Channels and numbers: managing more than one

A channel is a provider — Meta Cloud API, Gupshup, or a number linked by QR code. A number is one phone number on one of those channels. Most workspaces end up with more than one, and this is how they are kept straight.

Why run more than one

• Separate what they are for — sales on one, support on another, so the inbox filters mean something.
• Keep an existing number your customers already have, alongside a Cloud API number for campaigns.
• Separate brands or branches inside one workspace and one team.

Managing them

Settings → Numbers lists every number in the workspace, whichever provider serves it, with Refresh from providers to pull the latest. This is the first place to look when messages stop: a number that has dropped says so here, and a Direct number whose phone went offline is the usual answer.

Which number sends

• Replies go out on the number the customer wrote to. Always — a reply from a different number reads as a stranger.
• Campaigns use the channel you pick when you build them.
• In a conversation, Send from lets you choose deliberately.

Keeping numbers healthy

• A number that has just been connected has no history. Build volume over a couple of weeks rather than sending to everyone on day one.
• Rising failure rates and people blocking you are the signals worth watching — see Analytics.
• Spreading a campaign across several numbers to send more, faster, is the pattern most likely to lose you all of them at once.