Starts the flow when someone writes one of the words you chose. Word list, match mode, channel scope and how it cuts an ongoing chat are all covered here.
Your customers ask the same three or four things all day long: price, shipping, size, opening hours. The Keyword trigger catches those questions and starts the right flow, so you stop typing the same answer fifty times. This guide walks you through building the trigger, explains each of its fields, and shows exactly which messages reach it.
💡 The Keyword trigger works on both Instagram and WhatsApp accounts. It needs a connected account and the automation has to be Live.
In this article you will find:
What it does
Building the trigger
Fields and buttons
Cutting an ongoing chat, and priority
Which messages reach this trigger
Limits and known issues
Common mistakes and how to fix them
What it does
The trigger compares the text the person wrote against the words on your list. On a match the flow starts and its first step runs. Without a match this trigger does nothing at all; the message is handed to the next routes in line (a session waiting for a reply, Any message, Default reply).
Because the word arrives in the person's own message, the messaging window is open: the first message of your flow goes out with its buttons, its card and its file intact. The restrictions that apply to the first message of a comment-started flow do not exist here.
The matched word is written into the session log. The Logs tab shows which word each session started with, so when you attach five words to one flow that list tells you which of them is actually doing the work.
Building the trigger
Let us build a shipment-tracking flow.
Open the automation from the Automations list, or start an empty flow with New automation.
On the Flow tab, click the When… box on the canvas.
Press Add trigger in the panel on the side.
Pick Keyword from the list.
Type shipping into the Keywords box and press Enter. Add tracking and where is the same way.
Leave the Match list on Contains. That way "where is my shipping", "tracking number" and "have you shipped it yet" are all caught.
If your account has more than one channel connected, pick the account from the Channel list or leave it on All channels.
Connect the start box's Next output to a Message step and write the answer.
Press Publish at the top right. Your automation is now running.
Before you publish, type a few real customer sentences into the simulator on the Test tab. The simulator uses the same matching rule as the engine.
Fields and buttons
The trigger card holds three fields and a remove button.
Keywords — The list of words to look for. Type into the box and press Enter or a comma, and the word is added as a chip. The cross on a chip removes it. One trigger takes up to 30 words, each up to 100 characters long. A single entry may also be a phrase of several words, such as track order. Leaving this field empty blocks publishing: the pre-publish check reports "Add words to the keyword trigger."
Match — How the word is looked for in the text: Contains, Whole word, Starts with, Exact match. The default is Contains and it is the right choice most of the time. The mode applies to every word on the list. Details are in the match modes article.
Channel — Which account the trigger runs on. This field appears only when more than one channel is connected. Left on All channels it runs on every connected channel.
Remove — The cross at the top right of the card deletes the trigger. Delete the flow's only trigger and the pre-publish check reports "Add at least one trigger."
Cutting an ongoing chat, and priority
Keyword is an explicit trigger: even when the person has a session running, it cuts that session and starts this flow. The hint in the editor says so too: "When it matches, the person's running session stops and this automation starts." The session that was cut closes with the reason "Interrupted by a new trigger" in the Logs tab.
You can switch that behaviour off per flow. On the automation's Settings tab, turn off A new keyword can interrupt this automation and any keyword arriving while the person is waiting to reply in that flow is ignored, and the text goes to the flow instead. Turn it off in flows that collect an address, a phone number or a size; otherwise a customer who writes the word "shipping" as their answer is thrown somewhere else mid-flow.
When several keyword triggers match one message the narrower one wins: exact match scores 4, whole word 3, starts with 2, contains 1. On a tie the trigger created first wins. The 10-point narrowing that a chosen post or a link tag gives does not exist on keywords, which is why a comment trigger with a post selected beats even your narrowest keyword.
Which messages reach this trigger
Keyword reads the text the person wrote. These reach it:
Ordinary DM messages, on both channels.
Story replies, post shares and messages arriving from a link or an ad — but only when no trigger of that specific event matches. Someone who replies to your story and writes "price" lands in your price flow even without a story reply trigger.
The first message from a WhatsApp prefilled-text link. WhatsApp links carry no tag; they put ready-made text in the box instead, and when the person presses Send that text arrives as an ordinary message. This is how you catch a WhatsApp campaign link with a keyword.
These do not reach it:
Comments on posts and reels. A comment is not a chat; that needs the post comment trigger.
A tap on a button we sent. On a button, triggers are not consulted at all; the session continues from that button's branch.
Messages with no text. When someone sends only a photo, a voice note or a sticker there is nothing to search. Use the Any message trigger for those.
Limits and known issues
Up to 30 words per trigger, each up to 100 characters.
The match mode cannot be set per word; it applies to the whole list.
Matching is always case-insensitive and accent-insensitive, and that cannot be turned off.
The flow cannot be published while the word list is empty.
A start step holds up to 20 triggers, so you may add several keyword triggers to one flow and give each its own mode.
The trigger only runs while the automation is Live. If the card says there are unpublished changes, the old version is still the one running.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Putting the same word in two automations. They do not both run; the higher-scoring one starts and the other never appears. Split your words between automations.
Giving a single word exact match. With "price" on exact match, a customer writing "what is the price" is not caught. Switch to Contains.
Choosing a word that is too general. Words like "the", "is" or "any" fire on almost every message in Contains mode. Set them to Whole word or take them off the list.
Forgetting the re-entry rule. If Can the same person enter again? on the Settings tab is set to Only once, the flow does not start when the same customer writes the word a second time, and no new session appears in the logs.
Allowing interruption in a data-collecting flow. If the customer's answer happens to contain one of your keywords, the flow is cut. Turn off A new keyword can interrupt this automation.
If you have tried all of this and the flow still does not start, see the automation never starts guide or get in touch with our Support team.