Automations overview

Many visitor conversations only need a clear answer. Others are more useful when they continue into a structured next step, such as leaving contact details, choosing a service path, booking a meeting, or sending a request to the team.

Zeltino automations help you create those guided moments without replacing the assistant's normal question-answering experience. This overview will help you choose the lightest feature that fits the outcome and understand what needs to be ready before you activate it.

In this article, you'll learn:

• Which automation feature fits each kind of journey
• How to plan from the customer outcome backward
• What Active, Paused, and Draft mean
• How reusable dependencies affect automations
• Where to begin building

Choose the right automation#

Start with the smallest tool that gives the visitor a clear next step:

• Chat Flows start from one trigger and run an ordered set of messages, questions, forms, meeting actions, categories, or tickets.
• Smart Greetings are lightweight chat flows that start proactively based on page, visitor type, and delay.
• Suggested Questions give visitors useful prompts before or during a conversation.
• Lead Forms are reusable field, presentation, and consent assets used by flows and Contact Options.
• Contact Options provide fixed callback, scheduling, and inquiry paths, with controls for when the assistant may offer each one.

Use the simplest feature that produces the intended result. A suggested question is better than a multi-step flow when the visitor only needs a helpful starting prompt. A Contact Option is often clearer than rebuilding the same callback or inquiry path inside several flows.

Build from the outcome backward#

Before opening the builder, describe one visitor outcome in a sentence. It might be submitting qualified contact details, booking a call, or routing a support request. Then work backward through the pieces needed to reach it:

1. the trigger that identifies the right moment;
2. the minimum questions needed;
3. the reusable form, meeting type, or category required;
4. the confirmation the visitor should receive;
5. the team-side result you will verify.

Understand status#

Chat flows can be Active or Paused. New flows start paused, giving you room to build and save without running the journey for visitors. Activation requires a valid trigger, valid required settings, and ready referenced assets.

Lead forms can be Active, Paused, or Draft. A flow or Contact Option that uses a form needs a compatible active version. Status is therefore part of the dependency, not only an organizational label.

Manage dependencies#

Automations can depend on lead forms, public meeting types, conversation categories, Suggested Questions, and active team members. The builder and readiness indicators help you see when a required asset is missing or incompatible.

Review those warnings before activation and retest after editing a referenced asset. A flow can remain unchanged while the form or meeting type it relies on becomes unavailable.

See Understand automation dependencies.

Start here#

If this is your first automation, begin with one short flow or one Suggested Question. You can introduce forms and routing after the basic trigger and message behave as expected.

• Create a chat flow
• Create a flow from a template
• Configure Suggested Questions
• Create and manage lead forms
• Configure Contact Options