Open a WhatsApp Flow from a bot

Open WhatsApp Flow opens a form inside WhatsApp. The customer works through its questions and submits, then the conversation continues with their answers. A form can have several screens. Use it when structured questions would otherwise take several back-and-forth messages.

This step works on WhatsApp only. On another channel, use a supported collection step for ordinary details or route the customer to your team. Do not replace a required form for sensitive information with ordinary chat questions.

Before you start

You need a WhatsApp Flow that is published to the number this bot is bound to. Flows are built and published separately from the bot; this step only chooses one and opens it. See Build and publish a WhatsApp Flow.

When Qyra includes a Catalog Form or Case action in a bot plan, it uses the form configured on that action. A Form action collects answers; a Case action opens a Case with its configured review requirements. Submitting a Case is not the same as having it approved.

If that form is missing, unpublished, or unavailable on the chosen number, Qyra keeps the path blocked. Update the form and its Catalog connection, then refresh the plan. Creating another form alone does not connect it to the action.

A Book, Buy or Request quote action can also require a form for particular details. The Bot returns the accepted submission to the same request and keeps the customer's earlier choices. Submitting this information does not itself book, purchase or accept a quote; the customer still reviews the request before the booking, order or quote request can continue. Sensitive details must use the configured form instead of ordinary chat questions.

Set it up

1. Add Open WhatsApp Flow to the canvas and select it.
2. Choose the Flow the customer will open. This is required — the step cannot run without one.
3. If the form applies for a Catalog item, such as a membership application, choose that item's Catalog action. Whether the item still accepts applications is decided by the item when the form opens; if it no longer does, the step takes its Flow Unavailable route.
4. Write the Message that appears above the button, explaining why you are asking.
5. Set the Button text the customer taps to open the form, such as "Continue".
6. Set Save response as so later steps can use what the customer submitted.

Use what the customer submitted

The saved response holds the answers from the form. Refer to it in a later message the same way as any other saved value, with {{ }}.

Because the customer answers everything inside the form, the whole submission arrives at once rather than one answer per message.

Connect the routes

The step has two routes:

• Flow Submitted — the customer completed and submitted the form. This route is required.
• Flow Unavailable — the form could not be opened. Connect it to the explanation or help you want to offer. If no route is connected, the bot asks your team to help rather than completing the form.

A form can be unavailable because it is not published for that number, its selected version is no longer available, or the conversation is on another channel. Explain the problem and offer help. Ordinary questions are an alternative only for details that do not require the form; keep sensitive collection in the approved form or hand over to your team.

Common problems

A step marked Incomplete cannot be used in a published bot. Select the incomplete step and the settings panel shows what must be fixed.

Here, the usual causes are:

• No Flow has been chosen
• The Flow Submitted route is not connected
• The selected Flow is not published to the WhatsApp number this bot is bound to
• The chosen Catalog action no longer accepts applications, or opens a different revision of the Flow than the step
• The conversation is on a channel other than WhatsApp. This step cannot open the form there; connect Flow Unavailable to a suitable explanation or human handoff and review the bot's channel checks before publishing

Test it

Use Flow preview to walk the conversation as a customer would. Flow preview does not send any messages and does not contact any customer.

To see the form itself as a customer sees it, preview the Flow from where Flows are managed rather than from the bot canvas.

Activate it

Publish the bot once its required setup and routes are ready. To use it with customers, connect the published bot to the intended Inbox and WhatsApp number. Test a real form submission and the unavailable path in a test conversation before offering it to customers. Publishing alone does not connect the bot or prove either path works.

Related

• Build and publish a WhatsApp Flow
• Build a bot on the canvas
• Ask the customer for a detail