Welcome workflow: tag, assign and reply to the first message

First impressions are won in the first message. When someone messages you for the first time, every second of silence counts. A welcome workflow in Omnifox nails that critical moment: it tags the new contact, replies instantly with a greeting and hands them to the right agent (or AI agent). All with real nodes from the workflow engine, and with nobody having to watch the inbox.

The secret is the "first only" filter

The heart of this flow is the Message received trigger with the first only filter turned on. That way the workflow fires solely on the very first message a contact sends, not on every message. Without that filter you'd greet everyone on every single line they type — a mess.

Here's the basic circuit:

Trigger: Message received (first only)
   → Add tag "new-contact"
   → Send message (welcome)
   → Condition: Business hours
        ├─ In hours       → Transfer to an agent
        └─ Out/Holiday    → Assign AI agent

Step 1 — Tag with Add tag

The moment the first message lands, the Add tag node marks the contact as new-contact (or inbound-lead, whatsapp-source, whatever helps you segment). This tag is gold: you can later use it for campaigns, reports or to fire other workflows.

If you want to record where they came from, add an Update contact node and store the channel with {{$conversation.channel_name}}.

Step 2 — Greet with Send message

The Send message node is what breaks the silence. A good welcome does three things: confirms you received them, sets time expectations and feels human.

"Hi {{$contact.first_name}}! Thanks for reaching out. We're on it — someone from the team will be with you shortly."

The {{$contact.first_name}} variable personalizes the greeting, and if the contact has no name on file it's simply omitted without breaking the sentence. For richer replies you can use Send WhatsApp template with menu buttons (Sales / Support / Billing).

Step 3 — Route by business hours

Here comes a Business hours condition with its three branches: In hours, Out of hours and Holiday. The point is to treat people differently depending on the moment:

• In hours: connect the customer with a person.
• Out of hours / Holiday: an AI agent covers them in the meantime.

Step 4 — Assign: human or AI

The In hours branch runs the Transfer to an agent node (Handoff): the conversation lands in the inbox through Omnifox's assignment routing, reaching the right agent or team.

On the Out of hours branch, the Assign AI agent node puts an assistant to work answering FAQs, qualifying the lead or collecting details, so the customer isn't left waiting until the next day. When the human agent returns, the conversation already has context.

A popular variant: instead of routing by hours, drop an AI classifier right after the welcome to read the intent of the first message and send it to Sales, Support or Billing with one branch per category.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the "first only" filter. Without it, the greeting fires on every message. This is mistake number one.
• Tagging after transferring. Put Add tag before the handoff so the agent already sees it tagged.
• A cold, generic greeting. Use the name with {{$contact.first_name}} and set a real time expectation.
• Not covering after hours. If you skip the Assign AI agent branch (or at least a Send message saying "we'll reply tomorrow"), the customer feels ignored.

Handy variants

• Self-service menu: replace the plain greeting with Send WhatsApp template plus buttons and branch on Button clicked.
• CRM from minute zero: add Create/Update deal so every first contact spawns a lead in the pipeline.
• Alert the team: a Notify team by email or Post to the Team node flags that a new contact arrived.
• Automatic language: put a Detect language condition up front to greet in the customer's language.

Why the first minute matters so much

Support studies agree on one simple thing: the odds of converting or delighting a customer drop sharply with every minute of waiting on first contact. A welcome workflow attacks exactly that point. It doesn't replace your human team; it protects it, because it makes sure nobody falls into the void while an agent finishes another conversation. And by tagging and assigning from the very start, your reports stay clean and your pipeline fills itself, with no manual sorting work.

How you build it in Omnifox

In the Omnifox workflow editor you pick the Message received trigger, enable first only, and chain Add tag → Send message → Business hours condition → Transfer to an agent / Assign AI agent. Publish it, and from that moment every new contact gets an instant welcome.

Nobody comes back for a second first impression. With a welcome workflow, everyone who messages you for the first time gets an immediate reply, gets tagged and reaches the right person. Build yours in Omnifox and make every first message count.