Imagine a support agent who never sleeps, learns from every ticket, and instantly knows where to find the right answer. That’s what AI copilots bring to the table. They’re changing the way customer support teams work.
Unlike old-school chatbots, AI copilots use advanced natural language processing and deep learning to assist agents in real time. Intercom’s AI copilot, known as Fin AI, has helped teams increase agent efficiency by 31%, while also reducing response times and improving customer satisfaction.
That said, some teams feel a bit boxed in by Fin’s limitations. For example, it doesn’t let you choose specific ticket types for training, which can result in less relevant answers. It also relies mostly on help center content and crawling past answers, which may not capture the full scope of your support operations. This is where tools like eesel AI stand out. With more flexible training options, deeper integrations, and support for custom API actions, eesel gives you greater control over how your AI assistant learns and supports your team.
Why choose AI copilot over traditional support tools?
Basic chatbots had their moment. But when customer expectations started rising, keyword matching and rigid decision trees stopped cutting it. That’s where AI copilots come in. These tools are built to understand context, learn from experience, and help agents deliver faster, smarter support.
| Feature | Traditional Tools | AI Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Understanding | Basic keyword matching | Natural language processing with context awareness |
| Learning | Static response database | Continuous learning from each interaction |
| Integration | Limited help center only | Comprehensive connection to multiple knowledge sources |
| Customization | Fixed templates | Dynamic adaptation to conversation context |
| Agent Assistance | Basic macro suggestions | Proactive guidance with real-time coaching |
Modern solutions like eesel AI enhance agent productivity by intelligently surfacing relevant information from multiple knowledge sources. These systems assist agents by drafting contextually appropriate responses while handling routine queries automatically. During complex interactions, AI copilots provide real-time guidance to ensure consistent, high-quality support delivery.
This enhanced capability translates into measurable improvements in support operations, with organizations reporting significant gains in response accuracy and resolution times while maintaining cost-effectiveness through transparent, pay-per-interaction pricing models.
Intercom AI copilot features and capabilities
An AI copilot helps support teams work faster by suggesting replies, handling simple questions, and automating routine tasks. Tools like Fin and eesel AI have some similar core features built around real-time assistance and knowledge reuse.
Smarter AI conversation
One of the most valuable features of any AI copilot is its ability to understand conversations naturally. Instead of scanning for keywords, it looks at context, past interactions, and knowledge base content to suggest helpful and personalized replies. And it pulls from past tickets and documentation to guide responses in real time.
For example, with eesel AI if a customer asks about a refund, the AI can find the return policy, check the customer’s order history, and draft a response before the agent even needs to type a thing.
Tools like eesel AI go further by connecting with more than 100 platforms, including Google Drive, Notion, Slack, and Zendesk. This means your AI assistant can pull answers from all the tools your team already uses.
Workflow automation
AI copilots also help by automating common support processes. They can scan new tickets, suggest replies based on similar past cases, and route questions to the right person when needed.
This helps support teams move faster, especially when training new agents. Instead of relying on tribal knowledge or digging through documents, the AI provides guidance based on real conversations and company processes.
While Intercom’s Fin AI integrates tightly within the Intercom ecosystem and supports connections with tools like Slack and Zendesk, its automation capabilities are still primarily designed for use within Intercom’s own interface. In contrast, eesel AI offers broader multi-platform integration and customization, allowing you to extend automation across help desks, document tools, and team chat apps more freely.
How to set up your AI copilot
Getting started with an AI copilot doesn’t have to be complicated. This section covers what you need to set it up properly and how to make sure it fits into your team’s existing workflow.
Technical requirements
Intercom’s Fin AI works best when integrated into a clean, well-structured knowledge base. Like most AI copilots, its performance depends heavily on the quality and accessibility of your internal content.
Knowledge base preparation
Effective knowledge management requires a systematic approach to organizing and updating your support content. Start by conducting a thorough audit of existing documentation, creating clear category hierarchies that match how your team naturally searches for information. Regularly update outdated content and identify knowledge gaps through quarterly reviews. This foundation ensures your AI copilot provides accurate, contextual responses.
With eesel AI, you don’t have to consolidate all of your knowledge onto one platform to use AI. You can add all your documentation, and select specific sets of tickets to create help articles with.
Integration setup
Setting up Intercom’s Fin AI copilot starts within your Intercom workspace. After selecting Fin AI as your copilot, you can begin integrating it with the rest of your support ecosystem.
Configuration settings also includes customizing the AI’s tone and behavior to match your brand voice. This ensures the AI replies are not only accurate but also aligned with how your team communicates.
Once integrations are in place and tone settings are defined, teams should run internal testing to validate AI behavior across common ticket types. This helps refine the AI’s suggestions and surface any knowledge gaps before full deployment.
You may want to consider how your setup can scale across departments. While Intercom’s Fin AI is tightly integrated within its support environment, it is limited to a single assistant. If you need separate bots for different workflows such as sales, support, or HR, third-party tools like eesel AI allow you to deploy multiple assistants across platforms, each with its own tone and data sources tailored to the team it serves.
Implementation tips
Successful implementation goes beyond technical setup, requiring thoughtful planning and change management. Here’s how to ensure smooth adoption across your organization:
Content organization and workflow
Structure your documentation with intuitive hierarchies that mirror natural information-seeking patterns. Include real conversation examples from your support interactions to help the AI better understand context. Map existing support processes to identify high-impact automation opportunities and create clear escalation paths for complex issues that require human intervention.
