Guided Flows

Guided Flows lead visitors through authored questions and options. Use them for order help, returns, product finders, lead capture, and other repeatable paths.

A flow can route an option to another question or to an outcome. Outcomes can complete the flow, return to the menu, hand off to a person, or reuse a custom outcome.

Turning Guided Flows on

Guided Flows is an integration you switch on per agent. Open Integrations → Guided Flows in the dashboard and turn the toggle on: the Guided flows builder appears in the sidebar and your published flows start serving on their channels. Agents that were already using guided flows before this toggle existed have it turned on automatically, so nothing changes for them.

Turning the toggle off hides every entry point immediately: the widget stops suggesting flows, WhatsApp keywords, menus, and automatic starts stop working, and Instagram entry points are removed from your profile. Nothing is deleted. Your flows, drafts, and even conversations that were in the middle of a flow are kept, and everything resumes when you turn the toggle back on.

Key concepts

• The draft is editable; publishing creates the version used by new conversations.
• Turning a flow off stops new entries without deleting the draft.
• Archiving hides the flow and stops active runs, so use it carefully.
• Strict input pauses free typing while options are active. The flexible policy also lets visitors type.
• On WhatsApp and Instagram, a customer can answer a question by typing instead of tapping: the option's number in the list, or its name. Capitalization and extra spaces never matter. A typed option always counts as an answer, so a question with a Cancel or Support option follows that option's own path instead of ending the flow.
• A question stays open when a customer types something else. The assistant answers what they asked, then points them back to the question they were on instead of replying as if the flow had ended. On WhatsApp and Instagram the same question is sent again right after the answer; in the chat widget the question and its options stay on screen, so answering it continues the flow straight away. The flow only ends when the customer asks for it with stop, cancel, agent, or menu, or when the flow reaches an ending.
• In the chat widget, a customer can also answer by typing, exactly as on WhatsApp and Instagram: the option's number in the list, or its name. This works whether they tapped an option or asked something in between.
• Channel labels have tighter limits than widget labels. WhatsApp allows up to ten options on a question.
• In the chat widget, enabled flows appear in a compact Guided help list by name, and each flow's description shows as a hover tooltip. When you enable more than a handful, a few show at once and a More button opens the full list, so every flow stays reachable without crowding the chat.
• On WhatsApp, options are shown in the way that is easiest to tap. When a question or the topic menu has three options or fewer and none of them use a subtitle, they appear as inline reply buttons the customer can tap right away. With more options, or when any option shows a subtitle, they appear as a tap-to-open selection list instead. Because a reply button has no subtitle, adding a WhatsApp subtitle to an option keeps that set as a list.
• On WhatsApp, the topic menu of published flows is offered to the customer automatically. It rides along with AI and Direct Answers. When the assistant has no answer (for example, to a greeting like "hi"), the menu is still sent on its own. A customer can also send menu at any time to bring the topic list back. While a flow is waiting on a question, that question is sent instead of the topic list, so the customer is never asked to start over mid-flow.
• A WhatsApp flow can also start when a customer types one of its saved Keywords. Add keywords in the flow's WhatsApp settings, separated with commas or new lines. Capitalization and extra spaces never matter.
• Once you add a keyword, choose how it is matched with Keyword match:
  • Exact message only (the default) starts the flow when the customer's whole message is the keyword, such as "track order".
  • Keyword found in message starts the flow when the keyword appears anywhere in the message, such as "hi, can you track order 123?". The keyword still has to be a full word, so "order" does not match "reorder" or "orders".
• If two flows could both match the same message, a flow whose keyword is the whole message wins. Otherwise the flow with the longest matching keyword wins, so "order status" is preferred over "order".
• A WhatsApp flow can also open on its own. Turn on Start automatically in the flow's WhatsApp settings and the customer's first message in a new chat is answered as usual, then this flow opens straight away instead of the topic list. It happens once per conversation, and only one flow per agent can be set this way.

Message usage

Starting a Guided Flow uses one AI message from your monthly allowance. This is counted once, at the moment the visitor opens the flow. Every question and option the visitor selects after that is free, no matter how many steps the flow has, so a long journey never costs more than a single reply.

If a visitor opens the same flow again later, that new start uses one message. Restarting or reopening the same flow from a double-tap or a refreshed page is not charged twice.

