What is omnichannel and how to see a customer on phone, Telegram and Instagram as one person
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
Omnichannel is an approach where a company sees a customer as one person, whatever channel they use: every conversation by phone, on Telegram, Instagram, the website and in the shop sits in one customer card, and the next staff member picks up where the last one left off. With plain multichannel, the channels exist but live apart. An AI voice operator plugs the phone into that card: it answers every call and writes it to the CRM with the recording and transcript.
Multichannel vs omnichannel
| Multichannel | Omnichannel | |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | Phone, Telegram, Instagram | The same channels |
| Customer history | Separate in each channel | In one card |
| Customer switches channel | Explains everything again | Staff see the earlier conversation |
| Who is responsible | Each channel has its own person | One owner, everyone can see |
| What the manager sees | Scattered numbers | The customer’s whole path |
Omnichannel isn’t a new channel. It ties the channels you already have around one customer.
Example: a clothing shop in Tashkent
“Libos Uyi” (name invented) sells on Instagram, runs a Telegram channel and has a shop near Chorsu. Two days of one shopper:
- On Monday evening Madina writes in Instagram Direct: “Do you have the blue dress in size 44?” The SMM person: “Yes, 380,000 so‘m.”
- On Tuesday afternoon she calls the shop: “I wrote on Instagram yesterday; please hold that blue dress.”
- A sales assistant answers but can’t see the Direct chat: “Which dress? What size? Who quoted the price?”
- Madina explains it all again and buys the dress somewhere else.
With omnichannel, the assistant would open the card by Madina’s number and see the Instagram question and the price. CRMs such as Bitrix24 can gather chats and calls into one card.
Where the phone fits in omnichannel
In many companies chats go into the CRM while calls stay on a manager’s personal mobile: who called and what was agreed is written down nowhere. The phone becomes the weakest link.
- Sado is the phone channel: it doesn’t answer chats, it talks on calls.
- It answers every call in about a second, at night too.
- Ready Bitrix24 connection: a call card with recording and transcript, plus a lead or deal.
- It calls Instagram and website leads right away.
- Each call card with its recording can also go to the company’s Telegram group.
Then a customer who wrote on Instagram and later called has both conversations in one card. More: calls in your CRM.
The same call with an AI operator
Sado: Assalomu alaykum, Libos Uyi, this is Malika, go ahead.
Caller: Hello. I wrote on Instagram yesterday: the blue dress, size 44. Please hold it, I’ll come tomorrow.
Sado: Okay, the blue dress in 44. Roughly what time tomorrow?
Caller: In the afternoon, around three.
Sado: Noted, our assistants will set the dress aside. May I have your name?
Caller: Madina.
The request reads “blue dress, 44, tomorrow 15:00”. If the CRM matches customers by number, it lands in the same card as Madina’s Instagram chat. Setting the dress aside is the assistant’s job; the operator writes it down so nobody forgets.
Five first steps to omnichannel
- List where customers write and call you from.
- Pick one CRM and connect every channel to it: chats, calls, the website form.
- Recognise customers by phone number: one number, one card.
- Set a response time for each channel: for example, 15 minutes for chats, at once for calls.
- Keep call recordings and transcripts in the CRM, not in a manager’s memory.
Phone calls for online stores: AI operator for online stores. Incoming calls: AI operator for incoming calls. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
Is omnichannel only for big companies?
No. Even a small shop with two or three channels sees customers switch between them. One CRM and one card per phone number is enough for a small business.
Does the AI operator answer Instagram and Telegram messages?
No, Sado talks on phone calls. When a lead comes from Instagram or the website, it calls the customer right away and writes the outcome to the CRM.
How are omnichannel and CTI related?
CTI links your telephony to the CRM; omnichannel gathers calls and chats into one customer card. CTI is the phone part of omnichannel: what is CTI.