Inboxes, Channels, and Conversations in GOCare Connect

In GOCare Connect, channels, inboxes, and conversations are the building blocks of how customer communication is organized and managed. Understanding how these components work together helps teams stay responsive, organized, and efficient.

GOCare Connect is designed to simplify and centralize communication across multiple platforms—including SMS, email, webchat, and social media. To manage this seamlessly, Connect uses a structure of channels, inboxes, and conversations.

This article breaks down what each term means, how they relate, and how they impact your day-to-day work as a user or admin in the Connect interface.

A channel is the method by which a subscriber reaches your organization. Think of channels as the paths messages travel through to reach your team.

• SMS

• Webchat (via your website)

• Email (shared or individual)

• Dialpad voice calls (if voice integration is enabled)

• Facebook Messenger

• Instagram DMs

💡 Key Point: Messages from a channel always feed into an inbox. Channels do not exist on their own—they're attached to an inbox.

An inbox is the container that receives messages from one or more channels. It’s how your workspace is structured internally, allowing teams to manage messages efficiently.

• Team Inboxes: Shared among multiple users (e.g., Support, Billing, Social Media)

• Personal Inboxes: Assigned to an individual user (optional, but useful for direct messages)

Inbox behavior:
Inboxes can be connected to one or more channels, such as SMS, email, webchat, or social media. Messages from each connected channel flow into that inbox and appear in a unified conversation list.

• You can switch between inboxes with a single click.

• Messages in team inboxes can be assigned, subscribed to, or left open.

💡 Best Practice: Structure inboxes based on who should see and respond to messages, not just by channel type. While multiple channels (like SMS and email) can share an inbox, GOCare often recommends limiting inboxes to a single channel unless there’s a clear operational benefit. For example, if you manage two Facebook pages for different products, separating them into individual inboxes ensures clarity and simplifies tagging.

A conversation is the thread of communication between your team and a customer. It’s made up of messages (inbound and outbound) that come through a channel and land in an inbox.

1. A customer sends a message → A new conversation is created.

2. The message hits a team inbox.

3. An agent can assign the conversation to themselves.

4. The agent can reply, snooze, archive, or transfer the conversation to another team member.

• Internal notes: Use @mentions to loop in teammates without the customer seeing

• Threaded responses: All communication stays in one, unified view

• States: Conversations in Connect can be open, snoozed, or archived. While a trash state does exist, we strongly recommend avoiding it to preserve message visibility and historical continuity.

💡 Tip: Conversations can be filtered by tag, status, or inbox to manage your workload.

Understanding how channels, inboxes, and conversations work together is essential for staying organized in GOCare Connect. By structuring your workspace intentionally, your team can route, respond, and resolve inquiries faster—while maintaining a complete view of the customer journey.