Build smarter Guided Conversations with Fork Blocks

Build smarter Guided Conversations with Fork Blocks

When your customers arrive on your support channel, they're not there to explore. They are usually confused and stuck while trying to fix something important. We understand how stressful that moment can feel and we want your bot to make things easier, not harder.

A well designed Guided Conversation takes away this confusion. At the heart of those flows lies one powerful tool: the Fork Block. When you pair it with a few smart techniques, it can turn a basic bot into a friendly assistant your users trust.



What Fork Blocks actually do   

Think of Fork Blocks as your bot’s decision maker. They split the flow into different paths based on conditions.
The bot behaves exactly the way you expect:
  1. If the customer says X, respond with Y
  2. If that does not match, check the next thing
  3. If nothing fits, take them to a helpful fallback
Nothing is guessed; each action is based on your logical configuration.


Example

A customer contacts your support bot on WhatsApp.
The bot asks: “What do you need help with today?”
Options:
  1. Order related help
  2. Account help
  3. Something else
Your Fork Block simply checks what the user tapped or texted and takes them to the correct flow. A Fork Blocks split your flow into different paths based on conditions.

Customer chooses
Bot should do
Order related help
Bot asks for the order number and shows order status.
Account help
Bot verifies mobile number and shows account options.
Something else
Bot shows a short menu to guide the user.

This feels smooth because the bot reacts instantly based on the user’s choice.
  

Why this matters for your customers     

Fork Blocks help you:
  1. Personalise every step
  2. Reduce back and forth
  3. Send users to the right answer faster
  4. Prevent unnecessary agent escalations
This directly improves resolution rates across channels, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and more.
 

Advanced techniques

Below are the techniques that can take your Fork Block logic from basic to professional level. The transitions between them are natural, since each one uses Fork Blocks in a different but complementary way.

Fork with IM Variables

When a customer messages your WhatsApp bot, Guided Conversations can use one of their credentials, such as their phone number (IM Variable), to fetch details from your backend system via a webhook. This equips the bot with key information about the customer, like whether they are on a Gold or Free edition, without needing to ask.
Your Fork Block then uses this information to personalise the conversation instantly.

Gold customers: "Hi, welcome back. You are on Gold support. Here are your recent tickets."
Free customers: “Hi. Please share your order number so I can help you.”
If customer type isn’t available: “Just to help you better, are you a Gold customer or a Free customer?”

This keeps the conversation smooth and personalised without asking the customer to repeat basic details.
Learn more about using IM variables in GC
 

Fork Block with Operation Block      

Some decisions depend on numbers. For example, a customer might tell you their quantity and price, and you need to decide what assistance level they should get. Instead of asking customers to calculate things or writing long explanations, let the Operation Block do the math.

Example  

  1. A customer shares quantity and price.
  2. Operation Block calculates total value.
  3. Fork Block decides how to assist the customer based on that value.
 
Total Value
What your bot offers
Above 20,000
Priority callback
5,000 to 20,000
Connect to a human agent
Below 5,000
Automated

Here, the Fork Block evaluates the result of the Operation Block and chooses the best path. This keeps the flow clean and avoids long explanations.


Fork Block with Webhook Block

Sometimes your bot needs to make decisions that depend on information stored outside the Guided Conversation flow. For example, checking a warranty, subscription, customer tier, or order status.
Combining a Fork Block with a webhook is a powerful tool in this situation.

How it works

  1. The user enters a detail (for example: order ID)
  2. A webhook sends this to your backend system for a status check
  3. Your system returns a simple response such as:
    1. SHIPPED
    2. OUT_FOR_DELIVERY
    3. YET_TO_SHIP
  4. The Fork Block reads this result and decides the next step.
 
Example  
User asks “What’s my order status?” and enters an order number.
  1. Webhook checks your system.
  2. Response = OUT_FOR_DELIVERY
  3. Fork Block routes to “Your order is on the way. Here’s your tracking link.”
  4. If response = YET_TO_SHIP,  the Fork Block routes to “Your order is being prepared. We’ll notify you once it ships.”
This keeps the flow neat and helps customers move faster.

 
Learn more about Webhook Block
   

How the three come together to create a smooth, intelligent WhatsApp bot   

In real-world WhatsApp flows, these three techniques often work together.
  1. IM variables help trigger the backend and retrieve user details
  2. Webhook verifies backend information
  3. Operation Block calculates values
For example, you can identify the user via their mobile number, calculate the cart value using an Operation Block, and verify their membership tier through a webhook all in one flow.
 

Best Practices  

  1. Map your branches before building: Sketch your decision paths on paper first
    1. This prevents confusion when your flow grows; it will be easy to see where each condition leads
  2. Use specific conditions first and general ones later
  3. Always include an Else path

Final Thought  

Fork Blocks work on every channel supported by Guided Conversations, not just WhatsApp.
When you combine them with Webhooks, Operation Blocks and Session Variables, you create flows that feel structured, reliable and human-aware, without complexity for the user.

