Build Conversational WhatsApp Workflows: Replies, Branching & Flow Forms

Conversational WhatsApp workflows turn your automation canvas into a chatbot: a customer messages you on WhatsApp, the workflow reads what they said, branches on it, and replies — sending a template, a Flow form, or an internal alert to your team. Four purpose-built nodes make this possible: the WhatsApp Reply Received trigger, the WhatsApp Reply Condition, Send WhatsApp Form, and Send WhatsApp Internal. This article explains each node's configuration and how to chain them into a flow. For the canvas basics, see How to Create a Workflow.

Before you start#

Target module — set the workflow's module to Contacts. The WhatsApp Reply trigger always runs against the Contact (matched by phone, or upserted from a form submission), and choosing Contacts up front keeps downstream Update field and Assign owner actions resolving correctly.
Approved assets — have at least one approved WhatsApp template ready, and for form steps an approved WhatsApp Flow form. See WhatsApp Forms.
Merge tags — because the trigger resolves the Contact, you can use {{contact.x}} merge tags in every downstream step.

The trigger: WhatsApp Reply Received#

Add WhatsApp Reply Received as the workflow's starting node. It fires on an inbound WhatsApp message or a WhatsApp-form submission. A Source selector switches between the two shapes:

Inbound message (default) — fires on a text reply. Set Reply matches to one of: Any reply (fires on anything), Contains, Starts with, Equals, Ends with, or Matches regex. For every operator except Any reply, enter a Match value (for example interested, or a pattern like ^(yes|interested) for regex).
Form submission — fires when a customer submits a WhatsApp form. Pick a Form: Any form matches every approved form, or select a specific one to narrow it. When a specific form is chosen you can add optional Field conditions — per-field rules (field + operator + match value) using the same operators minus Any reply. With no rules, the trigger fires on any submission of that form.

💡

Only approved forms appear in the Form picker. If the list is empty, create and submit a form for Meta approval first, then come back — details in WhatsApp Forms.

The branch: WhatsApp Reply Condition#

Drop a WhatsApp Reply Condition after a step where the customer has replied. It reads the customer's inbound WhatsApp reply text and splits the flow into two outputs: Match (first branch) and No Match (second). Configure:

Operator — Contains (default), Starts with, Equals, Ends with, or Matches regex.
Match value — the text to test the reply against (labelled Regular expression when the operator is Matches regex, for example ^(yes|interested)$).

⚠️

This condition only works inside a workflow triggered by WhatsApp Reply Received — it has nothing to read otherwise. The editor warns you when no such trigger is on the canvas. For non-message logic, use a standard If / Else branch instead.

Send a Flow form: Send WhatsApp Form#

The Flow form send lives inside the unified Send WhatsApp action node. Add a Send WhatsApp step, set the Send type to Flow form, then configure:

Recipient — Record Phone Field (the contact's WhatsApp number, the default), Record Owner, or Custom Phone Number.
WhatsApp Form — the approved Flow form to send. If none exist, a prompt links you to create one.
Message text — the message that introduces the form.
Button text — the tappable button label (defaults to Fill Form, maximum 20 characters).

Switching Send type to Template message instead sends an approved WhatsApp template — the two variants share the same recipient setting, so you can toggle between them without losing your configuration.

Alert your team: Send WhatsApp Internal#

Send WhatsApp Internal notifies internal team members rather than the customer — useful for hand-offs the moment a hot reply lands. Configure:

Team members — select the users who receive the notification.
WhatsApp Template — an approved template built for the workflow's module. Its placeholders resolve from the workflow's contact, so your team sees who replied.

Only approved templates rooted at the trigger module appear; a mismatched template is flagged so you can swap it for the right one.

Chaining them into a chatbot flow#

Start with WhatsApp Reply Received — inbound message (for example, a keyword) or a form submission.
Ask — use Send WhatsApp to send a Template message posing a question, or Send WhatsApp Form to collect structured answers.
Branch — add a WhatsApp Reply Condition to route the customer's next reply down the Match or No Match path.
Act — on each branch, send a different WhatsApp message, update a field, assign an owner, or fire Send WhatsApp Internal to hand a qualified lead to your team.

✅

Because the trigger resolves the Contact by phone, every step in the flow can personalise with {{contact.x}} merge tags and every branch stays on the same customer record.

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