A phone number is what connects your agents to the telephone network. Outbound calls
need one to call from. Inbound calls need one pointed at an agent to arrive at.
Numbers belong to an environment
A number lives in one environment and is invisible everywhere else.
This is deliberate. It means a test environment cannot accidentally dial from your
production caller ID. It is also the reason a number you are certain you bought
appears to be missing, when you are simply looking at a different environment.
Inbound is a pointer
Buying a number does not make anything answer it. A number answers when it points at
an agent.
Until then it can still place outbound calls perfectly well, which is why an unassigned
number is not necessarily a mistake. It just means nothing happens when somebody rings
it.
Outbound is a choice per call
On the way out, the number is the caller ID the recipient sees.
Campaigns can select numbers by tag rather than one at a time, which is what makes
regional caller IDs practical. Tagging by area or purpose when you buy costs seconds
and saves an afternoon later.
One number is not a strategy
Carriers watch how numbers behave. A number that dials fast and often, and rarely gets
answered, starts being labelled as spam on recipients’ handsets. Once that happens the
number is worth much less, and it does not recover quickly.
Two things follow.
Pace each number. There are controls for how frequently a single number is used,
and they exist precisely to avoid this. Roughly a hundred calls a day per number is a
reasonable ceiling.
Spread across several. More volume should mean more numbers, not harder use of
one.
Deliverability is easier to protect than to repair. Set pacing before you scale
volume, not after the first number gets flagged.
Numbers and the do not call list
Numbers your agents must not dial are held separately and apply regardless of which
campaign or agent is calling. Some entries you add. Others are recorded automatically
when someone asks to be left alone.
See DNC List.
Where to go next
