Omnichannel chatbot

An omnichannel chatbot is a chatbot that ensures consistent communication across multiple marketing channels, providing customers with a seamless experience. These channels include websites, social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram. This chatbot allows clients to switch between channels without worrying about restarting conversations, as it saves all the data.

In this article, we’ll uncover the reasons to use omnichannel chatbots and how they work, clarify the difference between omnichannel and multichannel chatbots, and provide some use cases. We’ll also explain how to implement an omnichannel chatbot into your strategy and give some effective tips.

Why do businesses use omnichannel chatbots?

Businesses have many reasons to consider omnichannel chatbots. Besides ensuring 24/7 communication with customers, they also provide clients with consistent experiences across different marketing channels. Here are the details of these, along with additional benefits you can gain by incorporating this type of chatbot.

• Consistency in branding and messaging. With omnichannel chatbots, you can provide consistent experiences regardless of the channels customers use. Whether they reach you through messengers, social media networks, or your website, the history is saved, meaning that clients won’t need to start over. Since these chatbots store all business information, customer data, purchasing history, and answers, all messages are unified.
• Centralized data. You can collect customer data across multiple communication channels and view it on a single dashboard. Using such chatbots enables you to monitor all customer interactions, behaviors, and preferences. This, in turn, helps you craft more personalized and targeted messages, leading to increased conversions.
• Multichannel support. With omnichannel chatbots, you can respond to customer inquiries on any channel they prefer. You can set up your bot for messenger apps, social media platforms, and your website to ensure seamless experiences. Better yet, clients won’t need to start over by providing their phone numbers, names, and dates of birth to get assistance. All the information is stored in the system, allowing users to resume from where they left off.
• Personalized customer experience. The connection between the channels in omnichannel marketing ensures that customers get all the necessary assistance within seconds and without complications. Since all information about existing customers or users who have interacted with your brand is saved, they can receive personalized messages, recommendations, and help instantly.
• Instant support around the clock. You can answer FAQs, process returns, or track orders regardless of the time zone. When users want to connect with your brand, they can do so instantly using a chatbot. This prevents your human agents from having to manage repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on complex issues and ultimately improving customer satisfaction.
• Higher sales. Chatbots can not only provide answers to FAQs but also deliver personalized recommendations, recover abandoned carts, and send follow-ups through various marketing channels. All these automated efforts contribute to higher conversions, making your business more profitable.
• Easy integration. Chatbots integrate seamlessly with all essential marketing tools, including CRM, e-commerce platforms, email, and SMS. This enables you to seamlessly collect customer data in your CRM, update subscribers about upcoming promotions, and notify them regarding sales.

Now that you understand why your company needs to build omnichannel chatbots, it’s time to move on to the next section and discover how they function.

How does an omnichannel chatbot work?

Before creating an omnichannel chatbot for your business, you need to first understand how it works. So, let’s review this process in more detail.

The process begins when users interact with your brand using a chatbot. They can accomplish this through your website, Messenger, or social media platforms. The bot uses natural language processing to determine what customers need and searches a specialized knowledge base for answers. It also retrieves all relevant information about these users to provide the most personalized responses possible. After a quick analysis, the chatbot provides a comprehensive response or routes the conversation to a human agent if their assistance is needed.

With an omnichannel chatbot, your customers can seamlessly switch between channels without having to start over. The bot covers all the information, allowing your clients to continue receiving personalized experiences, including product recommendations, answers to FAQs, and around-the-clock support.

Now that you understand how omnichannel chatbots work, it’s time to explore the difference between omnichannel and multichannel chatbots and determine which one is more relevant to your company.

Omnichannel Chatbots vs Multichannel Chatbots

Sometimes, the terms "omnichannel" and "multichannel" chatbots are used interchangeably, but they actually have distinct meanings. We’ll uncover these peculiarities in the section below.

An omnichannel chatbot is a chatbot that allows you to automate repetitive tasks across multiple channels, including websites, messaging apps, and social media networks, while ensuring consistent messaging throughout. This means there’s a unified user profile, regardless of the platform customers use for communication. The bot retains all information about interactions with prospects and customers, providing them with seamless support, sales funnels, and customer journeys.

A multichannel chatbot is a chatbot that supports multiple channels, but the conversations are separate and do not share memory. It indicates that the bot initiates a new conversation when the platform changes. This type of chatbot is most effective for managing distinct audiences.