Troubleshooting

• A flow start was not counted. If your message allowance is already used up for the month, the flow still opens for the visitor, but the start may not be counted until your allowance renews or you add more messages. Check your usage on the billing page.
• I expected steps to be charged. Only the start of a flow uses a message. Moving between questions and options inside a running flow is always free.
• I cannot find Guided flows in the sidebar. The builder only appears while the integration is turned on. Open Integrations → Guided Flows and switch the toggle on; the sidebar entry appears right away.
• All my flows stopped appearing at once. Check the toggle under Integrations → Guided Flows. While it is off, no flow is shown or started on any channel, even published ones. Turn it back on and they return exactly as they were, including conversations that were mid-flow.
• My flows do not show on WhatsApp. Open the flow and check its settings: the WhatsApp channel switch must be turned on, and the flow must be published (a draft that was never published will not appear). The WhatsApp channel switch only becomes available after you connect WhatsApp in Integrations. After turning WhatsApp on, save the flow, then message the connected number; the topic list appears with your reply, or on its own if the assistant has no answer. You can also send menu to bring it back.
• My keyword will not save. A keyword can only belong to one flow for the same agent. Remove it from the other flow or choose a different phrase. Blank keywords, keywords longer than 60 characters, and more than 20 keywords on a single flow cannot be saved.
• A customer typed a keyword but the flow did not start. Keywords only work for published flows with the WhatsApp channel turned on. If Keyword match is set to Exact message only, the keyword must be the customer's entire message; switch to Keyword found in message to also match keywords inside a longer sentence. If the customer is already in a flow, their current flow continues instead.
• A flow starts when it should not. This usually means Keyword found in message is on with a very common keyword, such as "help" or "hi", so ordinary questions contain it. Use a more specific phrase like "track order", or switch that flow back to Exact message only.
• The wrong flow starts. Two flows have keywords that both fit the message. The longer keyword wins, so make the keywords more specific, or remove the overlapping keyword from the flow you do not want to start.
• I cannot find the Keyword match setting. It appears under the keywords box only after you add at least one keyword, and only while the WhatsApp channel is turned on for that flow.

Asking something else in the middle of a flow

• The assistant gave a general reply and ignored the flow. It should not. While a question is open, the answer ends by pointing the customer back to that question. If the reply reads as if the flow was over, check that the flow is still published and that the conversation is not assigned to a teammate.
• The question and its options disappeared. They do not. In the chat widget they stay on screen under the conversation while the customer chats; on WhatsApp and Instagram the question is sent again right after the answer.
• The customer wants the answer but not the flow. They can send stop or cancel to end guided help, or menu to pick a different topic. Nothing else ends a flow on its own.

Answering a question on WhatsApp or Instagram

• The flow seemed to end when the customer asked something else. It did not. The question is answered as usual and the same flow question is sent again straight after, so the customer can continue. If they still want out, they can send stop or cancel.
• The customer typed an option and nothing happened. The typed text has to match one option: its number in the list, or its name as shown. A different wording is treated as a new question instead. Keep option names short and easy to type, and avoid two options with names that read the same.
• The customer typed "cancel" and got the flow's Cancel step. That is intended when the open question offers an option with that name: the option the customer can see always wins. To end guided help instead, they can send stop or menu, or wait until no question is open.
• The question came back but the answer did not, or the other way round. The answer is always sent first and the question follows as its own message, so a short delay between them is normal. If only the answer arrived, the customer can send menu to reopen the flow list, or type the option name again.
• The customer keeps seeing the same question. Their reply is not matching an option and the flow is waiting. Ask them to reply with the option's number, or end guided help with stop.
• Nothing happens after the customer is transferred to a person. Guided help stays out of the way while a teammate is handling the conversation. The flow does not resume on its own after that.

Start automatically

• Start automatically will not save. Only one flow per agent can open new chats. The message names the flow that already has it; turn it off there first, then turn it on here.
• The flow did not open for a new customer. It opens only after the assistant answers the customer's very first message in that conversation, and only when the flow is published with the WhatsApp channel on. If the customer is already in a flow, has used a flow in this conversation before, or wrote menu, stop, or agent, that request is handled instead.
• It did not open a second time. This is intended. A conversation is offered the automatic start once, so a customer who finished or left the flow is not pulled back into it. They can still send a keyword or menu to open a flow again.
• The customer saw the topic list instead. The topic list is skipped only when the flow is set to start automatically and it is that customer's first message. It also stays for replies that already end in tappable buttons, such as an order confirmation.
• The reply arrived but the flow did not. The answer is always sent first, so a delay or hiccup on the flow message never removes the reply. The flow's first question is retried on its own; if it never arrives, the customer can send menu to pick the flow manually.