RuleSets are the pivot points in a flow, "splitting" it into new branches. They're conditional statements that enable you to direct your contacts after evaluating:



Anatomy of a RuleSet


RuleSets comprise 5 inputs that allow you to construct a powerful conditional statement:


A - The type of RuleSet you'd like to create:  



  • Wait for response waits for an incoming message, then evaluates it against response rules. Optionally, you may choose to add a timer to Wait for response RuleSets to send a reminder message to a flow participant after a period of inactivity, or create a 'pause' in a flow to stagger messages.

  • Call WebHook calls a URL, passing it the flow context and, if the external service responds in JSON, makes the response available for reference using the variable @extra. Flow context comprises the variables available in a given flow, including the active contact's responses and contact information. This RuleSet contains two categories, Successful and Failed, to account for errors returned by the external service.

  • Call Zapier allows you to add a flow event at any step in a flow that corresponds with a Zapier Flow Event trigger. Once a contact reaches a flow event, all of their responses up to that step will be sent to Zapier, which can be configured to send that data to one of over 500 other apps without writing a single line of code. Use this guide to get started with Zapier.

  • Transfer Airtime enables you to transfer airtime to prepaid phones on over 400 networks across 100 countries. When a contact reaches a Transfer Airtime step, they'll received the amount you specify. Use this guide to get started with airtime transfer.

  • Run a flow enables you to start the active contact in a 'child' flow at any step, then return them to the original 'parent' flow. Two new conditions are introduced, Completed and Expired, giving you the ability to branch the active contact based on their activity in the child flow. Variables captured in the calling, or parent flow can be referenced using the @parent.[field] format, while variables captured in the child flow can be referenced using the @child.[field] format. More on flow variables here.

  • Split by contact field runs response rules against a value stored in a contact field (Name, Phone, etc.), referenced using the variable @contact.[variable-name], e.g. @contact.state.

  • Split by flow field runs response rules against a value collected by a previous RuleSet, referenced using the variable @flow.[variable-name], e.g. @flow.city.

  • Split by expression runs response rules against the result of an expression, such as @(REMOVE_FIRST_WORD(step.value)), which includes a function that removes the first word from the message last received, represented by the @step.value variable. Expressions can include a single variable, a single function, or a combination of variables and functions.

  • Split by message form runs response rules against a value separated by a delimiter (a space, plus sign, or period), e.g. 1+2+3+4+5 (+ is the delimiter, while 1 is the first value, 2 is the second value, 3 is the third value, etc.). See this guide for more information.

  • Split randomly enables you to create as many evenly-distributed buckets as you'd like for the purpose of randomly branching a contact for an A/B test or the like. See this guide for more information on A/B testing with Community Connect.          

  • Split by group membership enables you check if a contact is a member of a particular group. Simply select the 'Split by group membership' option from the RuleSet menu and add the groups you'd like to check for membership. Each will become its own category. 



B - Depending on the selected RuleSet type, this is the value that response rules are evaluated against. This value, called an operand, represents a variable or expression. In the RuleSet pictured above, "if the message response.." indicates the operand is @step.value, or the incoming message.

C - The response rules that evaluate the selected operand. Response rules are executed from left to right. The first rule that matches takes effect and no other rules are evaluated after there is a match.



D - The option to set an amount of time after which a contact will be routed if they don't respond. If the contact hasn't responded in the amount of time you've chosen, they'll be routed thorugh a 'No response' category. You can connect this category to a 'Send Message' action that encourages them to continue, or leave it unconnected to prompt an exit.  

E - The value(s) your response rules will attempt to match against the operand. In the example above, we've created a RuleSet that attempts to match the names of each of the northern states in Nigeria. With the Wait for response RuleSet type selected and the has any of these words response rule selected, incoming responses will be placed in a category called "Northern States" if they match any of the words we've listed. This allows us to place the response "I live in Adamawa" in the "Northern States" category because the word "Adamawa" matches. Note that a flow will always match at least one response rule in a RuleSet as the last response rules must always be a catch-all (placing contacts in the "Other") category.

F - The category in which contacts are placed if the the operand matches the corresponding response rule. Categories are pathways from which connections can be drawn to new steps, thus directing the contact onward. A contact's passage through a category is represented in the analytics tab as a response.



G - The name given to the flow variable created and populated by the RuleSet. In the example above, the sample RuleSet will save the result of the evaluation to the flow variable @flow.state.