Remote work is quickly becoming the norm, with many companies utilizing tools like Slack for internal and external communication. But some conversations can become tedious, and no one wants to have repetitive work or tasks. That’s where a Slack bot comes in. This tool helps automate specific tasks so you can complete more meaningful work.

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Here’s how to create a Slack bot.

What is a Slack Bot?

Simply put, Slack bots help you automate certain tasks and jobs that would otherwise consume an excessive amount of your time. This includes simple tasks like replying to frequently asked questions and replying with gifs, just to name a few.

The Benefits of Using Slack Bots

There are many benefits to utilizing Slack bots. They include:

  • Minimizing tedious tasks and decreasing the workload for a teamOffering reminders about meetings and important dates/tasksAnswering frequently asked questions for customers or internal employees and contractorsHelp setting to-do lists to keep users on track

And that’s just the start of all the things Slack bots can offer!

Potential Cons of Using Slack Bots

Of course, every useful tool does come with a few potential drawbacks. For Slack bots, however, there are very few that you need to be concerned with. First, some Slack bots work with external tools, which may require paying subscription or membership fees. Second, more complex bots need to be set up by someone with development and coding experience.

How to Create a Slack Bot

Before we get started, the following steps will be how to create a Slack bot without coding anything. If you need to create your own Slack bot that’s not available via apps or based on simple commands, you’ll want to follow Slack’s guide to creating one.

Step 1: Log In to Slack

First, you’ll log in to your Slack account, and go to your Profile. Then, you’ll navigate to Account Settings.

Step 2: Navigate to Slackbot

Once you’ve reached your account settings, you can now navigate to the page that helps you create a Slack bot. To do this, you’ll go to the menu located in the left-hand corner, and click Customize.

From there, it will take you to a page that has three options — Emoji, Slackbot, and Channel Prefixes. You’ll want to click on the Slackbot option.

Step 3: Set Up Your New Slack Bot

You can now set up a simple command Slack bot. This means that the bot will respond if people ask a specific question or with certain keywords. The example we used asks about membership and pricing, with the bot responding to how much it costs.

Once you’ve created the Slack bot and its responses, don’t forget to click Save!

Step 4: Confirm Slack Bot Set Up

Once you’ve saved your new Slack bot, you’ll want to navigate back to the workspace that you set it up with. From there, you can go to any channel, type in your question, and the Slack bot should respond. If not, follow the steps above again and be sure to click save.

And that’s it! That’s how to create a simple Slack bot without any coding required.

How to Create a Slack Bot with Apps

Another way to create a Slack bot includes utilizing apps that have been created for Slack specifically.

To do this you’ll log in to Slack and view the directory. You can type in almost any task or what you want into the search directory and see if there is an app available. Let’s choose a birthday bot to practice that wishes team members “happy birthday!”

Once you click to install the app, you’ll follow the directions they specify to add the bot to your Slack channel. For the birthday bot, we follow these steps.

Wrapping Up

Slack bots are fantastic tools for improving work productivity. You can set up a variety of slack bots to save time and energy for you, employees, and even customers so you can focus on more crucial activities. This guide can help you create a slack bot simply, and find bots that work well for your unique needs.