Customer satisfaction is the main driver of a successful customer service strategy and the number of customer service channels you provide can directly impact this key metric. Herein lies the important question—multichannel vs omnichannel customer service: which is the better option for your business?
Before we help you navigate your options, let’s define these customer service concepts.
What Is Multichannel Customer Service?
Multichannel customer service is a support strategy that provides customers with multiple communication channels or means to reach a business. You may allow your clients to contact you via chat, phone, email, and social media customer service channels. You may also enable self-service tools like forums and FAQs.
What Is Omnichannel Customer Service?
Omnichannel customer service is a support model that synchronizes customer interactions across various touchpoints. Like multichannel support, it enables customers to reach a business via multiple communication methods. The main difference is that an omnichannel customer service strategy integrates all the interactions into a single track or platform, providing agents with context and historical records.
| Multichannel Customer Service | Omnichannel Customer Service |
| Provides customers with multiple channels or means to contact a business for support, such as phone, email, chat, and social media, as well as self-service tools like FAQs and forums. | Aims to provide a seamless and integrated customer experience across multiple channels by synchronizing customer interactions across all channels. |
| Goal is to provide customers with a variety of options for contacting a business and to ensure that customer service is available through the channel of the customer's choice. | Goal is to create a consistent and personalized experience for customers across all touchpoints by enabling agents to have a complete view of a customer's interactions across all channels, providing context and historical records to improve the quality of service. |
Revolutionizing Customer Support: The Battle of Multichannel vs Omnichannel
So, which option is better? Before we answer that, let’s take a closer look at their respective benefits.
Digging into Multichannel Customer Service Pros and Cons
The key advantages of multichannel customer service
Accessibility: Multichannel customer service allows customers to reach you using their preferred channel. It allows your business to connect with people from various demographics. Millennials who prefer online communication can easily reach you. The same goes for older generations who still opt for phone conversations.
Ease of communication: Even millennials will jump on the phone if the problem is too complex to discuss over online chats. Plus, some customers will prefer to write lengthy emails to explain an issue. On the other hand, those who need quick answers to simple questions may rather deal with a bot or check your FAQ section.
Efficiency: A multichannel customer service strategy also allows greater efficiency on the part of your support teams. With self-service tools allowing customers to get answers on their own, agents won’t have to cater to an overflowing influx of queries. Multichannel customer service also makes it possible for your business to stay available to customers 24/7 via chatbots. Unless absolutely necessary, you won’t have to hire actual agents for the night shift.
Availability: Multichannel customer service can also make a business available to customers 24/7 via chatbots, providing support outside of normal business hours. This means that customers can get assistance at any time of the day or night, which can be especially important for customers in different time zones or with urgent issues.
Better customer experiences: Multichannel customer service enables businesses to provide better customer experiences. By offering a variety of channels, businesses can cater to customers' preferences and needs. This can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, as customers feel that their needs are being met in a way that suits them best.
Improved customer insights: Multichannel customer service allows businesses to gather data and insights on customer interactions across various channels. By analyzing this data, businesses can identify areas for improvement and optimize their customer service strategy. This can lead to more personalized and targeted customer service, improving overall customer satisfaction.
The key disadvantages of multichannel customer service
Lack of integration: With multiple channels, it can be difficult to integrate customer data and track interactions across all channels. This can lead to a fragmented view of customer interactions and a lack of context for customer service agents.
Inconsistent experiences: With multiple channels, it can be challenging to maintain consistency in the customer experience across all touchpoints. If one channel is not as effective as another, customers may receive varying levels of support, which can lead to frustration and confusion.
Increased complexity: Managing multiple channels can be complex and requires additional resources, including staff, technology, and training. This can be a challenge for small businesses with limited resources. With multiple channels, it can be challenging to track and measure the effectiveness of each channel, as well as the overall success of the customer service strategy. This can make it difficult to identify areas for improvement and optimize the customer service experience.
Higher training and staffing costs: Offering multiple channels requires more resources to manage and staff each channel effectively. This can lead to higher training and staffing costs for businesses, which can be a challenge for smaller organizations with limited budgets.
Difficulty in prioritizing channels: With more channels to manage, it can be difficult to keep track of customer interactions and provide seamless service across all touchpoints. Businesses may need to invest in technology solutions to help manage and integrate customer interactions across multiple channels.
Increased risk of data security breaches: With more channels comes more potential vulnerabilities for data security breaches. Businesses must ensure they have adequate security measures in place to protect customer data across all channels.
| Multichannel Customer Service | Omnichannel Customer Service |
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| Accessibility: customers can choose a channel that suits them best | Lack of integration: difficulty tracking customer interactions across all channels |
| Ease of communication: different channels suit different types of issues | Inconsistent experiences: variations in quality of support across channels |
| Efficiency: self-service tools can reduce workload for support agents | Increased complexity: managing multiple channels can be resource-intensive |
| Availability: 24/7 support via chatbots | Higher training and staffing costs |
| Better customer experiences: catering to customer preferences improves satisfaction and loyalty | Difficulty prioritizing channels: risk of inconsistent service |
| Improved customer insights: analyzing data from various channels improves personalization | Increased risk of data security breaches with more channels |
Omnichannel customer service also enables the use of multiple channels, so it provides the same benefits as above. What sets it apart is that it comes with advantages that are only possible when you’re working with a synchronized system.
