Here to help!

Hello, ​@Gustavo Boregio! Hope you are doing well.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to set up a very specific automation in ManyChat. I assume it is possible, but I am not completely sure. We do not have anything set up in ManyChat yet because we want to confirm that it is doable before upgrading to Pro. Actually, we are so interested in ManyChat that even if it’s not possible we may upgrade anyways.

We have many different clients - actual clients, not prospects - and each one may have a different set of pending items to follow up on.

I am not sure whether ManyChat is commonly used for active client communication in this context, but we would really like to use it. The possibilities it offers are amazing.

We would use WhatsApp utility templates, as we have done in the past with a different tool.

The basic flow I am considering is:

1. Trigger the automation based on a specific date (for example, "every 5th day of the month")
2. Look up the client in Google Sheets using a lookup value. I noticed ManyChat has a native integration, which is great.
3. Pull the client’s pending items from a row
4. Save those pending items into a custom field in ManyChat
5. Send a WhatsApp template message using that field as a variable, such as: "Reminder: Please send {{5}} before [...]."

Would that be the best way to handle this in ManyChat? Each month, the pending item would be different. If I update the cell in the sheet, would that also update or overwrite the value in the custom field, since the lookup would also be performed monthly?

I am especially trying to understand:

a. Whether this can actually be done natively in ManyChat’s UI. I ask because, afaik, a better option (potentially) would be custom arrays, but that is only available through the API.

b. Does it makes more sense to use a single field or multiple fields if the client has more than one pending item?

c. Whether any formatting or parsing would be needed before sending the data to ManyChat. For example, would something like "Item B, Item C, and Item Z" break the field because of the commas, making it a better option to have separate fields for each pending item?

Hey ​@renanhvieira yes, that’s totally possible!

Going over your specific questions:

1. Yes, you can do that using rules and datetime user fields. Using some smart math + an API call you can calculate exactly the 5th of each month quite easily. (calculating the last day of the month is a lot more complicated - but also possible!)
2. Yes, 100%. As long as you have each client properly identified (for example through their WhatsApp number), then it’s easy!
3. Yes, that’s how the integration work. For practical purposes, 1 column = 1 user field in Manychat. Follow this rule and you won’t have issues.
4. Yes, you can setup templates with dynamic info from user fields

Best way to handle this in Manychat: map each column of information to a single distinct user field in Manychat.

Yes, you can do this all natively in Manychat. And I don’t recommend using arrays. You may need an API call from Manychat to Manychat to do formatting and setting fields - but it’s still all native in Manychat :D

Formatting and parsing won’t be necessary if you map 1 column to 1 field. Now, if the column has the value ‘Info 1, Info 2, Info 3’ and you want to map:

• Field 1 = Info 1
• Field 2 = Info 2
• Field 3 = Info 3

Then you’ll need parsing.

Let me know if this all makes sense.

If you need help setting this up let me know - I have consulting calls available.

​@renanhvieira and we can do the calls in Portuguese 🇧🇷