Set Up Channels and Entry Points

Entry Points for some Channels, such as email addresses and phone numbers, can be added from the UI, and some can only be added by Gladly Support. Channels and their relevant Entry Points that you can add and configure through the Gladly UI are:

• Email

• Voice and SMS

• Glad App/Chat

• Facebook Messenger

• Instagram Messaging

• WhatsApp

Once Channel Entry Points are successfully configured, they're immediately activated and linked to the Channel's default Inbox on the Entry Points settings page unless exceptions are created. This is also where you can link Entry Points to a specific Inbox.

Before you start

Before you configure Entry Points, we recommend that you first review the following:

• Review What are Channels and Entry Points to understand how Channels and Entry Points are related.

• Review Entry Points Settings Overvie to help you understand how to navigate and use the Entry Points settings page, learn about the default Inbox concept and understand how Exceptions work.

• Understand the difference between Channel Entry Point SLAs and Inbox SLAs.

We recommend not adding an Entry Point(s) until you're ready to receive incoming requests

Upon adding a new Entry Point, incoming requests from that Entry Point automatically route to the corresponding Channel's primary Inbox. For example, upon adding Instagram Messaging as an Entry Point, direct messages from your Instagram account will automatically create a Conversation in Instagram Channel's default inbox.

• Voice/SMS – Phone numbers can be purchased and held onto until you're ready to complete the setup by connecting them as Entry Points.

• Chat (Glad App) – Upon configuring Glad App, it's available to receive incoming chat requests as soon as it's embedded on your website. Chats are routed to the Chat Channel's default Inbox.

• Social Channels – Upon adding a social Channel Entry Point (e.g., , Instagram, or WhatsApp), messages automatically route to the social Channel's default Inbox.

• Email – Once an email address is added, it's ready to receive inbound emails in the email Channels' default Inbox as long as email forwarding is activated.

Use Exceptions to link an Entry Point to a different Inbox if you don't want to use the Channel's default Inbox.

Link Channel Entry Points to a default Inbox

This is the Inbox where all incoming requests from the Channel's Entry Point(s) are queued by default. Entry Points added in the future will use the Channel's default Inbox unless exceptions are added.

You only need to complete the steps below once, but you can change a Channel's default Inbox anytime.

1. Click on the top left corner of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Under the Orchestration category, click Entry Points. This page contains Entry Points for all Channels available in Gladly.

   • Check the Default Inbox column to see the default Inbox for a Channel quickly.

   • Check the Entry Point SLA column to quickly see the Entry Point SLA for a Channel (if configured). This will be blank if Entry Point SLA is not configured.

4. Hover over the Channel you want to edit and click .

5. Click the Default Inbox drop-down list and select the default Inbox all inbound communications from a Channel's Entry Points are queued.  

   • Entry Point SLA (minutes) – Leave this field blank if you want to use the selected default Inbox's SLA. Otherwise, entering an SLA here trumps the Inbox SLA.

     • You can use fractional minutes. For example, 0.66 is 40 seconds.

     • You can't enter "0" or use the "-" (minus) symbol.

6. Click Save.

Add Entry Point Exceptions

Add Entry Point exceptions to exclude certain Entry Points from using a Channel's default Inbox and/or SLA. This is useful if you have multiple Entry Points that you'd like to link to different Inboxes instead of using the Channel's default Inbox. Keep in mind that Entry Points not set as an exception automatically use the Channel's default Inbox.

There's no need to add an exception if you only have one Entry Point for a Channel

You don't need to create an exception since it can utilize the Channel's default Inbox.

1. Click on the top left corner of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Under the Orchestration category, click Entry Points. This page contains Entry Points for all Channels available in Gladly.

4. Hover over the Channel you want to edit and click .

5. Click + Add exception in the Exceptions section.  

   • Tip – Click + Add exception to add additional exception lines.

6. Configure the following:

   • Entry Point – Select the Entry Point(s) you want to exclude from using the Channel's default Inbox.

   • Inbox – Select the Inbox you want incoming requests from the Entry Point to queue in instead of using the Channel's default Inbox.

   • Entry Point SLA (minutes) – Leave this field blank to use the selected Inbox's SLA. Otherwise, entering an SLA here (on the Entry Point) trumps the Inbox SLA.

     • You can use fractional minutes. For example, 0.66 is 40 seconds.

     • You can't enter "0" or use the "-" (minus) symbol.

7. Click Save.

Delete Exceptions

1. Hover over the exception and click .

2. Click Save.

Once an exception is deleted, the Entry Point(s) previously set as an exception(s) default to using the Channel's default Inbox.

Update Entry Point SLA

Override the default Inbox's SLA by entering an Entry Point SLA. See Difference between Channel Entry Point SLAs and Inbox SLAs to learn more.

1. Click on the top left corner of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Under the Orchestration category, click Entry Points. This page contains Entry Points for all Channels connected or available in Gladly.

4. Hover over the Channel you want to edit and click .

5. Edit the Entry Point SLA (minutes) field for the Channel's default Inbox or any exception(s).

   • You can use fractional minutes. For example, 0.66 is 40 seconds.

   • You can't enter "0" or the "-" (minus) symbol

6. Click Save.