Last Updated: September 2024
Are you ready to supercharge your team’s productivity?
Imagine having a virtual assistant at your fingertips 24/7, streamlining tasks and boosting collaboration seamlessly within Slack. With the rapid rise of remote work, crafting a custom Slack bot has never been more relevant.
In fact, according to a recent report, the use of productivity bots in collaboration platforms like Slack increased by a staggering 90% in the last year alone.
Get ready to dive into the world of innovation as we unravel the simple yet powerful process of how to make a Slack bot.
Benefits of Slack Bots
Here are some benefits you can enjoy with Slack bots:
- Effortless Task Automation: Slack bots take care of repetitive tasks, freeing up your time for more strategic and creative activities.
- Instant Information Access: Get quick answers to queries without searching through multiple channels – bots deliver information right to you.
- Enhanced Team Collaboration: Bots facilitate smoother communication by managing notifications, reminders, and even scheduling meetings.
- Streamlined Workflows: From approvals to feedback collection, bots optimize processes, ensuring tasks move forward efficiently.
- 24/7 Availability: Enjoy round-the-clock assistance – bots are always on, ready to assist whenever you need them.
These benefits collectively transform how you collaborate, communicate, and manage tasks within Slack. Let’s start building one.
Also, read 10 Chat Bots for Customer Service You Should Check Out
How To Make a Slack Bot
In mere minutes, you can fashion your very own Slack bot without coding – the complexity hinges on your bot’s intended functionalities.
- Reply Bots: These are automated virtual assistants that swiftly respond to messages and queries, streamlining your communication and saving you time in the process.
- Notification Bots: Notification bots are your proactive allies, sending you timely updates, reminders, and crucial information directly in Slack, ensuring you never miss a beat.
- Slash Command Bots: They are your personalized command interpreters, allowing you to swiftly execute specific actions and access information by typing simple commands right into the Slack interface.
Now, let’s delve into the exciting journey of constructing these bots step by step.
Easy Steps to Build a Slack Reply Bot
You have two options for creating this type of bot. Firstly, you can establish a Slackbot response. Alternatively, for greater customization albeit requiring more setup, you can craft a bespoke bot using Zapier. Let’s explore this further.
Creating a Basic Slack Reply Bot with Slackbot:
Step 1. Open your Slack settings and navigate to slack.com/customize/slackbot.
Step 2. Enter a trigger phrase for Slackbot to monitor.
Step 3. Define the desired response for Slackbot to provide when triggered.
Remember, you can include multiple trigger phrases simply by separating them with commas. Refer to the example image given below.
What if you desire a tailored response in each instance? And suppose you prefer the bot to possess a unique name and icon? This is where Zapier steps in.
Crafting a Personalized Slack Reply Bot using Zapier:
Step 1. Begin by either signing up for a Zapier account or logging into your existing one.
Step 2. Next, locate the “+ Create a Zap” button situated at the upper-left corner, and opt for Slack as your chosen trigger app.
In the trigger event selection, opt for either “New Public Message Posted Anywhere” or, if you prefer, pick “New Message Posted to Channel” for channel-specific bot functionality.
Step 3. Now, link your Slack account to Zapier—click on “+ Connect a new account”.
Step 4. Once connected, pick your account from the dropdown menu and hit “Continue”.
Step 5. A query about applying your trigger to bot messages pops up. Opt for “No”. Click “Continue”.
Step 6. Proceed by clicking “Test Trigger” to initiate a trial event and validate the trigger’s functionality. After a successful test, click “Continue”.
Step 7. Set up a filter to monitor a specific term, preventing your bot from triggering for every Slack post. Opt for “Filter by Zapier” as the action app.
Configure the filter settings to monitor the “Text” field for your specified term.
Step 8. To trigger the bot on any occurrence of those words in Slack, choose “(Text) Contains” in the filter. For the bot to activate solely upon encountering the exact phrase, opt for “(Text) Exactly” matches.
Step 9. In the third field, input the words your bot should monitor for.
