Functions

The elements in Flow that help you plan and direct your messages the way you want are called functions. They let you wait for events such as purchases to send a relevant message or have a failover channel in case the customer does not check the messages on the first one that you used.

Segment Audience

Split your audience based on attributes and behavior. If, for instance, you want to send different messages to people belonging to different age groups who recently checked out your web page, this is exactly what the Segment Audience element is for.

Attributes and events that you need for segmentation are selected in the element`s side panel.

Available attributes:

• Standard - basic, predefined customer information
• Custom - customer information that you define yourself in the People module
• Contact Information - email address, phone number, and other channels available for contacting this customer
• Channel Specific - showing when the customer was contacted last time
• Computed attributes -  customer information created from computed attributes

Operators per attribute:

BOOLEAN	TEXT	NUMBER	DATE
is	is	is	is
is not	is not	is not	is not
	contains	less than	before
	starts with	less than or equal	until
	ends with	greater than or equal	since
	is empty	greater than	after
	is not empty	is empty	is empty
		is not empty	is not empty
			will be in
			will be within
			will be more than
			was
			was within
			was more than
			was today

To get an idea how attributes work, select a custom attribute "age" and operator "less or equal" inside the Segment Audience side panel.

The types of events to be combined with attributes are as follows:

• External - actions on other platforms like websites and apps
• People - changes in profile information
• Channel - interaction with messages
• Product events - information about when a person entered or exited the communication flow

Visit the People Real-Time Event article to learn more about each type and then think about how to include them in your future communication campaigns. (The Wait for an Event trigger and element are used when you want to base your communication on events only, while the Segment Audience element allows you to use both attributes and events.)

So, if you were to send a message to two different age groups (attribute) who viewed your webpage (external event), the final setup would look like this:

Wait for an event

Use this element to perform specific actions based on events of person profiles who already entered the flow.. Example: Add the event, addToCart, to the Wait for an event element. When an end user adds an item to the cart on your website, the flow performs the actions that are specified for the add to cart happened branch in the next elements in the flow (Example: Send SMS message).

Use this element to identify how end users interact with your digital assets such as websites, how they react to your messages, and if there are any changes in their profile information.

For more information about events, refer to the People documentation.

Events tracked through the element

You can track the following categories of events through this element:

• External
• People
• Channel
• Product

Use cases for the element

The following are some examples of using this element.

• In abandoned cart campaigns when you want to remind customers that the products that they selected are still in the cart
• Offer a discount to end users who view the same item three or more times within 7 days.
• Other advanced multi-step campaigns.

Configure the element

Follow these steps to configure the element.

1. Define the condition by which flow audience needs to be branched.
2. (Optional) Save the information in variables.
3. Select the waiting time.
4. (Optional) Include events from the entrance of the flow.

For more information, refer to the following sections.

Define the conditions

Define one or more conditions that trigger the flow.

In each condition, do the following.

1. Select the event.
2. Select the operator for the event. You can target either customers who performed the action or those who did not perform the action.
3. Define the criteria for the event.
4. (Optional) If the event has properties, you can add them to the condition to refine the target audience.

Select the event

Select the event. For more information about events, refer to the Events documentation in People.

Follow these guidelines.

• To select a custom event, you must define the event, along with its properties, in People.
• For Product events, the person entered flow and person exited flow events are available. Use the event property fields to add the following:
  • The name of the flow or flow version (communication) where the event occurred.
  • The time when the event happened and the number of occurrences.

You can search by event name and filter by event type.

Select the operator

Select which end users you want to target.

• Happened: Targets end users who performed the action. You can set the time and number of occurrences. Example: To trigger the flow and send a communication the third time an event happens within a 7-day period, specify the time as within the last 7 days and the number of occurrences as equals 3 times.

  

• Not happened: Targets end users who did not perform the action. Example: An end user did not launch an App after a certain period.

Define the criteria for the condition

Each event has specific fields for the criteria. Complete all the fields.

You can include the names of the send elements and events from the current flow. This feature is available for active and drafted communications, but not for finished ones.

Add event properties to the condition (Optional)

If the event has properties, you can add them to the condition to refine the target audience. Select Property.

Add as many properties as required.

