How to create a doorbell for your Manychat bots using Slack

Introduction

If you’re using Manychat to drive conversations and automate your marketing efforts, you already know how powerful chatbots can be. But here’s a question: what if you could get real-time Slack alerts every time someone starts a conversation with your bot?

In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to create a Slack-based “Doorbell” for your Manychat bots using Janis.ai, so you can monitor user interactions in real-time, collaborate with your team, and take over conversations when needed.

Let’s dive into the steps! Looking for an easy way to automate conversations on Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp? Manychat has you covered! With powerful flows and real-time chat, you can grow your business 24/7. Try Manychat for free now!

What Is a Slack Doorbell for Manychat?

A Slack Doorbell is a real-time notification system that sends an alert to your Slack workspace when a new user interacts with your Manychat bot. This allows admins or team members to:

• Instantly see new subscribers
  
• Monitor bot-user interactions in real-time
  
• Step in with live chat when needed
  
• Collaborate seamlessly without needing Facebook admin access
  

Unlike the default “Notify Admin” action in Manychat, which only notifies Facebook page admins, this method leverages Janis.ai + Slack to make your chatbot experience more dynamic and collaborative.

Prerequisites

Before setting up the doorbell system, make sure you have the following:

• A Manychat Pro account
  
• A Dialogflow agent connected to Janis.ai
  
• A Janis.ai Pro subscription
  
• An active Slack workspace with Janis installed
  

Manychat helps you connect with your audience like never before. Whether it’s lead generation, customer support, or sales automation — it’s all possible with one platform. Join Manychat now and experience it yourself! Once everything’s connected, you’ll be ready to roll. Now, let’s set it up step by step.

Step 1: Set an Action in Your Manychat Flow

The first step is to create an event in Manychat that will act as the trigger for your Slack Doorbell. If you haven’t created your account yet, don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. Check out our step-by-step guide on How To Sign Up And Create a Manychat Account in 2025 to get started quickly. It walks you through the entire process, from choosing the right platform (Messenger, Instagram, or WhatsApp) to launching your first chatbot flow.

Here’s how:

1. Go to Manychat and open your Welcome Message flow.
   
2. Click to Add Action, then select Set Custom User Field.
   
3. Create a new text-type Custom User Field. You can name this field anything (e.g., doorbell_trigger).
   
4. Set the field value to something like doorbell — this value will be passed to Dialogflow to trigger the intent.
   

Tip: This action can be reused in other flows as well, such as your default reply or postback interactions.

Now, link this action to your flow so that when a user clicks “Get Started”, the event is triggered.

Step 2: Create an Intent in Dialogflow

Next, you’ll configure an intent in Dialogflow that responds to the custom event from Manychat.

Follow these steps:

1. Open Dialogflow, and go to your connected agent.
   
2. Click Create Intent and name it something like Doorbell_Alert.
   
3. In the Events section of the intent, enter the same event name from Manychat (doorbell).
   
4. Do not add any training phrases or responses — this intent is purely for triggering the Slack alert.
   

📌 Dialogflow Events allow you to trigger intents without requiring any text input. In our case, the Manychat action passes the event directly, which Dialogflow immediately picks up.

Step 3: Configure Custom Alerts in Slack Using Janis

To get alerts in Slack, we’ll now configure a custom alert through Janis.ai.

❗ Note: Custom alerts are available on Janis Pro plans only.

Steps to follow:

1. Open Slack and message Janis with the word alerts.
   
2. Janis will list your connected bots. Select your Manychat bot.
   
3. Janis will respond with a prompt and a 1 reply link — click this to open your alert settings.
   
4. Under Custom Alerts, ensure the alert setting is enabled.
   
5. Click Manage and search for your Dialogflow intent name (Doorbell_Alert).
   
6. Select it and add it to your list of active custom alerts.
   

Once added, you’ve officially connected the dots — from Manychat → Dialogflow → Janis → Slack! Reach your audience where they are — Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp — with Manychat’s automation features. Boost your sales and save time by automating your customer journey. Start with Manychat now!

Test Your Slack Doorbell

Time to test it out and see the magic in action!

1. Open your chatbot in Messenger.
   
2. If you’re already subscribed, unsubscribe yourself first so you can go through the welcome flow again.
   
3. Click the “Get Started” button.
   
4. You should immediately receive a Slack notification from Janis indicating a new subscriber has interacted with your bot.
   

Slack Notifications Include:

• User details like name, ID, and location
  
• Custom fields and tags passed via Manychat
  
• A link to monitor the user’s conversation in real-time
  
• A “Take over live” option to interrupt the bot and chat manually
  

💡 If you’re using Slack on desktop or mobile, you’ll also receive a push notification.

Monitoring Conversations in Real-Time

Once your Doorbell is active, click on the “See Conversation” link from the Slack notification. Janis will automatically:

• Create a temporary Slack channel
  
• Mirror the user’s interaction with your chatbot
  
• Let you observe or take over the chat instantly
  

You can even pause the bot and reply manually. When you’re done, simply type /resume or wait 10 minutes for Janis to auto-resume the bot.

Benefits of Using Slack as Your Bot Doorbell

Here’s why using a Slack Doorbell is a game-changer for teams using Manychat:

1. Real-time Actionable Alerts

With Slack’s real-time notifications, your team can instantly engage hot leads, resolve issues, or qualify users without delay.

2. Collaborative Experience

Instead of relying on a single admin, entire sales or support teams can monitor and respond to interactions, especially helpful for customer service.

3. Works Across Devices

Slack notifications work on web, desktop, and mobile, ensuring your team stays updated anywhere, anytime.

4. Seamless Integration

Slack fits naturally into most business workflows. If your team is already using it, integrating chatbot alerts is frictionless.

5. Smarter Conversation Control

You can pause the bot, take control of the chat, push users into different flows, or tag them for follow-up — all from within Slack.

Pro Tips for Optimizing Your Doorbell Setup

• Use tags in Manychat to segment users when they trigger the doorbell.
  
• Add Janis to a Slack channel so teams can be alerted together.
  
• Monitor conversions from Slack-triggered interactions vs automated flows.
  
• Train your team to recognize lead quality from Slack alerts quickly.
  
• Incorporate user attributes like email, location, or campaign source in the alert message for better filtering.
  

Final Thoughts

Setting up a Slack Doorbell for your Manychat bots is one of the smartest ways to bridge automation with human connection. Whether you’re running a sales campaign or providing live customer support, this setup ensures you’re always in the loop, without needing to be glued to Facebook.

With just a few quick integrations — Manychat + Dialogflow + Janis + Slack — you’ll be able to build a responsive, team-friendly, and conversion-driven chatbot experience. You don’t need to be a coder to build powerful chatbots. Manychat’s visual builder makes it simple to launch interactive flows and convert leads into customers. Sign up for Manychat today!

Disclaimer 

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Frequently Asked Questions