Lead Flows

Automatically collect visitor information like name, email, phone, company, or custom fields during chatbot conversations. Lead flows can show as a form or be woven seamlessly into the AI conversation.

How to get there: Go to Setup → Chatbot in the top menu → click your chatbot → Leads → Lead Flows in the sidebar.

Overview

Lead flows let you define which information to gather from visitors and when to ask for it. You can create multiple lead flows with different triggers and fields — they work independently and can even complement each other.

Creating a Lead Flow

Click New to start from scratch, or choose a template:

  • Contact Form — Collects name and email before chat starts (form mode)
  • Quote Request — Collects name, email, company, and phone when visitors mention keywords like "quote" or "pricing" (form mode)
  • Seamless Lead Capture — Naturally collects email and name during the AI conversation (conversation mode)
  • Sales Qualifier — Collects email, name, company, and phone after a few AI replies (conversation mode)

Collection Styles

Form

All fields are shown at once in a traditional form layout. The visitor fills in the fields and clicks a submit button.

Best for:

  • Collecting multiple fields quickly
  • Structured data entry (dropdowns, multi-select)
  • Before-chat gating

AI Conversation

The AI asks for each field one at a time, naturally woven into the conversation. The visitor answers in their own words, and the AI extracts the information automatically.

Best for:

  • A more natural, conversational experience
  • Visitors who might abandon a long form
  • Combining lead collection with answering questions

How it works:

  1. When triggered, the AI starts asking for the first field at the end of its response
  2. The visitor answers (or asks a different question — the AI answers it, then asks again)
  3. Once a field is answered, the AI moves to the next one
  4. Required fields are asked up to 3 times before being skipped
  5. Non-required fields are asked up to 2 times, then skipped if not answered
  6. When all fields are collected (or skipped), the lead flow completes and normal conversation resumes

The AI stays helpful throughout — if a visitor asks a question instead of answering, the AI answers their question first and then asks for the field again. This keeps the conversation natural while still progressing through the fields.

For dropdown/multi-select fields, the answer options appear as clickable buttons in the chat, making it easy for visitors to respond with a single tap.

Triggers

Before Chat

The lead flow appears when the visitor sends their first message, before the AI responds. The visitor must complete the form (or answer the AI's questions) before the conversation starts.

Best for: Gating access, ensuring you always have contact info.

After Replies

The lead flow activates after the AI has sent a certain number of replies. Set the number in the Number of Replies field.

  • 1 reply: Activates immediately — the AI's first response already includes the first field question
  • 3 replies (default): Lets the visitor ask a few questions first

Best for: Letting visitors see value before asking for information.

In AI Conversation mode, this is seamless — the AI simply starts adding a field question at the end of its normal responses. In Form mode, the form appears after the specified number of replies.

On Keyword

The lead flow activates when the visitor's message contains one of the configured keywords (e.g., "demo", "pricing", "contact").

Best for: Capturing leads when visitors show specific intent.

AI-Detected Intent

Instead of a fixed keyword list, you can describe the situation in plain language and let the AI decide when to activate the flow. Fill in the Activation condition field with something like "visitor asks about admissions or wants to enroll a child".

Best for: Situations that are hard to pin down with keywords alone, such as intent expressed in many different ways or across multiple languages.

Timing note (AI Conversation mode): When the AI detects the condition, it acknowledges the visitor's message on that turn and then asks for the first field on the next reply. This means there is a one-turn delay between activation and the first field ask. If you need the collection to start on the same turn the visitor triggers the condition, use Form mode instead — the form opens immediately when the AI decides to trigger it.

Using Multiple Lead Flows

You can create multiple lead flows that work together. Each one activates independently based on its own trigger, and they don't interfere with each other.

Example setup:

  1. AI Conversation flow with trigger "After 1 reply" — Seamlessly collects email and name during the conversation as the AI answers questions
  2. Form flow with trigger "On Keyword" for keywords like "quote", "demo", "pricing" — When the visitor shows high intent, shows a structured form with additional fields like company, phone, and budget

The form will be pre-filled with any information already collected by the AI conversation flow. So if the AI already got the visitor's name and email, those fields show up filled in — the visitor only needs to complete the remaining fields.

This gives you the best of both worlds: a low-friction conversational experience for basic info, plus a structured form for high-intent moments.

Fields

Standard Fields

  • Name — Visitor's name
  • Email — Email address (validated)
  • Phone — Phone number (validated)
  • Company — Company or organization name
  • Job Title — Visitor's role
  • Booking — Calendar booking picker. Requires Calendar Booking to be enabled. See Calendar booking in the chatbot for setup and behaviour, and Google Calendar integration for the underlying account connection.

