Update Contact Details
Update a contact from your flow
Your bot doesn't just talk — it can remember. The Update Contact block writes information back to the person you're chatting with: save a custom field, add a tag, drop them into a group, or update a detail like their name or email. That way what a customer tells the bot is saved to their contact record and ready to use everywhere else in Waplify.
What it can do
Add an Update Contact block and pick one action:
- Set a custom field — save a value into one of your custom fields (for example, save the answer to "What's your city?" into a City field).
- Clear a custom field — empty a field you no longer need.
- Add tags / Remove tags — label the contact (for example, tag
interestedwhen they pick "Yes, tell me more"). - Add to a group / Remove from a group — move the contact in or out of one of your groups.
- Update a contact detail — change their first name, last name, email, company, website, or industry.
How to use it
- Add an Update Contact block after the step that collected the information (usually right after an Ask block).
- Choose what should happen from the dropdown.
- Fill in the details for that action — pick the field, tag, or group, and type the value.
- For a value, you can type a fixed value or insert a variable (press
/) — for example, save the customer's reply straight into a field with{{answer}}.
Success and error paths
The block has two exits:
- Success — the update was saved. Connect your next step here.
- Error — the update couldn't be applied (for example, there's no saved contact for a brand-new number yet). You can branch here to handle it, or just leave it — the flow simply ends on that path.
Tips & best practices
- Tag as you qualify. Add tags like
hot-leadorwants-callbackas the conversation reveals intent — then build broadcasts or drip sequences around those tags. - Save answers, don't just read them. An Ask block captures a reply for the rest of the flow; pair it with Update Contact to keep that answer permanently on the contact.
- Your automations react automatically. If you have a sequence set to auto-enroll anyone tagged
vip, tagging them from a flow will start it — the same as if you'd added the tag by hand. Handy, but keep it in mind so a flow doesn't kick off something unexpected. - Nothing changes, nothing happens. If the contact already has that value or tag, the block quietly does nothing — no duplicate tags, no repeat triggers.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change a contact's phone number with this block? No — the phone number identifies the contact and is the key your whole conversation runs on, so it's intentionally locked. You can update every other detail, but not the number.
Where do custom fields and groups come from? You create them under Contacts first — custom fields and groups. The block only lets you pick from ones that already exist, so the bot can't create messy new fields on the fly.
What happens if the contact is brand new? If a message comes from a number that isn't saved as a contact yet, there's nothing to update, and the block takes its Error exit. Add a step there if you want to handle that case.
Will a tag added by the bot start my sequences? Yes. A tag added by the bot behaves exactly like one you add yourself, so any auto-enroll rule watching for that tag will run.
Can one block do several things at once? Each block does one action. To make several changes, chain a few Update Contact blocks in a row.