Find more on Zapier filters here.
Step 10. Proceed to add your reply, by picking the Slack app and the “Send Channel Message” action. In the “Channel field”, choose the initial Slack message’s channel name to ensure the reply appears in the same location.
Step 11. As the final step, enter the desired message in the “Message Text” box. Here, you can compose any content or even tag the original message sender.
For further customization, experiment with a Formatter action preceding your bot’s response.
Five Easy Steps to Build a Slack Notification Bot
Building these bots is a breeze within Zapier’s framework. Simply designate an app or website to monitor notifications, and Zapier will seamlessly forward them to Slack on your behalf.
Imagine this example, you want Slack notifications whenever fresh tasks are appended to your Trello board.
Step 1. Begin by initiating a new Zap and picking Trello as your trigger app. Choose “New Card” as your trigger action.
Step 2. Click Continue and specify the desired board and list for notifications.
Step 3. Customize the message further by clicking the “+” and including a Slack action.
Step 4. Configure the Zap to dispatch a message to a channel or as a direct message within your team.
Step 5. Personalize the message using your desired text in the “Message field”. While typing, access a dropdown featuring Trello card information like name, link, description, and more – simply click to add these details to your message.
Slack follows specific formatting guidelines for adding elements like links, bold text, and block quotes. Check it out all here.
Also, read E-commerce Chatbots: Benefits and How to Use them Effectively?
13 Easy Steps to Build a Slack Slash Command Bot
You’re now set to construct highly advanced Slack bots: slash commands. These bots respond to commands, executing tasks such as creating documents, locating email addresses, initiating calls, and logging records – the possibilities are vast.
Step 1. Start by introducing a new app to your Slack account. Navigate to api.slack.com/apps, select “Create an App”, input your app’s name, and designate the appropriate Slack account for deploying the new bot.
Step 2. Slack will present options to enhance your app’s features. Opt for the “Slash Commands” button. Then click “Create New Command” to proceed.
Step 3. Commence the process by incorporating a command prefixed with a slash, like “/contact” for contact info lookup or “/weather” for a weather bot. Append a brief description and a usage hint to complete the setup.
You have one last field to complete: the “Request URL”, obtained from Zapier’s webhooks integration.
Step 4. Open a new tab or window to initiate a fresh Zap in Zapier’s Webhooks app, choosing “Catch Hook” as the trigger event.
Step 5. Proceed by clicking “Continue” to access your webhook URL. Copy it, ensuring to enable the “Enable to respond with an empty body” option.
Step 6. With that link, return to your Slack slash command’s configuration page and paste it into the “Request URL” field, then save your settings.
Step 7. Test your slash command for setting up the remaining Zapier integration. Open Slack and enter your command, followed by the desired text for the bot.
Let’s create a sample bot to locate contacts in Google Contacts and share their email addresses.
Step 8. First, add an action to your Zap, opt for “Google Contacts”, and employ the “Find Contact” action.
Step 9. Then, configure it to search by name, choosing the text from your slash action as the search query.
Step 10. After locating the contact, it’s time to send it back to Slack. For that, add another action to your Zap and pick “Send Channel Message”.
Step 11. Further, instead of a specific channel, select “Custom”. In the channel ID field, find your desired channel.
Step 12. Now, create your message by typing in the “Message Text field”. Use info from previous steps in the menu below the text box. Personalize the bot with the same name and icon image from the earlier Slack setup.
Step 13. Lastly, give the Zap a test, and you’ll receive the desired response in Slack.
That’s it! Just type your command and the text you want, and your bot will handle the task. It’s that easy!
Final Words
In conclusion, the realm of Slack bots beckons with newfound efficiency and innovation.
As we stride towards 2025, a staggering 95% of brand-customer interactions are projected to harness the power of artificial intelligence, ushering in a wave of enhanced customer satisfaction and streamlined processes.
For a seamless customer support experience, consider leveraging solutions like Saufter, which can automate and optimize your support journey. Embrace progress today with a 15-day free trial!
