Omnichannel Fake: One of the Biggest CX Failures We Don’t Talk About Enough

Just like fake news spreads by looking credible on the surface, there’s a similar phenomenon happening in customer experience today: omnichannel fake.

Many companies proudly say they’re “omnichannel”: automation, chatbots, CRM, campaigns, WhatsApp, email, social, website, app… and yet, nothing feels unified.

What customers actually experience is:

• A conversation that restarts every time
• A different message in each channel
• A journey that breaks exactly where it matters most: when they switch touchpoints

In other words... we sell continuity, but customers feel fragmentation.

And this isn’t anecdotal. Salesforce captures the gap clearly: 79% of customers expect consistent interactions across departments, yet 55% say it feels like they’re communicating with separate departments rather than one company. And 56% often have to repeat or re-explain information to different representatives.

The common mistake: confusing presence with omnichannel

Omnichannel is often discussed most in marketing—because it’s easy to mistake distribution for strategy.

We run the campaign on social, email, WhatsApp, website, and app and think: “Done. We’re omnichannel.”

But if context doesn’t travel—and if the message isn’t connected—then from the customer’s perspective, every channel switch resets the experience.

Here’s the key line: Real omnichannel isn’t presence. It’s continuity.

The modern trap: “Let’s add AI to improve CX”

AI can be incredible. But when you implement AI on top of a broken journey, all you do is automate friction. A fast bot inside a poorly designed process simply gets customers to the same frustration only faster.

This is why, before adding layers (bots, workflows, AI agents, new tools), you need what many teams skip: Return to the Customer Journey with discipline. Zendesk’s CX Trends reporting points in the same direction: a large share of CX leaders are reimagining the customer journey, not just adopting new tools.

The ultimate omnichannel test

Does your customer feel continuity—or do they feel “different narratives” depending on the channel? Because omnichannel is not proven by the number of tools you have. It’s proven by whether the customer feels: “They get me”—without starting over.

Where does your experience break most today—data, process, or cross-team alignment?