In the example shown in the following image, itemId, which is a property in the Item viewed event, is added as a filter.

Map event properties to flow variables (Optional)

If the event has properties, you can map them to flow variables. You can reuse these variables later in the flow.

Example: In your flow, you use the Wait for an Event element to wait for the end user to book an appointment. The event has properties such as Appointment time and Appointment name. You can save these properties as flow variables. At a later stage in the flow, you can use these variables to send the end user a confirmation message with the appointment details.

Depending on the configuration, the values of the mapped variables could change as the end user moves through the flow.

Example: You flow uses order delivery status as a variable. As the delivery event progresses to the next stage, the delivery status variable changes from Pending to Dispatched.

You can pass list attributes to flows. For more information, refer to the Pass lists in events to flows documentation.

For more information about creating and using variables, refer to the Map event properties to flow variables documentation.

Waiting

Specify how long the flow should wait for the event.

Select one of the following options.

• For specific time: Specify the duration.
• Indefinitely: If you select Indefinitely, the wait time is dependent on the flow schedule, which you configure in the Flow settings. If no flow element is activated for 1 year, the flow ends.

Include events from the entrance of the flow (Optional)

By default, the Wait for an event element considers events only when an end user arrives at this element in a flow.

If you want to wait for events that occurred earlier in the flow, select Include events from the entrance of the flow.

This option is useful to avoid situations where an end user gets stuck in a flow waiting for an event that might have already occurred.

Example: A marketer builds a funnel to track emails by using the Wait for an event element. This element waits for 3 events - Email sent, then Email opened, and then Email Link Clicked, each with a waiting period of 2 days. The end user opens the email but the email client blocks the Email opened event for privacy. After 2 days, the end user reaches the Email clicked event. But the waiting period for this event is over. So, the end user cannot move forward in the flow. If you enable Include events from the entrance of the flow, then the past events are considered, and the end user moves forward in the flow as expected.

If all the events in the conditions already happened before the flow started, the person does not enter the flow. However, if the flow is recurrent, the person enters the flow only if these events happen again.

Next steps

Configure each of the following:

• What happens if the event occurs during the waiting period: Add an element, such as SMS message, as the next step in the flow.
• What happens if the event does not occur during the waiting period: Add the next element in the flow.

Wait for Change in People Profile

When you want to wait a predetermined amount of time for a change in a specific attribute of a person who entered the Flow after an event happened, opt for the element called Wait for Change in People Profile.

This is what you will need to configure:

• The change in attribute the flow should wait for
• How long the Flow should wait for that change
• What happens if the change occurs during the waiting period
• What happens if the change doesn’t occur during the waiting period

• This element will be helpful in more advanced automation campaigns.

Wait for a Date

To continue your communication before, on, or after a specific date/time from a person`s profile, add the Wait for a Date element.

What you need to do beforehand is add this "profile information" as a custom attribute using our People platform.

There are several options available inside this element:

IS IN – use this condition to continue communication hours or days before the date/time you have set as a custom attribute inside the person profile.

For example, with “TrialExpiryDateTime is in 4 hours,” the customer will reach the next step in the flow when the current date/time is 4 hours before the one set in the TrialExpiryDateTimeattribute.

WAS – the amount of time that has passed after the set date/time had been reached. For instance, you would set “TrialExpiryDate was 1 day ago” to get the customer to the next step in the communication one day after the date set in the TrialExpiryDatecustom attribute.

IS TODAY – use it when you want the customer to get to the next step in communication on the very date set in the custom attribute (“DueDate is today”).

IS TOMORROW – the customer will reach the next step in the Flow one day before the date set in the custom attribute.

WAS YESTERDAY – the customer will reach the next step in the Flow one day after the date set in the custom attribute.

DO THIS ACTION EVERY YEAR – select this check box if you want to perform this same action every year for each person (ignores the year in the person attribute and makes it a recurring action).

You can also start a communication based on a specific date or time.

Pause

This is the element that delays your communication flow for a specific amount of time. For example, you send one message from the flow and you want to wait before sending another one. What you need to do is select Pause and then select the type of pause and its duration along with a time unit – seconds, minutes, hours, days.

