Using Flow Builder to automate conversations

Flow Builder allows you to create custom conversation flows for automating web and mobile messaging interactions with your customers, giving them the opportunity to self-serve their support issues before connecting with agents.

Note: You must have Zendesk messaging enabled to use Flow Builder. See Enabling Zendesk messaging for more information.

In this article, we’ll describe how to use Flow Builder. We recommend reading About Flow Builder before following the procedures described here.

This article includes the following topics:

• Creating a new flow
• Editing steps in a flow
• Inserting messages into a flow
• Managing a flow's language
• Deleting steps and flows

The following video provides an overview of conversation flows and how they work:

How conversation flows work (1:43)

Creating a new flow

Each brand with messaging enabled immediately has a complete, working default flow that you can leave as-is. You can also edit some steps or insert new message steps to better meet your needs.

However, you may want to create a new flow from the ground up. Your flow can be as simple as a single step offering a customized greeting, or include multiple branches based on customer responses. To create a new flow from scratch, you’ll need to first delete the brand’s default flow.

By default, a flow’s static text elements – those Answer Bot messages that cannot be customized, such as the feedback and fallback flows – are created and displayed in your account's default Support language. You can also select one of Answer Bot's supported languages for these elements, as well as the default, out-of-the-box flow, and enable automatic translations for the customizable text elements. See Managing a flow's language for more information.

The following video shows the steps involved in building a conversation flow:

How to build a conversation flow (2:08)

To create a new flow

1. In Admin Center, click the Channels icon (), then click Flow Builder in the left column.
2. Locate the brand you want to create a flow for, and click Configure.
3. If needed, select a language for your flow.
4. In the Flow, click Add the first step.
5. In the Configuration panel, use the Select action drop-down to choose the type of step you want to begin the flow and configure the step as needed
6. Add the next step by clicking the Add a step icon (), then follow the instructions in step 4, above.
7. Repeat until you've added all of the required steps, then click Publish in the footer.

As you are building your flow, don't forget to use the Previewer to test how the conversation will be seen by your end users.

Editing steps in a flow

You may need to change your flow by editing or deleting steps. You cannot edit a step's type. However, you can edit some of the details in a step's configuration.

To edit a step in a flow

1. Click the step you want to edit. Its details appear in the Configuration panel.
2. Edit the elements you want to change:
   • Displayed message (all step types): Update the text in the Bot says box.
   • Options (Present options step): Update the options in the text box. To delete an option, click the trash can icon. To add an option, click Add an option. To reorder options, click the grip icon to drag-and-drop them into position.
   • Suggested articles (Show Help Center articles step): To delete a suggested article, click … and select Delete. Use the Select article search box to add additional articles.
   • Information collecting fields (Handoff steps): To delete a field, click … and select Delete. Use the Fields drop-down to add additional custom fields (text or drop-down field types only).
3. Click Publish when you've finished making your changes.

Inserting messages into a flow

In some instances, you can add a message into the middle of an existing flow if needed.

To add a message step into a flow

1. Hover over the connecting line between a message step and its subsequent step.

   

2. Click the Add new icon ().
3. In the Configuration panel, use the drop-down menu to select Send message, then enter the message text.
4. Repeat as needed, then Publish your updated flow.

Managing a flow's language

By default, the static text elements in a flow appear to your end users in your account's default language. You can, however, choose to display those text elements in any of the languages supported in Answer Bot. Additionally, you can enable automatic translation to present a conversational flow in the language an end user has selected in their browser.

For more information, see Managing languages in Flow Builder.

Deleting steps and flows

Deleting a step removes all subsequent steps from the flow as well.

To delete a step in a flow

1. Click the step you want to delete. It opens in the Configuration panel.
2. At the top of the Configuration panel, click the Trash can icon (). If there are subsequent steps, click Delete steps in the warning box.
3. Click Publish when you've finished making your changes.