A practical guide to using Intercom automation to route by plan tier and region

When you first start out, managing customer support feels manageable. But as you grow, the inbox can quickly turn into a chaotic free-for-all. Suddenly, you’ve got free-trial users from Australia mixed in with enterprise clients from New York, and everyone expects a fast reply. A simple "first in, first out" queue just doesn't cut it anymore.

Your high-value customers need to be a priority, and questions from different parts of the world might need to go to specialized teams. This isn’t about ignoring anyone; it’s about making sure the right person handles the right conversation at the right time. That’s where smart routing comes in, and it's essential for keeping your team efficient and your most important customers happy.

This guide will walk you through exactly how to set up Intercom automation to route by plan tier and region. We’ll cover the nitty-gritty of doing this with Intercom’s built-in tools. Then, we’ll look at a more powerful and flexible way to get this done, especially for teams who’d rather go live in minutes, not months.

What you'll need before you start

Alright, before we jump into the nuts and bolts of building this thing in Intercom, let's talk about what you need to have ready. Think of this as your prep work, and trust me, getting it right now will save you a ton of headaches later. This isn’t just a switch you can flip; it requires a bit of groundwork.

• An Intercom plan with Workflows: This is the big one. The Workflows feature, which is what we'll be using, is only available on Intercom's "Advanced" and "Expert" plans. If you're on the "Essential" plan, you'll need to upgrade. It’s a key thing to consider because these plans are priced per agent, so the cost can add up quickly as your team grows.

• Custom data attributes: For Intercom to route anything, it needs information. How does it know if a customer is on your Enterprise plan or your Free plan? You have to tell it. This is done using custom data attributes for things like "plan_tier" and "region". Getting this data into Intercom usually means getting a developer involved to send it over from your company’s database or CRM. So, factor in some developer time and coordination before you can even start.

• A clear routing strategy: This sounds obvious, but it's amazing how many teams skip this step. You need to sit down and map out your logic. Don't just wing it. Get specific about where every type of conversation should go. For example:

  • Enterprise plan customers in North America → Goes directly to the Tier 3 Support Team.

  • Pro plan customers in Europe → Routed to the Tier 2 Support Team.

  • Free plan users (from anywhere) → Sent to a Tier 1 queue or a self-service bot first.

Having this crystal clear from the get-go will make the actual building process in Intercom so much smoother. It’s your blueprint.

graph TD  

    A[Incoming Conversation] --> B{Check Plan Tier};  

    B --> C{Enterprise?};  

    C --> D{Check Region};  

    D --> E[North America] --> F[Assign to Tier 3];  

    D --> G[Europe] --> H[Assign to Tier 2];  

    B --> I{Pro?};  

    I --> J{Check Region};  

    J --> K[Europe] --> L[Assign to Tier 2];  

    B --> M[Free Plan] --> N[Assign to Tier 1/Bot];  

How to set up the automation: A step-by-step guide

Once you’ve got your plan, your data, and your strategy sorted, you’re ready to build. The process involves two main parts: first, creating the data fields so Intercom knows what to look for, and second, designing the visual workflow that applies your routing logic.

Step 1: Create your custom data attributes

First up, we need to teach Intercom what to look for. Think of it like giving it a cheat sheet for your customers.

1. Head over to Settings > Your Workspace Data > Conversation data.

2. Click "Create attribute". Let's make one for "plan_tier". The "List" type is your best bet here because you can define the exact plan names your company uses (like Free, Pro, Enterprise). This keeps your data clean and consistent.

3. Do the same thing again to create another attribute for "region". Again, a "List" is great for this, with values like "North America," "EMEA," and "APAC."

4. And here's the crucial part: These attributes are useless until they have data in them. As we mentioned earlier, you'll likely need a developer to connect your system to Intercom's API to continuously send this information for every user. Don't underestimate this step; it's often the biggest hurdle.

Step 2: Build the workflow

With your data attributes ready to go, it's time to build the brain of the operation.

1. Go to Fin AI Agent > Workflows in your Intercom dashboard and click "New workflow".

2. You'll want to build from scratch here. Now, choose a trigger. The most common and effective one is "Customer sends their first message." This lets you route the conversation right away, before an agent even sees it.

A screenshot of the Intercom automation workflow builder, which is used to route conversations by plan tier and region.

Step 3: Add branches with routing logic

This is where your strategy map comes to life. You’re essentially building a "choose your own adventure" for incoming support tickets.

1. In your new workflow, add a block and choose the "Add Branch" option.

2. Let's set up the first rule. Under the "If" condition, select "Conversation data" and find that "plan_tier" attribute you just created. Set the condition to match your first rule, for example, "plan_tier" is "Enterprise".

3. Now, we need to check the region for that Enterprise customer. You’ll add a nested branch inside this one. Add another rule, but this time check if "region" is "North America".

