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How to build a flow

Helpdesk Updated by Helpdesk

How to create a new flow

  1. Go to your WATI Dashboard and navigate to Automation
  2. Click on Flows from the Automation Menu
  3. Click on the green button that says "Add Flow"
  1. Now you will see a page with a lot of templates you can either choose a template if your flow idea is similar. However, if you want to start from scratch you can do that too.
  1. If you choose to start from scratch you can press the green button and a pop-up will show up for your flow name.

2 How to build flow

Basically, we will just need to drag-and-drop, fill data, and click save changes. You can follow the below steps:

  1. Click "Send a message" to the board if you want to use it
  2. Click "Ask a question" to the board if you want to use it
  3. Click "Set a condition" to the board if you want to use it
  4. Click the "<<" button to enlarge the map (hide the node options)
  5. Follow the sequence, it is: zoom in, zoom out, put to normal percentage, and in the centre, lock/unlock the zoom by mouse.
  6. Floating window: help you to see overall of the flow.
  7. Click to "Save Flow"

3 Types of flow nodes

There are 3 types of flow nodes:

3.1 Send a Message => With no response required from visitors

Usually, this will be the last node in each branch of the flow. There are 5 types of messages, and no user input is expected:

  1. Text
  2. Image
  3. Video
  4. Audio
  5. Document (pdf, docs, etc)

3.2 Ask a Question => User input is expected and required validation

There are 2 types of answer reply:

  • Users can set a pre-defined list in the "Add answer variant" for customers to follow. With each reply, the user can drag the arrow into the subsequent node to create the next step. It means it will go to a specific node if the condition is matched. For E.g. if the user types hello, it will go to the next node matching hello. If the user types something else, it will go to the fallback node.
  • Users can save the customer's input data into a variable in "Save Answers in a variable". Note: this variable can be used anywhere through the flow as input for other nodes.

Users can type a question and can choose the validation rule under the Advanced option so that it can validate user input and return errors if not validated. There are 5 types of advance validation currently: * Number: User can define min and max value, along with Validation error message. If the user inputs any number, not in the range, the error message will be prompted until the user can input it correctly.

**. Date: If the user inputs any text that is not in date format, the error message will be prompted until the user can input it correctly.

***. Date + Time: If the user inputs any text that is not in date and time format, the error message will be prompted until the user can input it correctly.

***. Time: If the user inputs any text that is not in time format, the error message will be prompted until the user can input it correctly.

****. Pattern (Regex): There is a field "Regex pattern" for the user to input pattern rule eg National ID: If the user input any text that is not date format, the error message will be prompted until the user can input it correctly.

Question node with Expected Answers: if no condition matches (Expected Answer default answer is already implemented)

Below is an example of the existing default flow:

2.3.3 Conditions:

Condition is used to determine which node should go next based on the saved variables. It consists of 3 elements:

  • IF @ input: Where we write/select the variable(or/and use CustomParam) that we want to check. Note: The CustomParam is the parameter that we store the customer's input value in the current flow.
  • Condition Operator (equal to, not equal to, contains, does not contain, starts with, does not start with)
  • Value / Variable input: Where we write/select the variable or a value (string or number) that we want to check against the first variable
  • Add rule (AND & OR): To add more than one rule. TRUE output (Green dot), FALSE output (Red dot)

To learn more about creating templates with buttons, you may refer to How to trigger a flow with template?

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How to use Questions for Flow builder

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