Chatbots and automations
Build chatbots that answer DMs, comments and chats for you
Answer the questions you get every day, turn comments into conversations and hand over to your team when a person is needed. Build it without code, in a simple form or on a visual canvas.
Included in Premium and higher plans, not in Starter. Free for 7 days. Card required; cancel before the trial ends and you will not be charged.
Two ways to build
Start simple, or draw the whole conversation
Begin with a quick automation, and open it in the flow builder when it needs more steps.
-
Quick automation
One trigger and one reply, set up in a simple form. Use it for keyword replies, comment campaigns and a friendly welcome.
- Up to 5 versions of the reply, rotated so answers read naturally
- Reply right away or after a short pause
- Active at all hours or only during your business hours
- Answer each contact only once, if you prefer
- A phone preview that updates while you write
-
Flow builder
A visual canvas for conversations with several steps and branches, such as qualifying a lead or sorting support requests.
- Drag steps onto the canvas and connect them
- Undo, redo and autosave while you work
- Import and export a flow as JSON
- Drafts never answer customers until you publish
- Stats on every step once the flow is live
Triggers
Start a conversation from the moment that matters
Every automation starts with a trigger. These are the moments it can listen for.
-
Messages and keywords
Answer every message, or only messages that contain, exactly match or start with your keyword, on each channel you connect.
-
Comments
Reply to comments on your Facebook posts and ads, and on your Instagram posts, Reels and Live videos.
Explore comment-to-DM -
Story replies and mentions
Answer when someone replies to your Instagram story or mentions you in theirs.
Explore Instagram DM automation -
Click-to-message ads
Greet people who start a chat from your Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp ad. A flow for one specific ad takes priority over your general replies.
-
Contact events
Start a flow when a contact is created, gets or loses a tag, changes a custom field or pipeline stage, or when a conversation is closed.
-
Dates
Send on a date to a tag or segment, or on birthdays and key dates. Each daily run reaches up to 500 contacts, skips anyone who opted out and follows each channel's rules.
-
Messages you send
Follow up after a teammate or the bot sends a message, for example to ask how it went.
-
WhatsApp triggers
Start a flow when someone taps your wa.me link, sends you a cart order, or hasn't replied within the time you set.
Steps
Steps that do the work
Dozens of step types, grouped by what they do. Combine them in a single flow.
-
Messages and media
Text with buttons and quick replies, images, video, audio and files. Add cards and carousels on Messenger and Instagram, or lists, forms and catalogs on WhatsApp.
-
Questions that save answers
Ask for a name, an email, a phone number, a date or anything else, and save the answer to the contact or to a custom field.
-
AI replies
An AI Reply step answers with your own OpenAI, Claude, Gemini or DeepSeek key. With OpenAI or Gemini, it can also search your files, pages and FAQs.
Explore the AI chatbot -
Logic
Branch on conditions, split people for an A/B test, wait until a set time in the contact's timezone, or start another flow.
-
Team actions
Tag the contact, set the pipeline stage, assign a teammate or use round-robin, hand over to a person, or close the conversation.
-
Integrations
Add a row to Google Sheets, sync to HubSpot or Mailchimp, post in Slack, send a text or call any HTTP endpoint, with your own accounts.
Templates
Start from a ready-made template
Install a template, adjust the wording and publish. Browse them by goal, from capturing leads to booking appointments, or by industry, such as ecommerce, real estate, restaurants, salons and clinics. AI templates need your own AI provider key, store templates a connected store and booking templates a connected calendar.
-
Comment-to-DM Lead Magnet
Reply to a keyword comment and send the commenter your guide or link by DM.
How comment-to-DM works -
Welcome & Qualify New Chats
Greet new chats and find out what each person needs before your team steps in.
Messenger chatbot -
FAQ Deflection Flow
Answer the questions you get every day, so your team only handles the rest.
-
Support Triage
Sort incoming requests by topic and route each one to the right teammate.
Unified inbox -
Book Appointment / Consultation
Let people pick a time inside the chat. Needs a connected calendar.
Appointment booking -
Abandoned Checkout Recovery
Remind customers who already chat with you about the checkout they left. Needs a connected store.
Store integrations
Bot setup
Greet people the right way on every channel
Set the basics once for each channel, so every new chat gets a proper welcome and nobody reaches a dead end.
- A welcome message when someone taps Get Started on Messenger or Instagram, or sends /start to your Telegram bot
- A default reply when nothing matches, every time or once a day per person
- Up to 4 ice breakers: questions people can tap to start the chat
- A persistent menu with links or flows, synced to your Facebook Page
- A greeting and up to 4 frequently asked questions in your website chat widget
People and bots together
Your team can take over any conversation
Automations take the first reply. When someone needs a person, the conversation is already in the unified inbox with its full history.
- Pause the automation when a teammate replies, or let it keep going
- Resume the bot when you're done, skip the current step or end the flow
- Give new conversations to the least busy teammate with round-robin
- Decide whether a new message reopens a closed conversation
- Turn off every AI reply at once, while the rest of each flow keeps running
Growth tools
Bring new people into the chat
Every link and QR code can start a flow, and the Overview shows the clicks and contacts each one brought in.
