How to Switch from Intercom to an AI Chatbot (Without Breaking Support)

If you are using Intercom for customer support today, you might be wondering how to introduce a modern AI chatbot without risking your existing operations.

Many teams want to:

• Reduce ticket volume and response times
• Move away from per-seat pricing and expensive add-ons
• Keep chat as the main experience customers know and trust

If you are still deciding which direction to take, these comparisons help:

• Guzli vs Intercom vs Chatbase
• Intercom alternative guide
• Chatbase vs Intercom Fin

This guide outlines a practical migration path from Intercom to Guzli as your AI-first support assistant.

You do not have to “rip and replace” on day one. The safest path is to run Guzli alongside Intercom, then gradually let AI handle more volume as you gain confidence.

Step 1: Define What Intercom Does for You Today

Start by mapping how you currently use Intercom:

• Live chat only, or also email/inbox?
• Proactive messages on key pages?
• Help center and articles?
• Product tours, email campaigns, in-app messages?

Write down:

• Which features are essential for support
• Which ones are “nice to have”
• Which you are paying for but rarely use

This will help you decide whether to replace Intercom entirely or pair it with Guzli.

Step 2: Prepare Your Support Content

An AI chatbot is only as good as the content behind it.

Gather:

• Your help center articles (Intercom or elsewhere)
• Internal FAQs and macro responses
• Policy pages (pricing, billing, refunds, security)
• Onboarding guides and troubleshooting steps

With Guzli, you can:

• Crawl your public website and help center
• Upload PDFs and docs
• Add structured FAQs for common flows

This gives the chatbot a strong foundation before you change anything customer-facing.

Step 3: Train Guzli on Your Data

Once your content is ready:

1. Sign up for Guzli and create a workspace.
2. Connect your website and help center as data sources.
3. Upload any important internal docs you want the bot to reference.
4. Review sample answers in the dashboard to verify tone and accuracy.

At this stage, Intercom continues to run as usual. You are just training Guzli in the background.

Step 4: Configure Handoff Rules

Before going live, decide how Guzli should behave when it cannot answer:

• Ask a clarifying question?
• Offer to search again in a different source?
• Hand off to your team via Slack, email, or a helpdesk?

If you still plan to use Intercom as your inbox, you can configure Guzli to:

• Escalate conversations to Intercom for specific intents
• Include a structured summary so agents do not need to reread everything

If you plan to move off Intercom entirely, you can route escalations to another inbox or helpdesk instead.

Step 5: Run a Controlled Pilot

Pick one or two high-impact locations to start:

• Pricing page
• Help center homepage
• Key onboarding pages

Deploy Guzli’s widget on those pages while Intercom stays elsewhere. During this pilot:

• Monitor deflection and CSAT
• Review conversations where Guzli escalates or is unsure
• Adjust training data and prompts based on patterns

The goal is simple: prove that Guzli can handle a meaningful portion of traffic without hurting customer experience.

Step 6: Gradually Expand Coverage

Once the pilot is stable, you can:

• Add Guzli to more pages and sections of your product
• Use the chatbot for after-hours coverage first, then daytime
• Introduce basic lead capture flows for high-intent visitors

At this point, many teams see a drop in repetitive Intercom conversations, even before turning it off.

Step 7: Reduce Intercom Dependency

With data in hand, you can:

• Reduce Intercom seats if agents are spending less time in the inbox
• Turn off overlapping bots and tours that Guzli has replaced
• Move non-essential flows (like basic FAQs) from Intercom to Guzli entirely

Some teams keep Intercom for email and certain legacy flows; others move fully to a Guzli + helpdesk stack. The right choice depends on how much you rely on Intercom’s non-support features.

Step 8: Communicate the Change to Your Team

Internal communication is just as important as external:

• Explain what Guzli will handle and what remains with humans
• Show early data (deflection, satisfaction, time saved)
• Encourage agents to flag gaps or confusing answers

When agents see the chatbot as a helpful assistant, not a replacement, they tend to adopt it more quickly and give better feedback, which improves the AI.

Step 9: Monitor and Iterate

After the migration:

• Track deflection, response times, and CSAT regularly
• Review top unanswered or escalated queries and add content
• Adjust escalation rules as your comfort with automation grows

Guzli’s analytics are built to make this process straightforward, so you do not need a data team to understand the impact.

Summary: Safe Migration from Intercom to Guzli

You can move from Intercom to a modern AI chatbot without a risky “big bang” cutover:

1. Map what Intercom does for you today.
2. Prepare and centralize your support content.
3. Train Guzli in the background.
4. Configure handoff rules and escalation.
5. Run a focused pilot on a few pages.
6. Expand as results prove themselves.
7. Gradually reduce Intercom usage and seats.
8. Communicate clearly with your team.
9. Monitor and iterate based on data.

If you want to see how other teams handle this transition, you can read our Intercom vs Guzli comparison and our platform comparison across Intercom, Drift, and Guzli.

If you want to model impact before you switch, use the ROI calculator and our AI chatbot ROI guide.

Or, if you are ready to start:

• Book a demo
• Explore Guzli pricing
• Launch a pilot