Omnichannel AI in Customer Service: Meaning and Tools

Omnichannel AI Customer Service: Meaning

What is omnichannel customer service?: Omnichannel customer support is when a company helps customers through multiple communication channels—like email, chat, phone, social media, and even in-person—while keeping everything connected.

Imagine you message a company on Twitter about an issue. Later, you email them with more details, and finally, you call their support team. With omnichannel support, the company knows your entire conversation history across all channels, so you don’t have to repeat yourself every time you switch platforms.

It’s like talking to a single person who remembers your problem, no matter where or how you reach out. This makes support faster, smoother, and less frustrating for customers.

When powered by AI, omnichannel customer service becomes even more efficient. AI can analyze interactions, route inquiries to the right agents, and provide instant responses through chatbots, making the experience faster and more personalized. Ultimately, omnichannel AI in customer service enhances efficiency, reduces frustration, and improves overall customer satisfaction.

What is an Omnichannel Customer service platform?

An efficient omnichannel AI tool integrates different channels so that customer service teams can seamlessly handle conversations with customers, no matter how they reach out. It can automate responses, analyze customer sentiment, and route inquiries to the right agent, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Think of it as a hub where all customer messages and support tickets from different platforms come together. Instead of handling separate conversations on Twitter, email, and phone calls, support agents see everything in a single dashboard.

For example:

• A customer starts a chat on a company’s website.
• Later, they send a follow-up email.
• If they call support, the agent can see all past messages, so the customer doesn’t have to repeat their issue.

Why It’s Useful

• Seamless experience – Customers get help without repeating themselves.
• Better teamwork – Support, sales, and marketing teams can track customer interactions together.‍
• Unified customer View: Combines data from all touchpoints for tailored support.‍
• Faster response times: Automates routine tasks, reducing delays by up to 50%.‍
• Improved customer satisfaction: Boosts satisfaction by 30% through personalized and consistent service.‍
• Cost Savings: Reduces workload for human agents, cutting operational costs.

‍Managing customer interactions across multiple platforms can be complex. Omnichannel AI simplifies this by unifying communications from chat, email, social media, and voice into one seamless system. It tracks customer history, ensures smooth transitions between channels, and personalizes support.

Omnichannel AI isn't just about efficiency - it's about creating better customer experiences while optimizing business resources. Ready to learn how it works? Let’s dive in.

5 Best Omnichannel AI Tools in Customer Service for Businesses

Here is our shortlisted omnichannel customer service software that businesses can use to outsource and scale their customer support.

1. Crescendo.ai

Crescendo.ai offers comprehensive omnichannel support by integrating advanced AI technology with 3,000+ human experts to deliver seamless customer service across multiple communication channels.

Crescendo’s Key Omnichannel Customer Service Feature

1. ‍Omnichannel Support: Provides seamless support connecting customer interactions through chat, email, and voice, so your customers never feel like they’re starting over when continuing the conversation via different channels.‍
2. AI-Powered Chatbot: Crescendo's conversational AI chatbot provides 24/7 customer support through chat and is capable of resolving inquiries faster than top human agents. This system is designed to handle 50+ languages, ensuring accurate and empathetic responses that maintain a personal touch.‍
3. AI-Driven Voice Assistant: Crescendo’s AI voice assistant is tailored to align with a brand's unique voice and knowledge base. It adeptly manages complex voice inquiries and, when necessary, escalates them to human experts. The voice assistant continuously learns from each interaction, enhancing its ability to scale and improve customer experiences over time. ‍
4. Comprehensive CX Insights: Crescendo employs an AI-driven Voice-of-Customer solution that analyzes every customer conversation. This approach eliminates the need for traditional surveys and reduces human error.
5. Human-In-The-Loop Integration: Recognizing the importance of human touch, Crescendo integrates 3,000+ customer experience (CX) professionals who manage complex inquiries and refine the AI's knowledge base. ‍
6. Advanced features: It offers all the advanced features like automated CSAT scores, sentimental analysis, Service level agreements (SLA), AI-powered categorization, hands-free implementation, skills-based routing, and more.

Pricing

Crescendo has an all-in-one flat rate per resolution without any hidden costs, which is at least 20% lower than your existing customer support budget. This rate includes all the features, implementation, and maintenance costs.

2. Zendesk

Zendesk is a robust omnichannel customer service solution designed to unify support across multiple communication channels. It streamlines interactions through AI-powered automation, intelligent routing, and real-time insights, ensuring businesses deliver fast and personalized assistance at scale.

