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Outbound flows don’t wait for inbound traffic. You start each conversation manually (from the editor) or programmatically (from a workflow).

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When to use this

  • An account manager places an outbound sales call.
  • A renewal team kicks off a “your contract is up for renewal” email.
  • A workflow node fires a follow-up SMS after a webhook trigger.
  • A scheduled job opens daily check-in conversations.
The flow must be in Outbound execution mode. See Execution modes.

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Starting from the editor

1

Click Start Conversation

In the rail on the left of the canvas. The button appears, next to Deploy, when the agent’s execution mode is Outbound.The dialog says which version the conversation will run: Runs live v3, Runs v3, the last deployed version, or Runs your latest edits if the agent has never been deployed. See Deploy an agent.
2

Pick a channel

Only channels that support outbound traffic appear — Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams, Phone, SMS, WhatsApp Business — plus the Widget. Picking the widget creates a widget link instead of sending a message: there’s no recipient, and you copy the link at the end.
3

Enter the recipient

Channel-specific recipient field:
4

Fill in initial parameters

If the flow defines Initial Parameters, the form shows those fields. Common ones:
  • customer_name
  • account_id
  • purpose_of_call
5

Optional — provide a global task

A free-text “what is this conversation about” you give the first actor. Often more useful than structured parameters.
“Reach out to Sarah from Acme Logistics about her renewal. Her contract ends Aug 31. Her main concern is pricing — be ready to discuss options.”
6

Start

The flow opens the conversation. The first actor sends an opener.For email: an email lands in the recipient’s inbox.For Slack/Teams: a message appears in their DMs.For phone: the platform places the call.

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After the opener

What happens next depends on the channel:
  • Email — the recipient replies in-thread. The reply lands back in this conversation and the next actor turn fires.
  • Messaging — the recipient sends a Slack/Teams reply. Same loop.
  • Phone — the caller answers (or doesn’t). If they pick up, the conversation continues turn by turn.
  • SMS / WhatsApp — same as email/messaging.
The conversation is visible in Conversations history with the recipient as participant.

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Conflict with an existing active conversation

If the recipient already has an active conversation with this flow, the platform asks what to do:
  • OK — the existing conversation is ended and a new one starts, with a fresh opener.
  • Cancel — the existing conversation is kept as it is and nothing new is sent. You can open it from the conversations list.
This prevents accidental duplicates — useful when multiple teammates might kick off conversations to the same customer.

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Starting from a workflow

In a workflow, use the Conversation Flow node:
  1. Add the node from the Communication section of the node picker.
  2. Pick the flow, a channel, and the recipient. Fill the recipient and the flow’s Initial Parameters from earlier steps with {{ }}.
  3. Add event branches (Slot Filled, Actor Changed, Message Received, and more) for what should happen during the conversation.
When the workflow reaches the node, the opener is sent and the conversation continues on its own; the workflow doesn’t wait for it. There’s no confirmation step: if the recipient already has an active conversation with this flow, the node ends it and starts a new one. Phone and SMS channels can’t be used from a workflow.

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Anti-patterns

Don’t use Start Conversation as a bulk send. This UI is for one-off outreach. For bulk campaigns, use a workflow that calls the Conversation Flow action node, driven by a list trigger.
Don’t kick off real conversations during testing. Use the Test drawer — it short-circuits channel delivery. Real Start Conversation calls do send real messages.

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Next

Test an agent

Try the flow without sending real messages.

Conversations history

Track everything that’s been started.