> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Volume Spike, Intercom > Detects an abnormal surge in new Intercom conversations over the last 24 hours versus a 30-day baseline. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained) • **Category:** [Helpdesk / Customer Support](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > New conversations in the last 24 hours, flagged when they run more than two standard deviations above your 30-day baseline — your early warning that something just broke or went viral. ## At a glance > **Volume Spike** watches the rate at which new conversations land in your Intercom inbox and raises a flag when today's inbound runs far above what's normal for your store. It is an anomaly detector, not a counter: the headline is the count of new conversations in the last 24 hours, but its job is to tell you when that count is statistically unusual. For Blitz, a sudden surge almost always has a single root cause — a broken checkout, a delivery-carrier outage, a stock-out on a hyped drop, or a marketing email that landed wrong. Catching the spike early lets you fix the cause before the inbox becomes unmanageable. | | | | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | New Intercom conversations created in the trailing 24 hours (`conversations` filtered by `created_at`), compared against the mean and standard deviation of daily new-conversation volume over the preceding 30 days. The card reports the 24-hour count and flags when it exceeds the baseline by more than 2σ. | | **Sample type** | API-derived: a rolling 24-hour count benchmarked against a computed 30-day daily-volume distribution. | | **Why it matters** | A volume spike is the leading indicator of an operational problem upstream of support — a payment failure wave, a shipping delay, a site bug, or a viral moment. It tells you to look outward (what changed?) before you drown in inbound. | | **Reading the value** | A flagged spike means today's inbound is abnormally high for your store, not just "busy". Treat the flag, not the raw number, as the signal — what's a spike for a quiet B2B desk is a normal Tuesday for a high-volume retailer, which is why the baseline is per-store. | | **Currency** | number | | **Time window** | `24H` | | **Alert trigger** | `>2σ vs 30D baseline` | | **Sentiment key** | — | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Vortex IQ counts conversations created in the trailing 24 hours via the `conversations` search endpoint filtered on `created_at`. In parallel it computes the mean (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of daily new-conversation counts over the preceding 30 days. The card flags an anomaly when the 24-hour count exceeds μ + 2σ — roughly the top \~2.5% of expected daily volumes, so genuinely unusual rather than merely high. The baseline self-adjusts as your normal volume shifts, so a growing store doesn't get false alarms and a quiet desk still catches its smaller spikes. ## Worked example *A representative reading of **Volume Spike** for Blitz.* Blitz's 30-day baseline is a mean of 90 new conversations a day with a standard deviation of 18, so the spike line sits at 90 + (2 × 18) = 126. On most days the inbox takes 70–110 conversations and the card stays quiet. On Thursday it reports `184` and flags red — well past 126. The support lead opens the underlying tags and sees a cluster of "payment declined at checkout" conversations created since 14:00. That points straight at the payments stack; she cross-references the Support Spike on Failed Payments card, confirms a card-acquirer issue, loops in the founder, and posts a banner on the site to deflect duplicate contacts. To understand *why* the spike concentrated in one hour, she uses Vortex Mind; to ask "what tags are driving today's volume?" she uses Ask Viq. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why merchants reach for it | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [`ic_conversation_volume_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/conversation-volume-trend) | The full trend line behind the spike — see whether this is a one-day blip or the start of a sustained climb. | | [`ic_new_conversations_today`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/new-conversations-today) | The raw today-count this spike detector is built on. | | [`ic_top_topics_tags`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/top-topics-tags) | The fastest way to find what a spike is about — which tags surged. | | [`ic_xc_support_spike_failed_payments`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/support-spike-on-failed-payments) | The most common revenue-at-risk cause of a spike; cross-references payment failures. | | [`ic_alert_sla_breach`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/sla-breaches-live) | A spike usually causes breaches within hours — watch both to manage the downstream impact. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Intercom's own dashboard:** In Intercom, go to **Reports → Conversations** (or the **Conversation volume** report) and set the range to the last 24 hours, then compare against a 30-day daily view. Intercom shows you new-conversation counts over time but does not compute a statistical spike flag — so you'll be eyeballing the bar height against recent days. To find what's driving it, open **Reports → Topics** or filter the conversation list by tag and `created_at` = today. **Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:** | Reason | Direction | What to do | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Spike is statistical, not raw.** Vortex IQ flags relative to *your* 30-day baseline; Intercom shows only the raw count. A high day may not be flagged if your variance is naturally wide. | Conceptual | Read the flag, not just the number — the baseline is the point. | | **24-hour rolling vs calendar day.** Vortex IQ uses a trailing 24-hour window; Intercom reports often use calendar days in the workspace time zone. | Variable | Align the window when comparing exact counts. | | **Conversation vs message counting.** This card counts new *conversations*; some Intercom views count inbound *messages*, which inflates the number for multi-message threads. | Vortex IQ may read lower | Compare against Intercom's "new conversations" metric specifically. | | **Baseline warm-up.** A connector live for under 30 days has a shorter baseline and may flag more readily until enough history accumulates. | Vortex IQ may over-flag early | Allow the baseline to mature for accurate sensitivity. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** a spike with no obvious support cause often traces to a commerce or payments event — cross-reference the failed-payments and out-of-stock cards. For divergence investigations, use Vortex Mind. ## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Q: How often does Volume Spike update?** The 24-hour count refreshes on the standard data refresh (typically every 30–60 minutes); the 30-day baseline recomputes daily. During an incident, force a manual refresh to see the latest count. **Q: Why does my Intercom report not show a "spike"?** Intercom reports raw volume; it does not compute a per-store statistical baseline or a 2σ flag. The spike detection is the value Vortex IQ adds — the same raw count can be a non-event for a high-variance store and an alert for a steady one. **Q: I had a spike but the inbox felt fine — was it a false alarm?** Not necessarily. A spike that gets absorbed by good staffing is still worth knowing about because the *cause* (a payment wave, a shipping delay) may still be hurting revenue even if support coped. Use the tags and cross-channel siblings to find the root cause. **Q: Can I change the sensitivity?** Yes. The `>2σ` threshold is configurable per profile in the Sensitivity tab — tighten to 1.5σ to catch smaller surges or loosen to 2.5σ for a noisy, seasonal inbox. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Volume Spike* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Intercom and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.