Key Features

1. Seamless Multichannel Support: Customers can connect with businesses through chat, email, phone, social media, and self-service portals without losing context, enabling smooth transitions between touchpoints.
2. AI-Enhanced Chatbot: An intelligent chatbot handles inquiries, provides instant answers, and escalates more complex issues to human agents when needed, improving efficiency and response times.
3. Smart Voice Integration: Zendesk’s voice support system uses AI-driven call routing and real-time agent assistance, optimizing call handling and reducing wait times.
4. Efficient Case Management: A centralized ticketing system ensures customer inquiries are tracked, organized, and resolved effectively across all channels.
5. Actionable Customer Insights: AI-powered analytics provide valuable data on service performance, customer behavior, and agent productivity, enabling continuous optimization of support strategies.
6. Self-Service Options: Businesses can build comprehensive knowledge bases and community forums, allowing customers to find solutions independently while reducing support workloads.

Pricing

Zendesk offers flexible pricing tiers tailored to different business needs. Plans start at $55 per agent/month. Please note that you need to buy upgraded plans to get basic features like CSAT scores, Service level agreements (SLA), Multilingual support, etc.

3. Intercom

Intercom is a dynamic omnichannel customer service software that blends automation, live chat, and proactive messaging to create a seamless support experience. It is designed to help businesses engage with customers in real time while integrating AI and human support for faster issue resolution.

Key Features

1. Unified Customer Conversations: Combines email, live chat, social media, and self-service interactions into a single interface, ensuring customers receive consistent support without repeating themselves.
2. AI-Powered Chatbot & Automation: Uses advanced AI chatbots to handle common inquiries, guide users to relevant resources, and transfer complex cases to human agents as needed.
3. Real-Time & Asynchronous Messaging: Enables businesses to provide instant responses while allowing customers to pick up conversations at their convenience, improving overall engagement.
4. Proactive Customer Support: Automates targeted messages based on user behavior to assist customers before they even reach out for help.
5. Comprehensive Analytics & Reporting: Delivers insights into support performance, customer interactions, and agent efficiency, helping teams optimize their approach.
6. Integrated Help Desk & Self-Service: Supports knowledge base creation, enabling users to find answers independently while reducing agent workload.

Pricing

Intercom offers flexible pricing based on business size and support needs. Plans start at $29 per seat/month. Please note that Intercom doesn’t offer AI-generated CSAT scores, conversation quality analysis, and other high-tech features.  

4. HubSpot Service Hub

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HubSpot Service Hub is a customer service platform built to streamline support, enhance communication, and improve customer satisfaction. It integrates seamlessly with HubSpot’s CRM, providing businesses with a unified view of customer interactions across multiple channels.

Key Features

1. Connected Customer Conversations: Centralizes interactions across email, live chat, phone, and social media, ensuring customers receive seamless and personalized support.
2. AI-Powered Chat & Automation: Uses intelligent chatbots to handle common inquiries, route conversations to the right agents, and provide instant support without human intervention.
3. Integrated Ticketing System: Organizes and prioritizes customer requests in a structured pipeline, allowing teams to track and resolve issues efficiently.
4. Proactive Customer Support: Automates follow-ups and personalized responses based on customer activity, helping businesses engage users before they even request help.
5. Advanced Reporting & Analytics: Provides in-depth insights into customer service performance, agent productivity, and customer satisfaction, enabling data-driven improvements.
6. Self-Service & Knowledge Base: Enables businesses to create help centers, FAQs, and community forums, allowing customers to resolve issues independently.

Pricing

HubSpot Service has two plans. For professionals, it costs $90 per agent/month, and one-time onboarding costs $1,500. The enterprise plan starts at $150 per agent/month, plus one-time Enterprise Onboarding for a fee of $3,500. Please note that an AI-powered chatbot is available at an additional cost. Also, it doesn’t include advanced AI-backed CSAT scores and offers only traditional survey-based CSAT scores.

5. Gladly

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Gladly is a customer service platform that offers a unified and personalized support experience. Unlike traditional ticketing systems, it provides a single conversation timeline for each customer, regardless of the channel they use.

Key Features

1. Single Customer Conversation View: Unifies all interactions (email, chat, phone, SMS, social media) into one continuous thread, eliminating the need for ticket numbers.
2. AI-Powered Chat & Voice Automation: Uses AI to provide instant responses, automate repetitive inquiries, and route conversations to the right agents.
3. Integrated Messaging & SMS Support: Allows customers to switch between messaging platforms (WhatsApp, SMS, chat) while keeping the conversation history intact.
4. Proactive Customer Engagement: Enables businesses to send personalized outreach messages based on customer behavior and past interactions.
5. Self-Service & Knowledge Base: Provides customers with AI-powered self-help tools, reducing the workload on agents.
6. Comprehensive Reporting & Insights: Delivers real-time analytics on support performance and customer satisfaction.

