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Starting Point block

Jonathan Goodfellow Updated by Jonathan Goodfellow

It all begins here šŸŽ‰. All bots, in all channels, all start with the same block: the Starting Point block!

Your users will not be able to see this block, it is only visible from the Builder.

The Starting Point block is the base from which you can build your flow. Depending on which type of bot you are building, the block will behave slightly differently. Let's get into it! šŸ

For Web

When you open your Builder, you will see the Starting Point Block already placed on your canvas. It looks like this:

To begin building your flow, click the green "+" icon in the block, or click and drag from the "+" sign. You will then be presented with 3 options to choose from, to create the first part of your bot that the user will see! You can choose from:

  1. Buttons
  2. Text
  3. Forms (former New Multi-question)

It will look like this:

This will then create your Welcome Block, in the style that you selected!

You can now customize each section of your Welcome Block by selecting the different icons in the block.

Buttons

If you choose the Buttons option, the user input to the Welcome Block will be stored in the @welcome variable. Keep in mind that this variable is not customizable.

Tip: You can find more information about how to reset the @welcome variable in our Variables in Landbot - Getting started article.
Text

With the Text option, you can ask your users open-ended questions instead of having to stick to predefined options. It's a great way to gain a deeper understanding of your users and their needs from the very beginning of the flow!

For more information on how the Question: Text block works, please refer to this article.

Forms

With the Forms option, you can ask more than one question within a single message, making it easier for your users to provide all the relevant information!

For more information on how the Forms block works, please check out this article.

The Welcome Message block is the only place where you can use the Legal Consent feature, which allows you to ask users to accept your Privacy Policies and Conditions. You can add your own Privacy Policy link and make sure your users give you the legal consent you need to manage and store the data you collect through the bot.

In the builder, it looks like this:

Note: This feature is only available for Web Bots.

For WhatsApp

If you decide to build a WhatsApp Bot then you will also see the Starting Point block already placed in your canvas when you open up the Builder for the first time.

The difference with WhatsApp Bots is that you can connect the Starting Point block to any other block you like šŸ¤Æ. So many options! The same as with the Web Bot, you just need to click or click-and-drag from the "+" icon in the Starting Point block.

It will look like this:

Tip: A great option is to connect the Starting Point block to a Collect Intent block to capture the user's first input and start right away depending on what the user is texting! You can check out more about how the Collect Intent block works and some examples here.

For Facebook Messenger & APIChat bots

The block behaves exactly the same way as in the WhatsApp version. The Starting Point block will already be in your Builder canvas when you open the bot, and you can connect it to any block you like with the "+" icon.

That's it! All bots begin with the Starting Point block!

How did we do?

Business Hours block

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