Start Somebody Else in a Flow

The Start somebody else in a flow action allows you to initiate a separate flow for a different contact or group when the active contact reaches a specific step.

In the following example, we are starting fathers—referenced using the contact variable @fields.spouse—in a flow named “Questions for Dads” whenever expecting mothers reach the second step of a registration flow.

To create this step, add a new node and select “Start somebody else in a flow” from the action menu:

Here is how we configured this action in our example:

We selected the ‘Select recipients manually’ option and used the contact field @fields.spouse. When the mother progresses to this part of the flow, she continues forward while her spouse is simultaneously started in the “Questions for Dads” flow.

Creating a New Contact

The Start somebody else in a flow action can also be utilized to generate an entirely new contact through the flow it initiates.

In the example flow below, titled “Register Child”, mothers are prompted to provide the name and age of the child they are registering. After this information is gathered, the Start somebody else in a flow action triggers a new flow called “Create Child Contact”. This subsequent flow creates a new contact profile, populating the name and age fields via an Update the contact action using data collected in the previous “Register Child” flow.

The first flow is responsible for collecting the child’s information, while the second flow processes this data to create and update the child’s contact profile.

Register Child Flow

To generate the new child’s contact profile, choose ‘Create a new contact’ from the selection menu.

Once the mother completes the “Register Child” flow and triggers the Start somebody else in a flow action, the collected information is transferred to the “Create Child Contact” flow. Here, we update the child’s name and age fields:

In this flow, our objective is to update the child’s name and age using the Update the contact action. We also save the mother’s phone number to the child’s contact profile, as she will be our primary point of communication. To update these fields, we use the @parent variable, as the values are passed from the parent flow.

For the mother’s phone number, we use @parent.urns.tel. Note that the @urns variable is designated for address types, such as phone numbers. Learn more about variables here.

To save the child’s name and age in their contact profile, we employ the variable @parent.results.[field_name]. The example below demonstrates updating the child’s name:

The final step in the “Create Child Contact” flow is to send the mother a confirmation message using the @parent.urns.tel variable we previously updated. We utilize the Send somebody else a message action to notify her that her child’s contact profile has been created. This specific action is necessary—rather than a standard Send a message—because the child is the active contact in this flow. Since the child is active, we can use the @contact variable to reference their collected fields, such as name and age:

In this instance, @contact.name refers to the child’s name, not the mother’s.

You can verify the creation of the child’s profile by checking the “Contacts” page.

Sending Reminders for the Child

To send reminders to the mother on behalf of her child, you will need to create a campaign event directed at the child’s contact profile. This event should trigger a flow that uses either the Send somebody else a message or Start somebody else in a flow actions to message the mother. The address used will be the contact field containing the mother’s phone number, referenced as @contact.fields.mother_phone or abbreviated as @fields.mother_phone:

Remember, because the child is the active contact, we use @contact to reference their fields. In the example above, @contact.name will correspond to the child’s name.