Your Channels Aren’t Omni-channel They’re Just a Mess

Why disconnected customer journeys are killing loyalty, and how to fix them

By Abdel el Ayyadi

Most companies claim to be omnichannel—but what they really offer is fragmented, frustrating noise. Learn why connected journeys matter, where brands fail, and how to make every touchpoint feel like one continuous conversation.

Imagine this:

A customer starts on your website.They chat with a bot.They get redirected to a human agent.The agent asks them to start over.Then sends them to email support.Who responds three days later—with no idea what just happened.

You didn’t offer omni-channel. You offered chaos with a UX wrapper.

Let’s stop pretending omni-channel means "we're on a lot of platforms."It doesn’t.

What Omni-channel CX Is Supposed to Be

Omni-channel doesn’t mean being everywhere. It means showing up consistently and contextually wherever the customer chooses to engage.

A real omni-channel experience is like one long, fluid conversation—paused and resumed across touchpoints, but never restarted.

It means if I start on chat and move to phone, the agent knows what I said. If I email later, my case history follows me.If I walk into the store, the staff isn’t clueless.

It’s not about being present on every channel. It’s about being coherent across them.

Where Most Brands Fail

Here’s the honest breakdown:

• Too many tools, not enough integration

  You’ve got chat handled by one vendor, email by another, and phone support stuck on an island. Each with their own tickets, IDs, workflows, and metrics.

• Agents are flying blind

  Without unified context, agents can’t serve—they can only guess.

• Customers have to repeat themselves

  hat’s the number one driver of frustration, according to both Gartner and Forrester research.

A disjointed experience doesn’t just slow service. It silently tells the customer: “You’re not important enough for us to remember.”

What a Connected Journey Actually Looks Like

Let’s break it down into real-world examples:

• Start with Live Chat → Escalate to Call → Follow-Up by Email

  And yet the agent knows the entire trail without asking “Can you recap what happened?”

• A purchase made in-store triggers personalized app notifications

  With relevant offers—not generic promos—based on past interactions.

  • Example: " Hi Abdel,

    Your new Modern Oak Wardrobe will be arriving on Thursday — exciting times.

    Before it gets there… have you thought about what’s needed for inside the closet?

    Customers who bought this closet also picked up:

    • Matching wooden hangers

    • Drawer organizers for accessories

    • Slim shoe racks for extra space

Add them today and we’ll deliver everything together — no extra wait."

• Social DM support flows into your core CRM

  So the customer isn’t stuck in the Twitter void, repeating their issue all over again when they escalate.

  
  

Companies like Disney, Apple, and Sephora do this well—not because they have endless resources, but because they have clear journey ownership.

The technology is out there.The problem is the commitment to stitch it together.

How to Actually Build Omnichannel—Not Just Talk About It

Here’s a blunt checklist to test if you’re truly omnichannel:

1. Is your CRM shared across all channels?

   • If no → You’re multichannel, not omnichannel.

2. Can agents see full interaction history in one place?

   • If no → You’re wasting time and money.

3. Do your channel owners collaborate or compete?

   • If compete → You’re rewarding silos, not experiences.

4. Is your NPS higher for one channel than others?

   • If yes → Your customer experience is inconsistent.

5. Does the customer ever have to explain themselves more than once?

   • If yes → You’ve already lost their trust.

   
   
   
   

Why This Matters More Than Ever

The cost of switching has never been lower. One bad handover, one forgotten conversation, one disjointed experience—and your customer is gone.

According to PwC, 32% of customers say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience.Not one bad product. One bad interaction.

You can’t afford to make customers feel like they're dealing with five different companies under one logo.

My Thought

Omnichannel is not a tech stack—it's a memory.If your company can’t remember the conversation, don’t expect the customer to continue it.