How do I send different messages based on someone's answer or tag?

A branch is a fork in the flow: one group of people goes one way, everyone else goes another.

Before you start

• You need Trendsetter and above and a flow open in the editor.
• To branch on an answer, save it first with a Question step and a Save answer as name, for example goal. See ask questions in a flow.

Steps

1. Add a Question step, for example “What’s your main goal?” with the choices “Weight loss” and “Muscle gain”, and set Save answer as to goal.
2. Click + and pick Condition (in the Logic group). Connect the question’s Next Step dot to it.
3. Click the Condition card. Under Match, choose All rules (AND) or Any rule (OR).
4. Click Add rule and set it up, for example Custom field · goal · equals · Weight loss.
5. Connect the True dot to the message for people who match.
6. Connect the False dot to the message for everyone else.
7. Click Preview to check the main path, then Set Live.

Rules you can use in a Condition

Source	Options
Custom field (a saved answer or Set Field value)	exists, doesn’t exist, equals, doesn’t equal, contains, greater than, less than
Tag	has tag, doesn’t have tag (type the tag name)
They follow you	is following, is not following
You follow them	you follow them, you don’t follow them
Follower count	greater than, less than, equals

Other ways to branch

• Buttons and smart replies: in a DM Reply step, each Regular button and each smart reply chip has its own dot. Connect each one to a different next step. URL buttons only open a link and can’t lead anywhere.
• Tags: add a Tag Contact step on one path (for example tag hot-lead), then check that tag with a Condition later, in this flow or another one. See tag contacts.
• Followers only: sends people down Follows you or Doesn’t follow you.
• Randomizer: splits people by percentage. It starts with two branches at 50% each. Click Add branch for up to 4 (A to D), and make the weights add up to 100%. Use it to test two offers.

On the phone app

You can’t add branches in the InstantDM app. Use the web app at app.instantdm.com on a computer.

What your followers see

Nothing about the branching. They just get the message for their branch.

Good to know

• Text comparisons ignore capital letters.
• A Condition with no rules sends everyone down False.
• A useful pattern: Custom field email exists → True skips the email question. The Ask only if unknown switch on a question does the same thing more simply.
• On Facebook, follow rules always count as “following”.
• The Randomizer takes turns (A, B, A, B…), so a 50/50 split looks exactly even. Each person’s branch is saved on their contact as ab_ plus the step ID.
• Preview follows only the main path. It doesn’t walk through Condition or Randomizer branches, so test each branch with a real DM from another account.

What you can’t do

• Compare two fields with each other.
• Compare dates.
• Branch on something the AI tagged within the same flow (nothing runs after an AI Reply step).
• Get automatic A/B winner stats in the editor.

If it doesn’t work

• Everyone goes down False → the field name or value doesn’t match. Check the exact Save answer as name and the choice text, or use contains instead of equals.
• A choice leads nowhere → its dot isn’t connected, or it’s a URL button.
• “More than one connection” → each dot connects to one step only. Delete the old line first.