Using ‘Wait for Response’ in a Flow

A Wait for Response split action evaluates the input provided by your contact and supplies the tools needed to determine subsequent actions. You can configure a response rule to assess the contact’s input and, if desired, proceed with the flow even when no response is received. Continue reading for further details.

Configuring a Response Rule

To evaluate a contact’s response, you can establish a response rule within your Wait for Response node. This might involve an open-ended question requiring no specific rule—such as collecting a name or free-text response—or it might necessitate gathering more precise information like an email address, numerical value, or exact phrase. Response rules help verify that a contact’s input meets your criteria.

In the following example, we request the contact’s date of birth.

First, we send a message asking for the date, then configure our Wait for Response node:

The node is configured as follows:

1. The response rule is set to ‘Has a date’ to ensure only valid dates are accepted. If the contact replies with non-date information, they are directed through the ‘Other’ category and prompted to resubmit.

2. We have categorized the response. You may choose any category name; we use ‘Has Date’ for clarity in flow analytics and results.

3. We have assigned a name to the result. If unnamed, results default to labels like Result 1, Result 2, etc., which can become confusing. Assigning a name allows you to reference it later using variables. We highly recommend naming all results. Note that results are saved within the flow. To store information in the contact’s profile, use the Update contact action, making it accessible across the workspace. Results are limited to 640 characters.

4. We have enabled continuation after a specified period without response—5 minutes in this case. This is optional and elaborated below.

Proceeding Without Response

If a contact becomes distracted and does not reply, yet a response is necessary, you can add a timeout. This may trigger a reminder message looping back to the Wait for Response node, advance the contact to another node, or notify them that they can resume the flow later.

In this example, if the contact does not respond within 5 minutes, they receive a reminder message including the keyword to restart the flow.

Preventing Endless Loops

Avoiding Endless Loops

Using the ‘continue when there is no response’ feature risks trapping contacts in endless loops or repeatedly messaging uninterested contacts.

To mitigate this, use the expression @node.visit_count within a ‘Split by Expression’ action to limit how many times a contact may pass through the node.

Storing a Contact’s Response

A ‘Wait for Response’ node collects and saves responses within the flow. To store the response as a field in the contact’s account information, use the Update the Contact action after each relevant ‘Wait for Response’ node.

This action saves the response as a contact field for future reference. For instance, you can collect and update the contact’s name to address them personally in subsequent interactions.