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Connect Botdog to Slack

This guide will show you how to set up automated Slack notifications whenever someone replies to messages or invitations

R
Written by Robin Choy
Updated over 2 weeks ago

[DISCLAIMER: The integrations are a "Pro" feature and are not available on "Starter" plans]

Why do this?

A VP at your dream account just replied to your Botdog campaign: "This looks interesting! Do you have time to chat this week?"

But you're in meetings all day.

Without Slack alerts? You'd find it tomorrow, buried in LinkedIn notifications. Too late.

With this integration? You get a Slack notification showing their name, position, and exact message. You quickly scan their reply, click the link to their profile, and respond between meetings.

Demo scheduled. Deal in progress. Speed matters!

What You'll Need

  • A Botdog account

  • A Zapier account (Professional plan or higher)

  • A Slack workspace

And if you like videos more, here's a 4 minute walkthrough! 👇

Why Zapier Professional Plan?

To set up this integration, we'll use Zapier as the connection between Botdog and Slack.

Zapier's Professional plan ($19.99/month billed annually) is required because we need the Webhooks feature, which isn't available on their free or starter plans.

Webhooks allow Botdog to send real-time data to Zapier whenever specific events happen - like when a prospect replies to your message. The Professional plan also includes up to 750 tasks per month, which should be enough if you're only tracking replies.

Step 1: Set Up Your Zapier Webhook

  1. Log into your Zapier account

  2. Click "Create Zap"

  3. For the trigger app, search and select "Webhooks by Zapier" (do not use "Webhooks (Legacy)")

  4. Choose "Catch Hook" as the trigger event, then click on "continue"

  5. Skip "Pick off a Child Key" - this is not necessary for our use case

  6. Copy the provided webhook URL - you'll need this for Botdog.

  7. We will then paste that URL in Botdog, send a "fake" event, and come back on Zapier to complete the workflow.

Bonus: You can also use our Zapier template to save some time, all steps are prepared for you. Just go on this page and click "Try this Zap": [Zapier Template]

See a higher resolution video (where you can also pause) here

Step 2: Create a Webhook in Botdog

  1. Log into your Botdog dashboard

  2. Go to Settings → Integrations & Webhooks

  3. Click "Create Webhook"

  4. Use these recommended settings:

    • Webhook Name: "Slack Notifications"

    • Webhook URL: Paste the URL you copied from Zapier

    • Event Types:

      • Campaign Events: Leave all unchecked

      • Lead Events: Check only "Lead message replied"

    • Scope:

      • All campaigns: Checked (you can select specific campaigns if you only want to monitor some replies, but we don't recommend this)

      • Enable for the entire team: Checked (uncheck if you only want notifications for your account)

  5. Click "Create Webhook"

  6. Then go to "Test Webhook" and select "Lead Message Replied" to send test data to Zapier

See a higher resolution video (where you can also pause) here

Step 3: Set Up the Slack Action in Zapier

  1. Go back to Zapier, click "Test Trigger" then "Continue with selected record"

  2. For the action app, search and select "Slack"

  3. Connect your Slack account if you haven't already

  4. Choose "Send Channel Message" as the action event

  5. Select the channel where you want notifications (We recommend creating a Slack channel #botdog-replies)

  6. Create your message format in the Message Text field.

  7. You can enhance this with additional formatting, emojis, or fields from the webhook data

  8. Turn on your Zap

  9. Test the action to make sure it works

Here's a template you can use in "Message Text"

*New reply via Botdog Campaign!**Contact:* ##{{*******__contactName}}/ ##{{*******__contactLinkedinUrl}}*To:* ##{{*******__botdogUserEmail}}/ ##{{*******__botdogUserLinkedinPublicUrl}} / *Reply:* ##{{*******__message}}

You can map all the fields manually, or replace the ******* by your unique Zapier ID (in the URL immediately after `https://zapier.com/editor/`) in the text above (using "find and replace" in word for instance), and then copy and paste it once.

You can see here that our account ID is "290316459" so if I change the stars in the above message so that "##{{*******__contactName}}" becomes "##{{290316459__contactName}}, I would be able to copy and paste the message immediately.

Anyway, whether you do it manually or want to use our template, you'll end up with something like this:

See a higher resolution video (where you can also pause) here

All Done!

Now, whenever someone replies to your Botdog campaigns on LinkedIn, you'll get an instant notification in your chosen Slack channel - and that works for everyone in the team!

You can then add rules for your team, typically leave an emoji reaction to show the notification has been seen (we like to do ❌ if the lead is not relevant and ✅ if the lead was relevant and managed).

Other Ways You Could Connect Botdog to Zapier

You can set up similar workflows for other Botdog events:

  • Lead invitation accepted: Get notified when someone accepts your connection request

  • Campaign completed: Know when a campaign finishes its sequence

  • Lead invitation sent: Track when new connection requests go out

  • Lead message sent: Monitor outgoing messages

  • Lead profile visited: See when prospect profiles are viewed

Each webhook can be connected to different Slack channels or even other apps in your tech stack.

Bonus

You can use our logo as an icon, for the integration to look even cleaner.

To do this:

  1. go in Slack

  2. Add an emoji

  3. Use our logo here with shortcut :botdog:

  4. Use the same shortcut :botdog: in Zapier under "Bot Icon"

  5. That's it! All notification will now use Botdog's super cute robotic-hotdoggy-dog!

Need Help?

If you have any questions about setting up this integration, reach out to our support team at [email protected].

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