How to Best Combine Voice and SMS AI for Omnichannel Support

June 2, 2025

•

5 min read

Voice has always been the most impactful form of communication for enterprise sales, support, and service.

But for a long time, enterprises have shifted their focus to SMS and chat, due to its cost-effectiveness and operational flexibility at scale.

Now, AI Voice Agents are making phone calls just as scalable and cost-effective as SMS and chat—while providing the same level of conversation quality and contextual awareness as humans.

Enterprises across a range of industries are noticing, using AI to actively shift a majority of their interactions back to voice.

While voice should serve as the anchor of your customer interactions, some segments are always going to benefit from SMS touchpoints—especially those in industries like healthcare, insurance, lending, education, and the like.

The fact is this: The best customer experiences are seamlessly omnichannel.

In this guide, we’ll show you how Regal enables seamless omnichannel sales and support interactions for enterprises. We’ll break down when to use voice and SMS, show how you can combine them for optimal output, and show what high-performing, AI-powered omnichannel support looks like in practice.

When to Use SMS vs. Voice

Voice Serves as Your Baseline

Voice AI is always your best starting point for customer interactions. It can be designed uniquely for conversations that require:

Trust: More personal and emotionally resonant than text.
Speed: Immediate back-and-forth resolution.
Nuance: Complex qualifications, explanations, or multiple decision points.
‍

Typical voice use cases might include payment collection, lead qualification, Insurance policy walkthroughs, healthcare plan adherence, or complex appointment scheduling.

AI Voice Agents can be persuasive, build confidence, provide reassurance—they’re highly adaptable. Regal lets you customize pacing, tone, interruption sensitivity, and escalation logic to adapt to your exact needs per each journey.

When is SMS Okay?

SMS generally supplements voice. It’s great to expand, bolster, remind, and reinforce.

SMS is best for:

Scale: Low-cost, high-throughput messaging.
Simplicity: Confirmations, reminders, or short-form info.
Convenience: Great for async or multitasking customers.
‍

Omnichannel is Ideal: How to Best Combine Voice & SMS

In practice, the decision isn’t binary. The most effective contact centers combine AI Voice and SMS—and switch dynamically based on behavior, intent, and the necessary cost levers.

That’s where Regal comes into play.

Because AI omnichannel support needs to be coordinated intelligently (to be properly seamless).

Regal makes that possible by tethering AI voice and SMS to one shared workflow and the same knowledge bases of data (your data). That enables the channels to share context, adapt in real time, and self-sufficiently keep customer journeys moving forward.

With voice and SMS centralized in one place, you’re able to orchestrate the perfect combination of both to drive seamless customer experiences—and therefore, drive more appointments, conversions, payments, etc.

A few tested patterns we recommend to combine voice and SMS:

Voice to SMS fallback: Great for sales and qualification calls. If the AI Agent reaches voicemail or the conversation gets cut off, auto-trigger an SMS follow-up with a recap, link, or next step/reconnect.
SMS to voice escalation: If a lead doesn’t respond to texts, signals high intent, or expresses a trigger phrase (“Can you call me?"), hand it off to a voice agent to deepen the interaction and close the loop.
Voice for complexity, SMS for reinforcement: Handle nuanced support, billing, or collections conversations over the phone—then reinforce outcomes via SMS reminders, confirmations, link sharing, or survey follow-ups.
Fallback flexibility: If someone doesn’t pick up after a few voice attempts, fall back to SMS. If someone ignores SMS, escalate to a call. Don’t let one missed message kill the journey.
‍

Test, refine, repeat: Use Regal’s journey builder and A/B testing to find the highest-performing channel blend. You might find that a reminder sent 10 minutes after a call increases conversions by 20%. That’s the kind of insight you only get when both channels are integrated and tested together.

Real-World Omnichannel Use Cases

Insurance: Convert High-Intent Leads on Complex Products

Use voice to walk a lead through auto insurance quote options—gathering vehicle details, ZIP code, and driving history.

