The Wait for event node pauses a flow until a specific event occurs, allowing the system to respond based on customer actions. It’s commonly used to create dynamic, two-way conversations where the next step depends on what the customer says, clicks, or doesn’t do.

This helps you:

• Make conversations feel more natural and two-way
• Handle different reply types (e.g. “Book a table,” “Opening hours,” “Other answer,” “No reply”)
• Re-engage customers who haven’t replied within a given time frame

Wait for message reply

Wait for message reply is one of the options available under the Wait for event node. This node pauses the flow until the customer responds with a message that meets your specified criteria, for example, a keyword, button click, or no reply.

Example use case

When a message is sent from the flow (e.g. “Would you like to book a table?”), the wait for message reply node starts counting down the time you set, for example, 30 minutes.

• If the contact replies within that time, the flow branches based on the matched response (e.g. “Book a table,” “Opening hours,” or “Other answer”).
• If the contact doesn’t reply, the flow follows the “No reply received” branch after the timeout.

This allows you to automate both response handling and follow-up actions seamlessly.

Manually set up “Wait for message reply” node

1. Click on the “Wait for message reply” node to open up its node form, which will appear on the right side of the screen
2. The node form contains the following fields for you to set up the trigger:

• Setup tab
  • Event name: Select the event that will trigger the flow to continue (e.g., message reply, quick reply button click) You can select either:
    • Message received: The flow will wait until the customer sends a message that matches your specified parameters 
    • Label updated:The flow will wait until a contact’s label changes (e.g., a label is added or removed) before moving forward

• Timeout if no reply after: Define the amount of time the system should wait before timeout 
• Time unit: Choose the time unit for the timeout setting. You can select:
  • Seconds
  • Minutes 
  • Hours
  • Days
     
• Filter tab
  • Enrollment conditions: When toggled on, you can set specific conditions at the “Filter” tab that the customer must meet in order to be enrolled into the flow

Set up “Wait for message reply” in Send message 

When you add a Send message action node and toggle on Button as branch, the system will automatically insert a Wait for message reply node and generate separate branches based on the available reply options. This allows the flow to move in different directions depending on how the customer responds.

This feature is currently only supported for WhatsApp and requires the following setup:

• Channel: WhatsApp
• Send via: Manually selected WhatsApp channel (Exclude Incoming channel)
• Button type: Quick reply or List message

If you’re using another channel type or message format, the “Button as branch” and “Wait for message reply” options will not appear.

Learn more about send message action node in this article: Configuring "Messaging" action nodes