Flows are how you put engagement on autopilot. You decide what should happen when a customer does something — leaves a cart, browses without buying, goes quiet — and UMAP360 sends the right message at the right time, without you lifting a finger. The headline use case is cart recovery: a shopper adds items, then drops off, and a well-timed nudge brings them back to complete the purchase.
The pieces of a flow
Every automation is built from the same parts. Whether you're sending one message or a multi-step sequence, you're combining these:
- A trigger — the event that starts the flow (for example, a cart abandoned or a checkout started).
- A condition (optional) — a filter that decides who continues, like only carts worth more than a set amount.
- A delay — how long to wait before the next step (minutes, hours, or days).
- A channel — Email, SMS, or WhatsApp.
- A template — the reusable message that gets sent.
- A status — whether the flow is live (Active) or on hold (Paused).
Start with cart abandonment
It's typically the highest-value recovery trigger. A common starting point: wait 30 minutes after a cart is abandoned, then send a reminder.
Choosing a trigger
The trigger is what activates your automation. You set it on the campaign, and you can pick from common presets or enter your own event name:
| Trigger | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Cart abandoned | Shoppers who added items but didn't buy |
| Browse abandoned | Visitors who looked but never added to cart |
| Win-back | Customers who've gone quiet |
| Price drop | Nudges when a watched item gets cheaper |
| Payment failed | Recovering a checkout that didn't go through |
| Custom | Any other event — type the event name yourself |
The trigger lives on the campaign, so building and managing flows happens from the Engagement → Campaigns area. See Campaigns and recovery analytics for the full campaign view.
Adding a condition
Conditions keep you from over-messaging. Instead of firing for everyone, you can require something to be true first — the classic example is only trigger for carts above a minimum value, so you're not spending sends on low-value baskets.
In a multi-step flow, a condition branches the path: people who match continue one way, and people who don't go another. That lets you send a different follow-up (or none at all) depending on what the customer did.
Setting delays
A delay is simply a wait. It's what turns a single message into a thoughtful sequence rather than an instant blast.
- Cart abandonment — a short wait, around 30 minutes, usually works well.
- Browse abandonment — give it longer, often around 24 hours.
You set delays in minutes, hours, or days, so you can space steps out exactly how you want.
Picking a channel and template
Each message step delivers through one channel — Email, SMS, or WhatsApp — using a template you've already created. The template carries your wording and any personalization (like the customer's name or cart value), so the same flow stays personal for every recipient.
If you haven't built your messages yet, start with Message templates, and see Channels for what each one is best at.
RCS is coming soon
Today you can send on Email, SMS, and WhatsApp. RCS support is coming soon.
Building a multi-step flow
For anything beyond a single message, use the visual flow builder. It opens full-screen from a campaign and lets you lay out steps on a canvas, connecting them in the order you want. You can mix and match steps like:
- Trigger — the single entry point that starts the flow.
- Delay — wait before the next step.
- Message — deliver an Email, SMS, or WhatsApp.
- Condition — branch into a yes path and a no path.
- A/B split — test message variants against each other.
- Tag — quietly add or remove a tag on the customer's profile.
- End — finish the flow.
A typical recovery sequence might look like: cart abandoned → wait 30 minutes → send email → wait 24 hours → if not opened, send a WhatsApp follow-up. Steps continue based on what the customer does, so the right people get the right nudge.
Test before you commit
Use an A/B split to compare two versions of a message and let the results tell you which one recovers more revenue.
Turning flows on, off, and editing them
You control a flow through its campaign status:
- Activate — set the campaign live to start firing the trigger.
- Pause — put it on hold without deleting anything. (Draft campaigns can't be paused or resumed — launch them first.)
- Edit — change the trigger, condition, delay, channel, or template at any time.
- Delete — remove the whole campaign when you no longer need it.
When you save changes to a flow, your previous version is preserved and a fresh version takes over — so live automations aren't edited out from under running customers.
A few habits that pay off
- Set a condition to avoid over-messaging — for example, only trigger above a minimum cart value.
- Use delays deliberately — short for cart abandonment, longer for browse abandonment.
- A/B test your templates and keep the winner.
- Review your recovery rate weekly and adjust the flows that underperform.
Next steps
- Message templates — write the messages your flows send
- Channels — Email, SMS, and WhatsApp explained
- Campaigns and recovery analytics — launch flows and measure recovered revenue
- Audiences and segments — target the right people
- Engagement overview — how it all fits together
Last updated 2026-06-11