How do I make a step end differently when a customer declines?

Most steps simply lead to the next one. Some end in a decision: the customer approves or declines, does not show up, or the work does not take. Give that step its choices, and say what should happen after each one.

Add choices

1. Open TMS, then Setup, then the Journey tab, and click "Edit journey".
2. Open the step, then "More options for this step". Under "How this step can end", click Add choices. The step must already be published.
3. Pick a name for the first choice: Approved, Declined, No-show, Didn't work, or "In your own words" and type one. Choosing Approved also ticks "A customer's approval picks this". Only one choice on a step can have that tick.
4. Under "Then", pick what happens next (see below).
5. Click Add a choice for another, up to six, then click Save.

Once a step has choices, it shows a line under its name, for example "Ends with a choice: Approved, Declined". Click it to open the choices again.

What happens next

• Go on to the next step. The customer carries on as usual.
• Skip ahead to a step. Pick a later step of the same journey. The steps in between are left out for this customer.
• End their journey here. The customer's journey finishes at this step.
• End here and start another journey. The customer's journey finishes and the journey you pick starts for them. Only your journeys that have at least one job can be picked.

If nobody picks a choice, the customer goes on to the next step. Nothing ends a journey unless someone picks a choice that ends it.

Record what happened

When the step is done, record how it ended on the job itself.

1. In the Workspace, open the customer, then their Tasks tab, and click the job on that step.
2. Under the job's name, "How did this step end?" shows one button per choice, with what each one does next.
3. Click the choice. Add a note if it helps, such as why the customer declined. Your team sees it on the job; the customer never does.
4. Click Record and finish this job. A choice that ends the customer's journey asks first: it closes their other open jobs on this step, and for a choice that starts another journey it says which one starts for them.

The job is finished and the choice stays on it, for example "Declined, recorded by your team".

Changed your mind? While the step still has another open job, open that job and pick a different choice. The new one replaces the old one. Once every job of the step is done, the choice is final.

If you finish the job with Complete task instead, no choice is recorded and the customer goes on to the next step, as before.

Good to know

• Skipping ahead only goes forward. A step that comes earlier on the journey cannot be picked.
• If you later remove the step you chose to skip to, customers go on to the next step instead. The choice shows a note until you pick another.
• Changing or removing a choice never changes a decision already recorded for a customer. Their record keeps the words and the route it had.
• As soon as a choice is recorded, your customer's status page, portal and Journey tab show what comes next by it, even while the step still has open jobs: the step you skip to, or nothing more when the choice ends their journey here.
• Once a choice has ended a customer's journey, a job you skipped on it can't be brought back with Undo.
• A step that repeats, such as 12 weekly sessions, cannot have choices.
• Each name must be different, up to 60 characters, with no curly brackets.

When the customer approves

If one of the step's choices has "A customer's approval picks this" ticked, that choice is picked for you when the customer approves the step's "Ask to sign" job in a way we know is really them:

• they press Approve in your client portal,
• they sign the step's agreement in the portal, or
• they reply "approved" by text or WhatsApp once we know it is really them.

What you set under "Then" for that choice happens next, once the step's jobs are done. The Confirm button on the status link does not pick it, because anyone holding that link can press it. If your team already picked a choice for that customer at this step, the customer's approval does not replace it.

When a customer declines in a chat, the AI can ask your team to record their choice for them, see Can the AI do something for a customer during a conversation, not just answer?.