Skip to main content

Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

What Is User Input in ZazzyAgent? Complete Guide

Updated
View as Markdown

A chatbot becomes much more useful when it can collect information from customers.

Instead of only saying:

Welcome! How can I help?

you can ask:

What is your name?

What service are you interested in?

What is your budget?

What is your email address?

ZazzyAgent's User Input functionality lets a flow collect these answers and use them later in the automation.

What is User Input?

User Input is a component that pauses a conversation, asks the customer for information and saves the response.

The basic pattern is:

Question
   ↓
Customer responds
   ↓
User Input
   ↓
Save response
   ↓
Next step

What can you collect?

Depending on the configuration, you can collect information such as:

  • Text

  • Email

  • Phone number

  • Numbers

  • Other supported input types

The available input types depend on the current User Input configuration.

Example: Lead form

You could ask:

What is your name?

Customer:

Rahul

Then:

What's your email?

Customer:

rahul@example.com

Then:

What are you looking for?

Customer:

WhatsApp automation.

The flow now has useful structured information about the lead.

Why save the response?

If you only display the question and don't save the answer, that information has limited value.

Saving it allows later parts of your automation to use the customer's response.

For example:

User Input
   ↓
Budget = 75000
   ↓
Condition
   ↓
Budget > 50000

Now the conversation can branch according to the customer's answer.

User Input vs a normal message

These are different.

Normal message

What is your budget?

The bot asks a question but doesn't necessarily collect it into a structured field.

User Input

What is your budget?

Customer answers.

ZazzyAgent captures the answer and saves it according to your configuration.

User Input vs Quick Reply

Use Quick Reply when the customer should choose from predefined options.

Example:

Small

Medium

Large

Use User Input when the customer needs to provide their own answer.

Example:

What is your budget?

Customer types:

₹75,000

User Input vs WhatsApp Flow

A User Input step is useful for collecting individual answers within a conversation.

A WhatsApp Flow is better when you want a more structured form experience with multiple fields and screens.

Both solve data-collection problems, but they provide different customer experiences.

Save to a system field

Some inputs can be saved to existing customer information fields.

For example:

  • Name

  • Email

  • Phone

Where the appropriate system field is available, use it rather than creating unnecessary custom fields.

Save to a custom field

For business-specific information, use custom fields.

Examples:

Budget

City

Property Type

Preferred Date

Requirement

See ZazzyAgent Custom Fields Guide.

Example: Lead qualification

What service do you need?
      ↓
User Input
      ↓
Save: Service Interest

What is your budget?
      ↓
User Input
      ↓
Save: Budget

When do you want to start?
      ↓
User Input
      ↓
Save: Timeline

Those values can then be used by your AI Agent, conditions, labels and other automation.

Use User Input with conditions

Suppose you ask:

How many employees are in your company?

Customer:

250

Save:

Company Size = 250

Then:

Company Size > 100
        ↓
Enterprise Lead

Otherwise:

Standard Lead

Use User Input with labels

A customer could answer:

I need a demo.

Your automation can save the response and then add a suitable label.

This turns conversational information into structured customer data.

Use User Input with sequences

After collecting a customer's information, you can start a relevant sequence.

For example:

Product Interest = Enterprise

Start:

Enterprise Follow-up

Use User Input with APIs

User Input becomes especially powerful when combined with HTTP APIs.

For example:

Customer enters Order Number
          ↓
Save Order Number
          ↓
HTTP API
          ↓
Check Order
          ↓
Customer receives status

See How to Use HTTP API in ZazzyAgent Flow Builder.

Use the right question for the field

Bad:

Tell us your information.

Better:

What is your company name?

Specific questions produce better data.

Don't collect unnecessary information

Every question adds friction.

Before adding a field, ask:

Will my business use this information?

If not, remove it.

Use validation

If you're collecting an email address, use an email input/validation configuration rather than accepting anything as text.

If you're collecting a number, configure it appropriately.

See How to Validate User Input in ZazzyAgent.

What happens if the customer gives invalid information?

Your flow should handle it properly.

For example:

Please enter a valid email address.

Then let the customer try again.

Multi-step data collection

User Input can be used several times in the same flow.

For example:

Name
 ↓
Email
 ↓
Phone
 ↓
Requirement
 ↓
Budget
 ↓
Confirmation

This creates a simple conversational form.

User Input and AI

An AI Agent and User Input can work together.

For example, the AI can understand that a customer has already provided their:

Name

and avoid asking for it again.

The structured data remains useful for your automations.

Test User Input

Test every field.

Check:

  • Question

  • Input type

  • Saved field

  • Validation

  • Next step

  • Invalid response behavior

The basic rule

Remember:

Message = tell the customer something.

Quick Reply = let the customer choose.

User Input = collect information.

Once you understand that distinction, building data-driven flows becomes much easier.

WhatsApp Flows & Advanced Automation

Part 12 of 14

Learn how to build advanced WhatsApp experiences using WhatsApp Flows, multi-step forms, structured data collection, webhooks, APIs, external data, and complex automation workflows.

Up next

How to Validate User Input in ZazzyAgent

Collecting information is only useful when the information is correct. Suppose your flow asks: What's your email address? A customer accidentally types: rahul@ If your automation accepts it withou