The 11 Flow Step Types in onmsg

Eleven blocks, three jobs

The Visual Bot Flow Builder has eleven step types. They look like a long list until you notice they only do three things: say something, collect something, or decide something. Once you see them that way, building a flow becomes a matter of choosing the right block for the job in front of you.

Steps that say something

Message displays information and continues. It is your greeting, your explanation, your confirmation at the end. Keep each one short, chat reads badly in paragraphs, and two Message steps land better than one long block of text.

Image or video displays media from an upload or a link. Useful where a picture settles the question faster than a sentence: a diagram of the part you fit, a short clip of the process, a photo of what a finished job looks like.

Pause inserts a delay with typing dots. It sounds cosmetic and is not. A three-message answer that arrives instantly reads as a broadcast. The same answer with a beat between messages reads as a reply.

Steps that collect something

Question collects a free-text answer into a variable. Use it when you genuinely want the visitor’s own words, describing a problem, naming a product they cannot quite remember. The variable can then drive a branch later.

One field collects a single value such as an email address, phone number or a number. It exists because throwing a five-field form at someone who only needs to leave a phone number is the fastest way to lose them.

Form collects several fields together, with required fields, input types and configurable validation. This is your qualification step: address, budget range, preferred time, whatever your team otherwise has to chase. Validation is what stops a phone number arriving as “call me”.

AI Agent is the collect-and-answer hybrid. It runs a multi-turn AI conversation with its own instructions, greeting, escalation message, maximum turns and knowledge base selection. Because it draws on the Grounded AI Agent & Knowledge Base, what it says is anchored to the content you supplied rather than the model’s general knowledge, and in Strict mode it can return your configured refusal instead of guessing.

Steps that decide something

Choices shows buttons and branches on the one the visitor picks. It is the most-used step in most flows, because two or three clear options resolve intent faster than any question you could phrase. Keep the list to four at most; a wall of buttons is a menu, and menus get ignored.

By answer branches using a saved variable from an earlier step. Ask the property type once, then route the plumbing branch and the roofing branch differently without asking again.

By availability chooses between online and offline paths. This is the step that makes after-hours enquiries worth having: instead of promising an instant reply nobody is there to give, the offline path can be written for someone who knows they are waiting until morning.

By page branches on the visitor’s page URL. One flow, many contexts, a pricing-page visitor gets plan questions, a service-page visitor gets that service’s enquiry form, everyone else gets the general greeting.

A quick reference

Step type	What it does	Typical use
Message	Shows information and continues	Greeting, explanation, confirmation
Image or video	Displays media from upload or link	Show a diagram or a finished job
Pause	Adds a typing delay	Make a multi-message reply feel human
Question	Captures free text into a variable	“Describe the problem”
One field	Captures one value	Email, phone, quantity
Form	Captures several fields with validation	Qualify an enquiry
AI Agent	Multi-turn grounded AI conversation	Answer open questions from your knowledge
Choices	Buttons that branch	“What can we help with?”
By answer	Branch on a saved variable	Route by property type
By availability	Branch on online/offline	Offline intake after hours
By page	Branch on the visitor’s URL	Pricing page vs homepage

How they combine in practice

A useful flow rarely uses all eleven. A strong one often uses five: a Message greeting, a Choices step for intent, a Form on the branch that turns into work, an AI Agent step on the “something else” branch, and a By availability check so the evening version behaves differently.

Start there. Add By page when you notice one section of your site producing different questions. Add By answer when a branch needs a follow-up. Add Pause when you reread the transcript and it feels abrupt. Each addition is a block, not a project.

Choosing between similar steps

Three pairs cause most of the hesitation.

Question or One field? Use Question when you want the visitor’s own words and the answer will be read by a person or used to branch. Use One field when you want a specific, typed value, an email, a phone number, a quantity, and validation matters more than nuance.

One field or Form? Match the weight of the ask to the weight of the request. One value, one field. Several values that belong together, a Form. Asking five separate One field questions in a row turns a conversation into an interrogation.

Choices or AI Agent? Choices when the possibilities are known and few. AI Agent when they are not. A common mistake is to enumerate twelve options rather than letting an AI step handle “something else”, twelve buttons is a directory, and visitors do not read directories.

Common flow mistakes and what to do instead

Too many messages before the first question. Three Message steps in a row is a landing page, not a conversation. Say one thing, then ask.

A Form step too early. Asking for contact details before the visitor has had anything useful is the chat equivalent of a pop-up. Give an answer first, then ask.

Branches with no ending. Every path needs to arrive somewhere, an answer, a captured enquiry, or a person. A branch that stops mid-flow leaves the visitor holding a conversation nobody is going to continue.

No offline path. Flows built during working hours tend to assume working hours. Add the By availability branch before you publish, not after the first Sunday.

Next: building a greeting-to-handoff flow, step by step, or go deeper on routing with branching by page, availability and saved answers.