The term "omnichannel" has been buzzing around contact centers for years, but many organizations still struggle to deliver on its promise. Too often, "omnichannel" means "multichannel"—customers have options, but each channel operates in its own silo.
True omnichannel is different. It's not about offering more channels; it's about creating seamless experiences that persist across channels. When a customer switches from chat to phone, the conversation continues—no repeating, no starting over.
"I had to explain my problem three times to three different people. By the third person, I was more frustrated with the support experience than the original issue."
Sound familiar? This is the experience omnichannel is meant to eliminate.
Understanding Modern Channel Preferences
Before designing your omnichannel strategy, understand how customers actually want to interact:
📞 Voice
Still the dominant channel for complex issues, urgent matters, and customers who prefer human connection. Voice isn't going away—it's becoming more valuable as the channel for high-stakes interactions.
💬 Chat & Messaging
The fastest-growing channel, especially among younger demographics. Customers love the convenience of asynchronous communication and the ability to multitask while waiting.
Preferred for non-urgent issues, documentation needs, and customers who want a paper trail. Email volume is declining but remains essential for certain use cases.
The Omnichannel Customer Journey
Real customer journeys rarely stay in a single channel. Here's what a typical omnichannel interaction looks like:
1. Customer tweets about an issue
Social team responds, offers to help, provides DM link
2. Conversation moves to DM/chat
Agent sees social context, troubleshoots issue, needs more info
3. Escalates to phone for technical support
Voice agent has full history, picks up where chat left off
4. Email with resolution summary and next steps
Customer receives complete record of the interaction
At each transition, the customer's context—their history, their issue, their emotional state—should flow seamlessly to the next touchpoint.
Building Blocks of True Omnichannel
1. Unified Customer Profile
Every channel must read from and write to the same customer record. This includes:
- Contact information and preferences
- Complete interaction history across all channels
- Open cases and pending issues
- Customer value metrics (lifetime value, loyalty status)
- Sentiment and satisfaction scores
2. Unified Agent Desktop
Agents shouldn't need to switch between applications for different channels. A single interface should handle:
- Voice calls with embedded softphone
- Chat and messaging conversations
- Email with threading and templates
- Social media monitoring and response
- Customer context panel with full history
3. Consistent AI Across Channels
If you're using AI for automation, it should work consistently everywhere:
- Same knowledge base powering voice and chat bots
- Consistent escalation logic across channels
- Unified training and optimization
- Cross-channel journey awareness
4. Intelligent Routing
Route based on the whole picture, not just the current interaction:
- Customer's channel preference history
- Issue complexity and urgency
- Agent skills and current workload
- Relationship with previous agents
Channel Transition Best Practices
The moments when customers switch channels are the moments that make or break omnichannel. Handle them well:
Proactive Handoffs
When a conversation needs to move channels, don't make the customer do the work. "I'm going to connect you with a specialist by phone. They'll call you at this number in about 2 minutes with full context on our conversation."
Context Summaries
When an agent picks up a cross-channel interaction, they should see a brief summary: "Customer contacted via Twitter about billing issue, moved to chat for troubleshooting, needs phone escalation for account access verification."
Warm Transfers
Whenever possible, introduce the customer to the next agent: "I'm connecting you with Sarah from our technical team. Sarah, this is John—he's been having intermittent connectivity issues for the past week and we've already tried the standard reboot procedures."
Measuring Omnichannel Success
Traditional channel-specific metrics miss the point. Measure what matters:
- Journey completion rate: What percentage of customer journeys resolve successfully, regardless of channels used?
- Channel switches per journey: How often are customers forced to repeat themselves?
- Cross-channel resolution time: Total time from first contact to resolution across all touchpoints
- Customer effort score: How hard did customers have to work to get help?
- Post-interaction sentiment: Are customers satisfied with the overall experience, not just individual interactions?
Getting Started
You don't need to boil the ocean. Start with:
- Audit your current state: Map how customers actually move between channels today
- Identify pain points: Where are customers forced to repeat themselves? Where do journeys break down?
- Unify the data layer: Before unifying channels, unify customer data
- Start with high-volume journeys: Pick 2-3 common cross-channel paths and optimize them first
- Measure and iterate: Track journey-level metrics and continuously improve
True omnichannel isn't a destination—it's an ongoing commitment to seeing service from the customer's perspective, not the organization's.
Ready to unify your customer experience? Learn how Ring AI's voice platform integrates with your existing channels to create seamless journeys.