Workflows
Build fixed button and form journeys for menus, lead capture, booking requests, and bounded follow-up.
Workflows#
A Workflow is a fixed path. Customers tap buttons, fill a short form, or follow the next message you wrote. Find them under Agent Studio → Workflows.
Use a Workflow when the path should be the same every time. Use a Procedure when the agent should adapt the steps, required details, and handoff to what the customer says. Starting a Procedure from a Workflow does not turn the Workflow into a Procedure.
Customers follow the published Workflow only. Test draft does not send it to them, and a Workflow with no matching start does not run.
When to Use a Workflow#
| Use a Workflow | Use something else |
|---|---|
| A menu such as "What can I help with today?" | A goal with rules and required details — a Procedure |
| Lead details in a set order | A refund, claim, or application — a Custom Form |
| A guided booking or service request made of buttons and fields | Live availability and a saved appointment — Booking |
| One customer's reminder, with a wait and a stop | One message to many people — Broadcasts |
The agent can offer a published Workflow at the right moment, then return to conversation when the path ends.
How a Workflow Starts#
Only starts that are ready to publish will run. The ones you can use include:
| Start | When it runs |
|---|---|
| Customer sends a matching message | The message matches the wording or meaning you describe |
| Customer sends any message | Checked only after more specific Workflows |
| Customer sends their first message | Once per conversation, after more specific Workflows. The first reply may still come from your knowledge |
| Customer messages from a Meta ad | The first message carries a Facebook or Instagram ad referral you match |
| No automatic start | A Web Widget or Help Page starter, or a Procedure, selects this Workflow |
| Conversation is closed, reopened, or snoozed | That lifecycle change happens |
| Customer has not replied | No other Workflow owns the conversation, and the channel still allows the send |
Starts that the editor marks as not ready cannot be published. Do not plan a live journey around one of those.
Steps You Can Add#
| Step | What the customer gets |
|---|---|
| Message | Text, an image, or tappable choices |
| Let AI answer | An answer from trained content, then the next step you set |
| Ask & save answer | One captured reply, such as text, email, phone, or a number |
| Open a form | A Custom Form. On the web this is a form card. On Messenger the questions are asked in text until the form is complete |
| Wait | A delay of up to 7 days, then a next step. The wait can stop if the customer or a teammate replies first |
| Ask for a rating | A rating after the conversation |
| Run an action | One exact tool, with the inputs you set. Calendar and Lead Collection use Start a Procedure instead |
| Start a Procedure | Hands the goal to an adaptive Procedure |
| Hand off to team | Sends the customer to your team. That is not an Activity ticket |
| End | Stops this path |
Run an action does not mean the outside work succeeded. Publishing is blocked when the selected tool is disabled or still needs setup. The customer should hear a completed booking, payment, order, or delivery only after that tool succeeds. See Follow-up for wait and stop rules.
A reminder after Meta's 24-hour window, on WhatsApp or Messenger, needs an approved template and has to be about something the customer already started. Instagram does not send that later template reminder.