To summarize, unlike a multichannel chatbot, an omnichannel chatbot provides a unified experience for users, regardless of the channel they prefer. When customers start chatting with your brand on Facebook and switch to WhatsApp, an omnichannel chatbot remembers all the information and continues the conversation. This helps your business provide personalized communication tailored to your clients’ behavior, preferences, and demographics.

Now that the difference is clear, let’s review some omnichannel chatbot use cases. These will help you understand how consistency enhances customer experience, satisfaction, and ultimately, conversions.

Omnichannel Chatbot Use Cases

There are many omnichannel chatbot use cases, and since they can serve as inspiration, we’ll provide you with the most popular ones. Let’s review them one by one.

Personalized recommendations

Chatbots can perform a variety of tasks, including helping users search for the right products. Users can utilize messenger apps and social media platforms to search for flights, hotels, and attractions worldwide. When travel and hospitality companies implement chatbots, they can offer users the best options based on their search criteria. The questions posed by chatbots enable brands to determine what customers are seeking and offer personalized recommendations. The responses are instantaneous, enabling users from different time zones to take advantage of the bot without being constrained by time.

Below, you'll find a special chatbot that allows users to search for relevant flights and hotels by specifying their preferences, including price and dates.

Customer support

Chatbots can help customers with a variety of topics and questions. They can help with FAQs, order tracking, booking management, event or appointment scheduling, and more. By automating these tasks, businesses can instantly resolve users’ problems without making them wait.

Below, you will find Turkish Airlines’ chatbot, which allows users to select the information they want, such as flight search, flight status, check-in, booking management, and baggage allowance. With this chatbot, customers no longer need to call multiple agents to find a solution. Everything is quick and secure.

Returns and exchanges

Chatbots also help manage returns and exchanges seamlessly. This process is much simplified when users prefer to send their return or refund request through messengers, websites, or social media networks.

Below, you can see how customers can use a chatbot to make a return at American Eagle. It includes all the buttons and information, enabling users to complete it in seconds.

Appointment booking

Chatbots help users book events and appointments without needing to call a specific organization, hospital, or medical center. After developing their chatbot flows, businesses can collect customer data and schedule appointments without requiring a connection to their agents. This prevents possible double bookings when multiple human agents manage client interactions.

Order tracking

Chatbots are perfect for letting customers track their orders and ensuring they are delivered to the right time and place. With just a couple of clicks, customers can discover all the details without needing to contact human agents, thus allowing them to focus on more urgent and complex tasks.

In the example below, you’ll find how customers can check their order status in seconds through a chatbot on this coffee shop’s website.

Now that you know the main use cases, it’s time to explore our guide on incorporating an omnichannel chatbot into your strategy. With its assistance, you’ll be able to navigate this process from the beginning.

Omnichannel chatbots can become your online saviors when it comes to handling repetitive questions, making bookings and appointments, providing customers with recommendations, and tracking orders. However, to reap these benefits, you should understand how to incorporate an omnichannel chatbot into your strategy.

1. Identify your key goals. Every chatbot should have a clear purpose. Whether you want to optimize customer service, boost lead generation, or provide around-the-clock assistance, you need to define these objectives. They will guide your team through the process of developing an effective chatbot that makes customers happy with your brand.
2. Choose channels. Conduct brief research to identify which channels your target audience prefers most. There are many communication channels available, including websites, mobile apps, messaging services, and social media networks. However, this doesn’t mean you have to create chatbots for each one, as it can be costly and ineffective. Once you identify the most popular channels, you can ensure effective communication with your customers.
3. Find the perfect chatbot builder. When you already know which channels need a chatbot, you can proceed to choose the perfect service. Pay attention to chatbot builders that cover the necessary channels and offer suitable pricing and features. This software should also include a centralized conversation history, CRM, multilingual support, and AI/NLP capabilities. SendPulse allows you to set up auto-replies for Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and WhatsApp, helping you build quality conversations without coding skills.
4. Connect your chatbots to essential platforms. If you want to provide users with a unified messaging experience and consistency across channels, you’ll need special integrations. That’s why you should connect your chatbot to the following platforms: CRM, order management systems, ticketing systems, and a knowledge base. A CRM will help you store all customer details in one place and let your chatbot use them when necessary. With a detailed knowledge base, your chatbot will be able to provide users with comprehensive answers for different types of questions.
5. Build a chatbot flow. Although each chatbot may vary depending on the platform, it's important to maintain a consistent brand tone. When developing a chatbot for Facebook Messenger, adding buttons is advisable, while using more natural text is suitable for WhatsApp. If you create a chatbot for your website, you can incorporate additional visual elements. Short texts are essential for SMS chatbots.
6. Test and train your chatbots. After finishing your chatbot flow, check it before it becomes visible to users. By testing chatbots for each channel, you can identify and eliminate gaps before customers notice them. Bugs, formatting issues, and missing data synchronization are common problems you may encounter when double-checking your chatbot sequences before launching.
7. Keep an eye on customer feedback. By monitoring key metrics such as customer satisfaction, average resolution time, drop-off points, channel engagement, and the escalation rate, you can gain direct insights into the gaps. Once you receive this feedback directly from your customers, you’ll be able to optimize your chatbot flows and make clients happy with your brand.
8. Ensure privacy. Your chatbot messages must comply with existing rules and regulations, including GDPR. When adding a chatbot to your WhatsApp business account, it’s essential to explore its platform-specific policies to avoid fines. Additionally, ensure the security of customer data during its use and storage. It shouldn’t be accessible to third parties to protect your brand reputation.

