Analytics
/

Intercom

Using the intercom plugin

Integration with intercom for analytics

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Installation

npm install analytics
npm install @analytics/intercom

How to use

The @analytics/intercom package works in the browser and server-side in Node.js. To use, install the package, include in your project and initialize the plugin with analytics.

Below is an example of how to use the browser plugin.

import Analytics from 'analytics'
import intercomPlugin from '@analytics/intercom'

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'awesome-app',
  plugins: [
    intercomPlugin({
      appId: '123-xyz'
    })
  ]
})

/* Track a page view */
analytics.page()

/* Track a custom event */
analytics.track('cartCheckout', {
  item: 'pink socks',
  price: 20
})

/* Identify a visitor */
analytics.identify('user-id-xyz', {
  firstName: 'bill',
  lastName: 'murray'
})

After initializing analytics with the intercomPlugin plugin, data will be sent into Intercom whenever analytics.page, analytics.track, or analytics.identify are called.

See additional implementation examples for more details on using in your project.

Platforms Supported

The @analytics/intercom package works in the browser and server-side in Node.js

Browser usage

The Intercom client side browser plugin works with these analytic api methods:

Browser API

import Analytics from 'analytics'
import intercomPlugin from '@analytics/intercom'

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'awesome-app',
  plugins: [
    intercomPlugin({
      appId: '123-xyz'
    })
  ]
})

Configuration options for browser

Optiondescription
appId
required - string		Your intercom app id
disableAnonymousTraffic
optional - boolean		Disable loading intercom for anonymous visitors
alignment
optional - string		Customize left or right position of messenger
horizontalPadding
optional - number		Customize horizontal padding
verticalPadding
optional - number		Customize vertical padding
customLauncherSelector
optional - string		Css selector of the custom launcher see https://www.intercom.com/help/en/articles/2894-customize-the-intercom-messenger-technical for additional info

Server-side usage

The Intercom server-side node.js plugin works with these analytic api methods:

Server-side API

import Analytics from 'analytics'
import intercomPlugin from '@analytics/intercom'

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'awesome-app',
  plugins: [
    intercomPlugin({
      appId: '123-xyz'
    })
  ]
})

Configuration options for server-side

Optiondescription
appId
required - string		Your Intercom app id

Additional examples

Below are additional implementation examples.

Server-side ES6 
import Analytics from 'analytics'
import intercomPlugin from '@analytics/intercom'

const analytics = Analytics({
  app: 'awesome-app',
  plugins: [
    intercomPlugin({
      appId: '123-xyz'
    })
    // ...other plugins
  ]
})

/* Track a page view */
analytics.page()

/* Track a custom event */
analytics.track('cartCheckout', {
  item: 'pink socks',
  price: 20
})

/* Identify a visitor */
analytics.identify('user-id-xyz', {
  firstName: 'bill',
  lastName: 'murray'
})
Server-side Node.js with common JS

If using node, you will want to import the .default

const analyticsLib = require('analytics').default
const intercomPlugin = require('@analytics/intercom').default

const analytics = analyticsLib({
  app: 'my-app-name',
  plugins: [
    intercomPlugin({
      appId: '123-xyz'
    })
  ]
})

/* Track a page view */
analytics.page()

/* Track a custom event */
analytics.track('cartCheckout', {
  item: 'pink socks',
  price: 20
})

/* Identify a visitor */
analytics.identify('user-id-xyz', {
  firstName: 'bill',
  lastName: 'murray'
})
Using in HTML

Below is an example of importing via the unpkg CDN. Please note this will pull in the latest version of the package.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Using @analytics/intercom in HTML</title>
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/analytics/dist/analytics.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://unpkg.com/@analytics/intercom/dist/@analytics/intercom.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      /* Initialize analytics */
      var Analytics = _analytics.init({
        app: 'my-app-name',
        plugins: [
          analyticsIntercom({
            appId: '123-xyz'
          })
        ]
      })

      /* Track a page view */
      analytics.page()

      /* Track a custom event */
      analytics.track('cartCheckout', {
        item: 'pink socks',
        price: 20
      })

      /* Identify a visitor */
      analytics.identify('user-id-xyz', {
        firstName: 'bill',
        lastName: 'murray'
      })
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    ....
  </body>
</html>
Using in HTML via ES Modules

Using @analytics/intercom in ESM modules.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Using @analytics/intercom in HTML via ESModules</title>
    <script>
      // Polyfill process.
      // **Note**: Because `import`s are hoisted, we need a separate, prior <script> block.
      window.process = window.process || { env: { NODE_ENV: 'production' } }
    </script>
    <script type="module">
      import analytics from 'https://unpkg.com/analytics/lib/analytics.browser.es.js?module'
      import analyticsIntercom from 'https://unpkg.com/@analytics/intercom/lib/analytics-plugin-intercom.browser.es.js?module'
      /* Initialize analytics */
      const Analytics = analytics({
        app: 'analytics-html-demo',
        debug: true,
        plugins: [
          analyticsIntercom({
            appId: '123-xyz'
          })
          // ... add any other third party analytics plugins
        ]
      })

      /* Track a page view */
      analytics.page()

      /* Track a custom event */
      analytics.track('cartCheckout', {
        item: 'pink socks',
        price: 20
      })

      /* Identify a visitor */
      analytics.identify('user-id-xyz', {
        firstName: 'bill',
        lastName: 'murray'
      })
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    ....
  </body>
</html>

Custom browser methos

This plugin exposes some custom intercom methods thanks to custom methods on plugins.

See reference api for additional information

actions

startTour(tourId) shutdown() hide() show() showMessages() showNewMessage()

hooks

The following methods require a function as an argument onShow(callback) onUnreadCountChange(callback)

Browser Example

import Analytics from "analytics";
import intercomPlugin from "@analytics/intercom";

// Initialize analytics instance with plugins
const analytics = Analytics({
  app: "your-app-name",
  plugins: [
    intercomPlugin({
      appId: "123-xyz",
    }),
  ],
});

// Usage:
// Now you can call intercom.startTour in your app like so
analytics.plugins.intercom.startTour("tourID");

// hook usage:
analytics.plugins.intercom.onShow(() => {
  console.log("fires when intercom launcher is shown");
});