Change management strategy
Start with a focused pilot program involving a small team to gather meaningful feedback and refine workflows. Document specific best practices based on real usage patterns and success metrics. This approach helps build confidence in the system while allowing for thoughtful optimization before wider rollout. Companies like Lightspeed have successfully used this method to achieve significant efficiency gains in their support operations.
Understanding Intercom AI copilot pricing
Choosing an AI copilot means weighing features, flexibility, and long-term costs. While platforms like Intercom and eesel AI both offer powerful tools, their pricing models and scope are very different. Here’s how to compare them side by side.
Price comparison
You have two main paths for adding AI copilot capabilities to your support stack:
Native platform solutions like Intercom’s AI copilot provide tight integration with your existing systems but come with certain constraints. The platform-specific features and workflows can limit flexibility as your needs evolve. Additionally, per-agent pricing models as listed on Intercom’s pricing page often lead to higher costs when scaling teams.
Third-party solutions like eesel AI offer greater adaptability through extensive platform integrations and customization options. With transparent pay-per-interaction pricing and dedicated implementation support including technical setup, workflow optimization, and ongoing guidance, these solutions can provide more predictable costs and faster time-to-value.
Intercom AI copilot pricing
| Plan | Monthly price per full seat | Included seats |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | $39 | 1 full seat |
| Advanced | $99 | 1 full seat + 20 lite seats |
| Expert | $139 | 1 full seat + 50 lite seats |
Each full seat will have access to Copilot with up to 10 AI conversations per month. If you need more, you can add unlimited usage for $35 per seat, or $29 a month if you choose annual billing. For example, on the Essential plan which is $39 per seat add $35 for unlimited usage, that brings your total to $74 per seat per month.
Only full seats have access to Copilot. A full seat is a paid user license that gives complete access to Intercom features, including the AI assistant and AI-generated replies. Some plans also include lite seats, which are meant for teammates who only need limited access, such as viewing conversations or reports. Lite seats do not include Copilot or other advanced features.
Copilot works only within Intercom. It cannot be used across other platforms or tools.
eesel AI pricing
| Plan | Monthly price | Interactions included | Bot limit | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $49 | 500 | 1 | Basic public-facing AI chat |
| Team | $299 | 1,000 | 3 | Help desk, Slack integration, reports |
| Business | $799 | 3,000 | Unlimited | Microsoft Teams, API actions, triage |
| Custom | Contact Sales | Unlimited | Unlimited | Custom workflows, advanced security, orchestration |
eesel AI’s pricing is based on AI usage, not number of agents. It allows you to use one or multiple bots across Intercom, Zendesk, Slack, Confluence, Google Drive, and more, making it a more flexible and scalable choice for cross-platform teams.
Is your AI copilot delivering ROI?
Once your AI copilot is up and running, the next question is simple: is it working? Start by tracking key metrics like agent efficiency (tickets handled per day), average response time, and the rate of fully automated resolutions.
Also, don’t stop at speed. Look at cost reductions in onboarding, fewer manual tasks, and fewer ticket escalations. It is not just about saving time. A well-implemented AI copilot can help your team handle more tickets without hiring more agents, while also improving customer satisfaction and reducing team burnout.
Understanding performance metrics
Measuring the performance of your AI copilot starts with a few key metrics. One of the most important is agent efficiency, which looks at how many tickets each support agent can resolve in a day. This gives a clear picture of productivity over time. Another critical metric is average response time, or how quickly your team is able to reply once a ticket is submitted—an area where even small improvements can have a big impact on customer satisfaction.
You’ll also want to track the automated resolution rate, which tells you how many tickets the AI can fully resolve on its own, without human intervention.
eesel AI gives you a clear view of how your assistant is performing through its history tab. It highlights moments when the AI struggled to respond and surfaces knowledge gaps that may be affecting accuracy. The platform’s knowledge gap analysis helps support teams see where additional training or content could improve resolution rates.
Calculating cost benefits
With Intercom, each full-seat teammate gets 10 Fin AI-assisted conversations per month at no extra cost. But if your team needs more, you’ll need to pay for the unlimited usage add-on, which costs $35/month per seat (or $29/month on annual billing). That’s on top of Intercom’s monthly seat prices, which range from $39 to $139 per agent depending on your plan.
Here’s a quick estimate for a team of 10 agents on the Advanced plan with unlimited Fin AI usage:
- $99/seat × 10 agents = $990/month
- $35/seat for Fin AI unlimited × 10 agents = $350/month
Total: $1,340/month or $16,080/year
With eesel AI, you pay based on usage (interactions), not seats. The Team plan at $299/month includes up to 1,000 interactions and supports 3 bots. The Business plan at $799/month supports up to 3,000 interactions with unlimited bots. This makes it easier to scale without racking up per-agent charges.
For most mid-size support teams, eesel AI’s usage-based pricing results in more predictable costs, especially when AI handles a large portion of routine queries.
Wrapping up with Fin
Implementing Intercom’s Fin AI copilot – or exploring flexible options like eesel AI – marks a big step toward smarter, faster support. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Start small. Audit your knowledge base. Choose your most common workflows. Set up a pilot with a small team and measure real results before scaling.
Whether you’re all-in on Fin or just beginning your AI journey, the goal is the same: better support, less manual effort, and happier agents.
And if you’re looking for flexibility across platforms, eesel AI offers a simple, powerful way to bring AI copilots into your stack without the seat-based pricing.
That’s a Fin-ish worth building toward.
You can start your free trial, book a personalized demo, or reach out directly at hi@eesel.app to get started.
