Build a WhatsApp chatbot by adding blocks on a canvas. A trigger decides when the bot starts, message and question blocks run the conversation, and branching steps route each customer to the right answer or the right agent. No coding needed to get a useful bot live.
The bot builder is the visual flow editor inside WA.Expert. You start a flow with a trigger, then drop in the steps the conversation should follow. Each step is a block, and blocks join together to make a journey: greet the customer, ask a question, branch on the answer, send information, save the reply, and hand off to a person when it matters. This page explains the parts and links to the full walkthroughs in our help docs.
A trigger is the starting point of every flow. It defines the event that sets the bot running. Picking the right one keeps your routing clean and your tracking accurate.
These start the bot from something the customer sends. New Message Received fires on any incoming message, which suits a welcome or default reply. Message Match Keyword fires when a specific word is matched, good for intent-based routing. Hot Keyword is a priority trigger that overrides normal flows, useful for urgent or high-value enquiries.
Click to WhatsApp Ad starts the bot when someone arrives from a Meta ad, which lets you track campaigns end to end. Inbound Webhook lets an outside system, such as your CRM or backend, start a flow over an API call.
These react to things that happen in your account: Payment Received and Payment Failed for order confirmation or recovery, New Order Received and Order Updated for e-commerce, Mini App Submission after a form is sent back, and Missed Call Received for missed-call campaigns.
Here is the shape of a simple flow that greets a customer, offers a menu, and routes them to the right team. It is the pattern most businesses start with.
On a question block you can add a validation message for incorrect replies and set the expected answer type, for example text, number, or image. This stops bad data entering your flow and your CRM.
Blocks are the building steps inside a flow. They fall into a few groups. Each links to the full reference in our help docs.
Send content to the customer: text, single or multiple images, video, document, audio, location, and contact cards. There are also template blocks for messaging outside the 24-hour window, an order status block, and a carousel block for scrollable product or option cards.
Text, image, multiple image, video, document, audio, location, and contact blocks.
Read on help docsSend an approved template inside a flow to start a conversation outside the service window.
Read on help docsSend a scrollable set of cards, for example products or service options.
Read on help docsAsk the customer something and capture the reply. Use buttons or a list for fixed choices, free text for open answers, and validation to keep responses clean. Answers can be saved to a field for use later in the flow or in your CRM.
Collect a typed answer, a button choice, or a list selection, with validation and a response timeout.
Read on help docsStore hidden values behind buttons and use them to branch later in the flow.
Read on help docsSend a user from one step to another, or from one bot to another, to reuse flows.
Read on help docsRead from and write to a Google Sheet without leaving the flow. Store answers in real time, look up a row to personalise a reply, or build dynamic buttons from sheet data. Useful when a spreadsheet is your working database.
Write each answer to a Google Sheet row as the conversation happens.
Read on help docsLook up a value in a sheet and reply with the matching record.
Read on help docsBuild buttons or a list from sheet rows so options update themselves.
Read on help docsConnect a flow to the rest of your stack. An External API Request block calls any outside service and brings the answer back into the chat. You can also pass data from the bot builder into the automation builder to trigger a wider workflow, and validate replies with a regex pattern.
Call an outside API mid-conversation and use the response in the next message.
Read on help docsPass data to the automation builder to run a larger workflow from a chat.
Read on help docsCheck a typed answer against a pattern, for example an email or PIN code.
Read on help docsThe AI bot builder is rolling out and is marked beta. Each generation is chargeable and is drawn from your coin balance, so check it is enabled on your account before you plan a flow around it.
Instead of placing every block by hand, you can describe the bot you want in plain English and have the builder draft the flow for you. Open a new flow, set the channel and a trigger keyword, then choose the AI bot builder option and agree to the charge. Write a clear brief, for example “a lead validation bot for a car service centre that asks five questions”, and the system returns a working draft in about a minute. You then edit it like any other flow: add blocks, change buttons, or keep chatting with the AI to refine it. The more detail you give, the closer the first draft lands.
Bot Version 2 is a newer chatbot infrastructure that uses caching for faster, more reliable flows. It is being introduced gradually. To move an existing flow over you open it, switch to Version 2, then save and publish. Treat it as beta and test a flow before relying on it in production.
The newer infrastructure adds a draft and published split. You can save a partial flow as a draft and publish it later, and customers only ever experience the published version. That lets you edit a live bot safely, because your work in progress stays hidden until you choose to publish it.
A bot is also a clean way to fill your CRM. Create the fields you want first, for example city, customer category, product category, or GST number, then have the bot ask for each one and save the answer to the matching field. Every contact who completes the flow lands in the CRM already tagged and segmented, ready for a follow-up campaign.
Custom CRM fields are managed as Super Fields, which sit in the newer CRM. If your account is on the older CRM the field setup screen will differ. The bot side of this is stable either way: you are simply saving a question answer to a field.
| Goal | Block or setting to use |
|---|---|
| Keep the chat open after the first answer | Add a Stay in Session block |
| Reject a wrong answer and ask again | Set a validation message and expected answer type on the question block |
| Send the customer to a human | Add an assign step to route the chat to an agent in the team inbox |
| Reuse part of a flow | Use a GoTo block to jump to a shared step or another bot |
| Pull live data into the reply | Use an External API Request block, then reference its response in the next message |
How the no-code WhatsApp chatbot builder fits the ₹599 plan.
View on WA.ExpertWire WhatsApp into your CRM, store, payments, and AI providers.
Open Connect hubFor the complete step-by-step walkthrough of any block, with screenshots, see the bot builder section of our help docs.
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