Start from a chatbot template — welcome menu, lead capture, bookings, FAQ and more

🎯 Goal

Get a working chatbot in a few minutes: pick a template, fill in your business details, check it, publish.

🧰 What you need

• A connected number
• A role that can create flows (owner, or Automation → create)

Step by step

The tutorial Start from a ready-made chatbot template walks through every bot type, with a short video and worked examples for real estate, a clinic and a D2C store.

Find a template

Open Automation → Templates (or New chatbot → Start from a template).

login.meapi.in/automation?tab=templates

• Search, then filter by industry and bot type. Featured templates come first.
• The language picker: English, हिन्दी, ગુજરાતી. Hindi and Gujarati are marked beta — read the texts once before publishing.
• Click a card to preview it.

Preview it

login.meapi.in/automation?tab=templates

• Chat preview: a sample conversation run by the real chatbot engine, with demo business details. Nothing is sent.
• Flow diagram: every step and branch, as it will look in the builder.
• At the bottom: when the bot starts (its keywords, or a tag) and Use this template.

Set it up

1. Click Use this template. The setup form asks only for what that bot uses — for example Business name, Opening hours, Address, a Google Maps link, Phone number, Website, your Catalogue / product link, a Payment link or a Review link.
2. Hand over to: the agent who gets chats the bot passes on, or Next available agent.
3. Trigger keywords: the words that start the bot. The template suggests some; change them to what your customers type.
4. Click Create draft. The flow opens in the builder as a Draft — nothing goes live yet.
5. Read every step once. A step that still needs something has an amber border and says what is missing.
6. Click Test, type a keyword as the customer, and follow the conversation.
7. Click Publish when you are happy.

login.meapi.in/automation?tab=templates

• Only the fields this bot uses. Optional ones say optional — leave them empty and the line that uses them is left out of the messages.
• Create draft saves it as a draft of your own; the template itself never changes.

Your plan's flow limit

Drafts don’t count. If your plan allows, say, 5 published flows and 5 are live, MeAPI still creates the draft and tells you — pause another flow or upgrade before publishing it.

The bot types

Template	What it does	It starts when
Welcome + main menu	A menu: what you offer, timings and location, call or website, talk to a person	a message contains hi, hello, menu…
Lead capture & qualification	Asks name, what they need, budget and city; saves the contact, creates a deal in your Sales pipeline and alerts your team	enquiry, interested, details…
Appointment / visit booking	Service, then only the free times from Appointments → Availability; holds the one picked, books it, asks the name. Keep, reschedule or cancel for customers who already have one	appointment, booking, visit…
Order status & support	Looks the order up in your Shopify / WooCommerce store, or passes it to your team; problems and returns	order, track, delivery…
FAQ + talk to a person	Hours, location, prices, contact; a person during business hours, an after-hours message otherwise	help, faq, question…
Feedback / rating	1–5 stars: happy customers get your review link, unhappy ones are asked why and your team is alerted	feedback, review…
Catalogue / price enquiry	Shares your catalogue link and collects a quote request	price, catalogue…
Payment reminder & collection	Opens with your approved template, then pay link, Already paid (asks for the UTR) or a person	you add the tag payment_due to a contact
Re-engagement / offer follow-up	Opens with your approved template; interested → a deal and your team, not now → tagged	you add the tag re_engage to a contact

Every template has a Talk to a person path and tells customers they can reply STOP.

Industry templates

Besides the nine Any business bots, the gallery has ready-made versions for 41 industries, each with the two to four bots that help it most — with the industry’s own menu options, questions and answers. Pick your industry in the Industry filter:

Restaurant / cloud kitchen · Real estate (homes, commercial) · Car dealer / used cars · Auto workshop · Clinic / doctor · Dental clinic · Diagnostics lab · Pharmacy · Salon & spa · Gym · Coaching / tuition · School admissions · Travel agency · Hotel / resort · Event planner · Jewellery · Diamonds (natural / lab-grown) · Clothing / boutique · Kids wear · Furniture · Interior designer · Electronics / mobile store · Computer hardware · Solar installer · Electrical contractor · FMCG distributor · Manufacturer (B2B) · Exporter · D2C / online store · Grocery · Bakery · Insurance agent · Loans · CA / tax / mutual funds · Legal services · Digital marketing agency · Software / IT services · NGO · Plumber / AC repair / home services · Pet shop.

Some industry bots work a little differently from the generic ones:

• Home visits (plumber / AC repair, electrical, solar survey, interior site visit, lab sample collection) ask for the customer’s address instead of showing yours.
• Status bots without an online store (workshop job card, lab report, repair, shipment) take the reference number and pass it to your team, instead of looking it up in Shopify / WooCommerce.
• Lead bots ask the question that matters in that industry — the class for a school admission, travel dates for a trip, the electricity bill for solar — instead of a budget.
• Clinic, dental and lab FAQs tell customers to call 112 in a medical emergency, and that the chat doesn’t give medical advice.
• Appointment and visit bots book real times from your availability (the setup form tells you when it isn’t set). In Hindi and Gujarati the buttons, messages and day names are in that language. Appointments
• A template got better? A chatbot made from an older version shows New version available in the builder, with Create updated copy. Your chatbot stays as it is. How it works

Payment reminders and offers start outside the 24-hour window

WhatsApp only lets a business start a conversation with an approved template. These two bots ask you to pick one of your approved templates in the setup form; create one first under Templates if you have none.

Tips

• Keep the placeholders honest. Templates never contain prices or promises — your catalogue and payment links carry those.
• Start the bots from your own channels: a hi from your Click-to-WhatsApp ads, a QR code in the shop, or the tag from a campaign follow-up.
• More starters: below the templates, Classic starter flows has AI answers, birthday wishes, ad welcomes and a language picker.

Common mistakes

• Two bots with the same keyword. Only one chatbot handles a message; give each bot its own words.
• Publishing without testing. One Test run shows a missing link or a wrong timing before your customers see it.
• Hindi / Gujarati not checked. They are beta: read the messages once and correct anything that does not sound like you.

What’s next

Tutorial: start from a template →Every bot type step by step, plus real estate, clinic and D2C examples.Flow builder basics →Change any step of the draft.Testing and versions →Test runs, publish and roll back.Triggers →Keywords, first message, tags and more.Auto reminders →Payment due and appointment reminders on a schedule.