What is the difference between omnichannel vs. multichannel?
What is the difference between omnichannel vs. multichannel?
While omnichannel and multichannel approaches offer customers multiple ways to interact with a business, the key difference lies in how these channels are connected.
A multichannel approach provides various touchpoints—like phone, email, social media, and chat—but these channels operate independently. For example, if a customer starts a conversation via email and later follows up by phone, the information from the previous interaction may not carry over, requiring the customer to repeat themselves. While multichannel support increases accessibility, it often leads to disjointed experiences that can frustrate customers.
However, an omnichannel strategy integrates all channels seamlessly. Customer data flows across every touchpoint, enabling conversations to continue without interruption, regardless of the platform. Plus, omnichannel customers tend to spend more—10% more online and 4% more in-store—than those engaging through multichannel experiences. By creating a cohesive, integrated journey, omnichannel takes multichannel to the next level, enhancing customer satisfaction while fostering trust and loyalty.
How to build an omnichannel customer experience in three steps.
How to build an omnichannel customer experience in three steps.
There are three essential steps to help organizations elevate their customer experience.
1. Identify the preferred customer contact channels.
Omnichannel doesn’t mean a business needs to be available on every imaginable platform. Instead, it’s about identifying the channels customers actually use and expect, so agents can meet them where they are.
Contact center solutions simplify this process by offering a wide menu of channel options, empowering businesses to engage with customers. For example, the Talkdesk Omnichannel Engagement solution enables organizations to manage customer interactions across multiple channels effortlessly. With built-in integrations, agents have everything they need in one platform.
2. Outline the preferred customer journey.
Building a great omnichannel experience starts with understanding how customers interact with the business. The goal is to map out every step of their journey—whether they’re browsing a website, chatting with a bot, or calling customer support—and make sure everything flows effortlessly.
This process is easier by using AI to route customers exactly where they need to go. This strategy hinges on three key technologies:
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AI-powered routing technology. Automatically analyzes incoming voice calls and messages to connect customers to the right agent or department.
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AI-powered self-service technology. Chatbots handle simple queries—like answering FAQs or resetting passwords—so agents can focus on the more complex issues.
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AI-powered agent assistance technology. If the issue needs to be escalated to a human agent, AI provides the right information at the right time.
3. Implement an omnichannel contact center solution.
Several features set an omnichannel contact center apart from a traditional call center:
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Detailed customer profiles. Every interaction between a customer and the business adds data to a comprehensive profile, helping agents provide accurate support based on the customer’s history.
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CRM integration. Omnichannel contact centers connect with CRM tools like Salesforce, giving a complete view of the customer’s profile.
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Contextual routing. Intelligent routing automatically assigns waiting customers to the next available agent qualified to handle their issues.
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Real-time reporting. Customer experience dashboards provide immediate insights, helping companies monitor service levels, staffing, and performance in real time.
A contact center platform can transform how businesses engage with customers, increasing efficiency, improving satisfaction, and fostering loyalty. The Talkdesk Omnichannel Engagement platform takes these benefits to the next level by integrating advanced AI tools, real-time insights, and seamless channel management into one comprehensive solution.
Four benefits of an omnichannel customer experience.
Four benefits of an omnichannel customer experience.
Let’s explore how adopting an omnichannel experience impacts key areas of customer experience and business success.
Higher revenue and sales.
An omnichannel strategy improves the customer experience and drives revenue growth. When customers can seamlessly move through their purchase journey across channels, businesses reduce abandoned carts and missed sales opportunities. Personalized engagement at every stage of the customer journey leads to better cross-sell and upsell opportunities, increasing average order values. In fact, research shows that customers who can use multiple channels tend to spend more over time, contributing to higher lifetime value.
Competitive advantage.
In a crowded marketplace, delivering an omnichannel customer experience gives businesses a distinct competitive edge. Customers gravitate toward brands that make interacting with them easy and enjoyable. Companies that embrace omnichannel strategies position themselves as responsive, customer-centric organizations that understand and meet evolving expectations. This responsiveness enhances brand reputation and makes it harder for competitors to keep up. Businesses that invest in omnichannel solutions are better equipped to retain customers, attract new ones, and stand out from the competition in meaningful ways.
Increased employee efficiency.
An omnichannel platform benefits customers but also makes life easier for employees. By centralizing interactions and customer data in one system, agents can quickly access the information they need to provide faster and more effective support. With AI-powered tools assisting with routine inquiries, employees are free to focus on more complex tasks, improving productivity and reducing burnout. Efficient workflows lead to quicker resolutions and higher customer and employee satisfaction overall.
More customer insights.
An integrated omnichannel platform consolidates data from every customer interaction, offering a complete view of customer behavior and preferences. With this single source of truth, businesses can track trends, identify pain points, and uncover new opportunities to improve service. These insights help brands personalize future interactions, optimize marketing efforts, and anticipate customer needs. For instance, 70% of consumers say a company’s understanding of their personal needs influences their loyalty.
By aligning service, sales, and marketing efforts with customer behavior, companies can craft targeted strategies that drive better outcomes—including higher customer satisfaction, improved customer loyalty, and stronger revenue growth.
Examples of a good omnichannel customer experience.
Examples of a good omnichannel customer experience.
