A screen that opens inside WhatsApp itself. Your customer taps a button below your message and a form slides up. No browser, no login, no clicking away.
An interactive form inside the chat. You design the screens. The customer stays in WhatsApp. System integration is possible, not required.
Jamal explains in four minutes what a Flow is, why your customer never has to switch apps, and when you need a server connection and when you do not.
The video loads only after you click. It is spoken in Dutch.
A WhatsApp Flow is an interactive screen that opens inside the chat. Your customer taps a button below your message and a form slides up with dropdowns, text fields, or date pickers. It all happens inside WhatsApp. No browser, no cookie banner, no password login someone forgot years ago. The customer stays where they already are. You design the screens yourself. Keep it simple: two fields and a button. Or go further: multiple steps with conditions, where the next screen depends on what someone entered before. It all runs on Meta's WhatsApp Business API. You need a verified Meta business account and a number on the API. We build this as a Meta Tech Provider, custom to the systems you already use. What you pay is a fixed monthly fee covering the integration, maintenance, and adjustments, plus only Meta's message costs.
Meta advises: a Flow should take no longer than five minutes. One task per screen, not too many components. Ignore that and people drop off halfway. You will not see where, unless you have connected your own server. Without a connection you only see who completed the Flow. Who opened and quit is invisible.
There is another reason to keep it light. Requests to a connected server time out after ten seconds. That is enough for a simple lookup, not for heavy calculations. Keep it light, or build endpointless until you need live data. That builds faster and the screen opens faster.
In a regular chat you have two options. Reply buttons: up to three. Or a list message: one button that opens ten options. For many appointments that is enough. Your customer chooses, you get a message, you book manually.
A Flow adds more. Up to 200 options, free input, date and time pickers. Multiple questions in one screen, and screens that build on each other. Live data from your system: which times are still free? You see the appointment straight in your calendar, no back and forth.
| In the chat | With Flow | |
|---|---|---|
| Options | Maximum 10 | Up to 200, plus free input |
| Input | Fixed choices | Numbers, text, dates |
| Screens | One list | Multiple, with logic |
| Connection | You check | Live with your system |
| Result | Message by message | Complete at once |
| Best for | Simple choices | Complex forms |
The strongest example is a calculator. You combine your professional knowledge with the two or three things only the customer knows. They get an answer for their own situation, not a brochure they have to work through themselves.
In the video Jamal mentions someone selling houses in Spain. That seller knows what goes on top of the asking price: tax, notary, transfer costs. And that it varies by region, and differs for new builds. The customer knows their budget, the region, and whether they want new build. Tap, tap, tap, and they see what they will actually pay.
We built this for a home battery installer. Annual roof production in, annual consumption in, estimated savings out. Below that the question: may an advisor call? The customer knows immediately if it is worth it. The seller knows immediately who is serious.
You can build a Flow two ways. Endpointless: the data comes back in a message after completion. Or connected: your own server gets a request when someone opens the first screen, and another at every transition to the next screen. If they quit, nothing comes in; you infer that from the next step never arriving.
Meta's advice is clear: start endpointless. Only connect your own server if you need live data during entry, for example when booking tickets or checking availability.
We connect as soon as a Flow sits in a campaign and we want to know who opens it but does not finish. That gap between open and complete is valuable for adjusting your campaign. It is also more complex: you must maintain a server that responds within ten seconds. But it gives you numbers that Meta itself does not return.
Then people drop off and you cannot see where. Meta advises a five-minute maximum. Exceed that and you lose sight of where it goes wrong.
A Flow is not a portal. You can upload documents and photos, up to 25 MB per file. But logging into an existing account is not possible, and a recurring dossier someone returns to belongs on your own environment.
Do not use a Flow if a simple message with buttons achieves the same. A Flow is only worth it when you can do something buttons cannot.
A Flow is only useful if you do something with it. If answers disappear into an inbox no one reads, you are building a dead end. Sort your process first, then your form.
Meta publishes worked examples. Signing up for a service, booking an appointment, getting an insurance quote, applying for a loan, requesting a personal offer. These are patterns that work across many sectors.
Farmacias del Ahorro, a pharmacy chain in Mexico, moved medical consultation requests to a Flow. WhatsApp published the results: 160 percent more consultations, and 88 percent of surveyed customers preferred the new way. That is Meta's own marketing material, from October 2023, built with partner Yalo. The methodology is not included, so read it as indication, not guarantee.
A Flow costs nothing extra at Meta. You pay the standard message rate for the message containing the button. The category of that message sets the price. Exact amounts vary by country. See our pricing guide for current rates.
We build the Flow for you, custom, on the systems you already use. It simply sits within your monthly subscription. No separate project, no separate invoice.
A verified Meta business account. A phone number on the WhatsApp Business API, not the free app. A Tech Provider to build the Flow and make the connection. And a go-live with Meta. Business verification takes time you cannot control. So we arrange that first, before we start building.
A campaign that brings back leads who said 'not now', with the home battery installer's calculator inside and answers back into HubSpot.
How to make visible the difference between people who do not click, people who open the Flow but do not finish, and people who do complete it.
Meta's actual rates by country and category, and what to watch when you are costing out a campaign.
Verification, templates and message limits: what you arrange before you can send, and in what order.
Technical documentation on what a Flow is, how to build one, and what requirements you must meet.
Meta's own advice: five minute maximum, one task per screen, and when to build endpointless versus with server connection.
How to connect your own server, what is in the requests, and that you must respond within ten seconds.
The case study of the Mexican pharmacy chain, with numbers on more consultations and customer satisfaction.
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