There are 3 types of pause you can select from:

• Pause until a day and/or time - This will pause until the day or time milestone is hit. For example, Pause until Monday at 13:00.
• Pause for a period of time - This is useful if you want to set a generic waiting period that will start counting after the user comes into contact with the Pause element in the Flow. Choose from seconds, minutes, hours, and days. For example, Pause for 3 days until 13:00.
• Pause until an exact date and time - This is useful for planning user communications to remind users about an event that will happen at a known time. For example, sending a message before a holiday or appointment. Such as pause until 30th November at 13:00.

When the time specified for the pause passes, the next element (for instance, an SMS message) in the communication flow will be triggered.

The Pause element can also be used with all the Evaluate elements available in the Flow.

Update Person Profile

To update and save values for the customer standard or custom data attributes that are stored in the People module, use the Update Person Profile element.

Select Update Person Profile and then, in the right side panel, select the attribute you want to update and how you want the attribute to be updated. You can choose to update the person profile with a value, set it to empty (i.e. erase), or apply a formula to the attribute.

• If you select with value, then the user can add a static value, or select a different attribute from People or a variable using the curly brackets.
• If you select with formula, the expression editor will open you can define your formula using expression language.
• If you set to empty, then the data in the person profile attribute will be set to empty.

Any data that customers provide related to the plan will be saved on the People platform to help you in future communication campaigns.

Add or Remove Tag

If you want to mark customers based on their actions, use tags so that they can be included in any future communication based on these tags.

Flow supports two tag related elements:

1. Add tag
2. Remove tag

To get a better idea about how to apply this feature, check out how tags can be used for feedback.

Add or Remove from Do Not Contact List

When end users want to stop receiving communications from your business, they can opt out or unsubscribe. Use the Add to Do not contact list element to unsubscribe end users from communications sent from your Infobip account. These end users are added to the Do not contact list in People. A contact that is in this list does not receive any communication from the selected senders and channels.

When these end users opt back in, use the Remove from Do not contact list element to remove the contact from the Do not contact list.

Design the flow

Design your flow such that opt-ins or opt-outs are compliant with your local laws and regulations as well as with your corporate policy. Example: Track inbound keywords, such as Stop, to unsubscribe a contact.

Example

Use the Inbound message trigger or the Evaluate inbound message element to identify whether the end user's message contains the keyword to opt in or opt out.

Then, use the Add to Do not contact list and Remove from Do not contact list elements in your flow to add or remove these end users from the Do not contact list.

Add to Do not contact list

Use the Add to Do not contact list element to add end users to the Do not contact list.

You can add the following to the list.

• Channel. Messages are not sent on the selected channel. You can continue to send messages on other channels. Example: An end user wants to receive emails about offers but not SMS messages. In this case, add the SMS channel.

  The channel that you add does not necessarily need to be the same as the channel on which the end user contacted you.

• One or more senders for the selected channel. Messages are not sent from the selected senders. You can continue to send messages from other senders. Example: An end user wants to receive emails about offers but not your newsletter. In this case, add only the sender for newsletters.

When an end user comes to this element in the flow, the contact information from the end user's profile is added to the Do not contact list for the specified channel and senders.

Design the flow

To add an end user to the Do not contact list, do the following:

1. Add the Add to Do not contact list element to your flow.

2. In the element, select Add channel.

   

3. Select the channel that you want to add to the Do not contact list.

   

4. For the selected channel, select the senders that you want to add to the Do not contact list.

   

5. Define the next steps. Example: Send a message to the end user saying that they have successfully unsubscribed.

   

Remove from do not contact list

Use the Remove from Do not contact list element to remove end users from the Do not contact list.

You can remove end users from the list in the following ways.

• Simple mode: Use this option to remove a specific channel and senders for that channel from the Do not contact list for an end user. You can remove the following from the list.

  • Channel. Remove a channel from the Do not contact list. Messages can now be sent on the channel that you remove.

    Example: An end user wants to receive emails about offers but does not want to receive SMS messages. Remove the Email channel from the list to enable receiving email messages.

    The channel that you remove does not necessarily need to be the same as the channel on which the end user contacted you.

  • Senders for the selected channel. Remove one or more senders for the selected channel. Messages can now be sent from the senders that you remove.