A high-quality omnichannel customer experience goes beyond simply offering multiple ways for customers to engage. Here are a few tangible examples, from various industries, of how a good omnichannel customer experience might look in practice.
Integrated customer service across platforms.
Imagine a customer contacts a tech company’s support team through their website chat for a product question, then decides to call customer service to follow up. Because the service history is shared across platforms, the representative on the phone already has context and can pick up where the chat left off.
Unified support for orders and returns.
A clothing retailer’s contact center allows customers to initiate a return request through live chat on the website. If they later call the contact center to check when their new coat will arrive, the agent can access the chat history and previous details, so the customer doesn’t need to repeat themselves.
Personalized service recommendations.
A contact center for a phone service provider uses data from past interactions to tailor service offerings. When a customer calls in about their phone plan, the agent can see their usage patterns and recommend plan options that fit their needs and budget.
Escalation across channels.
A health insurance contact center might let customers start an inquiry through chat or SMS and escalate to a phone call if needed. For example, a patient might text in a question about their health coverage but then realize they need to talk to a person to fully understand their benefits. When they switch to a phone call, the agent is already aware of the initial inquiry and can jump straight into helping.
Loyalty recognition across channels.
A home goods retailer’s contact center has access to customer loyalty information, such as points or membership status. When a customer reaches out via chat or phone, the agent can see the loyalty status and offer relevant perks or coupons based on their status.
Examples of companies that built omnichannel customer experiences.
Examples of companies that built omnichannel customer experiences.
Take a look at a few real-world examples of how companies can benefit from omnichannel strategies to enhance customer engagement and drive success, with support from Talkdesk solutions.
Serta Simmons Bedding.
For over 90 years, Serta Simmons Bedding has been known for delivering high-quality mattresses through its Serta, Simmons, and Beautyrest brands, reaching customers in more than 150 countries. When the company expanded into a direct-to-consumer (D2C) model, it had to rethink what it meant to serve customers—not just retail partners, but the end consumer: the sleeper. This shift in focus required a new approach to customer experience centered around consistency, personalization, and ease.
Serta Simmons Bedding implemented Talkdesk Digital Engagement across SMS, chat, and voice channels to create seamless, omnichannel support for customers. They further enhanced their capabilities with Customer Experience Analytics and Talkdesk Copilot, which empowered agents to work more efficiently.
As a result, Serta Simmons streamlined the agent experience, giving agents instant access to the tools and information they need—eliminating the scramble for customer details. With everything connected in a single platform, agents can now focus on solving customer issues quickly and effectively, while managers can allocate resources more strategically to meet demand.
CAI.
CAI, a global technology services firm with over 8,500 associates, has spent more than 40 years uniting talent and technology to deliver innovative solutions to over 500,000 customers. To maintain its reputation for excellence, CAI partnered with Talkdesk to enhance its service desk operations with advanced AI capabilities.
Talkdesk Copilot equips CAI’s agents with real-time assistance during live calls. Copilot proactively delivers contextual recommendations, suggests next best actions, and provides automated support to streamline the agent experience. After each call, Talkdesk Copilot uses AI to generate a complete conversation summary, saving up to eight minutes crafting notes after each interaction. This efficiency translates to significant time savings across hundreds of interactions, boosting productivity and reducing after-call workloads.
The Talkdesk omnichannel capabilities enhance the service desk experience by providing seamless transitions between channels. When a customer moves from chat to a call, agents receive an interaction summary that ensures continuity, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction. The combination of AI-powered support and smooth channel transitions helps CAI deliver exceptional customer service while empowering agents to work smarter, not harder.
LegalShield.
LegalShield, a leader in affordable legal services for over 50 years, serves more than 1.7 million members and 140,000 businesses across the U.S. and Canada. To better support its CX team and meet member expectations, LegalShield needed a partner that could deliver on both performance and innovation.
Talkdesk CX Cloud emerged as the solution of choice, offering powerful omnichannel engagement tools like Proactive Outbound Engagement to reach contacts when and how they want to be reached. LegalShield also implemented Talkdesk Digital Engagement, enhanced by integrations through Talkdesk AppConnect, Sentiment.io OmniChannel, and Calabrio Workforce Management, which allowed LegalShield to streamline operations and personalize member interactions at scale.
JK Moving Services.
JK Moving Services, the largest independent mover in the U.S., is known for exceptional service, boasting 100% and 98% on-time pickup and delivery rates—unmatched in the moving industry. However, their legacy PBX and call center systems created major challenges, including a 64% call abandonment rate, limited visibility into call traffic, and a lack of tools for quality assessment and coaching.
By implementing Talkdesk CX Cloud, JK Moving Services turned these challenges into opportunities. Automatic callback options reduced call abandonment and increased first contact resolution by 41%, while omnichannel engagement tools like Talkdesk Studio voicemail flows lowered supervisor escalations by 30%. With Talkdesk, JK Moving now delivers a customer experience that increases satisfaction and supports their industry-leading standards.
Implement an omnichannel customer experience today.
Implement an omnichannel customer experience today.
An omnichannel strategy is the golden ticket to more seamless, consistent, and personalized interactions. Identifying key channels, mapping ideal customer journeys, and leveraging the right tools allow businesses to meet evolving expectations and gain a competitive edge.
To create a frictionless customer experience, learn more about our Omnichannel Engagement features for contact centers, or request a demo of Talkdesk today.