-
Ref links
Share an m.me, ig.me or t.me link, or a wa.me link with a message already typed in. Each one can start the flow you choose. Point a link at a web page instead, and its clicks are still counted.
-
QR codes
Download a QR code for any link and print it on packaging, menus, flyers or a shop window.
-
WhatsApp opt-in popup
Ask website visitors to opt in to your WhatsApp messages. The popup always names your business, WhatsApp marketing and how to stop.
Stores and payments
Order updates and payment links in the chat
Connect your store and your payment account, and your flows can send order updates and payment links. Store automations message only customers who already chat with you on that channel, and WhatsApp needs an approved template outside the 24-hour window.
- Shopify or WooCommerce orders, abandoned checkouts, shipping and stock events can start a flow
- Payment links through your own Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Paystack, MyFatoorah or Mercado Pago account, sent as a Pay now button
- Flows that start when a payment succeeds, fails or is refunded
- Customers pay through your provider, so nobody types card details into a chat
Test and measure
See what your automations do
Try a bot yourself, follow how every flow and ad performs, and see who changed what.
-
Test bot
Open the test widget and talk to your published bot the way a customer would.
-
Automation analytics
Runs, runs in progress, completion rate, messages sent, and recent failed runs with the reason.
-
Overview
Reply rate, flow completion, opt-out rate, broadcast delivery, contact sources and growth-tool results for each channel.
-
Activity log
One log of messages, bots, automations and integrations, filtered by type, status and platform.
-
Ad attribution
See which click-to-message ad started each conversation, the contacts it brought in and the revenue you recorded, and export it as CSV or PDF. For workspace admins.
-
Audit log
A record of admin and destructive actions in your workspace: who did what, and when.
Channels
Where your automations run
Add a channel from Social Accounts in the app, and its conversations can start a flow. Contact events and dates work on every channel.
| Channel | What can start an automation | What you need |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp Business | Messages and keywords, Click-to-WhatsApp ads, wa.me links, cart orders and a no-reply timer | Your WhatsApp Business number, connected through Meta |
| Facebook Messenger | Messages and keywords, comments on Page posts and ads, Click-to-Messenger ads and m.me links | A Facebook Page you manage |
| Instagram DMs | DMs and keywords, comments on posts, Reels and Live, story replies and mentions, ads and ig.me links | An Instagram business or creator account linked to a Facebook Page |
| Telegram bot | Messages and keywords, and t.me start links | Your own bot token from @BotFather |
| SMS | Incoming texts and keywords, with Twilio or Plivo | Your own Twilio, Plivo or SMS gateway account |
| Website live chat | Messages sent from the chat widget on your website | Nothing extra: paste a snippet on your site |
Automations run on these messaging channels. Your 14 publishing networks are on the channels page.
Good to know
Automations follow each platform's rules
Messaging apps protect their users from unwanted messages, and your automations work inside those rules. Read about the 24-hour rule on Messenger and Instagram and WhatsApp's window and templates.
- Free-form messages on Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp only within 24 hours of the person's last message
- After that, WhatsApp allows only templates it has approved
- Message people who opted in or wrote to you first, and stop when they ask
- No automated messages go to opted-out or blocked contacts
- Meta bills WhatsApp messages to your WhatsApp Business account and your SMS provider bills each text. Postocial doesn't charge per message.
FAQ
Automation questions
Do I need to know how to code?
No. A quick automation is a simple form, and the flow builder is a canvas where you drag and connect steps. If you do code, an HTTP Request step can call your own systems from any flow.
Which channels can I automate?
Automations run on six messaging channels: WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, Telegram bot, SMS and Website live chat. See what each one needs.
Can a person take over from the bot?
Yes. Every conversation is in the unified inbox, and the automation can pause as soon as a teammate replies. When you're done, resume the bot, skip the current step or end the flow.
Does the bot use AI?
Only where you add an AI Reply step. It runs on your own OpenAI, Claude, Gemini or DeepSeek key and, with OpenAI or Gemini, can search your files, pages and FAQs. AI can get things wrong, so keep a handover to your team, and tell people they are chatting with an automated assistant where the law requires it. Every other step does exactly what you set.
Will it message people who never wrote to me?
Only people you're allowed to reach. On Messenger and Instagram, automations answer people who messaged or commented first, within 24 hours of their last message. WhatsApp needs the person's opt-in, and once 24 hours have passed since their last message, only approved templates can be sent. A Telegram bot can only message people who started it. On SMS, a date automation can text the contacts you imported, so import only people who agreed to your texts. Opted-out and blocked contacts are always skipped.
Does Postocial charge per message?
No. Messaging is part of Premium and higher plans, with no fee per message. Meta bills WhatsApp messages to your WhatsApp Business account, your SMS provider bills each text sent through your own Twilio, Plivo or SMS gateway account, and your AI provider bills the AI replies made with your key.
Which plans include automations?
Chatbots and automations come with messaging, on Premium and higher plans only. Your plan sets how many automations can be switched on at the same time on one channel: 25 on Premium, 50 on Agency and 50 on Unlimited.
Put your busiest questions on autopilot
On Premium and higher plans, build your first automation during the 7-day free trial and watch it answer a real conversation.
A card is required to start the 7-day free trial. When the trial ends, we charge your card for the plan you picked, unless you cancel before.