Auto-responses

By automatically replying to new support threads under specific conditions, auto-responses help you to keep customers informed, reduce duplicate follow-ups, and give your team the breathing room they need to respond thoughtfully.

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

When Auto-responses trigger

An auto-response is sent when a new thread is created with a small delay (~1 minute) to give the customer a chance to follow up.

You can configure them to trigger only under certain conditions, such as:

Specific support addresses (e.g. support@, security@)
Inside or outside business hours
Threads with certain labels, tiers, or priorities

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 might:

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 autoresponders documentation for more.