Customer Experience 
Omnichannel vs. multichannel communications: These are not the same thing.
Both involve interacting with customers across different channels — but the way they do so creates vastly different experiences.
Our State of Customer Experience Report found that 75% of businesses adapt their customer experience strategy to target different generations or demographics across channels. With so many businesses adopting these strategies, ensuring you take the right approach to provide exceptional omnichannel customer support is even more important.
Our complete guide to omnichannel vs. multichannel communications explains the similarities and differences between the terms so you can understand which strategy best suits your business needs and — more importantly — helps you deliver an exceptional unified customer experience.
What Is Multichannel?
Multichannel marketing is a strategy that involves using multiple channels to communicate with customers and boost customer engagement.
This includes various online and offline channels like phone, social media, email, website, and text. Each channel operates independently, offering customers a choice of how they interact with the brand.
How multichannel works
Let’s make it easy right off the bat with a hot n’ fresh analogy everybody can relate to. Pizza.
🍕 Multichannel is like ordering a pizza from a restaurant that only takes orders via phone or in-person. Sure, you’ll get your pizza, but the experience is pretty standard, without much personalization. This is because each channel operates independently, and they don’t share information.
What Is Omnichannel?
Omnichannel is a strategy that also uses multiple channels to connect with customers, but it has more of them. It also takes it further, focusing on providing a seamless, unified experience. It’s a customer-centric strategy that helps make experiences more personalized.
How omnichannel works
🍕Omnichannel is like ordering a pizza from a restaurant that lets you order over the phone, in person, on their website, and through their mobile app. Say you placed your first order over the phone, but the next time you go through the mobile app. The app might immediately prompt you with a message showing your previous order and asking if you’d like to place the same order again.
That’s fast and convenient customer service, no matter how you slice it.
What Are Other Differences Between Omnichannel and Multichannel?
Let’s break down the key differences between omnichannel and multichannel communication. It’s not just about the amount of channels — it’s several elements and their approaches that are quite different.
Channel-focused vs. customer-focused
⭐ Multichannel communication focuses on using more than one channel to reach and engage with as many customers as possible. This strategy prioritizes volume over personalization, making it a cost-effective way to attract a wide audience and increase brand awareness.
⭐ Omnichannel communication strategies prioritize the customer’s journey, focusing on delivering a seamless customer experience across physical and digital channels. It leverages customer data for hyper-personalization, creating exceptional omnichannel customer experiences that build relationships and increase customer loyalty.
Independent channels vs. integrated channels
⭐ Multichannel communication involves using multiple channels to reach customers, but these channels often operate independently. This can lead to a fragmented customer experience, as messages and interactions may not be consistent across different channels. For example, customers might receive a promotional email only to have a different offer presented to them when they call customer service.
⭐ Omnichannel integrates multiple channels to create a seamless and consistent customer experience. This means that customers can interact with a brand on any channel, synchronizing their interactions across all channels. For instance, a customer might start a conversation on social media, continue it via email, and then complete a purchase on the website, all without any hiccups or inconsistencies.
Disjointed vs. personalized experiences
⭐ Multichannel can deliver a disjointed customer experience. This is often because separate teams manage different channels — and because the data is siloed, the customer history isn’t automatically updated when switching channels. Customer interactions happening independently on each channel make it harder for teams to provide consistent customer experiences.
⭐ Omnichannel creates a smooth and personalized experience by combining all channels, customer preferences, history, and data into a consistent, seamless customer journey. Customers can transition effortlessly between channels, enjoying a cohesive experience.
Fragmented data vs. unified data
⭐ Multichannel gathers data separately for each channel, often creating data silos. Metrics are channel-specific, and customer service representatives have access only to the customer history within the channel they are handling, which narrows their focus and limits the ability to provide a comprehensive customer experience.
⭐ Omnichannel emphasizes collecting and unifying customer data across all channels for a comprehensive view of the customer journey. This approach provides complete customer history and 360-degree relationship metrics, enabling businesses to predict customer needs and engage proactively across all touchpoints.
Separate technology vs. integrated technology
⭐ Multichannel operates with less complex technology, often using separate platforms for each communication channel, such as customer experience software, email marketing software, or social media management tools. Integration between these channels is limited, making the overall technological setup simpler but less cohesive.
⭐ Omnichannel requires integrated technology to ensure seamless data flow between channels and provide real-time personalization. This setup often involves cloud-based communication, CRM integration, APIs to connect various platforms, and analytics tools to track customer behavior across channels. The focus is on user-friendly technology for customers and employees, enabling teams to manage and share customer data, interactions, and context in a centralized location.
Lower cost vs. higher cost
⭐ Multichannel has a faster and simpler initial setup, which can result in lower initial costs. This approach typically requires less technology, relying on separate platforms for the website, email marketing, and social media, making it more budget-friendly in the short term.
⭐ Omnichannel generally involves higher initial costs due to the investment in integrated technology, cloud-based platforms, CRM software, marketing automation tools, and — if needed — integration specialists. However, these upfront expenses can lead to long-term savings and faster ROI by boosting customer satisfaction, loyalty, and conversion rates.
Multichannel vs. Omnichannel Examples
Check out these examples of multichannel vs. omnichannel in action.
Multichannel vs. omnichannel retail
In a nutshell:
🥜 Omnichannel e-commerce creates a seamless, customer-centric shopping journey, integrating all channels for a unified experience. Omnichannel communication can do things like simplify the buying process and unify inventory and customer data, enabling real-time stock checks and personalized promotions.
