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Sync IDs between Pendo and Intercom

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This article explains how to ensure ID mapping between Pendo and Intercom is set up correctly, which is necessary for features of the Intercom integration such as proactively assisting re-engaging users to complete specific flows and proactively supporting frustration signals.

Important: Pendo must manually complete the final step to activate the Intercom integration on your behalf. To prepare for this, contact the Pendo team as early as possible, and then complete the steps in this document to set up ID syncing.

How it works

The Pendo integration with Intercom connects support and product tooling, so that your teams can work with a shared view of each visitor. There are multiple aspects to the integration with Intercom:

  • ID sync. Map Pendo visitor IDs to Intercom user IDs in both directions.
  • Allow Fin to access Pendo guides. Fin can surface the relevant guide to visitors using the Pendo MCP.
  • Frustration signal webhooks. Surface frustration signals from Intercom using webhooks.
  • Re-engage visitors who drop off from key workflows. Define critical workflows in your app, so that when a visitor drops off before completion, Fin can re-engage the visitor in the following session to encourage completion.
  • Session context tools. Expose session context to the integration's tooling using the Pendo MCP.

Frustration signals, workflow nudges, and session context all rely on ID syncing. Fin surfacing guides doesn't strictly need ID syncing to be enabled, but it's recommended.

Step 1. Compare IDs in Intercom and Pendo

Manually verify that Pendo and Intercom use the same IDs to represent your visitors, known as users in Intercom.

  1. In Intercom, open the details on a user of your application.
  2. In the user details panel, view the User ID. Copy this value to use it in Pendo.
  3. In Pendo, go to People > Visitors.
  4. Paste the value of the User ID from Intercom into the search bar.
    • If the search returns the same user in Pendo, then IDs are already synced. You don't need to proceed with the following steps. See Next steps for suggestions of how to use Intercom Fin and Pendo.
    • If the search doesn't return the user in Pendo, then you must proceed with the following steps to complete ID mapping between Pendo and Intercom.

Step 2. Enable Pendo ID sync

Complete the steps in this section for each of your applications that use both Intercom and Pendo.

Access application settings

  1. In Pendo, go to Settings > Subscription settings.
  2. Select the Applications tab.
  3. In the list of applications, select the application you want to configure. This opens the application settings on the App Details tab.

Enable syncing visitor IDs with Intercom

  1. In App Details, find the setting Sync visitor IDs with Intercom.
  2. Select the checkbox to enable this setting.

After you've enabled visitor ID syncing with Intercom, Pendo reads the Intercom user ID from the page and stores it as visitor metadata as intercomUserId and pushes Pendo visitor ID to Intercom as a custom attribute  pendoVisitorId.

Repeat this process for every application that has both Pendo and Intercom installed.

Step 3. Create the Pendo visitor ID custom attribute in Intercom

Create a user custom attribute named pendoVisitorId and make sure verified updates aren't required so that Pendo can write to the attribute.

  1. In Intercom, open Settings.
  2. Follow the steps to create a new attribute as described in Intercom's documentation, Create and track custom data attributes (CDAs).
  3. In the Create new people attribute modal, update the following information:
    • Format: Text.
    • Name: pendoVisitorId.
    • Require verified updates: Off. Intercom shows a note that the attribute is open to unverified updates, this is expected behavior for this attribute.
  4. Select Save.

Step 4. Verify the setup

After allowing time for event data to flow and be processed, confirm the sync is producing the intercomUserId field in Pendo.

  1. In Pendo, go to Settings > Metadata. This opens the Visitor-level data tab.
  2. In the Mappings table, confirm that an intercomUserId field is now available for use.

If the intercomUserId field isn't visible, it may be too soon after configuration. The field appears only after the ID sync has taken effect and event data has been processed. This can take up to an hour depending on the time the data is sent through the system.

Next steps

After you've successfully mapped IDs between Pendo and Intercom, you can continue to set up the integration with Intercom Fin. Choose to set up any or all of the following:

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