Regards,
Prabin | Zoho Desk

    • Topic Participants

    • Raj R

    • Sticky Posts

    • Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

      Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

    • WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

      Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform

    • Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

      Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools

    • Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

      Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help

    • Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

      Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

    • Recent Topics

    • Can't change form's original name in URL

      Hi all, I have been duplicating + editing forms for jobs regarding the same department to maintain formatting + styling. The issue I've not run into is because I've duplicated it from an existing form, the URL doesn't seem to want to update with the new

    • Start/Stop Timmer in Chrome Extension

      The chrome extension is great and allows you to do allot however one of the most common things employees working on projects need to do is track their time. Having an easy start/stop timer to track time would be great.

    • Invalid collection string

      I haven't changed anything in one of my functions. I'm trying to run it manually and suddenly "Invalid collection string" appears. My code has 6 lines and the error says that the error is on 7th line. Why? What does this error mean? Nothing has been changed

    • Zoho Directory 2025: New Features | Security Enhancements | Enriched UI

      Hello everyone, Greetings from the Zoho Directory team! 2025 has been a highly successful year for Zoho Directory. We are delighted to introduce a fresh set of features, an enriched UI, and major product enhancements. These updates aim to deliver a smoother

    • Bulk Schedule for Posting TikTok

      Hallo, We have a client whose business is a social media agency specifically TikTok. Currently they are handling 30 TikTok accounts from. I think zoho Social can handle it with Agency License + with Add on 10 Brands. Their concern is related to posting

    • zoho people 5 report

      How do I customize my report in Zoho People Report? I understand that I can get the results of multi-table queries through SQL join statements, but I don't know the relationship between each table. I tried to create a report using Attendance User Report

    • Leave Report Emailed Weekly

      I am wondering if someone knows how to have a report generated either weekly or monthly or both for department heads and ownership of upcoming employee leave. For instance, it would be nice to get an emailed report on Friday for the upcoming week of who

    • Ability to Edit YouTube Video Title, Description & Thumbnail After Publishing

      Hi Zoho Social Team, How are you? We would like to request an enhancement to Zoho Social that enables users to edit YouTube video details after the video has already been published. Your team confirmed that while Zoho Social currently allows editing the

    • Zoho Flow Decision Continuing Despite Not Meeting Conditions

      I have a picklist field called Lead Status in the leads module, with the following lead Statuses: New Lead Attempted Contact - 1 Attempted Contact - 2 Attempted Contact - 3 Attempted Contact - 4 Attempted Contact - 5 Attempted Contact - 6 Attempted Contact

    • Add RTL and Hebrew Support for Candidate Portal (and Other Zoho Recruit Portals)

      Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to set the Candidate Portal to be Right-to-Left (RTL) and in Hebrew, similar to the existing functionality for the Career Site. Currently, when we set the Career Site

    • zoho labels api not working

      We're using n8n to automte email reply using zoho api. I'm facing issue with label api. I added the required scopes but its not working. i followed zoho api documentation but didn't work. also, where do i find/how do i create zoho oauth token mentioneeed

    • Zoho Books Sandbox environment

      Hello. Is there a free sandbox environment for the developers using Zoho Books API? I am working on the Zoho Books add-on and currently not ready to buy a premium service - maybe later when my add-on will start to bring money. Right now I just need a

    • Tip #55- Accessibility Controls in Zoho Assist: Exploring Vision Settings- 'Insider Insights'

      As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good moment to reflect on how we can make our tools more inclusive and easier to use for everyone. Remote support often involves long hours in front of screens, varied lighting conditions, and users with different

    • Zoho Recruit Slow and Freezing on all screens

      We have had an issue with Zoho Recruit for weeks being extremely slow and at times freezing.  We have 100 mega internet, and I went into each computer and updated the virtual memory so there is more available.  Also restarted all computers daily.  Still having the issues.  Almost unable to work.

    • Credit Management: #2 Configuring Right Payment Terms for Credit Control

      Think about the last time you ordered something online and saw that little note at the checkout, "Pay on Delivery" or "Pay later". It's simple, but it actually sets the tone. As a business owner, you know exactly when payment is expected. Now, imagine

    • Dependent (Conditional) Fields in Zoho Bookings Forms

      Hello Zoho Bookings Team, Greetings, We would like to request the ability to create dependent (conditional) fields in Zoho Bookings registration forms. Current Limitation: There is currently no way to make one field’s available options depend on the value

    • Bug Report: Search fails to find existing notes after Evernote import

      Hello, I recently migrated from Evernote (~2600 notes across 23 notebooks), but the search functionality is currently broken. The Issue: I can manually browse to a specific note and see it exists. However, when I type the exact or partial title of that

    • Marketing Tip #13: Win repeat customers with post-purchase emails

      The relationship with your customer doesn’t end after the sale; that’s when it begins. A thoughtful post-purchase message shows customers you appreciate them, keeps your brand top of mind, and can even lead to another sale. You can thank them, ask for

    • Zoho Form

      I have problem with Zoho Form. One of form i don't received the PDF version. Others okay except this one. W904533

    • Create & Update Zoho Vault Passwords via Zoho Flow

      Hi Zoho Flow / Zoho Vault Team, We’d like to request an enhancement to the Zoho Vault integration in Zoho Flow. Current Limitation: At the moment, Zoho Flow supports only the following selected Zoho Vault actions, such as: Fetch passwords, Share passwords

    • Is Zoho Communityspaces now part of Zoho One?

