Which answers will the email, phone and name questions accept?

Before you start

These rules apply to question steps in Lead Gen, DM automations and Flow Automation. In Lead Gen the types are called Name, Email, Phone, Address, Free Text, Custom Input, Number, Date. In Flow Automation they are Name, Email, Phone, Text, Address, Yes/No, Number, Date, Star Rating.

Steps

Use this table to pick the right question type and write the question so people answer in a format that passes.

1. Find the type you want in the table below.
2. Put the “write in your question” hint into your question text.
3. Write an Invalid Response Message (Lead Gen) or Wrong input message (flows) that repeats the format. Lead Gen doesn’t show this box for Free Text and Custom Input.

Type	Accepted	Rejected	Write in your question
Email	name@domain.com	spaces, missing @ or dot	”Type your email, like name@gmail.com”
Phone	+ (optional) and 7 to 15 digits: +919876543210, 4155550123	spaces, dashes, brackets: +91 98765 43210, (415) 555-0123	”Type your number with no spaces, like +919876543210”
Name	anything	nothing	”What’s your first name?”
Custom Input (Lead Gen)	anything	nothing	any open question
Text / Free Text	English letters, numbers, spaces and . , ! ? -	apostrophes, @, $, emoji, accents, other scripts (हिंदी, العربية)	better to use Name (flows) or Custom Input (Lead Gen)
Address	text that ends with a 5 or 6 digit postal code: “12 MG Road, Pune 411001”	postcodes with letters (UK, Canada), no postcode at the end	”Your address, ending with your PIN code”
Number	500, 2.5	1,000, $500, “five"	"Type a number only, like 500”
Date	most readable dates: 16 May 1999, 1999-05-16	text that isn’t a date	”Your date of birth, like 16 May 1999”
Yes/No, Star Rating, choices (flows)	a tap on a choice	typed answers	”Tap one of the buttons below”

On the phone app

The same rules apply to Ask Question steps in the app’s DM tab (types Text, Email, Phone, Name). Set Invalid Response Message and Retry Attempts in the step.

What your followers see

If their answer doesn’t pass, they get your invalid-response message and can answer again. After the last try, the automation moves on without saving that answer.

Good to know

Retries

• Lead Gen offers No retry, 1 attempt, 2 attempts, 3 attempts and Until valid. Flows offer 1 to 10 (default 3).
• With 3 attempts, the person gets 2 correction messages. After the third wrong answer, the automation moves on and saves nothing.
• No retry: one wrong answer and it moves on.
• Until valid: it keeps asking until the answer passes.

The 1-hour window

Typed answers must arrive within 1 hour of the question. A later reply is treated as a new message, so it can start a different automation instead. Tapping a choice button still works later.

Skip button

If you turn on Allow Skip (Lead Gen) or Allow skip (flows) and someone taps the skip button the first time a question is asked, the skip text (for example “Skip”) may be saved as their answer. Because of this:

• Don’t turn on skip for a question whose answer goes to an email tool.
• Ask only if unknown may treat that person as “already answered” and never ask again.
• In exports, look for your skip text in the answer column.

Wording tips

• Ask one thing per question.
• Show an example in the format you need.
• For open answers (“What’s your biggest challenge?”), use Name in flows or Custom Input in Lead Gen, not Text.

What you can’t do

• Add your own format rules.
• Accept phone numbers with spaces.
• Collect a photo or file as an answer.

If it doesn’t work

• Everyone fails the phone question: add “no spaces” and an example to the question text.
• Answers are missing in the export: the person ran out of retries, or answered after 1 hour.
• Email didn’t reach your email tool: only the Email question type is sent. See send leads to Kit.