Write the first message a new lead gets

First message is the first row on the Workflows tab of Inbox, above the workflows themselves. What you write there is the WhatsApp a new lead gets soon after landing in your sheet, before anybody has read their name. The row carries a chip, Live, Practising or Off, and a switch. Press its name and the editor opens with First message as its heading and a back arrow to the list.

The row only exists for a business with a Google Sheet behind it. A number people write to gets a Welcome message row instead, covered at the end.

Write the message

To set the wording:

1. Open Inbox, then Workflows, then press First message at the top of the list.
2. Type into What a new lead receives, under the Everyone the sources missed heading.
3. Press Add their name or details to drop in a column from your sheet, such as {{Name}}.
4. Press Split into a new message wherever one WhatsApp should end and the next begin.
5. Read Their lead sees beside the box.
6. Press Save changes.

Their lead sees is the real thing, drawn with a real row of your sheet: the bubbles the lead gets, in the order they arrive, pictures included. A split shows up there as separate bubbles.

The line under When we cannot use their name is sent only when the sheet has no usable name for that person. Leave it empty and nothing extra is sent.

Choose who the message goes to

The switch at the top of the editor, the same one the row carries, turns the whole thing on and off for this business. With it on, Messages go to offers two answers. Me, for now sends the wording to you so you can read it on your own phone, and the lead gets nothing. The lead is live.

Practise first. A lead is texted once, and a wording you’d rather not have sent can’t be taken back.

Give a source its own message

Leads arrive tagged with where they came from, and each tag can have wording of its own. Open Different message by source.

1. Press + Add a source.
2. Type the tag as your sheet spells it, and pick is exactly this or contains this.
3. Write the message and read the preview beside it.
4. Press Save changes.

Every source on this sheet lists every tag on the sheet with the number of leads behind it. A tag nobody has written for is marked, and the Write one button beside it starts the wording already spelt with that tag. A tag with no wording and no default message sends nothing at all, quietly, which is what that list exists to catch.

The box under Everyone the sources missed answers every tag you haven’t written for. Its label changes to What everyone else receives as soon as one source has wording of its own.

Be told when a lead arrives

Tell me on WhatsApp holds the number your own new-lead alert goes to. Type it the way you’d write it to a friend, without +65.

Note

Don’t put the alert’s own sending number here. An alert sent from a number to itself is filed by WhatsApp as a note to yourself, so the message is recorded as sent and your phone never rings. The editor says so under the box when it spots this, and it won’t save until you fix it.

Send yourself a test

The button under the wording reads Send a test to and a number, and sends the current wording there whether the message is live or not. Until a number is set it reads Add a number in Setup to send a test.

The sheet’s own settings

Setup, on the header of the Workflows list, opens Setup for this sheet. Send tests to is the number the test button uses. Wait before sending and Pause between messages are both in seconds, and the first of those is added to how long a new lead waits.

Under them, This sheet is a list of facts rather than fields. It names the sheet’s tab, which number the leads are texted from, which number your alerts come from, which pipeline new leads go to, Most per day and whether the sheet is being watched. A district admin can change the numbers and the pipeline from there; everybody else reads them. Setup only appears for a business with a sheet.

On a business line with no sheet

A number people write to, rather than one that texts a list, has no rows and no placeholders. Its Workflows list opens with a Welcome message row instead. The line under the row says what its switch does: off, nobody who messages you first gets a reply; on, it’s sent once to anybody who messages you first, and never to anyone that number has spoken to before. Press the row to write it.

FAQ

Can I send a picture with it?

Yes. Paste it straight into the wording box, or use Add a picture or PDF under Pictures and files. Keep each file under 15MB. A message split into several parts sends the pictures last.

Why did the lead’s name disappear from the preview?

The sheet’s value wasn’t a name the message could use, so it was left out and the ask line took its place. The note under the preview says which column was dropped, or how the name was respelt.

Nothing is going out. What should I check first?

The switch on the First message row, then whether a district admin has texting on for the whole district. The row’s second line says which of the two is stopping it. See Turn texting, agents, rules or workflows off for the district.

Does saving send anything?

No. Save changes only stores the wording. Leads are texted as they arrive, and only while the mode is set to The lead.