Variables and formatting
Personalise every message with the customer's name and your own fields, and format it with bold, italic and strikethrough.
Every place where you write a message in WAFlow (Send Message, broadcasts, schedules, templates, canned responses, message bots and chatbots) has the same editor and the same two helpers: formatting and variables.
Formatting#
The buttons above the message box add WhatsApp's own formatting marks around your selected text.
| Button | Result | What is typed |
|---|---|---|
| B | bold | *text* |
| I | italic | _text_ |
| S | ~~strikethrough~~ | ~text~ |
| Smiley | Opens an emoji picker | The emoji itself |
You can also type the marks yourself. WhatsApp shows them formatted once the message is sent.
Variables#
A variable is a word in double curly brackets, such as {{firstname}}. When the message is sent, WAFlow replaces it with the value for that person. Click the variable button in the toolbar to insert one from a list, or type it.
| Variable | Becomes |
|---|---|
{{name}} | Full name |
{{firstname}} | First name |
{{lastname}} | Last name |
{{phone}} | Phone number, with a plus sign |
{{mob_no}} | Phone number, digits only |
{{email}} | Email address |
{{date}} | Today's date |
{{time}} | The current time |
{{agent}} | Your name, from Module settings |
Your own variables#
Every custom field you create becomes a variable too. A field called Company becomes {{company}}, and a field called Preferred plan becomes {{preferred_plan}}. The variable name is made from the field name, in lowercase with underscores.
Appointment reminders#
The reminder message of an appointment uses its own placeholders: {{customer_name}}, {{title}}, {{date}}, {{start_time}} and {{end_time}}.
Where a name comes from#
For a person in your list, WAFlow uses the name it knows for that contact (from their profile or from WhatsApp), or else the name you typed after the comma. If a contact is saved only as a number, {{firstname}} is empty, so write messages that still read well without it, for example "Hello, thanks for your interest" rather than depending on "Hi {{firstname}}".
If a variable has no value for a person, it is replaced with nothing rather than left as text in the message. Check a message with a person who has all the fields before you send to a list.
Your signature#
In Module settings you can set a name and a signature line. WAFlow adds them to the messages you send, and the How a message will look preview shows the result.