Strong and Weak Points on Omnichannel Customer Service
The benefits you’ll get only from omnichannel customer service
ContinuityFaster resolution: When your communication channels are integrated into a single track, your support teams can resolve issues more quickly. Any agent can check historical records and pick up where other agents have left off.
Customer satisfaction: Service continuity and faster resolutions lead to customer satisfaction. You’ll have happy customers who won’t mind sticking with your business. Three out of four customers are willing to spend more for businesses that provide good customer experience.
Agent satisfaction: Job recruitment is so costly that you simply can’t take agent satisfaction for granted. Besides, happy employees are linked to satisfied customers. With omnichannel customer service allowing agents to do their job more quickly and effectively, you can expect greater job satisfaction. It also leads to less stress and frustration, as your agents are less likely to deal with irate customers.
Customer insights: Integrating all customer interactions into an omnichannel support platform lets you gather meaningful insights that you can use to improve your sales and marketing efforts. These insights can help you create brand messaging that speaks to your customers in ways that resonate. This helps build loyalty and attract new customers.
Revenue increase: Service that leads to a great customer experience can generate repeat purchases—62% of customers who are happy with a brand’s service will recommend it to a friend. And with omnichannel customer support service increasing productivity, agents will have more bandwidth to provide value-added services that lead to sales and increased revenue.
The drawbacks you’ll get only from omnichannel customer service
Integration complexity: Implementing an omnichannel customer service system can be complex and requires a significant amount of time, resources, and investment. Integrating all the different communication channels and systems can be challenging, and it may require additional staff training and support.
Data security risks: With multiple communication channels and systems, the risk of data breaches and security threats increases. Ensuring that all systems and channels are secure can be a challenging task, and businesses need to implement strict security measures to protect their customers' personal and financial data.
Higher costs: Implementing an omnichannel customer service system can be expensive, as it requires additional resources, including technology, training, and staff. This can be a challenge for small businesses with limited budgets.
Channel management: Managing multiple communication channels can be complex, and businesses may struggle to prioritize and manage customer interactions effectively. This can lead to longer wait times, inconsistencies in the customer experience, and frustrated customers.
Technical challenges: Technical issues may arise when implementing an omnichannel customer service system, such as connectivity problems, system downtime, and software bugs. These issues can cause delays and interruptions in the customer service process, and businesses need to have the technical expertise to resolve them quickly.
Customer confusion: With multiple communication channels and touchpoints, customers may become confused about which channel to use for specific issues, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction. It's important for businesses to provide clear guidance and support to help customers navigate the omnichannel customer service experience.
| Benefits | Drawbacks |
| Service continuity for customers, as different agents can address their concerns without asking them to repeat themselves | Implementation requires significant time, resources, and investment |
| Faster issue resolution, as any agent can pick up where others left off using historical records | Increased data security risks due to multiple communication channels and systems |
| Increased customer satisfaction due to faster resolution and service continuity, leading to customer loyalty and repeat purchases | Higher costs associated with implementation, including technology, training, and staff |
| Increased agent satisfaction and reduced stress levels, as they are less likely to deal with irate customers | Complex channel management, leading to longer wait times and inconsistent customer experiences |
| Customer insights gathered from integrating all customer interactions, leading to improved sales and marketing efforts | Technical challenges, such as connectivity problems and software bugs, may cause delays and interruptions |
| Increased revenue due to improved customer experience and increased productivity for agents | Customer confusion may occur with multiple communication channels and touchpoints, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction |
Next, we’ll help you decide which customer service system is right for your business.
How to Choose Which Channels to Provide?
So, how do you choose between the customer service options? You should consider various factors.
For one, multichannel customer support service is easier to set up. Any small business can create a website with a knowledge base, social media platforms, email, and other usual customer service channels. The caveat with multichannel support is that you may have to deal with customers who are frustrated over your disjointed communication channels.
Omnichannel support, on the other hand, may provide synchronized service that results in a stellar customer experience. But it comes at a price tag that may be impractical for small businesses. After all, you’ll have to invest in advanced support technology that integrates the various channels.
Weigh the costs and benefits between the options. And, of course, you need to consider whether your company has the resources to support your choice of customer service strategy.
| Factors to consider | Multichannel customer support | Omnichannel customer support |
| Ease of set up | Easier to set up | Requires investment in advanced support technology |
| Communication channels | Includes website, social media platforms, email, and other usual customer service channels | Includes multiple communication channels integrated with advanced support technology |
| Customer experience | Disjointed communication channels may lead to frustrated customers | Synchronized service may lead to a stellar customer experience |
| Cost | Generally more affordable | May be impractical for small businesses due to investment required |
| Resource availability | Can be managed with existing resources | Requires additional resources to manage multiple communication channels and advanced support technology |
Which Support Service Approach Is Right for Your Business?
You may think easy-to-set-up multichannel support is the best option for SMEs and an omnichannel support system is only possible for larger enterprises. This is not always true. You’ll find cost-effective help desk platforms that enable omnichannel customer service without burning your budget. Now, even small businesses can provide a seamless customer experience!
