> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://knowledge.flowella.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Send your first WhatsApp Flow from a HubSpot form > Turn a HubSpot form into a WhatsApp Flow, add it to a template, test it on your phone, then send it from a HubSpot workflow so answers land in HubSpot. In this tutorial you turn a HubSpot marketing form into a WhatsApp Flow, send it to your own phone, then send it from a HubSpot workflow. When you finish, a completed Flow appears in HubSpot as a submission of the original form. It takes about 50 minutes of hands-on time, based on the estimates in Flowella's setup guide, plus up to 24 hours while Meta reviews your template. ## Before you begin * Read [Before you start](https://knowledge.flowella.io/before-you-start.md) and have your Meta and HubSpot access ready. * Meta business verification must be complete before you can create a Flow in milestone 3. See [Business verification](https://knowledge.flowella.io/meta/business-verification.md). * Have your own phone with WhatsApp, on a personal number rather than the business number you connect. * Pick or create a short HubSpot marketing form for testing. Include an email field: HubSpot uses the email address to attach a form submission to a contact. * Milestone 6 needs HubSpot workflows, which come with HubSpot's Professional and Enterprise plans. Without them, you finish at milestone 5. If WhatsApp and HubSpot are already connected, skip to milestone 3. ## How the pieces fit together The diagram shows the order in which a Flow is built, approved, sent and returned to HubSpot. ```mermaid theme={null} sequenceDiagram actor M as Marketer participant HS as HubSpot participant F as Flowella participant WA as WhatsApp actor C as Customer M->>HS: Build the marketing form HS-->>F: Form appears on the Flows page M->>F: Create WA Flow F->>HS: Read the form F->>WA: Create or update the Flow, then publish M->>F: Create template with this Flow F->>WA: Submit template for approval HS->>F: Workflow runs Send WhatsApp Template F->>C: Template message with Flow button C->>WA: Opens the Flow and submits WA->>F: Answers F->>HS: Form submission on the matched contact F-->>C: Thank-you screen, or an error to fix F->>HS: Form Completed event starts follow-up workflows ``` ## Milestone 1: Connect WhatsApp and HubSpot About 16 minutes. **1. Name your organisation** When you first sign in, Flowella asks you to **Name your organisation**. Enter the name and select **Continue**. You can't connect WhatsApp until the organisation has a name. **2. Connect WhatsApp** Go to **Settings → WhatsApp (Meta)** and select **Connect WhatsApp**. In Meta's sign-up flow, choose or create your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), the account in Meta that holds your numbers and templates, then verify your phone number. **3. Connect HubSpot** Go to **Settings → HubSpot** and select **Connect HubSpot**. Choose your HubSpot account and approve the connection in HubSpot. **Check it worked:** at the top of the app, the **WhatsApp** and **HubSpot** status chips both show **Connected**. On a small screen, check **Settings → WhatsApp (Meta)**, where your number is listed under **Connected WhatsApp numbers**, and **Settings → HubSpot**, which shows **Connected**. For more detail on each step, see [Set up Flowella](https://knowledge.flowella.io/onboarding.md). ## Milestone 2: Send your first message About 2 minutes. 1. From your phone, send any WhatsApp message to your business number. This opens the 24-hour window, Meta's customer service window, in which you can reply without a template. 2. In Flowella, open **Inbox** and select the new conversation. 3. Type a reply in **Type a message…** and press Enter. **Check it worked:** the reply arrives on your phone. See [Inbox](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/inbox.md) for more about conversations. ## Milestone 3: Build the Flow About 15 minutes. 1. In HubSpot, create or pick your test marketing form. Flowella converts single-line text, multi-line text, email, phone, number, dropdown, radio, checkbox and date fields, and turns file fields into a photo picker. It leaves out fields it can't convert, and a required field it can't convert stops the sync. 2. In Flowella, open **Flows**. Flowella refreshes the list of HubSpot forms when you open the page. If your form isn't listed, select the refresh button at the top of the page. 3. Find your form and select **Create WA Flow** in the **WhatsApp Flow** column. The button shows **Syncing…** while Flowella builds the Flow and publishes it to your WABA. **Check it worked:** the row shows **Created**, or **Updated** if your WABA already had a Flow with the same name, and the button changes to **Sync WA Flow**. Select **Open in Meta** to preview the Flow. The Flow has one screen with your form's questions, titled with the form's name, followed by a thank-you