    Example: An end user wants to receive emails about offers but does not want to receive your email newsletter. Remove only the email sender for offers to enable receiving offers.

  When an end user comes to this element in the flow, their contact information is removed from the Do not contact list for the specified channel and senders.

• Advanced mode: Use this option to remove all records of the end user's contact information (phone number and/or email) from the Do not contact list.

  Important

  Traffic to all phone number-based channels and/or email is unblocked.

  You can remove one or more of the following from the list.

  • Phone number. Remove all contact information for phone number-based channels. Example: SMS, WhatsApp, and Viber.
  • Email address. Remove all contact information for the Email channel.

  When an end user comes to this element in the flow, the specified contact information is removed from the Do not contact list.

Design the flow for Simple mode

In the Simple mode, you can remove only one channel and the senders for that channel through the Remove from do not contact list element. To remove more than one channel, add a Remove from do not contact list element for each channel.

To remove a channel from the Do not contact list, do the following:

1. Add the Remove from do not contact list element to your flow.

2. In the element, enable Simple mode.

   

3. Select Add channel.

   

4. Select the channel that you want to remove from the Do not contact list.

   

5. For the selected channel, select the senders that you want to remove from the Do not contact list.

   

6. (Optional) Add a branch to manage situations where the contact information was removed from the Do not contact list but there is a high record of the traffic being blocked. Select Condition.

   

   The branch is added to the element.

   

7. Define the next steps. Example: Send a message to the end user saying that they have successfully subscribed.

   

Design the flow for Advanced mode

To remove all records of the end user's contact information from the Do not contact list, do the following:

1. Add the Remove from do not contact list element to your flow.

2. In the element, disable Simple mode.

   

3. Select one or more of the following.

   • Phone number. Remove all contact information for phone number-based channels. Example: SMS, WhatsApp, and Viber.
   • Email address. Remove all contact information for the Email channel.
   

4. Define the next steps. Example: Send a message to the end user saying that they have successfully subscribed.

   

Split Audience

Divide your audiences and get more precise metrics about how they react to your content. The Split Audience element is especially useful when you want to do the following:

•    Perform simple experiments such as testing two versions of the same Email message as shown in the image below.
•    Create more advanced experiments that involve testing which channel (Email, SMS, Push, etc.) works best.

Notify Internal Recipients

Sometimes it is important to send an email or SMS notification to internal business units as part of a flow. Perhaps you would like to notify store managers, staff, or a physical store when a customer has started the process of returning an item. Maybe you would like to send a confirmation email to a physical store with an action reminder or even notify an employee that they do not have the authorization to do a particular operation.  All this can be done with the Notify Internal Recipients element.

This element is different from the send Email or SMS channels because here you set the exact recipient of the message and choose the channel in the element rather than defining it in the entry point when the flow begins.

When you add this element to your flow you choose if you would like to send SMS or Email and then compose your message in the message editor. You can define your recipient through manual input of the phone number / email address.

You can define your recipient through manual input of the phone number,  email address or using Flow Variables if you have dynamic recipients. For example, if the phone number of the store manager is different depending on what store the customer visits.

Track Performance

If you would like to track the performance of non-customer related communications that are generated using the Notify Internal Recipients element you can do so by hovering over the element in a flow. On hover you will be able to track total engagements for this element. Other performance metrics are coming soon.

Update Variable

Use the Update variable function to update the value of any Flow variables you have predefined. If you have multiple variables defined in your flow you can choose to update only a single variable or multiple variables at the same time. This is particularly useful if you need your session information like order status to be dynamic and adapt as the flow progresses i.e. from ordered to dispatched or canceled.

You can even make your variables go even further by using them with expression language. To set an expression inside the Update variable element, click the pencil icon next to the variable value field. See expression language to learn more.

Catalog lookup

Catalogs is an Infobip feature that enables you to create catalogs. Example: Catalogs of products, services, newsletters, and store locations.

Use the Catalog lookup element in your flow to obtain information from a catalog. In the element, compare a field in a catalog with an attribute in Moments. If there is a match, get the required information from the catalog. You can then use this information to send customized information to end users.

