if you include it. At 200 ticket status changes per month, that's 400–600 operations. Make's Core plan includes 10,000 operations/month for $9. You'll stay well inside that limit unless you're running a high-volume support operation (2,000+ changes/month). Zapier would charge $19.99/month for the same volume on the Professional plan. Make is $10.99 cheaper per month for this specific workflow.

Tradeoffs

Zapier's Slack + Help Scout integration has a pre-built Zap template that takes 3 minutes to configure — faster than Make if you don't need branching logic. n8n gives you a JavaScript function node where you can write arbitrary message formatting in code, which is genuinely better for complex HTML-to-Slack markdown conversion. Power Automate has no native Help Scout connector, so you'd need a custom HTTP action to hit Help Scout's API manually — that's 30 extra minutes of setup for no benefit. Pipedream lets you write the entire workflow in Node.js with full access to both APIs, which is overkill for this use case but powerful if you're already running other Pipedream workflows. Make is still right here for teams that want visual branching without writing code and don't mind spending 20 minutes on setup.

Three things you'll hit after setup. First, Help Scout's webhook payload does not include the assignee's name — only their numeric user ID. You will not realize this until your Slack messages say 'Assigned to: 88423' instead of a real name. Add a Get User module immediately. Second, Help Scout retries webhooks up to 3 times if Make takes more than 10 seconds to respond. If you add a slow API call in the middle of your scenario, you'll start seeing duplicate Slack messages. Keep the scenario lean. Third, Make's OAuth token for Help Scout silently expires after extended inactivity or a password change — the scenario will stop firing with no alert unless you've configured error notifications. Check your Make Connections page monthly.

Ideas for what to build next

→
Add an error notification branch — Add a Make error handler to the scenario that posts to a private #make-alerts Slack channel if any module fails. This catches broken webhook registrations or expired Help Scout tokens before your team notices missing notifications.
→
Route high-priority tickets to a separate channel — Add a second router condition that checks the Help Scout conversation tags or subject keywords. If a ticket is tagged 'urgent', post to #support-critical instead of #support — so on-call engineers see it immediately without noise from routine closures.
→
Build a daily digest instead of per-event messages — Create a separate scheduled Make scenario that runs every morning at 9am, fetches all conversations updated in the last 24 hours via Help Scout's List Conversations endpoint, and posts a single formatted summary to Slack — useful for leadership who want volume visibility without real-time pings.