Pricing

Gladly offers customized pricing based on business needs, with a focus on per-agent pricing rather than per-ticket fees.

Core Elements of Omnichannel AI

Three key components come together to create an effective omnichannel AI system.

AI Tools for Multi-Channel Support

Modern AI tools, as stated above, use advanced natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand customer needs across different channels. These tools ensure context is preserved whether interactions happen via social media, email, or phone.

For example, a customer might open a support ticket through email, follow up via chat, and resolve the issue over a call. Throughout this process, the AI system keeps the full context of their inquiry intact. Managing customer data effectively is crucial to ensure this smooth transition between channels.

Customer Data Management

AI-powered platforms integrate data from multiple touchpoints, creating a centralized view of each customer. This unified profile includes past interactions, purchase history, preferences, and behavioral patterns, serving as a reliable source of truth.

Benefits include:

• Easy access to relevant customer details across all channels
• Up-to-date interaction histories
• Insights into customer behavior trends
• Adherence to data privacy regulations

AI-Driven Personalization

AI uses customer data to deliver tailored experiences. By analyzing profiles and behavior, AI systems can customize responses and even predict customer needs.

Here’s how it works in practice:

• Referencing past interactions to avoid repetitive questions
• Recommending solutions based on cases with similar issues
• Suggesting complementary products or services
• Adapting communication style to align with customer preferences

This approach ensures that support feels personal and responsive, enhancing the overall customer experience.

Advantages of Omnichannel AI

Omnichannel AI boosts efficiency, improves customer experiences, and helps manage costs effectively. Let’s break down how these benefits apply across different areas.

Speed and Scale

AI systems allow businesses to handle customer interactions more efficiently by automating routine tasks. AI-powered digital workers can manage thousands of conversations at once, cutting response times by up to 50%. This ensures quicker resolutions and happier customers. Even during busy periods, businesses can deliver consistent service without breaking a sweat.

Improved Customer Experiences

AI-driven personalization creates tailored interactions by using detailed customer profiles. This ensures smooth and consistent experiences across all channels. Here’s what it brings to the table:

Reduced Operating Costs

Omnichannel AI helps lower expenses while maintaining high service standards. By automating tasks like appointment reminders, follow-up emails, and basic troubleshooting, AI reduces the workload for human agents. This cuts down redundant processes and leads to noticeable cost savings without compromising quality.

Setting Up Omnichannel AI

Once you've explored the benefits, the next step is setting up your omnichannel AI system. This involves careful planning, choosing the right platform, and ongoing refinement.

Planning Your AI Integration

Start by aligning your AI integration with your customer service goals. A unified customer view, as discussed earlier, will guide your data strategy and implementation.

Choosing the right platform, like Crescendo AI, can simplify this process.

Crescendo AI: A Top Omnichannel AI Platform

Crescendo AI provides a range of tools designed for seamless omnichannel support:

• CX Messaging Assistant: Manages customer conversations in over 50 languages.
• Voice-of-Customer Insights: Delivers real-time insights into customer behavior.
• Human-in-the-Loop Optimization: Ensures AI responses improve over time with human input.

Its performance-based pricing model ties costs directly to results, making it a practical choice for enterprises looking to boost service efficiency.

Ongoing AI Improvement

Once your AI is live, keep it performing at its best with continuous updates and monitoring:

• Data-Driven Enhancement: Analyze customer interactions to uncover trends and areas for improvement. This approach has been shown to boost customer satisfaction.
• Quality Monitoring: Use automated tools to track AI performance across all channels, ensuring consistent service quality and identifying areas for fine-tuning.
• Performance Optimization: Regularly update AI models with new data to maintain accuracy and quick response times.

Looking Ahead

With AI now a cornerstone for many businesses, the focus shifts to emerging trends and strategies for the future.

Key Takeaways

Implementing omnichannel AI requires careful planning to create smooth and consistent customer experiences. Companies are prioritizing AI solutions that unify interactions across various platforms.

Three main factors influence the success of omnichannel AI:

What’s Next for Omnichannel AI in Customer Support?

Businesses are pushing the boundaries of omnichannel AI with more advanced applications. Generative AI is paving the way for natural, context-aware conversations that feel more human than ever.

Companies are also closing the gap between online and in-store experiences. For example, major retailers are using AI to connect online shopping data with physical store visits. This allows them to offer personalized recommendations, whether a customer is browsing on a website or walking into a store.

The next wave of omnichannel AI will focus on:

• Improved Natural Language Processing for deeper, context-sensitive interactions
• Predictive Analytics to anticipate customer needs before they even express them
• Ethical AI Practices to prioritize data privacy and security

As customer expectations evolve, businesses must embrace flexible AI systems that keep up with technological changes while providing seamless, personalized experiences.

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