Intercom case management: The 2025 guide to conversational support

If you're searching for "Intercom case management," you've probably run into a slightly confusing reality: Intercom doesn't really do "cases." They're all about "conversations." This isn't just a clever marketing term; it’s a core philosophy that shapes the entire platform. For any team that’s used to a traditional ticketing system, it can feel like you're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

This guide is here to clear things up. We'll break down Intercom's unique, chat-first approach to customer support, look at where it really shines, and get honest about its limits when you're dealing with complex problems. Most importantly, we'll show you how to layer it with AI to get the best of both worlds: friendly chats for your customers and powerful automation for your team.

What is Intercom case management and why doesn't Intercom use 'cases'?

At its core, Intercom is a customer communication platform built to feel more like a text message thread than a clunky ticketing portal. The goal is to help you build relationships through personal, real-time conversations. This is a big departure from traditional help desks like Zendesk or Salesforce, which are built around a "case file" model where every issue gets a ticket number to be opened, tracked, and eventually closed.

So while you can absolutely use Intercom to solve customer problems, it requires a mental shift. You’re not managing formal cases; you’re managing ongoing dialogues. This approach is fantastic for creating a smooth, modern customer experience, but as we'll see, it can get a little messy when your support volume and issue complexity start to climb.

Intercom's approach to customer conversations

To get a feel for how support works in Intercom’s world, you need to know its main components. Each has its strengths, but they also have ceilings that growing teams often bump up against.

The omnichannel inbox: The heart of Intercom

Intercom's shared inbox is the heart of the operation. It pulls together chats from your website, app, email, and social media into a single, continuous conversation for each customer.

This is great because it gives agents the full backstory of every interaction, so customers never have to repeat themselves. It’s a seamless experience that gets rid of that all-too-common "let me get you up to speed" frustration.

The Intercom omnichannel inbox provides agents with full customer context for effective case management.

The catch? When you're juggling dozens of complicated, multi-step issues, that single thread can become a tangled mess. Without a formal "case status," it's tough to track long-running technical problems or issues that need input from different teams. The lack of structure can feel a bit chaotic.

Fin AI Chatbot: Your first line of defense

Fin is Intercom’s own AI chatbot. Its main job is to answer common questions by pulling information from your help center articles, deflecting simple queries before they ever reach a human.

On the bright side, Fin can give instant answers to repetitive questions 24/7. It's a solid way to handle basic stuff and free up your agents to focus on more important work.

Intercom's Fin AI Chatbot serves as the first line of defense in case management by answering common questions.

But its effectiveness is completely tied to how good your knowledge base is. If an article is out of date or a topic isn’t covered, Fin is stuck. It also has a hard time with nuanced questions or any query that requires checking real-time data from another system (like an order status from Shopify). This often forces an escalation to a human agent, which can create more work, not less.

Workflow automation and smart routing

Intercom has built-in automation features that let you create basic rules. For instance, you can route conversations to specific teams based on keywords in a message or data you have on a customer.

These tools are handy for initial triage and getting conversations to the right person. You can set up simple workflows to tag incoming chats or assign VIP customers to a senior support queue.

A look at Intercom's visual workflow builder used for smart routing in case management.

The limitation here is that the rules engine isn't built for complex, multi-step processes. You can't, for example, build a workflow that automatically checks a customer’s subscription details in Stripe, tags the ticket based on their plan, and then drafts a specific reply based on that info. This is the ceiling many teams hit, leaving them with a lot of manual work for anything beyond simple routing.

Where conversational support struggles with case management

Using a conversation-first tool for structured case management isn't impossible, but it comes with challenges that get bigger as your company grows.

When conversations aren't enough

For fast-growing companies, the cracks in a purely conversational model start to show pretty quickly. Without a structured system, it’s incredibly difficult to track key metrics like resolution times, spot operational bottlenecks, or manage tricky support cases that need to stay open for days or even weeks. This lack of formal structure is a huge headache for teams that need solid reporting and clear processes to scale effectively.

Bridging the gap with a dedicated AI layer

So, what's the solution? You don't have to ditch Intercom's fantastic user experience. Instead, you can boost it by plugging in an AI engine that brings the structure and deep automation of a case management system right into the chat interface.

This is what a platform like eesel AI is designed for. It connects directly to Intercom and learns from all your company knowledge, not just a single help center.

• Bring all your knowledge together. Unlike native chatbots that are stuck with public help articles, eesel AI trains on your past Intercom tickets, internal wikis in Confluence, Google Docs, and more. This gives it a much deeper understanding of your business, allowing it to provide far more accurate and helpful answers.

• Go way beyond simple routing. Where Intercom's native workflows stop, an AI Agent from eesel is just getting started. It can perform custom actions like looking up order information in Shopify, updating ticket fields, and triaging issues with sophisticated logic. It can essentially manage the "case" from start to finish, handling tasks that would otherwise require an agent to step in.

• Test it all out with confidence. One of the biggest fears of bringing in automation is the risk of it going haywire. With eesel AI, you can run simulations on thousands of your past Intercom conversations to see exactly how the AI would have performed. This lets you forecast resolution rates and cost savings before you ever turn it on for customers. It's a risk-free way to roll out automation that you can actually trust.

This diagram shows how a dedicated AI layer can bridge gaps in Intercom case management by connecting to multiple knowledge sources.

By adding this intelligent layer, you get a workflow that handles complex tasks without a hitch. A customer message can be automatically understood, have its order data looked up, get tagged correctly, and have a perfectly contextualized reply drafted for an agent, all before a human even lays eyes on it.

Intercom pricing

Let's be real, Intercom's pricing can be a bit tricky for teams trying to budget for growth. Their plans are based on seats, but other factors can make your bill jump around.

Here’s a breakdown of their support-focused plans:

Plan	Starting Price/Seat/Month	Key Features	Best For
Essential	$39	Shared Inbox, Basic Automation	Startups & small teams
Advanced	$99	Fin AI Chatbot, Custom Workflows	Growing businesses
Expert	$139	Advanced Security, Deep Analytics	Enterprises

It's important to know that pricing is also impacted by the number of "active people reached" and your AI usage, which can lead to some unpredictable monthly bills. This is a common point of frustration for scaling companies that need to know what their costs will be. For the latest details, you should always check Intercom's official pricing page.

In contrast, platforms like eesel AI offer more predictable pricing based on a set number of AI interactions, without any surprise per-resolution fees. You know exactly what you're paying for, which makes budgeting a whole lot easier.

Build a better Intercom case management system

Intercom is a phenomenal platform for building customer relationships through natural, friendly conversations. On its own, however, it’s not really a case management system. Its limits in deep automation, pulling from broad knowledge sources, and handling complex workflows can hold back support teams as they grow.

But you don’t have to switch platforms to solve these problems.

By integrating a smart AI layer, you can overcome these limitations completely. You get the best of both worlds: Intercom's world-class conversational experience for your customers, powered by the robust, backend automation of a true AI engine.

Ready to turn Intercom into a powerful case management hub? eesel AI integrates seamlessly to automate resolutions, unify your knowledge, and give you full control over your support workflows. You can get it up and running in minutes, not months.