If you manage a contact centre, or you're looking to integrate one into your business, you may well have heard of "omnichannel communications".

Now, "omnichannel" might sound like the best cable TV package money can buy, but it's a little more complicated than that. Omnichannel communications means talking to customers across different communication channels, such as phone, webchat, email and SMS.

"Ah!", you might be thinking, "we already have teams working on email and webchat. Been there, done that. Next blog post, please".

Sure, you might be harnessing different channels to reach customers, but are you taking a truly omnichannel approach?

See, implementing an omnichannel strategy is less about which channels you use, and more about how you use them…

Omnichannel vs multichannel

You'd be forgiven for thinking these two terms mean the same thing.

They're similar, but there's one important distinction.

A multichannel call centre supports different modes of communication but deals with these channels individually. You might have a team that sends and responds to emails, for instance, but they have no way of knowing if customers have previously made contact by phone. Or, for that matter, the content of those phone calls.

An omnichannel call centre also supports multiple communication channels. But the key difference is that it integrates these channels – so conversations can continue between phone and email, for instance. Or across webchat and SMS. Or smoke signals and carrier pigeon. You get the picture.

Omnichannel can be seen as an evolution of the multichannel model. Multichannel came first, then some clever people wrote some very clever software that allowed for seamless omnichannel communication.

The benefits of omnichannel

The first benefit should be obvious to anyone who's contacted customer support about anything.

It's a familiar story. You call customer service on your good old-fashioned landline. Then you send an email, but you have to spend the first 200 words explaining what the phone call was about. Then you call again, but this time you have to reiterate the contents of the first call and the follow-up email. The agent – understandably – sounds like they're falling asleep, and you feel like giving up and going back to bed too.

So, yes. Adopting an omnichannel approach can work wonders for reducing customer frustration. It's easy to see how this can lead to more sales for outbound centres, and a happier time all-round for inbound staff.

But that's just anecdotal. We know what you're really here for – the raw, uncensored stats.

Omnichannel statistics that will make you think

Quick disclaimer: some of these statistics are based on research into omnichannel marketing, so they're more relevant to outbound call centres. But even if you operate a pure customer service centre, we bet you'll still learn something useful…

- Nine out of ten consumers say they want a seamless service between channels¹

- 63% of millennials typically begin their customer service interactions online²

- More than half of consumers say they'd rather text customer service than make contact by phone³

- Customer satisfaction is 23 times higher for businesses that use omnichannel communications⁴

- Companies with strong omnichannel customer engagement strategies see an increase of 9.5% in annual revenue, compares to 3.4% for those with weak strategies⁵

How can I unlock the power of omnichannel?

Ah, glad you asked.

First, you must venture through the Valley of Bones and fight the dark wizard Xendor. Take his magic key and use it to unlock the Gates of Krall. There you will find the omniblade, which can be wielded only by those with a pure heart and a BA in marketing.

Nah, only kidding. You just need some cool software.

If you manage a call centre, you'll no doubt have some software in place to handle calls, manage customer relationships or report on results.

A good piece of omnichannel call centre software will promise all of the above while making it easy to track customer journeys across multiple channels.

It's this journey tracking – this understanding of ongoing conversations – that powers a successful omnichannel strategy. With this information at their fingertips, your agents are empowered to deliver seamless service and win leads while they're still fresh.

And by linking all your communication channels together, you can unlock new possibilities that just wouldn't be possible with a multichannel approach. Like AI-powered transcription, for example, which doesn't just record calls but actually writes down everything that was said. This makes it simple for agents to follow up on phone conversations, even if the customer makes contact by email or webchat.

Plus, with true omnichannel reporting, it's easier than ever to review centre-wide performance. All your data sits in one, easy-to-access place, rather than being spread out over different – and uncommunicative – software applications.

How Yoozoom can help

Sorry for boasting, but we think our contact centre software is the best on the market.

Not only does it deliver all of the features we just mentioned (and more), but it's hosted in the cloud. This means it's extremely flexible and portable, with no need for hefty, hard-to-manage on-site software installations.

Is your centre growing? With our call centre software and VoIP phone solutions, it's easy to add new users and systems without expensive hardware outlays. Need to relocate? The software can move with you, no problemo.

Learn more: get all the facts on our cloud-based call centre software here.

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