Custom Fields

Click Add Field → Custom Field to create your own. Custom fields support these types:

  • Text — Free-form text input
  • Email — Email with validation
  • Phone — Phone number with validation
  • Textarea — Multi-line text
  • Dropdown — Single-select from predefined options
  • Multi-select — Choose multiple options
  • Consent — A tickbox the visitor must check, e.g. for marketing consent or terms acceptance (see below)

Use the Consent type when you need an explicit, auditable agreement from the visitor, such as:

  • "I agree to receive marketing emails"
  • "I accept the terms and conditions"
  • "I consent to my data being processed for follow-up"

How it works:

  • The field's Consent text (the Label) is shown next to a checkbox in the form.
  • When the visitor ticks the box and submits, Boei stores three things alongside the contact: the exact consent text shown, a timestamp, and the fact that it was accepted. This snapshot stays intact even if you later edit the consent text on the form.
  • If the consent field is marked Required, the form cannot be submitted until the visitor ticks the box.
  • The accepted consent appears in the inbox header for that conversation (e.g. I agree to receive marketing emails: ✓ accepted 2026-06-08 20:08) and in the system message inside the thread.

Only available in Form mode. Consent fields are skipped in AI Conversation mode — a checkbox is the clearest, legally strongest way to capture agreement, so the AI won't attempt to collect it conversationally.

Field Settings

Each field has:

  • Label — The name of the field. In form mode, this is shown to visitors as the field label. In AI conversation mode, this is used internally to organize your data.
  • Type — The field type (text, email, dropdown, etc.)
  • Required — Whether the field must be answered
  • AI question (conversation mode only) — A custom question the AI will ask for this field. Leave empty to use the default. The question is automatically translated to match the visitor's language.
  • Answer options (dropdown/multi-select only) — The list of options. Use the + Add Option button to add options and the − button to remove them.

Required vs Non-Required Fields

In Form mode, required fields are marked with an asterisk (*) and the form cannot be submitted without them.

In AI Conversation mode, the behavior is different because the AI can't force a visitor to answer:

  • Required fields are asked up to 3 times. If the visitor doesn't answer after 3 attempts, the field is skipped and the AI moves on. This prevents the conversation from feeling pushy.
  • Non-required fields are asked up to 2 times. If the visitor doesn't answer after 2 attempts, the AI moves to the next field.

When all fields have been either answered or skipped (after their maximum attempts), the lead flow completes.

Reordering Fields

Drag fields using the grip handle on the left to change their order. In AI conversation mode, the AI asks for fields in this order.

Transcript Notifications

You can build a rule that only fires when lead information has been collected.

How to get there: Go to Setup → Chatbot → click your chatbot → Notifications tab. Click Add rule (or the Email me every lead template) and add the Lead form was submitted check.

The check fires when all required lead flow fields have been provided. This means:

  • If a required field was asked twice but the visitor didn't answer, the check does not match
  • If all required fields have actual values (even if non-required fields were skipped), the check matches
  • The check only makes sense when you have at least one lead flow configured

This is useful when you only want to be notified about conversations that resulted in actionable lead information. For conversations where contact info was provided but not all required lead fields, use the Email or phone shared in chat check instead. See Notification Rules for the full rule editor.

AI-Triggered Lead Form Follow-Up

The AI can now trigger a lead form mid-conversation when it detects a qualified intent, for example when a visitor mentions their budget, timeline, or asks to be contacted. The visitor sees the form appear as a follow-up card inside the chat, pre-filled with anything the AI has already collected.

This runs alongside the classic "Ask questions upfront" and keyword-triggered setups, it does not replace them. Use it when you want the AI to decide the moment based on conversation signals rather than a fixed keyword list.

Welcome Message

Set an optional welcome message that appears before the lead flow starts:

  • Form mode: Shown as a chat message before the form appears
  • AI Conversation mode: The opening message before the AI starts asking for details

Tips

  • Start simple — Begin with just email and name, then add more fields once you see good completion rates
  • Use AI Conversation mode for "After Replies" and "On Keyword" — The seamless experience keeps visitors engaged instead of interrupting them with a form
  • Use Form mode for "Before Chat" — Getting structured data upfront is efficient when visitors expect a sign-in step
  • Combine both — Use an AI conversation flow for basic info (email, name) and a keyword-triggered form for detailed qualification (company, budget, use case). The form pre-fills with already-collected info.
  • Mark only essential fields as required — Every required field gets 3 attempts in AI mode. Non-required fields get 2 attempts. Fewer required fields means a smoother conversation.
  • Customize AI questions — Default questions work well, but custom questions matching your brand voice convert better. For example, instead of "What is your email?" try "Where can we send you a follow-up?"
  • Test with your chatbot — Have a conversation with your chatbot to see how the lead collection feels from the visitor's perspective
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