screen. Flowella has no Flow editor: to change the questions later, edit the form in HubSpot, then select **Sync WA Flow**. See [Flows](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/flows.md) and [Form design best practices](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/form-design-best-practices.md). ## Milestone 4: Add the Flow to a template About 5 minutes, then Meta's review. Contacts open a Flow from a **Flow** button in a template message, so the Flow needs a template. Use either option, then submit the template. ### Option A: start from the Flows page After your organisation's first successful sync, Flowella shows **Your form is now a WhatsApp Flow**. Select **Create template with this Flow**. If you don't see the dialog, select **Create template** on the form's row instead. The template editor opens with a **Flow** button already connected to your Flow. Its button text is **Continue**, which you can change. Write the message, choose a **Category** and enter a **Template name** using lowercase letters, numbers and underscores. ### Option B: start from the Flowella starter 1. In **Templates**, select **New template**, then **View starters** under **Flowella Templates**. 2. Find `flowella_start_flow` and select **Use this starter**. Its message reads `Hi {{1}}, tap below to complete a short form and we will get back to you.` and its Flow button reads **Open form**. 3. In the button's **WhatsApp Flow** field, choose your Flow. Flows are listed under the name of the HubSpot form they came from. 4. In **Body variables**, change the **Fallback value** for `{{1}}` from `Alex` to something that reads well for anyone, such as `there`. Flowella sends it when a contact has no first name. The starter uses the **Marketing** category. Choose the category that fits your message before you submit. See [Pricing and WhatsApp message categories](https://knowledge.flowella.io/account/pricing-and-conversation-categories.md). ### Submit the template to Meta 1. Select **Save draft**. 2. Select **Publish Template**, check the category, then select **Publish Template** again to submit it to Meta. If the message has variables such as `{{1}}`, give each one a **Fallback value** first. Meta reviews it as the variable's sample. See [Template variables](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/template-variables.md#fallback-values). 3. Wait for the status to change from **Pending** to **Approved**. Meta says a decision can take up to 24 hours. **Check it worked:** the template's status is **Approved**. If Meta rejects it, see [Template rejected](https://knowledge.flowella.io/troubleshooting/template-rejected.md). ## Milestone 5: Test the Flow on your phone About 3 minutes. 1. Open your approved template and go to the **Send** tab. 2. In **Test Template**, choose your **Country**, enter your **WhatsApp Number** and fill in any template variables. 3. Select **Send Test**. 4. On your phone, open the message and tap the Flow button. Fill in the form, using your own email address, and submit it. **Check it worked:** * WhatsApp shows the thank-you screen with your HubSpot form's thank-you message. * In the Flowella **Inbox**, the conversation shows a card with your answers, marked **Response sent**. The card's title is the Flow button text, or **Flow response**. * In HubSpot, the form has a new submission from a page named after the form, for example `WhatsApp Flow · Contact us`. HubSpot updates the contact properties the form maps to. * The contact's timeline shows a **Form Completed** event with a **View submission** link. Flowella submits the answers to the original HubSpot form. The submission and the contact properties appear in HubSpot as they would for a form filled in on your website. > [!NOTE] > > This test also ticks **Send a Flow from HubSpot** in the setup guide, because that step counts any completed Flow. ## Milestone 6: Send the Flow from a HubSpot workflow About 10 minutes. > [!NOTE] > > This milestone needs HubSpot workflow actions, which need a HubSpot plan that includes workflows (Professional or Enterprise). In Flowella, open **Settings → HubSpot** and check that **Custom workflow actions** is under **Unlocked**. If it isn't, you have finished at milestone 5: send Flows from Flowella with a test send or a [bulk send](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/bulk-send.md). **1. Prepare a test contact** In HubSpot, use a contact with your own WhatsApp number in international format, such as `+447700900123`, and your email address. The message you sent in milestone 2 may already have created or linked a contact for your number. See [Phone number format](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/phone-number-format.md). **2. Create a contact-based workflow** Flowella's actions run on contacts only. Set an enrolment trigger that only your test contact meets for now, such as a property value or a list. **3. Add