Use the Start somebody else in a flow action to place a separate contact or group in a flow when a contact reaches this step.
In the example below, we’re starting fathers, referenced using the contact variable @fields.spouse, in the “Questions for Dads” flow when the expecting mothers reach the second step of a registration flow.
Create that step by adding a new node and choosing “Start somebody else in a flow” from the dropdown menu:
Here’s how we configured that action in our example flow:
In the example above, we’ve used the ‘Select recipients manually’ option and then used the contact field @fields.spouse. When the mother reaches this part of the flow, she will continue forward while her spouse is simultaneously started in the “Questions for Dads” flow.
Creating a New Contact
The Start somebody else in a flow action can also be used to create a totally new contact through the flow it starts.
In the example flow below named “Register Child”, mothers are being asked to submit the name and age of the child they’re registering. Once that information is collected, the Start somebody else in a flow action triggers a new flow called “Create Child Contact”, that will create a new contact whose fields, name and age, are populated via an Update the contact action using the results collected in the previous flow, “Register Child”.
The first flow collects the child’s information, while the second flow updates it and creates a contact profile for the child.
Register Child Flow
To create the new child’s contact profile, choose ‘Create a new contact’ from the dropdown menu.
Once the mother has passed through the “Register Child” flow and reaches the Start somebody else in a flow action, the information collected will pass to the “Create Child Contact” flow, where we will update the child’s name and age fields:
In the flow above, we want to update the child’s name and age using the Update the contact action, but also save the mother’s phone number to the child’s contact profile, since it is the mother we’ll be in communication with. To update these fields, we’ll use the @parent variable as they are passed from a parent flow.
In the case of the mother’s phone, we’ll use @parent.urns.tel Note that the variable @urns is used for address types, such as phone numbers. See more about variables here.
To save the child’s name and age in their contact profile, we’ll use the variable @parent.results.[field_name] In the example below, we’ve updated the child’s name:
The final action in the “Create Child Contact” flow is to send the mother a message using the @parent.urns.tel variable we updated in the flow. We’ll use the Send somebody else a message action letting her know her child’s contact profile has been created. We must use the Send somebody else a message action rather than a Send a message action because it is actually the child who is active in the flow. As the child is the active contact, we can use the @contact variable to reference collected fields, such as name and age:
In the example above, @contact.name will be the child’s name, not the mother’s.
We can check the “Contacts” page to see that the child’s profile has been created:
Sending Reminders Intended for the Child
To send reminders to the mother for her child, you’ll need to create a campaign event to be sent to the child’s contact profile that contains a flow that uses either the Send somebody else a message or Start somebody else in a flow actions to message the mother. The address you’ll use is the contact field containing the mother’s phone number, @contact.fields.mother_phone or @fields.mother_phone for short:
Recall that because the child is the active contact, we’ll use @contact to reference their fields. In the example above, @contact.name will be the child’s name, not the mother’s.