Phone Number
A telephone number, held in a form suited to dialling and messaging rather than as loose text.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Data:
- Datastores — the datastore, then Table Designer to add or edit a field
Architect Panel → Communication:
- Message Log — SMS and WhatsApp, which depend on the format
Why not a text box
Because a phone number in free text arrives in a dozen shapes — with spaces, with brackets, with a leading zero, with a country code, with an extension bolted on the end. All of them look fine to a person and only some of them can be dialled or messaged by a system.
The moment you want to send an SMS, that variation becomes the reason messages do not arrive.
Format is the whole issue
A number stored as 07700 900123 is fine for a person reading it and not necessarily fine for a provider expecting international format. The commonest cause of a text message that never arrives is a number the platform accepted and the provider could not use.
Decide your convention, apply it consistently, and normalise on entry rather than hoping people type it the same way.
Store the country
Even if you only operate in one today. A number without a country code is ambiguous the moment you have a customer abroad, and retrofitting one across existing records means guessing.
Numbers are not numbers
Worth stating because it catches people: a phone number is not numeric data. It has leading zeros that matter, it is never arithmetic, and storing it in a number field destroys it. Use this type, or text if you must.
Extensions
Decide where they go. An extension appended to the main number breaks dialling and messaging; a separate field keeps both usable. If you take switchboard numbers, plan for it rather than letting people improvise.
Mobile or landline?
If you send SMS, you need to know which numbers can receive it. A single "phone" field containing a mix means every send is a guess, and the failures are silent from your side.
Either separate the fields or record the type, so a messaging campaign can select only what will work.
It is personal data
A mobile number identifies somebody and reaches them directly. Treat it accordingly for access and retention, and remember that consent to be contacted is a separate matter from holding the number.
Worked example
A contact datastore holds mobile and landline separately, both normalised to international format on entry, with the country stored. SMS campaigns select on the mobile field, so nothing is ever sent to a landline — which had been about one in six sends before the split.
Recommendations
- Normalise on entry rather than accepting whatever is typed.
- Store the country code from the start.
- Separate mobile from landline if you send SMS.
- Never store a phone number in a number field.