Auto-responses

Auto-responses send an automatic reply when a new thread is created. Use them to keep customers informed straight away, reduce duplicate follow-ups, and give your team time to respond thoughtfully.

To set up auto-responses, go to Settings → Auto-responses.

When auto-responses are triggered

Auto-responses fire when a new thread is created. You can restrict them to specific conditions:

• A specific support email address

• Inside or outside business hours

• Threads with a specific label

Supported channels

Auto-responses can be enabled across multiple support channels:

• Slack – for threads started via Slack Connect

• API – for programmatically created threads

• Email – for inbound messages to your support inbox

• Chat – for sessions started in your website widget

You can set channel-specific replies, or tailor responses by customer tier or support hours.

Writing effective auto-responses

Keep your messages short, warm, and human. Overly scripted or link-heavy replies tend to be ignored.

A good auto-response should:

• Acknowledge the message

• Let the customer know you’ve received it

• Give a sense of when they can expect a reply

• Offer any immediate next steps (e.g. “We’re currently investigating the issue”)

Advanced use: custom auto-responses via API

If you need more control – such as dynamic content or conditional logic – you can build interactive auto-responses using Plain’s API and webhooks. See our Thread auto-responders documentation for more.