Single customer timeline
See every interaction across channels in one contact record and ticket history.
Omnichannel helpdesk
Omnichannel support in one platform Email, chat, SMS, and portal
Meet customers on every channel without fragmenting your team. Helpefi unifies email, live chat, SMS, and portal into one omnichannel helpdesk.
Last updated on 2026-07-08
Written by Malik S
Reviewed by Gandral V
Channel-aware routing
Route chat to online agents and email to specialists, all from one queue.
Consistent SLA everywhere
Apply the same SLA policies whether the customer emailed, chatted, or submitted a portal form.
Overview
Omnichannel is not the same as multichannel. Multichannel means you offer email and chat; omnichannel means the agent can see that the person who just started a chat sent an email an hour ago. Helpefi keeps one contact record and one ticket history behind every channel, so context survives when a customer switches.
Why channel silos cost more than they look
Each separate tool carries its own seat cost, its own reporting, and its own blind spot. A customer who emails, then chats, then calls appears as three unrelated people, and an agent asks for an order number already provided twice. The waste is not the subscription, it is the repeated questions and the replies that contradict each other. Consolidation pays back fastest in teams where the same customer base uses more than one channel in a single week.
Choosing which channels to run
Run the channels your customers already use, then stop. Email and a portal cover most B2B support. Chat suits high-intent moments such as pricing pages and checkout. SMS fits delivery updates and appointment reminders, where a reply is likely but long explanations are not. Adding a channel costs attention even when the software is free, so treat a new channel as a staffing decision. Starter includes two channel connections, Professional includes ten, which is enough to test before committing.
Channel-aware routing
Routing rules can consider the channel itself. Chat goes to agents marked online; email goes to a queue that tolerates asynchronous work; portal submissions can route by form type. Language, brand, and skill rules apply across all of them. The result is one queue with channel as a property rather than four separate inboxes. Agents see what kind of work they are picking up, and leads can move capacity between channels when one starts to back up.
Continuity when a customer switches
A customer who starts on chat and follows up by email should not repeat themselves. Because the contact record is shared, the second conversation opens with the transcript from the first. The same applies in reverse: an agent can send a chat transcript by email when an issue needs detail that is painful to type in a widget. Continuity also means one set of SLAs, so a chat that becomes an email does not quietly escape its response target.
Measuring channels separately and together
Compare first response, resolution time, and CSAT per channel, then look at the total. Chat usually looks fast because conversations are short, and email looks slow because it absorbs the complicated cases. A team that only reads the blended number will draw the wrong conclusion about staffing. Track channel mix over time as well: if chat volume drops while email rises, the widget may be failing at the moment customers need it most.
Use case: Consolidating three tools
Chat, email, and a separate knowledge base move into one workspace, so an agent answers from a single tab.
Use case: Email plus SMS notifications
Delivery updates go out by SMS, and replies that need investigation become tickets in the same queue.
Use case: Agency with per-brand channels
Each client gets a branded portal and widget feeding one agency workspace, filtered by brand.
Use case: Customer and employee support
External and internal requests share a workspace, with channel-aware routing and separate targets.
Use case: Regional coverage
Email and portal cover one region while chat covers another, with calendars that keep hours honest.
One customer, however they arrive
Pick the channels your customers actually use, route them into one queue, and keep the contact record shared. The win is not more channels, it is not asking the same question twice.
Frequently asked questions
- Which channels are supported?
- Email, live chat, SMS, and a branded portal, all feeding one shared inbox with a single contact record.
- Can a customer switch channels mid-conversation?
- Yes. The contact record is shared, so a follow-up on another channel opens with the earlier transcript attached.
- Do SLAs apply across every channel?
- They can. One policy can cover email, chat, and portal, or you can set separate targets per channel where response expectations differ.
- How do we add a new channel?
- An admin connects the channel in workspace settings. Chat needs a site snippet, email needs OAuth or forwarding, and SMS needs a provider account.
- Can agents specialise in one channel?
- Yes. Routing and permissions can keep an agent on chat while another owns email, or let everyone work the full queue.
- Do we need different tools for each channel?
- No, and that is the point. One workspace replaces the separate chat, email, and portal tools most teams accumulate.
- Which plans include omnichannel support?
- Every plan supports multiple channels. Starter allows two channel connections, Professional ten, and Enterprise without a channel cap.
References & sources
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Helpefi on G2 →
User reviews and ratings for Helpefi on G2.
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