Creating a Keyword Trigger that Starts a Flow

A keyword is an assigned word in a message and can be used to start a flow. For example, you can set up a trigger with the keyword "JOIN" to start a flow that registers contacts for your service.

To create a new keyword trigger:

Go to Triggers, then click New Trigger at the top of the list. You can also click New Trigger in the Triggers menu.

Click the Start a flow based on keywords in an incoming message option.

Enter your keyword(s), then select the flow you want them to start. You can add multiple keywords to a single trigger, including misspellings.

Under Trigger When, choose whether the flow starts when the message contains only the keyword or when it starts with the keyword. The default is Message contains only the keyword.

Optional: Select the channel this trigger will operate on. If you leave it empty, the keyword will start the flow on any channel in your workspace.
Optional: Choose the group(s) your keyword trigger applies to. You can include and exclude groups. If you leave these fields empty, the trigger applies to anyone who sends the keyword.
Click Create to save.

The following example sets up a trigger that starts the Campus Events flow when members of the New Students group who are not members of the Off Campus group send a message starting with the keyword events, event or the misspelling evnts, on any channel.

Once it's created, the trigger appears in the list of active triggers and in the Messages folder:

Exclude the Open Tickets Group

When using the ticketing system, make sure to exclude the Open Tickets smart group from other triggers.

While a ticket is open, messages from the contact may be read as a keyword or as a message that doesn't match any keywords, which could start a flow by mistake. Contacts are added to the Open Tickets smart group automatically when a ticket is opened. If you exclude that group, these triggers ignore the contact while they talk with an agent through the ticket. When the ticket is closed, the contact is removed from the group automatically, and their messages can start flows again, including through keyword triggers and triggers for unmatched messages.