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Use case

WhatsApp forms: collect customer details in the chat

Endelir asks for the details you need as steps in a WhatsApp chat, saves each answer on the contact record, and can start the next piece of work from it. Some enquiries need the same six details every time: name, city, what they want, how much, by when. Endelir asks for them as steps in the conversation and writes each answer onto the contact record as it arrives. The customer answers in the chat they are already in, and your team opens an enquiry that has already been filled in.

Updated · Written by the Endelir team

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The same six questions, typed out by hand, every time

Someone on your team types the questions one by one. The customer answers two of them, goes quiet, comes back the next morning and answers a third. The details end up spread over forty messages, so the next person to open the chat has to read the whole thing to find out what the enquiry is even for.

Sending a link to a web form is the usual escape, and it costs you people. The customer has to leave the conversation, wait for a page to load and start typing on a browser keyboard. Plenty of them do not come back. The ones who do fill it in have now put their answers somewhere that has no idea the conversation exists.

Ask in order, check the answer, keep it

You set the sequence up once. Each step asks for one thing, and where the choices are fixed — buying or renting, morning or afternoon, one of four courses — the customer taps a button or picks from a list instead of typing. Every answer is written onto the contact record against the field you named, as it comes in rather than at the end, so a half-finished enquiry still leaves you something.

This happens as ordinary messages in the chat, one step at a time. Endelir does not open a form panel inside WhatsApp with several fields on one screen — that is Meta's WhatsApp Flows, and we do not offer it yet. What you get instead is a sequence that can branch on an answer, hand the conversation to a team, call your own system and come back later, all without the customer leaving the chat.

How it works

  1. 1 A message starts it The customer writes to your business number — from an ad, a website button, a QR code, or your printed number. A keyword you set, or a first-ever message, starts the sequence.
  2. 2 One question per message The steps go out in the order you set. Fixed choices are sent as buttons or a list, so the answer comes back in the same words every time.
  3. 3 The answer is checked A step can match an answer exactly, look for a word inside it, test it against a pattern, or check a number falls in a range — and send anything that does not match down a different path, usually back to the same question.
  4. 4 It is saved straight away The answer is written onto the contact record under the field you named. It is not held in memory until the customer reaches the end.
  5. 5 The path can change An answer decides which question comes next, so nobody is asked about a delivery address when they said they would collect.
  6. 6 The work starts The finished set can assign the conversation to a team, call a URL on your own system, or wait a set time before following up.
  7. 7 A person can take over If someone on your team steps into the chat, the sequence pauses for that conversation, so the customer is not answered twice.

What this looks like in practice

A property company advertises two projects. Every enquiry needs the same four things before an agent's afternoon is worth spending on it: which project, buying or investing, roughly what budget, and how soon they want to move.

Those four go out as four steps. Budget and timing are sent as lists, so the answers come back as one of five bands rather than as "around eighty lakhs, maybe". The four values sit on the contact record, a step hands the conversation to the agent who covers that project, and the agent opens a chat that already says what the customer is after. Nobody had to type the questions, and nobody has to scroll to find the answers.

What can happen next

The answers reach your own system A step in the sequence calls a URL you own, with a request body you write yourself using the values collected. If your system replies, values from that reply can be used later in the same conversation.
The conversation goes to a team The enquiry is assigned based on what was answered, so it lands with the right people instead of a shared pile.
A person picks it up Anyone who opens the chat sees the answers on the contact record, in named fields, rather than scattered up the message history.
A follow-up waits A wait step leaves a gap — an hour, a day, a week — and then carries on with the next message.
An approved template goes out later Once the service window has closed, following up uses a message template Meta has approved in advance.
Nothing, for now If the customer stops halfway, what they already answered is saved and the rest is empty. That is an unfinished enquiry, not a booking, and it is visible as one.

Who this suits

Real estate Project, budget band and timeline collected before an agent rings, so the first call is about property rather than admin. Hotels and resorts Arrival time, number of guests and any dietary needs gathered before the guest turns up at the desk. Education and coaching Course, city and preferred start date on a new enquiry, so admissions call back with the right prospectus. Car dealerships Model, variant and whether there is a car to trade in, collected before a test drive is arranged. Events and training Registration details for a session, saved against the contact so the joining instructions go to the right people.
Manufacturers and trade suppliers What the quotation is for, quantity and delivery town, so the quote can be worked out before anyone picks up the phone.

