Chat Choices, Branches and Collecting Replies

A script that only sends messages is a broadcast with extra steps. Two features turn it into a conversation: choices, which let the person pick a direction, and collect fields, which let the script wait for something they type.

Adding choices

Under every message is an Add choice field — type a label, press Enter, and it becomes a chip. Each chip renders as a tappable button beneath that message in the DM.

Two choices, two branches. The tabs under 'Select a choice and enter a message for each option' switch between them

Add a choice and a new row appears: Select a choice and enter a message for each option, with one tab per choice. Selecting a tab shows that branch’s script, and the box below is prompted with the choice’s name — Type message for “DS”.

Every branch needs a message. An empty one shows Required field in red and the automation won’t publish until it’s filled. That’s deliberate: a button that leads nowhere is worse than no button.

A few things worth knowing before you build a deep tree:

• Choices are the only branching a chat script has. It can’t branch on who the person is, whether they follow you, or what they said in free text — that’s what the Conditions node in the Flow builder is for.
• Branches carry on independently. Each one can have its own steps, its own further choices, and its own collect fields.
• Keep the labels short. They’re buttons in a chat bubble, so two or three words read best — Get expert tips, Discover products.

Collecting a reply

A collect field pauses the script, waits for the person to type, validates what they send, and saves it to their contact record.

Ask in the message, collect with the field, confirm in the next step

The field sits between two steps: the message above asks the question, the field catches the answer, and the step below responds to it. Ask plainly — the field validates the format, but it can’t make an unexplained prompt feel less abrupt.

Email, Phone or Any

The dropdown on the collect field decides what counts as a valid answer.

Three field types. Any accepts free text, so use it for names and open questions

Type	Accepts
Email	A valid email address
Phone	A phone number
Any	Whatever they type — names, a city, an open answer

Email and Phone land in Contacts alongside everything collected by your post automations, ready to export or push into your CRM with Zapier.

Any is the one to be careful with — it accepts anything, including “why?”, so only use it where a wrong answer costs nothing.

The trash icon beside the dropdown removes the field, leaving the messages either side of it intact.

Ask for one thing at a time

Every collect field is a point where someone can stop replying, and the drop-off compounds. Ask for the email while they still want the thing you promised, and leave the phone number and the name for automations where you genuinely need them.

A worked shape

The pattern most chat scripts end up in:

1. Greet and offer choices — “What are you here for?” with two or three buttons.
2. Branch — each button gets a message that actually answers it.
3. Collect where it’s earned — ask for the email in the branch where you’re about to send something by email, not at the top for everyone.
4. Confirm — a short closing message so the thread doesn’t end on their reply.

The Capture leads and Sell templates are both this shape, already built.