Now that you have a step-by-step guide on how to develop your omnichannel chatbot, it’s time to explore effective tips for maximizing its potential.

There are many tips for building an effective omnichannel chatbot, but not all of them guarantee 100% success after implementation. Here are some basic yet essential best practices for creating chatbots that meet customer needs.

1. Build a well-thought-out strategy. Begin by considering the objectives you aim to achieve after implementing omnichannel chatbots. Whether your goal is to ensure consistent messaging across multiple channels, generate more leads, improve customer satisfaction, or deliver superior customer service, it is essential to clearly define your objectives. This clarity will help you direct your actions effectively. Additionally, you will be able to map out the customer journey across channels and create a chatbot that aligns with it.
2. Train your chatbot. If your chatbot uses AI, it can be trained with your knowledge base. Various interactions with customers enable your chatbots to deliver more precise and human-like answers.
3. Take advantage of no-code chatbot builders. Once you decide to create omnichannel chatbots for your business, consider using a special platform that requires no coding skills or knowledge. Its drag-and-drop builders enable you to develop chatbot sequences without needing special experience. You only need to drag and drop the necessary elements into the editor’s field to build your flow. SendPulse is one of the solutions that allows you to create AI-powered chatbots for WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Telegram, without needing any professional help.
4. Use natural human language. When training your chatbot, ensure you use human language that sounds natural and polite to users. It should also be friendly and conversational, so customers continue to engage with you. Users should recognize that it’s a chatbot, yet the conversation needs to be fast, fun, and useful.
5. Ensure personalized experiences across channels. Always research and use customer data to your advantage. Customer names, locations, past purchases, and browsing history enable you to tailor proper messages that resonate with clients’ needs and problems. For instance, when prospects come from Instagram and use WhatsApp for communication, set up your chatbot to greet them by name.
6. Add a human handoff option. Despite the chatbot quality, you should always provide a human handoff button. When users have questions or issues that can’t be solved with a chatbot, it’s essential to transfer the chat to your specialists. They will help solve these problems effectively when they are available. Additionally, automate time-based handoffs when your team is offline and inform users once they are available to assist you.
7. Connect your chatbot to useful platforms. When choosing a platform for creating your chatbots, ensure it offers all the necessary integrations, including CRM, eCommerce platforms, email, SMS tools, and payment systems. These tools will help you achieve your business goals more quickly by providing users with the information they need and enabling them to complete desired actions. Using a service like SendPulse gives you access to all these channels, ensuring a consistent customer experience across each one.
8. Add interactive elements. Consider adding quick replies, image carousels, buttons, and forms while building your chatbots to enhance communication with users. Including visuals can boost engagement with potential customers and guide them toward the desired action.
9. Monitor performance and optimize. After building your chatbot, it’s necessary to continue tracking its performance. Drop-off points, most-used flows, and conversions by channel are the key metrics to monitor for identifying areas for improvement. By monitoring your analytics, you can take action when gaps or issues arise with your chatbots. This will lead to higher satisfaction with your brand. When you're uncertain about selecting the right welcome messages, CTAs, or offers for your target audience, you can always conduct A/B testing to identify the best options.

To wrap it up, if you want to grow your business with minimal pressure on your team while ensuring consistent customer experiences across channels, omnichannel chatbots are an excellent solution. They allow you to answer repetitive questions, recommend relevant products, provide information about your orders, and more. Automating these tasks positively affects customer satisfaction and productivity. If you want to reach these goals faster and without much headache, all you need is a proper chatbot builder.

Last Updated: 17.04.2025