The Outreach channels step
Choose which channels a campaign may use, and set the numbers, mailbox and limits behind each one.
Last reviewed November 7, 2026
All channels or Custom channels
All channels is the default. It turns on calls, texts and email and locks their switches. Custom channels lets you turn each one off.
The channel switches only say what is allowed. The Outreach sequence decides which channel each step uses, and a step on a channel that is off is skipped. WhatsApp has its own switch and does not send today.
What each channel needs
- Voice calls and Text messages need an active number from Phone Numbers.
- Email needs a mailbox from Mailboxes. Only a Google Workspace mailbox reads replies.
Publishing checks that at least one channel is on. It does not check for a number or a mailbox, so a campaign can publish with nothing to send from. Those steps are then skipped, with a note on the run.
The badge on each card reads Connected once the store has something to send from: an active number for Voice calls and Text messages, a Google Workspace mailbox for Email. A number that is still a pending request does not count.
Settings under Configure
| Channel | Setting | Default | Limits and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voice calls | Caller ID | Local presence | Or One fixed number. See Caller ID. |
| Voice calls | Number to call from | Any of the store's numbers | |
| Voice calls | Retries when nobody answers | 0 | 0 to 3 extra tries of the same call step. |
| Voice calls | Minutes between retries | 30 | 5 to 240. |
| Voice calls | Longest call, in minutes | 10 | 1 to 20. See call length. |
| Voice calls | Leave a voicemail | On | See voicemail. |
| Text messages | Number to text from | The store's default texting number | |
| Text messages | Guidelines for texts | Empty | Up to 2,000 characters. |
| Mailbox to send from | None chosen | With none chosen, the oldest active mailbox. | |
| Sender name | Empty | Up to 100 characters. Empty uses the agent's name at your brand. | |
| Guidelines for emails | Empty | Up to 2,000 characters. |
A retry happens when the line is busy or nobody picks up, and also when a machine answers while Leave a voicemail is off. It goes out after Minutes between retries, passes the same checks as any step (consent, quiet hours, the daily call caps), and shows in the run as its own call. The later steps of the sequence wait for it. A voicemail the agent left counts as reaching the shopper, so it gets no retry.
Check mailboxes on the Email card runs the same check as Recheck records.
Guidelines for texts and emails
Guidelines are your own rules for messages the agent writes: length, tone, words to avoid. Its built-in rules come first, so a guideline cannot stop it saying it is an AI when asked, honoring an opt-out or sticking to listed discounts. A message you fix yourself on a sequence step does not use them.
What ACR adds to messages
- The first text to a shopper in a run ends with
Reply STOP to opt out.unless it already mentions STOP. - Every campaign email has a footer saying why the shopper got it, an unsubscribe link, and your postal address if the brand profile has one. It also carries an open pixel and tracked links.
- Messages the agent writes itself have length limits: at most 280 characters for a text, under 120 words for an email.
A message goes out only if the shopper can be contacted on that channel. See consent, quiet hours and Geo permissions.