How do I ask questions in a flow and save the answers?

A Question step sends one question, waits for the reply, checks it, and saves it on the person’s contact record as a field (a saved piece of information like email or budget).

Before you start

• You need Trendsetter and above and a flow open in the editor.
• To send emails to Mailchimp, Kit or Klaviyo, ask for them with the Email question type. A Text question that asks for an email is not sent.

Steps

1. In the flow editor, click Collect Email or Ask a Question in the bottom toolbar. For other types, click +, then pick Name, Email, Phone, Text, Address, Yes/No, Number, Date or Star Rating under Question.
2. Connect the previous step’s Next Step dot to the new question card.
3. Click the question card and edit the Question text. Say what format you expect, for example “What’s your WhatsApp number? Digits only, like +919876543210”.
4. Under Save answer as, type a short name for the answer, for example budget. Leave it empty to save it under the type name (email, phone, name…).
5. Set the options you need:
   • Ask only if unknown: skip the question if this person already answered it in any flow.
   • Choices and Add choice: tappable answers. Yes/No and Star Rating come with choices already.
   • Allow skip: adds a skip button with your text, for example “No thanks”.
   • Wrong input message and Retry attempts (1 to 10, default 3).
6. Connect the question’s Next Step dot to what should happen after a valid answer.
7. Optional: set a reminder with Follow up if not answered. See follow up if no reply.
8. Click Set Live.

Which answers are accepted

Type	Accepted
Name	Anything
Email	An address like name@domain.com
Phone	7 to 15 digits, optional + in front. No spaces, dashes or brackets
Text	Only English letters, digits, spaces and . , ! ? -. No emoji, apostrophes, @, accents or other alphabets
Address	Must end with a 5 or 6 digit postal code
Number	Any number
Date	Any readable date, like “16 May 1999”
Yes/No, Star Rating, any question with choices	The person must tap a choice. Typed answers count as wrong

For open answers that may include emoji, apostrophes or another language (Hindi, Arabic, Spanish…), use the Name type and set Save answer as to your own name, for example goal. Full rules: which answers are accepted.

On the phone app

You can’t add questions in the InstantDM app. In the app, open Flows and tap a flow to see each person’s answers.

What your followers see

• The question arrives and the flow waits.
• If the answer has the wrong format, they get your Wrong input message (with the choices again, if any).
• With 3 retry attempts they get 2 corrections. After the third wrong answer the flow moves on and nothing is saved.
• Typed answers must come within 1 hour of the question. A later typed reply is treated as a new message. Tapping a choice still works later.

Good to know

• Answers are saved on the contact. You can see them in Contacts and in the flow’s contact list, and use them in later messages, like {{email}}. See use names and answers in messages.
• Ask only if unknown looks at answers from any flow on the same account.
• Don’t count on a skipped question staying empty. When someone taps the skip button, its text (for example “No thanks”) can be saved as the answer. Check answers before you export or sync them.
• Set Live only checks the question right after the Trigger. Check every other question yourself with Preview.

What you can’t do

• Write your own validation rules.
• Ask more than one question in one step.
• Collect a photo or file as an answer.
• Change the 1-hour window for typed answers.

How to turn it off

To stop asking a question, delete the step (Delete node) and click Set Live again. To stop the whole flow, see turn a flow on or off.

If it doesn’t work

• “Question node: At least one question must be configured.” → the question right after the Trigger has no text. Type the question.
• A good phone number is rejected → it has spaces or dashes. Ask for digits only in the question and in the Wrong input message.
• Text answers keep failing → they contain emoji, apostrophes or non-English letters. Use the Name type with Save answer as instead.
• Emails don’t reach Mailchimp, Kit or Klaviyo → use the Email question type, and see send flow data to another app.