      Is Zoho Communityspaces now part of Zoho One?

    • Streams/Shared email doesn't show up in windows trident app. It works fine on MAC. Is there any difference between 2 install ?

      I can see streams/share email boxs on my MAC version of trident app but i can't see them in windows version of trident app. Is there any difference between 2 install? I try to find setting but not able to see any setting to add stream/share email boxes.

    • Credit Note for Shipped and Fatoora pushed invoices

      We have shipped a Sales Order and created an Invoice. The Invoice is also pushed to Fatoora Now we need to create a credit note for the invoice When we try it, it says we need to create a Sales Return in the Zoho Books, we have already created a Sales

    • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

      Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

    • MCP no longer works with Claude

      Anyone else notice Zoho MCP no longer works with Claude? I'm unable to turn this on in the claude chat. When I try to toggle it on, it just does nothing at all. I've tried in incognito, new browsers, etc. - nothing seems to work.

    • Custom Related List Inside Zoho Books

      Hello, We can create the Related list inside the zoho books by the deluge code, I am sharing the reference code Please have a look may be it will help you. //..........Get Org Details organizationID = organization.get("organization_id"); Recordid = cm_g_a_data.get("module_record_id");

    • Features, Feedback and Votes

      We’re launching the Feedback Forum for our customers. This is 'THE' place where you can add everything you’d like to see in Zoho Books. If you don't find the specific feature you need, simply add it so others can also vote for it. While we cannot promise

    • add zoho account

      How to add a zoho mail to previous zoho account? I have two

    • There Might Be A Glitch in Determining If A String Represents A URL

      I suspect there might be a glitch in determining if a string represents a URL or not. For example, I cannot embed the following URL. Perhaps the exclamation mark or parentheses are the culprit? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Grinch_Stole_Chri

    • Customer Management: #4 Enhance Customer Journey

      When Neha started DefineOps, a growing IT support and consulting firm, most of her work was straightforward. A client would sign up for a free version, decide whether the service works for them, and then either continue or discontinue. Billing was simple,

    • Pipeline.Company Name field shows up as numbers! [Bigin Developer Console > Component > URL]

      Hi there, I am setting up to invoke URL to send infromation zoho bigin > zoho forms with company name pre-fill in the form. however when I use : ${Pipelines.Company Name} field it shows up as a string of number instead of words. Help.

    • Marketing Tip #1: Optimize item titles for SEO

      Your item title is the first thing both Google and shoppers notice. Instead of a generic “Leather Bag,” go for something detailed like “Handcrafted Leather Laptop Bag – Durable & Stylish.” This helps your items rank better in search results and instantly

    • Territory Assignment Issues (Lead to Account + Contact)

      1. Lead → Account & Contact Territory Assignment on Conversion A Lead is automatically assigned one or more territories using a workflow and Lead Assignment Rules. This works as expected, and we are able to assign multiple territories to a Lead automatically.

    • Marketer's Space: Proven tips to improve open rates – Part II

      Hello Marketers! Welcome back to another post in Marketer's Space! We're continuing from where we left off a fortnight ago. We ended the previous post discussing the subject line, and we'll continue from there. Let's dive right in. Pre-header Pre-header

    • SQL Table slowed to a crawl

      Hi all - I seem to have noticed an update. Now whenever I am typing in the script field for the SQL tables there is a huge delay and it is all very slow. This has never been the case for me in over 5 years of using Analytics - I really hope it's fixed

    • Deluge Events/search API works in user environment but not in sandbox – why?

      I am creating an Extension for Zoho CRM using Zoho Sigma Platform I’m using the following Deluge code to search Events in Zoho CRM based on Start_DateTime: criteria = "(Start_DateTime:greater_than:2025-12-20T00:00:00+00:00)"; url = "crm/v8/Events/search?criteria="

    • Ensure Consistent Service Delivery with Comprehensive Job Sheets

      We are elated to announce that one of the most requested features is now live: Job Sheets. They are customizable, reusable forms that serve as a checklist for the services that technicians need to carry out and as a tool for data collection. While on

    • What are Zoho Meeting capabilities included in Zoho Workplace Standard?

      I am evaluating using Zoho Meeting for my organization, but it is not clear what Zoho Meeting capabilities are already included in Zoho Workplace Standard. - Are meeting recordings included in Workplace Standard? - Can we invite external meeting participants

    • Create static subforms in Zoho CRM: streamline data entry with pre-defined values

      Last modified on (9 July, 2025): This feature was available in early access and is currently being rolled out to customers in phases. Currently available for users in the the AU, CA, and SA DCs. It will be enabled for the remaining DCs in the next couple

    • How can I get the participant list of a reoccurring meeting afterwards?

      I'm trying to use the Meeting Participant Report from the API docs but when I call it on a reoccurring meeting it returns that there are no participants because it thinks I'm talking about the meeting in the future. Is there a way to use webhooks or some

    • Next Page