4. Once that path is defined ("Enterprise" + "North America"), you add the action. Tell Intercom to assign this conversation to your "Tier 3 Support" team.

5. Now, just rinse and repeat. You'll need to build out a separate branch or nested branch for every single combination of plan and region you defined in your strategy. It can start to look like a big family tree pretty quickly, but hang in there.

Step 4: Test and set your workflow live

After you’ve built out all the logic, it's time to make sure it actually works. Intercom’s testing is done live, which can feel a bit like walking a tightrope. The best way to do this without causing chaos is to initially set the workflow's audience to only include internal team members. You can create some test users and have your team send messages to see if they get routed correctly before you unleash it on all your customers.

Common challenges with Intercom's automation

While Intercom’s visual builder is nice to look at, teams often hit some serious roadblocks as their support needs get more sophisticated.

• The "workflow spaghetti" problem: A simple setup with two plans and two regions is manageable. But what happens when you add a third plan? Or you start supporting five more regions? Or you want to add another layer of logic based on what the customer is asking about? Your neat little workflow tree quickly turns into a tangled mess that’s almost impossible to understand, let alone update without breaking something.

• The stress of live testing: Intercom doesn't have a true sandbox or simulation mode. This means all your testing is done on your live account. It’s nerve-wracking. You can’t look back at last week's tickets and see how your new workflow would have routed them. You just have to push it live and hope for the best, which can lead to real customers getting sent to the wrong place if you made a mistake.

• It’s a manual process: Every time something changes in your business, a new pricing plan, a new support team, a new region you’re selling to, you have to go back into the workflow builder and manually update everything. It’s tedious, takes up valuable time, and is incredibly easy to mess up. Forget to update one little branch, and you've created a black hole for customer tickets.

• The logic is rigid: The "if-this-then-that" structure is straightforward, but it’s not very smart. It can't learn or adapt. If a customer on a Pro plan asks a question that sounds like it’s from an Enterprise user, the workflow doesn't care. It just follows the rules you set. There's no room for nuance without building an exponentially more complex web of rules.

For a lot of growing teams, these issues turn what should be a simple automation into a major time-sink that feels more like an engineering project than a support tool.

A simpler, more powerful way to manage routing automation

If you're reading about workflow spaghetti and live testing and thinking "there has to be a better way," you're right. Instead of forcing you to manually build every single rule from scratch, modern AI tools can plug into your existing helpdesk and offer smarter, more flexible automation.

This is where eesel AI comes in. It connects directly with Intercom (and other platforms like Zendesk or Freshdesk) to give you powerful automation without forcing you to migrate your whole team to a new tool.

Here’s how eesel AI tackles the headaches of native Intercom automation:

• Go live in minutes, not months: Seriously. With eesel AI, the setup is self-serve. You connect your Intercom account with a click, and the AI starts learning from your historical conversations right away. It figures out your routing patterns, common customer issues, and even your brand's tone of voice. You don’t need to wait weeks for a developer to sync your data attributes first.

• Test with confidence using simulations: This is a huge deal. Before you turn anything on, you can run eesel AI's AI Triage in simulation mode. It will process thousands of your past Intercom tickets and show you exactly how it would have routed and tagged them. You get a clear, accurate report on its performance and can tweak its logic in a completely safe environment. You'll know precisely how it will perform before a single customer ever interacts with it. No more guesswork or stressful live tests.

• Total control with a flexible engine: Don't want to automate everything from day one? No problem. eesel AI gives you the control to automate routing for certain types of tickets while leaving others for your team to handle manually. You can also set up custom actions, which means the AI can do a lot more than just assign a ticket. It can look up order details in Shopify, check a subscription in Stripe, or apply complex tags with near-perfect accuracy.

• Transparent and predictable pricing: Many platforms charge per agent or per "resolution," which can lead to some nasty surprise bills at the end of the month. eesel AI uses straightforward plans based on the volume of conversations you have. This makes your costs predictable, and you aren't penalized for being successful and having a busy support month.

Build an Intercom automation to route by plan tier and region that scales with you

Setting up Intercom automation to route by plan tier and region is a massive step up for any support team trying to work smarter, not harder. It ensures your most important customers get the white-glove service they deserve and that your team’s time is spent effectively.

While Intercom’s native Workflows give you a starting point, the manual setup, risky testing, and rigid logic can quickly become a bottleneck as you scale. The maintenance alone can turn into a part-time job.

For teams that need more power, flexibility, and the confidence that comes with safe testing, a tool like eesel AI is the way to go. By learning directly from your data and giving you a safe space to simulate changes, it lets you build smarter, more adaptable routing systems in a fraction of the time. You can finally stop wrestling with workflow diagrams and get back to what matters: delivering amazing customer support.