A Flow is a form that opens inside WhatsApp. The person taps a button on your message, answers one or more screens and submits. They never leave the chat. The answers land on the contact and on the Submissions page.
What a Flow is
- Use a Flow while you're already talking to someone: a booking, a sign-up, a quick survey.
- A Flow can be sent only inside the 24-hour window. To reach someone outside it, send a template first.
- To collect leads from a website or an ad, use a form. Anyone can open it.
Before you start
- Connect a WhatsApp number. A Flow belongs to one WhatsApp account.
- To save answers to a field of your own, create the field first.
- Owners, Admins and Managers can build and publish Flows. Analysts can view them.
Build a Flow
- Go to Lead capture → WhatsApp Flows and click New flow.
- Enter the Name, choose the WhatsApp account and click Create.
- Under Basics, set Button on the message and Last screen's button. Check the categories: WhatsApp asks for at least one.
- Under Screens, give the screen a Title.
- Choose a Question type and click Add. Enter a Label. Name is the column name in exports.
- Choose Save to contact field to copy an answer to the contact.
- Click Add screen for another page. Each screen is one page in WhatsApp.
- Click Check with WhatsApp. Fix anything it lists.
- Click Publish.
The preview on the right shows each screen. WhatsApp applies its own styling.
| Question type | Label length | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Short text, Long text, Email, Phone, Number | 20 | Helper text is optional, up to 80 characters. |
| Dropdown | 20 | Up to 200 options, each up to 30 characters. |
| Choose one, Choose several | 30 | Up to 20 options, each up to 30 characters. |
| Date | 40 | Helper text is optional, up to 80 characters. |
| Consent checkbox | 120 | Up to 5 per screen. See below. |
| Heading, Paragraph | No label | Text only. Up to 80 and 4,096 characters. |
A Flow has up to 10 screens and needs at least one question. Every screen needs at least one question or text.
Consent in a Flow
Only a Consent checkbox records consent. Use Ticking it records to choose Marketing consent or Service-update consent. The label is kept as the text they agreed to, with the token of that Flow message as evidence. A Flow is the person's own action, so ticking the box can also reverse their own opt-out. If they don't tick it, nothing changes.
Publish, change and retire
- Check with WhatsApp asks WhatsApp to validate the Flow. It doesn't publish anything.
- Publish makes it ready to send. Your plan limits how many Flows can be published.
- Publish changes creates a new version at WhatsApp and retires the old one. Messages already sent keep working.
- Retire stops a Flow being sent. Its status becomes deprecated. Completions already in progress still arrive. A retired Flow can't be edited.
Flows that load data
A question can offer live choices instead of options typed into the builder. The options you type are then only WhatsApp's preview example.
| Data from | How to set it up | Do you need a server? |
|---|---|---|
| Bookings | On a choice question, set Options come from to a list or to Free times of a calendar (books the slot). On a date question, set Days offered. | No |
| Orders | Tick This Flow places an order and say which question is which. Questions can show products, sizes, colours and payment choices. | No |
| Your own system | Tick Load from your system before this screen opens, and choose a webhook endpoint under Data comes from. | Yes |
- Bookings and Orders choices appear only when those modules are on for your organisation.
- A booking is made when the customer taps the last button. If the slot was just taken, they stay on the screen and see the times still free.
- A Flow can book one slot. Only one question can offer free times, and not on the first screen.
- The first screen can't load from your system. Ask something first.
- A screen uses your system or i-Connect lists and calendars, not both.
- Your server has 5 seconds to answer. Use Test lookup to try it.
- Use Preview data to see what a person would be offered right now from Bookings or Orders.
Send a Flow
From the inbox:
- Open a conversation with the 24-hour window open.
- Click Flow under the reply box.
- Choose the Flow, add a Message above the button if you like, and click Send.
From a sequence:
- Add a Send WhatsApp Flow step and choose a published Flow.
- Connect the window closed exit, usually to a template.
- To branch on whether they finished, add Wait for reply set to A completed WhatsApp Flow.
Without a message, the text above the button is the Flow's name. The message can be up to 1,024 characters. Inside the window, a Flow is sent unless the person sent a stop-everything keyword such as STOP ALL. See Who can receive what.
Responses
When someone submits a Flow:
- The answers are saved as a submission. Find them under Lead capture → Submissions, or click the Completed count on the Flows page.
- Answers with Save to contact field go to the contact. For a choice, the contact gets the text the person saw.
- A ticked Consent checkbox records consent.
- The conversation shows which Flow was completed, and the assigned teammate gets a notification.
- Sequences waiting for it carry on, and A WhatsApp Flow is completed can start one.
A Flow doesn't add tags by itself. To tag people who finish, start a sequence with an Update contact step.
The Flows page shows Sent and Completed for each Flow.
What can go wrong
- "Fix these before publishing". The list names the screen and question. Lines starting "WhatsApp:" come from WhatsApp itself.
- "The 24-hour window closed". Send an approved template, and send the Flow once they reply.
- "This flow belongs to a different WhatsApp account than this number". A Flow can only go from numbers on its own account.
- "The flow has nothing to offer on its first screen". A list or calendar on the first screen has nothing to show. Check it in Bookings or Orders.
- "Your server's last answer didn't work" in the builder. The person saw a "please try again" message. Fix your server and use Test lookup.
- "Nothing is available right now" seen by a customer. There were no options to show at that moment, so they stay on the screen.
Still stuck? Write to support@i-connect.world with your organisation's name and what you see on screen.