Automation · Funnels
Funnels and bots
How to build a bot from steps: messages with buttons, waiting for a reply, delays, conditions and actions, runs and publishing.
What a funnel is
A funnel is a bot's scenario: what it writes, which buttons it shows, what it waits for and what it does with the answer. Automation → Funnels → New funnel. One funnel works in every channel (Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber) or in one you choose.
When it starts
| Trigger | When it fires |
|---|---|
| The /start command | Someone opens the bot for the first time or taps Start |
| A bot link (/start with a label) | Someone follows a link with a label, such as t.me/acme_shop_bot?start=promo |
| The contact's first message | A new contact writes anything |
| Keywords in a message | The message contains one of the words: "price", "delivery" |
| A deal entered a stage | The contact's deal reached the chosen stage |
| Manually or from another funnel | Another funnel's action or the assistant starts it |
When several funnels match, the one with the higher priority starts. A setting lets a contact go through the funnel again. Funnels leave a paused conversation alone (the Pause bots button in the chat).
Steps
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Message | Text, up to 10 media library files, buttons. It can wait for a text reply, a phone number or a button tap and save the answer to a contact field |
| Delay | Waits a number of seconds (3600 is an hour, 86400 a day). Sending can be limited to certain days and hours in your time zone |
| Condition | Branches, the first that matches wins: a field is filled or empty, equals, does not equal, contains, has a tag, lacks a tag |
| Actions | Add or remove a tag, set a field, set the contact's language, start another funnel, finish the funnel; with modules, send an email and an event for Facebook |
| End of the funnel | Ends the scenario |
A button leads to another step or, if it has an https link, opens a website. A step that waits for an answer can time out: a limit in minutes and an "if no answer" branch, to send a reminder after an hour, for instance.
Texts can include contact data: {{contact.first_name}}, {{contact.last_name}}, {{contact.name}}, {{contact.phone}}, {{contact.email}}, {{contact.language}} and custom fields as {{field.city}}.
Form and diagram
Edit steps as a form or on the Diagram, where steps are blocks and their exits (next, a button, a branch, a timeout) are joined by lines. Both editors work on the same draft, and the diagram saves by itself. A step with an error turns red.
Draft and publishing
Changes go to a draft and do not affect customers. Publish checks the funnel (no unreachable steps, no unnamed buttons, no endless loops) and creates a new version. New contacts start from it; those already in the funnel carry on from their current step if it exists in the new version.
Runs
The Runs tab shows who is in the funnel and at which step: running, waiting for the contact, finished, stopped, error. You can stop a single run, and Stop everyone takes everybody out of the funnel.
Media library
Automation → Media library holds files for funnels and broadcasts: photos (JPEG, PNG, WEBP, AVIF, GIF), MP4 video and PDF up to 12 MB, in folders. Photos can be cropped, rotated and flipped; camera data and location are stripped. A file used by a funnel or broadcast cannot be deleted.