Customer sends their first or any message

How to create Workflows to manage inbound conversations or replies over a broad range of channels.

Written By Markus from Featurebase

Last updated 3 months ago

Overview

The “Customer sends their first message” and “Customer sends any message” triggers let you build powerful, flexible automations for inbound messages.

You can use them to tag conversations, update data, or take automated actions when specific keywords appear in a customer’s message - helping your team save time and stay organized.

Common use cases

  • Tag conversations: Automatically tag messages that contain keywords like price or billing

  • Set conversation data: Update attributes based on what customers mention

  • Route messages: Assign conversations to the right team depending on content or intent

  • Language-based automation: Trigger workflows based on detected language

  • Email auto replies: Automatically reply to email support queries to set expectations

Get started

  1. Go to Automations → Workflows

  2. Click + New Workflow and choose Create from scratch

  3. Select the trigger Customer sends their first reply or Customer sends any message

With “Customer sends any message”, the trigger runs whenever a customer sends any message, including their first message or follow-ups in an ongoing conversation.

Configure trigger settings

First, configure the Trigger settings of this workflow to decide:

  • Where to send (e.g. Web, Email)

  • Audience (e.g. users, visitors, or specific customer segments)

  • Scheduling (e.g. always, or only during/outside of office hours)

For example, you could trigger different workflows for logged-in users, trial customers, or high-value accounts through email or the Messenger widget.

When finished, click Save and close to start building your workflow.

The workflow will trigger whenever a message is received on the selected channels and the customer matches your defined Audience rules.

Build your workflow

Now you can start building your Workflow by adding actions such as:

  • Apply rules (e.g. tag a conversation if the message contains “price.”)

  • Assign conversation (route messages to specific teams based on intent)

  • Add note (leave internal notes for teammates)

And much more.

Examples

Tag and route keyword-based messages

You can automatically tag and route conversations based on message content. For example, when a customer message contains the word ‘upgrade’, tag them as ‘Expansion lead’ and assign the conversation to the Sales team:

  1. Set the trigger as “Customer sends any message”

  2. Add a Branch rules action with these conditions:

    • If message contains ‘upgrade’ → Tag end-user as ‘Expansion lead’ and assign to Sales

    • If message contains ‘bug’ → Assign to Technical support

Route conversations based on customer's timezone

YYou can automatically assign conversations to the correct regional team depending on the customer’s detected timezone.

  1. Set the trigger as “Customer sends their first message”

  2. Add a Branch rules action with these conditions:

    • If customer timezone contains ‘america’ → assign to Support (Americas)

    • If customer timezone contains ‘europe’ or 'africa’ → assign to Support (EMEA)

    • If customer timezone contains ‘asia’ or 'australia’ → assign to Support (APAC)

Or add the Branch rules based on languages, for example:

  • If Locale contains French → Assign to French Support