How to capture leads with interaction flows
Step-by-step guide to building multi-step forms inside your chat widget — from templates to conditional logic to email routing.
Interaction flows let you build multi-step forms that run inside the Taros chat widget. Instead of sending visitors to a separate contact page, you capture their information right in the conversation.
Here's how to set them up.
What are interaction flows?
An interaction flow is a sequence of steps — questions, input fields, dropdowns — that your chat widget walks visitors through. Think of it as a form that lives inside the chat, with the ability to branch based on answers.
Use cases include:
- Collecting email addresses before the conversation starts
- Qualifying leads with a few targeted questions
- Routing inquiries to the right team based on topic
- Gathering project requirements from potential clients
Start with a template
You don't need to build from scratch. Taros includes four templates:
- Email Collection — simple name + email capture
- Lead Qualification — name, email, company size, budget range
- Sales Assistant — product interest, timeline, decision stage
- Tier-Based Routing — categorize the inquiry and route accordingly
Pick the closest match, then customize the fields and logic to fit your business.
Available field types
Each step in a flow contains one or more fields. Here's what you can use:
- Text — short free-text input
- Email — email address with built-in validation
- Phone — phone number input
- Number — numeric input with optional min/max
- Textarea — longer free-text for descriptions or messages
- Dropdown — select one option from a list
- Radio — choose one from visible options
- Checkbox — toggle yes/no or agree/disagree
- Date — date picker
- Hidden — pass data without showing it to the user (useful for tracking source, page URL, etc.)
Each field supports validation: required/optional, regex patterns, min/max length, and custom error messages.
Building a lead qualification flow
Let's walk through a practical example. You want to qualify inbound leads before they talk to sales.
Step 1: Name and email. Two fields: a text field for name (required) and an email field (required). This is your minimum viable lead.
Step 2: What are you looking for? A dropdown with options like "Customer support automation", "Sales assistant", "Lead generation", "Internal knowledge base", or "Something else".
Step 3: Team size. A dropdown or radio with ranges: "Just me", "2-10", "11-50", "50+". This helps you prioritize.
Step 4: Conditional follow-up. If they selected "Something else" in step 2, show a textarea asking them to describe what they need. If they selected a specific use case, skip straight to a thank-you message.
The result: every lead that comes through has a name, email, use case, and team size. Your sales team knows exactly who to call first.
Conditional logic and branching
This is where flows get powerful. You can show or skip steps based on previous answers.
Condition types include:
- equals — exact match ("Customer support automation")
- not_equals — anything except a specific value
- contains — partial match (useful for text fields)
- is_empty / is_not_empty — whether the field was filled in
- greater_than / less_than — for numeric comparisons
You can combine multiple conditions with AND/OR logic. For example: show a budget question only if team size is "50+" AND use case is "Customer support automation".
Email routing
When a visitor completes a flow, you can have the submission sent to your inbox.
Configuration options:
- Recipient email — where submissions go
- Delivery mode — immediate (one email per submission) or daily digest (summary of all submissions)
- Included fields — choose which fields appear in the email notification
This is the simplest way to act on leads without any integrations. New lead comes in, you get an email, you follow up.
Webhooks for advanced integrations (Pro+)
On Pro plans, you can fire webhooks when specific events happen in a flow:
- flow_complete — the visitor finished the entire flow
- step_complete — a specific step was submitted
- branch_taken — a particular conditional branch was triggered
Each webhook sends a JSON payload with all the collected data. Use this to push leads into your CRM, notify a Slack channel, update a spreadsheet, or trigger any custom workflow.
Every webhook call is logged with full audit history, so you can debug failed deliveries and monitor your automations.
Trigger timing
You control when the flow appears in the conversation. Set a trigger based on message count:
- 0 — show the flow before the first message (great for email collection)
- 1 — show after the visitor sends their first message
- 3+ — show after a few exchanges, once the visitor is engaged
The right timing depends on your goal. Email collection works best at 0 or 1. Lead qualification flows work better after a brief exchange.
Multi-language support
Flows auto-translate based on the visitor's browser language. Taros supports 19 languages with automatic fallback.
You can also manually translate each step's title, description, labels, and button text for full control over the wording in each language.
Tips for better conversion
- Keep it short. 2-4 steps max. Every extra step loses people.
- Ask for email first. Even if they abandon the flow, you have their email.
- Use dropdowns over text fields when possible. Less friction, cleaner data.
- Write conversational copy. "What brings you here today?" works better than "Select inquiry type."
- Test the flow yourself. Go through it as a visitor would. If it feels tedious, cut steps.
Interaction flows turn your chat widget from a Q&A tool into a lead generation machine. Start with a template, customize for your business, and start capturing leads today.