Example: You have a catalog that contains a list of store locations. An end user enters the flow. Use the Catalog lookup element to compare the City attribute from the end user's profile with the Address field in the Stores catalog. You can find a store that matches the city, save the address in a variable, and send the address to the end user.

Configure the element

Add the Catalog lookup element to the flow and configure the following fields.

Catalog: Name of the catalog in Catalogs. You can select only existing and active catalogs.

Catalog field: The required column in the data table to check and retrieve items. Example: Address field in the Stores catalog.

Operator: The operator compares the value of the Catalog field with the Attribute field. Example: is, is not, starts with, ends with, and contains.

Attribute: The attribute in Moments against which you want to compare the queried item in the catalog field. Example: City attribute from the end user's profile.

Variables (Optional): Use variables to temporarily store information related to the current session. You can then use the variables in subsequent steps in the flow. Example: You can save the address from the Stores catalog.

Start chatbot (Answers)

Use the Start chatbot (Answers) element to direct the end user from the flow to an Answers chatbot. After the chatbot session ends, the end user returns to the flow.

Prerequisites

• Answers enabled in your Infobip account. Only then, you can access the Start chatbot (Answers) element in your flow.

• An active Answers chatbot that uses a text-based channel such as SMS, Viber, or WhatsApp. To create a chatbot, refer to the Answers documentation.

  The Answers chatbot must use the same channel and sender that is used in the flow.

Criteria to design the flow

• The chatbot session can start only after it receives an initial message from the end user. Use the Evaluate inbound message element to obtain the end user's message.
• You can add the Start chatbot (Answers) element only after an Evaluate inbound message element. So, these 2 elements must be in the same branch in the flow.
• Transfer to agent must be done in the flow. If the chatbot contains the To agent element and the end user reaches this element, the end user returns to the flow. Use the Start a conversation element in the flow to connect the end user to an agent.

Process overview

1. The end user's message from the Evaluate inbound message element is sent to the Start chatbot (Answers) element through the LastInboundMessage variable.
2. When the end user reaches the Start chatbot (Answers) element, the flow automatically selects a chatbot that uses the same channel and sender that are configured in the Evaluate inbound message element.
3. The chatbot receives the message from the Start chatbot (Answers) element.
4. The chatbot session starts and the end user is redirected to the chatbot.
5. When the chatbot session ends, the end user returns to the flow.
6. The end user continues the journey based on the flow configuration.

Create the flow

1. Add an Evaluate inbound message element to the flow.

2. Configure the sender and condition in the element.

3. Add the Start chatbot (Answers) element to the same branch.

4. Configure the following fields in the element.

   • Chatbot sender: This field is prepopulated with the sender from the To recipient field in the Evaluate inbound message element.

     If you update the sender in the Evaluate inbound message element, you must update the sender in the Start chatbot (Answers) element. To do so, select Update chatbot sender.

     

   • Message received by chatbot: This field contains the LastInboundMessage variable by default. Specify any additional information and context that you want to share with the chatbot.

     The content of this field is sent to the chatbot.

   • Condition (Optional): Select one or more exit conditions to redirect the flow based on what happens in the chatbot session. In the Start chatbot (Answers) element, an exit branch is automatically added for each condition that you select.

     

5. For each exit branch in the Start chatbot (Answers) element, configure the next steps.

The following table contains descriptions of each condition and examples of the next steps for the condition.

Condition	Description	Example of next steps
Session not started	The chatbot session could not start. This could be for several reasons. Example: The chatbot was deactivated after the flow was activated.
Session ended externally (new session started)	The chatbot session ended because a new external session was started. Example: A new session was initiated for the end user through Conversations.
Session expired by timeout	The chatbot session timed out because the chatbot did not receive a response from the end user.	Retarget the end user the following day to check if their request was resolved successfully.
Closed by Close session element	The chatbot session was ended by the Close session element in the chatbot.
Chatbot deactivated	The chatbot was deactivated when the end user was in a chatbot session.
Transfer to agent failed	The chatbot was unable to transfer the conversation to an agent.	Add the Start a Conversation element to this branch to redirect the end user to an agent.
Session ended by user	The end user ended the chatbot session.

Analytics

To view the analytics for the Start chatbot (Answers) element, hover over the element in the flow.