Send WhatsApp Template** Add Flowella's **Send WhatsApp Template** action. In **Template Name**, choose your Flow template. Only approved templates appear in the list. In **Contact Phone Number**, select the contact property that holds the WhatsApp number. If your template has a variable, map a property such as first name to **Template Variable 1**. See [Send WhatsApp Template](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/workflow-actions.md#send-whatsapp-template). **4. Wait for the Flow** Add a **Delay until event** step on Flowella's **Form Completed** event. Filter it by **Form Name** so it matches your HubSpot form's name, and set how long to wait, for example one day. **5. Decide what happens next** For contacts who complete the Flow, branch on the contact properties the form wrote, or create a task. The **Form Completed** event records the form name and source, not the answers. For contacts who don't complete it in time, send a reminder template or create a task. **6. Turn on the workflow** Turn the workflow on and enrol your test contact. **Check it worked:** * The template arrives on your phone, and the contact's workflow history shows the **Send WhatsApp Template** action as completed. Flowella completes the action when WhatsApp reports the first status for the message, usually sent. * After you complete the Flow, the contact moves on from the **Delay until event** step, and the submission appears on the HubSpot form as in milestone 5. * In the setup guide, **Send a template from HubSpot** is ticked. **Form Completed** fires only when someone submits a WhatsApp Flow through Flowella, never for website submissions of the same form. For complete workflows built on this pattern, see the [workflow guides](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/workflows/overview.md). ## Troubleshooting > **Create WA Flow is greyed out** > > Hover over the button to see why. The most common message is "Meta business verification is required before publishing flows." The button is also unavailable when WhatsApp isn't connected, when the form has no fields that WhatsApp Flows support, or when your plan doesn't allow syncing. See [Flows](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/flows.md) and [Onboarding issues](https://knowledge.flowella.io/troubleshooting/onboarding.md). > **The sync fails** > > The row shows a label such as **Not ready**. Hover over the information icon next to it to see why. If a required HubSpot field can't be collected in a WhatsApp Flow, make the field optional or change its type in HubSpot, then select **Try again**. See [Flows](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/flows.md). > **My form isn't on the Flows page** > > Select the refresh button at the top of **Flows**. Only HubSpot marketing forms appear. If the page shows **Sample forms**, Flowella can't read your HubSpot forms yet: check the connection in **Settings → HubSpot**. See [Flows](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/flows.md). > **The template isn't in the HubSpot action's list** > > Only templates with the status **Approved** appear. Wait for Meta's decision, then reopen the action. See [HubSpot workflow actions](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/workflow-actions.md). > **The Flow shows an error when I submit it** > > "Missing required field" usually means a required field was added to the HubSpot form after the last sync. Select **Sync WA Flow** on the **Flows** page, then send the Flow again. "Could not submit to HubSpot. Try again." means HubSpot didn't accept the submission: try again, and check that **Settings → HubSpot** shows **Connected**. > **The submission isn't on a contact** > > HubSpot attaches form submissions to contacts by email address. Add an email field to the form, or make sure the contact has an email address in HubSpot. > **The Send WhatsApp Template action fails** > > Open the contact's workflow history to see Flowella's reason. A missing or badly formatted number fails with `CONTACT_PHONE_MISSING` or `CONTACT_PHONE_INVALID`. See [Phone number format](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/phone-number-format.md) and [HubSpot workflow actions](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/workflow-actions.md). ## Related > **[Flows](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/flows.md)** > > Sync status, field conversion and limits for WhatsApp Flows. > **[Templates](https://knowledge.flowella.io/app/templates.md)** > > Create, test and submit WhatsApp templates. > **[HubSpot workflow actions](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/workflow-actions.md)** > > Every Flowella action and event available in HubSpot workflows. > **[Workflow guides](https://knowledge.flowella.io/hubspot/workflows/overview.md)** > > Ready-made HubSpot workflow recipes that use Flows. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.