🥜 Multichannel retail is product-centric, using various channels independently to maximize sales and reach. Multichannel often has siloed data and inventory, leading to a less cohesive experience. However, multichannel communication is easier to implement and broadens brand awareness.
| 🎂 Nothing Bundt Cakes implemented Nextiva’s VoIP solution across all locations, improving call quality and ensuring consistent customer service experiences. The user-friendly interface and centralized management of Nextiva’s platform provided the opportunity to add website click-to-call functionality and SMS marketing tools, enhancing their omnichannel capabilities for a seamless customer journey. |
Omnichannel vs. multichannel marketing and sales
In a nutshell:
🥜 Multichannel marketing uses different platforms, such as physical stores, online shops, and social media. However, these channels often work separately, which can create a disconnected customer experience.
🥜 Omnichannel marketing brings all these channels together to create a personalized and consistent customer experience. For example, a customer might start shopping online, check out products in-store, and finish the purchase online—all while getting personalized recommendations.
| 🏀 The San Antonio Spurs utilize Nextiva’s cloud-based platform to offer fans omnichannel support, ensuring staff can manage calls and social media interactions from any location. This flexibility and scalability enable the Spurs to handle peak call volumes during events while potentially integrating with their ticketing system for personalized customer communications and seamless transitions between service channels. |
Omnichannel vs. multichannel in customer support
In a nutshell:
🥜 Multichannel support provides customers with multiple channels to get support but may lose context when they switch to a different channel. Omnichannel support doesn’t do that.
Say a customer connects via social media and explains their issue, but half way through the conversation decides to call customer support. With multichannel, the call-handling agent might not have the information from the live chat conversation, causing the customer to repeat the issue. With omnichannel support, the information, context, and customer sentiment is seamlessly provided to the agent so they can continue the interaction in stride.
| 💄Tricoci, a luxury salon, spa, and cosmetics company, leverages Nextiva for seamless omnichannel experiences by integrating appointment scheduling across online, phone, and social media platforms into a centralized system. |
Omnichannel vs. Multichannel: Which One Should You Pick?
Choosing the omnichannel or multichannel depends on several factors, including business size, budget and resources, and customer journey touchpoints.
- Business size: Omnichannel communication strategies can be a great way for large businesses with a big customer base to deliver personalized experiences and maximize data insights to build stronger customer relationships. Smaller businesses, on the other hand, might find it easier to start with multichannel marketing since it helps them reach a wider audience with a more focused approach and lower upfront costs.
- Budget and resources: Omnichannel strategies require a bigger investment in technology, data management, and sometimes extra staff to focus on customer experience. A multichannel approach generally costs less to start, making it more practical for businesses with limited resources.
- Customer journey touchpoints: Omnichannel strategies create a seamless experience for complex customer journeys involving multiple touchpoints. However, a well-planned multichannel approach with the right platforms can work just as well for simpler journeys.
The key is understanding your digital customer journey and prioritizing creating a positive and consistent experience across all touchpoints. As your business grows and resources allow, you can always evolve towards a more omnichannel approach.
Nextiva: Omnichannel Experiences Made Easy
Choosing between omnichannel and multichannel contact centers is easier than you think. Look at your business and consider what you need to deliver top-notch user experiences throughout the customer journey.
Nextiva’s customer conversations suite provides an omnichannel experience across voice, video, SMS, live chat, and more, all in one place. And, with a robust integration marketplace, you can customize your platform to meet customer expectations and your business needs. Get started today.
A true end-to-end omnichannel platform.
Connect with your customers where they are and when they want.
Omnichannel vs. Multichannel FAQs
Still have questions? Check out these omnichannel vs. multichannel FAQs to get the information you need.
Choosing between multichannel vs. omnichannel marketing varies between businesses and depends on several factors. There are distinct differences to consider between omnichannel and multichannel strategies. An omnichannel approach is ideal if you have an established customer base with complex journey paths across multiple touchpoints and can invest in technology and personnel.
Multichannel may be better for small businesses with simpler customer journeys and limited resources, aiming for a fast, low-cost setup. Both approaches aim to improve customer experience and can adapt as your business grows.
Omnichannel marketing might have higher initial costs due to technology integration and hiring customer-centric data analysis experts. In contrast, multichannel strategies typically involve lower upfront costs to implement channels and basic analytics tools — although training may be necessary for existing teams.
Despite the higher initial costs, the long-term benefits of implementing an omnichannel contact center include improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and sales, resulting in enhanced overall ROI.
Here’s a roadmap for creating both multichannel and omnichannel marketing strategies:
✏️ Define your goals and target audience: Clarify your objectives, like brand awareness, lead generation, sales, or customer support, and identify your target demographics and online behaviors.
✏️ Choose your channels: For multichannel, pick effective channels like websites and social media, and with omnichannel, consider all touchpoints, both digital and physical.
✏️ Tailor your strategies: Customize your content and messaging for each channel in a multichannel strategy. For omnichannel, ensure consistency and seamless transitions between channels.
✏️ Implement and analyze: Track individual channel performance in multichannel and integrate data for a unified view in your omnichannel customer service software to analyze and optimize personalized customer experiences.
Remember that cloud-based contact centers with CRM integrations enable agents to access customer data and offer personalized support across various channels. This approach results in an improved customer experience, faster issue resolution, and more personalized support to help you meet customer service expectations and improve customer retention.
