Quick answer: Slack integrations connect your other tools to Slack so updates arrive in the right channel automatically. For small teams, the most useful ones send new website enquiries, online orders, support tickets, calendar reminders and project updates into Slack, and let you share files from Google Drive or Dropbox without leaving the conversation. Start with two or three that remove a daily manual task, give each a dedicated channel, and add more only when the first ones are working well.
Slack has quickly become the place where many small teams talk. The real time saving comes when it is not just chat. If the information people need appears in Slack as it happens, nobody has to keep checking five different dashboards or forwarding emails around.
How Slack integrations work
There are three main ways to connect something to Slack.
Ready made apps
Slack’s App Directory lists hundreds of integrations from other services. Most take a few minutes to set up: you choose the app, sign in to the other service and pick a channel.
Connector services
Tools such as Zapier connect Slack to services that do not have their own integration, or let you build more specific rules, such as “only post orders over a certain value”.
Webhooks and slash commands
Slack supports incoming webhooks, which let any system post a message to a channel by sending a simple request to a URL. It also supports slash commands, which let people type a command such as /stock and get a response from your own system. These are where a developer can connect your website or internal tools directly.
Integrations worth setting up
1. New website enquiries
When someone fills in your contact form, post a message to a #leads channel with their name, what they asked about and a link to the full entry. The team sees new leads straight away, and anyone can reply “I’ve got this” so two people do not chase the same lead.
On WordPress, form plugins such as Gravity Forms have Slack add ons. Other form tools can be connected through Zapier or a webhook.
Be careful with personal data. Do not post more detail than the team needs, and keep the channel private to the people who handle leads.
2. Online orders
For shops, a message for every new order in a #sales channel keeps the team aware of what is coming in. Shopify and WooCommerce orders can be sent to Slack through apps or connector services. Small teams often find this motivating as well as useful.
For busier shops, send only notable orders, such as large ones or orders with special delivery instructions, so the channel stays readable.
3. Support tickets
Help desk tools such as Zendesk, Freshdesk and Help Scout can post new tickets or updates to Slack. This helps a small team see when a customer is waiting, without everyone needing to watch the help desk all day.
4. File sharing
The Google Drive and Dropbox integrations let you share files with a preview and keep them searchable in Slack. It saves people asking “where is the latest version?”
5. Calendars and reminders
Google Calendar integrations can post daily schedules or meeting reminders. Slack’s built in /remind command is also handy for recurring reminders, such as “submit timesheets every Friday at 3pm”.
6. Project management
Trello, Asana and similar tools can post updates when cards are moved, tasks are completed or deadlines are near. Pick the events that matter. A message for every small change becomes noise.
7. Website monitoring
Uptime monitoring services can alert a #website channel if your site goes down. Pair this with alerts from your security plugin or hosting provider for failed backups or suspicious activity. It is much better to hear about a problem from Slack than from a customer.
8. Code and deployments
If you have developers, integrations with GitHub or Bitbucket post commits, pull requests and deployment results. Even non technical team members benefit from seeing when a change went live.
9. Social mentions and reviews
Some services can post new reviews or mentions of your brand into Slack, so someone can respond quickly. This is especially useful for local businesses that rely on reviews.
10. Daily summaries
Instead of real time messages, some data is better as a daily digest: yesterday’s sales, website visits or new sign ups. A scheduled Zapier task or a small script can post a summary each morning.
Custom integrations
When ready made apps do not fit, a small custom integration can be built quickly. Examples we see often:
- A slash command that looks up stock levels or order status in your own system.
- Alerts when a key form on the website stops receiving entries, which often signals a broken form.
- A message when a high value customer logs in or requests a quote.
- Posting approvals into Slack, with a link back to the system where the approval is made.
These usually rely on Slack’s webhooks and the APIs of your other systems. Our guide to API integration explains how systems talk to each other in this way.
Keeping Slack calm
Integrations can turn Slack into a wall of automated messages. A few rules keep it useful.
One purpose per channel
Put automated messages in their own channels, such as #leads, #orders and #alerts. Keep discussion channels for people.
Only send what someone will act on
For each integration, ask who will do something with the message. If the answer is nobody, switch it off or turn it into a daily summary.
Adjust notifications
Encourage people to mute busy automated channels and set alerts for keywords that matter to them. Slack lets each person choose which channels notify them.
Review regularly
Every few months, look at your integrations. Remove those nobody uses. Teams change, and so do the tools they need.
Security and access
Each integration you add gets some access to your Slack team, and sometimes to the other service too.
- Only admins should be able to add integrations, which you can set in Slack’s settings.
- Check what each app can see and do before approving it.
- Remove integrations when a tool is no longer used.
- Treat webhook URLs like passwords, since anyone with the URL can post to that channel.
- Think about what customer data ends up in Slack, and who can see it.
Getting started
- List the tasks your team does that involve checking another tool or forwarding information.
- Pick the two that waste the most time.
- Set up integrations for those, each in its own channel.
- Run them for a couple of weeks and adjust what gets posted.
- Add more only when the first ones are clearly useful.
For broader ideas, our guide to workflow automation covers other ways to cut out repetitive work.
FAQ
Do integrations cost extra?
Many are free. Slack’s free plan limits the number of integrations you can add, so a team with many integrations may need a paid plan. Some connector services also charge once you go beyond basic use.
Can Slack replace email for customer enquiries?
Not entirely. Slack is good for alerting the team. The reply to the customer should still go through your normal email or help desk, so there is a proper record.
Is it hard to build a custom integration?
A simple webhook that posts messages is a small job for a developer. Interactive commands that read from your systems take more work, depending on what those systems offer.
Want the busywork to run itself?
We connect websites, shops and business systems to tools like Slack so information reaches the right people without anyone copying it across. See how we automate the busywork for small teams.
