A property enquiry often starts with “Is this still available?” A short WhatsApp flow can collect enough context for an adviser to answer usefully without making the customer repeat the same details to several people.
Build this as an enquiry and viewing-preference process. A saved request does not reserve a property, confirm a viewing or guarantee availability. Those decisions belong to the person checking the current listing and calendar.
Prepare the listing information and team
You need a connected WhatsApp business account, permission to edit and publish message flows, and a Data table your flow can write. A named person must review new enquiries and confirm any viewing arrangement. Test the account connection before building the questions.
Agree which facts are current: listing reference, area, asking price or rent, available property types and who can verify availability. Keep unsupported claims out of the greeting. An adviser should confirm a changing price or viewing slot before presenting it as agreed.
Start with one outcome, such as “collect rental enquiries for an adviser.” Combining rentals, purchases, valuation requests and maintenance complaints in the first version makes the branches harder to test.
Design one record per enquiry
In Data, create a table such as “Property enquiries.” Use fields that represent the information your team will actually use:
| Field | Example purpose |
|---|---|
| Listing reference | Which advertised property prompted the enquiry |
| Preferred area | The customer's location preference |
| Budget and currency | A stated range with a clear rental or purchase basis |
| Bedrooms | The requested size |
| Viewing preference | A suggested day or period, awaiting confirmation |
| Contact name and phone | Details for the adviser to follow up |
| Stage | New, Reviewing or Closed, as configured by your team |
A returning customer may enquire about several properties. Do not make their phone number the unique identifier for every enquiry. If you use a unique enquiry reference, decide how your configured process will generate and retain it.
Create a test record manually before connecting the flow. Check required fields and status values. The Data tables guide explains how to prepare the schema.
Ask short, purposeful questions
- Open Message flows and create a draft. Begin with an honest acknowledgement: “We can collect your preferences for our property adviser. Availability and viewing times will be confirmed by the team.”
- Ask whether the customer has a listing reference. Provide a useful path for someone who does not; they can still explain the area and property they want.
- Add input questions for preferred area, budget, bedrooms and viewing preference. Store each answer in a clear variable, such as
preferred_areaorviewing_preference. - Explain the units in the budget question. “What monthly rent range in TZS suits you?” is clearer than “What is your budget?” Keep a different question for purchase enquiries.
- Connect invalid-answer and timeout outcomes to a short retry or a human follow-up path. Do not trap a customer in a number-validation loop when they need to explain an unusual requirement.
Collect only early-stage details. Identity documents, payment information and precise personal addresses are unnecessary for this qualification example.
Save before acknowledging success
Add Save record, choose the prepared table and set Action to Create a new record. Under Fields, map the table keys to the corresponding answers; for example, map the preferred-area field to {{vars.preferred_area}}. Set the initial Stage using an allowed value from your actual table.
Use Store the saved record in when later nodes need the saved result. Connect saved to the acknowledgement. Connect invalid, rate_limited and failed to a useful explanation or human review, so the customer is not told the request was saved when it was not.
For example, an enquiry might say: “Two bedrooms in Mikocheni; monthly budget TZS 800,000–1,000,000; prefers Saturday morning.” The acknowledgement can say, “Thank you. Our adviser will review your preferences and contact you about suitable options. Your viewing time is not yet confirmed.” These are illustrative preferences, not market prices or an availability offer.
Publish and test the handover
Simulate normal answers, a missing reference, an unclear budget and silence. Publish the valid flow and select it for the WhatsApp account in Accounts → Automations. A conversation override can select a different responder, so inspect it if your test does not follow the expected flow.
Complete a controlled live enquiry. Confirm the Data row, variable mappings and acknowledgement, then check that the adviser can open the conversation and record their next action. Use the service-request flow guide for more detail on the save branches.
If enquiries accumulate without a reply, fix ownership and review frequency before adding more questions. If duplicate rows appear, inspect repeated submissions and the actual save outcome. Confirm the property and proposed viewing with the customer before marking the enquiry as arranged.