Your first workflow

What this does

In Small Business Chatbot, a workflow starts on an event and runs its steps in order. This one starts when a website chat with your AI chatbot ends. It waits ten minutes, texts the visitor, then emails them.

A new workflow is a draft and sends nothing. It sends only after you publish it and switch outbound sending on.

Where

Workflows

Time

About ten minutes

Before you start

• A business phone number. Texts go out from the number the AI receptionist answers calls on. See Phone number and voice.
• An address to send email from. See Sending domain.

Build it

1. Create a workflow

   In the app, open Workflows. Click the workflow menu at the top left, then New workflow +. The app creates a draft called "New Workflow" and opens it in the Editor.

   

2. Name it

   In the left column, under Name, type a name you'll recognise, such as "After-chat follow-up".

3. Pick the trigger

   On the canvas, click the Start Event card. In Select a start event, click Chat Widget Conversation Ended. Its window opens. This trigger has no settings, so click Close.

   

4. Add the wait

   Click the Action card under the trigger and pick Wait. Under Wait time, type 10 and pick Minutes. Click Close.

5. Add the text

   Click the round + under the wait. A new step opens as Variable. Under Node type, pick Send Text. Under Recipient phone, type {{trigger.phone}}. Under Message, type your text, for example: Hi {{trigger.first_name}}, thanks for chatting with us today. Text us here with any other questions. Click Close.

   

6. Add the email

   Click the + under the text step. Under Node type, pick Send Email. Fill in To with {{trigger.email}}, then From email, Sender name and Subject. Click the Body text tab and write the message. Click Close.

7. Save it

   Click Save workflow under the canvas. A red dot on the button means there are unsaved changes. The page shows "Workflow saved."

The {{trigger.…}} values are filled in from the chat when the workflow runs. Chat ended lists every one.

Publish it and switch sending on

1. Publish the workflow

   In the left column, under Status, click the switch so it moves from Draft to Published. Click Save workflow. The switch changes nothing until you save.

   

2. Switch on texts and emails

   In the app, open CRM › Contacts and click the Settings tab. Under Outbound automation, switch on Text messages and Emails. Click Save settings. The bar reads "Settings saved."

   

3. Test it

   In the app, open Chat Widget › Playground and chat with the chatbot. Give it your own name, phone number and email. Then open any other panel to end the chat. About a minute later, a run appears under Executions, waiting at the Wait step. Ten minutes after that, the text and the email arrive.

Fine-tune it

• To skip visitors who gave no phone number or email, put an If step before the text or the email.
• To stop the workflow when the visitor replies, tick Enabled under Stop workflows when contact replies in the left column. See Outbound switches and limits.

If something goes wrong

Executions shows each step's input, output and error.