flows that talk, not trees that snap.
heysteff is the AI platform for customer support and sales over WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Gmail and Shopify; Steff is the AI agent that runs it. Its visual flow builder automates the repetitive work — follow-ups, payments, alerts, qualification — without trapping the customer in a menu of options. When the script runs out, the agent takes the conversation and carries it to the goal.
Four ways to trigger a flow
A flow can start on an event in your operation (a Facebook lead comes in, an appointment is booked or cancelled, a contact gets qualified, a cart is abandoned), on a schedule for whatever should run by itself, through your API when one of your own systems fires it, or manually when someone on the team launches it over an audience.
That matters because most platforms only know how to react to an incoming message. Here the trigger can be something that happened in your business, even if the customer never wrote a word.
The step a rule-based builder doesn't have
In a classic decision tree, the flow only advances if the customer answers what the tree expects. One "wait, is it cheaper if I take two?" and the script collapses, leaving the conversation dead.
heysteff solves that with an AI conversation step: instead of writing the next question, you give the agent a goal — booking an appointment, say — and it converses freely until it gets there, in your brand's voice, answering whatever comes up along the way. The flow waits and resumes on its own once the goal is met. Meanwhile the agent keeps replying normally: it is not paused, and the customer is never left talking to a wall.
Steps that do work, not just messages
A flow can send a message from a template, from fixed text or generated by AI; work out which order the customer is talking about; call a custom tool that queries your ERP, CRM or any HTTP API; generate a payment link and wait for the charge to confirm before moving on; ask for and collect photos or files; branch on the answer; check whether the contact follows you; pause or resume the bot; notify your team; and move the conversation across your funnel.
That is the difference between automating messages and automating the whole process: the flow charges, queries and decides, instead of only pushing text.
Waits that never hang
A flow can wait on a customer reply, a payment confirmation, a fixed delay, or an AI conversation reaching its goal. Every one of those waits has an expiry and a fallback branch you define.
If nobody replies and nobody pays, the run does not stay alive forever taking up space: it expires, gets marked abandoned and — if you set it up that way — the conversation moves itself to the matching column of your funnel. Your team sees what went cold without auditing conversation by conversation.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from a traditional flow builder?
A traditional rule-based builder only moves forward when the customer replies exactly what the tree expects; anything off-script breaks the flow. heysteff includes an AI conversation step where you give the agent a goal — booking an appointment, for example — and it converses freely until it gets there, adapting to how each person writes. The flow resumes on its own once the goal is met, so the rigidity of the tree stops being the ceiling.
Can a flow query my ERP or charge an order?
Yes. A flow can call a custom tool that queries your ERP, CRM or any HTTP API and use that response to decide the next step, resolve which order the customer means, generate a payment link and wait for the charge to confirm before continuing. It is not just sending messages: these are steps that do real work against your systems.
What happens if the customer never replies?
Every wait in a flow expires. If the customer does not reply, does not pay, or the conversation goal is not met within the window you set, the run does not hang: it times out, takes the fallback branch you configured or gets marked as abandoned, and the conversation can move itself to the matching column of your funnel so your team sees what went cold without auditing case by case.
◆ next step
Build your first flow with Steff and let the conversation reach the goal without a rigid script.
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