What to know before you set it up

Meta has a feature called WhatsApp Flows: a panel that opens inside WhatsApp with several fields on one screen. Endelir has the code for it, but it has not been proven against a real handset, so it is not something you can switch on today and nothing on this page describes it. Everything above happens as messages in the conversation, with buttons and lists where the choices are fixed.

If the customer wrote to you first, the whole sequence can run inside the service window with no template involved. Starting one yourself, or picking one up after that window has closed, uses a template Meta has approved in advance and needs the person to have agreed to hear from you. Ask for the least the task needs: a chat thread is the wrong place for card numbers or identity documents, and WhatsApp's own business rules restrict asking for them.

What to watch

  • How many people who start the sequence reach the end of it
  • Which step people stop at — that is usually the question that is too personal or too vague
  • How many enquiries reach a person with the details already filled in
  • How often an answer had to be asked again because it did not match
  • How many completed sets turn into a site visit, a quotation or an order
  • How much your team still types by hand before a conversation is useful

Related

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Questions people ask

Can customers fill out a form without leaving WhatsApp?

They never leave the chat. Endelir asks the questions as messages in the conversation — one step at a time, with buttons or a list where the choices are fixed — and saves each answer as it comes back. What we do not offer is the panel Meta calls WhatsApp Flows, where several fields open on one screen inside WhatsApp. The code for it is in Endelir but it has never been proven against a real handset, so it is not available. In practice the difference is smaller than it sounds: the customer still answers inside WhatsApp, and you still end up with named fields on a contact record instead of a paragraph someone has to read and interpret.

What can a WhatsApp form be used for?

Lead qualification, appointment requests, hotel pre-arrival details, event registration, quotation requests, customer onboarding, surveys and service requests. The rule of thumb is that the fields should be built around one task rather than turning every conversation into an interview. One thing to be plain about: a sequence that asks for a preferred date and time is collecting a request, not holding a slot. Endelir has no calendar and does not manage availability, so somebody or something on your side has to confirm the appointment before you tell the customer it is booked.

Can information from a WhatsApp form automatically enter the CRM?

Yes, by two routes. A step in the sequence can call a URL on your own system with a request body you write, carrying the values collected — budget, location and timeline from a property enquiry become fields on the lead. Or your CRM can read Endelir's REST API and subscribe to webhooks, and pull what it needs. Both routes need someone on your side to build the receiving end: Endelir sends the data and your system decides what to do with it. There is no packaged connector that configures a named CRM for you.

Can form fields be required or validated?

The sequence waits — it does not move on until the customer answers. On the answer itself, a step can match it exactly, look for a word inside it, test it against a pattern, or check that a number falls in a range, and send anything that does not match down a different path, which usually means asking again with a clearer prompt. What Endelir does not do is decide for you what a valid answer looks like: there is no switch that says this field must be an email address. You write the check and you choose what happens when it fails. Where a mistyped answer would cost real money, such as a policy number or an account reference, check it against your own system with a webhook step rather than trusting a pattern.

Can a customer abandon a sequence and continue later?

Each answer is saved as it arrives, so an abandoned sequence leaves a part-filled contact record rather than nothing at all. The conversation stays in the shared inbox and a person can pick it up and ask the remaining question by hand, or a wait step can bring the conversation back on its own. Plan for this rather than hoping it does not happen. The important part is what you do with the partial record: an unfinished set of answers is an enquiry in progress, and treating it as a confirmed booking or a completed application is how a customer ends up being told they have something they do not have.

Can WhatsApp forms collect sensitive information?

Ask for the least the task needs. WhatsApp's business rules restrict asking for things like full payment-card numbers and government identity numbers in a chat, and a message thread is the wrong home for them in any case — it is readable by everyone on your team who can open the conversation. Collect what identifies the enquiry, then send the customer to a system built for the sensitive part. If you work with health, financial or identity information, check what your own regulator expects before you ask for any of it in a conversation.

Can the answers trigger another Endelir workflow?

That is the point of collecting them in a structured way. A completed set can assign the conversation to the team that handles it, call a URL on your own system so a reservation or a lead record is created there, or wait a set time and then follow up. A property enquiry that comes back qualified goes to the agent for that area. A completed pre-arrival set can notify hotel operations. An event registration can be acknowledged straight away. The submission becomes business data with somewhere to go, rather than one more message sitting in the inbox waiting for someone to notice it.

Six questions asked in order. Six named fields on the contact record.

Tell us the six things you ask every enquiry and we will build the sequence with you on a call, connected to your number and writing to real fields on your contacts.

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