Then, you can use SMS:

To move things along: Use SMS to follow up instantly with a link to their personalized quote, document upload instructions, or a reminder to complete enrollment if the call ended early.
As a safety net: If a lead doesn’t answer a post-quote follow-up call, send an SMS with a link to resume the application or speak to an agent.
‍

Healthcare: Guide New Patients Through Onboarding

Use voice to onboard a new patient—confirming their insurance, collecting background information, and explaining next steps.

Then, you can use SMS:

To move things along: Send appointment confirmations, intake forms, or pre-visit instructions to reinforce what was shared during the call.
As a safety net: If the patient doesn't confirm the appointment or submit required documents, follow up with a reminder SMS or link to reschedule.
‍

Home/Local Services: Manage Quotes and Appointment Logistics

Use voice to follow up on a roofing estimate request—qualifying the lead and walking them through pricing and scheduling options.

Then, you can use SMS:

To move things along: Confirm the appointment time, provide cancellation/reschedule options, and send a technician ETA.
As a safety net: If the call is missed, automatically trigger a text with a booking link or follow-up prompt.
‍

Lending: Improve Debt/Payment Recovery Outcomes

Use voice to contact borrowers about overdue payments—reviewing balances, answering questions, and offering structured repayment options in a clear, professional tone.

Then, you can use SMS:

To move things along: Send a secure link to make a payment, confirm selected repayment plans, or share a summary of the arrangement made during the call.
As a safety net: If the borrower doesn't answer the call or drops off midway, follow up via SMS with a reminder and link to re-engage on their own time.
‍

Education: Enrolling Students and Streamlining Onboarding

Use voice to confirm a student’s enrollment—answering questions about course structure, deadlines, and financial aid.

Then, you can use SMS:

To move things along: Send onboarding materials, advisor contact details, or a class schedule link.
As a safety net: Follow up with SMS reminders if the student hasn’t completed key onboarding steps after the call.
‍

Putting AI Voice and SMS to Work

As more of the contact center becomes AI-driven, voice will lead the charge. It’s the richest, most human channel—and the most effective for high-stakes conversations.

But real customer experiences aren’t limited to a single channel. The best outcomes come from blending voice and SMS intelligently—using voice where it counts, and SMS to reinforce, follow up, or fill in the gaps.

That’s why we built Regal to support both natively. So you can build once, orchestrate across channels, and adapt every conversation to customer behavior in real time.

Not sure where to begin? We’ll help you design the right agent, map the right journey, and decide exactly how to blend voice and SMS for the ideal outcome, every time. Reach out to get started.

Latest Blog Posts

SEPTEMBER 2023 RELEASES

September 2023 Releases

SEPTEMBER 2023 RELEASES

September 2023 Releases

SEPTEMBER 2023 RELEASES

September 2023 Releases

How AI Appointment Setters Are Redefining CX at Scale

Discover how AI appointment setters are being adopted by enterprises in industries like healthcare, insurance, and education as a strategic advantage for scaling operations and improving customer satisfaction.

The Automated Phone System Revolution: Why 73% of Enterprises Are Getting It Wrong (And How to Get It Right)

Explore how automated phone systems are transforming enterprise communication strategies. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls, optimize customer journeys, and achieve ROI through strategic deployment across industries like healthcare, insurance, and education.

Staying Compliant with the New TCPA Rules: A Guide for Enterprise Contact Centers

New TCPA updates require interpreting opt-out intent and suppressing outreach across all channels. See how you can use Regal's AI Decision Node to stay compliant.

Debunking AI Agent Fears: "Will humans get frustrated talking to AI?”

Learn how to design AI phone agents that prevent frustration, earn trust, and actually help customers—by getting the voice, logic, and data right from the start.

Debunking AI Agent Fears: "Will the AI lack empathy?"

With the right design and controls, AI agents can be built to deliver empathetic, human-like interactions for all of your routine contact center interactions.

Debunking AI Agent Fears: “What if the AI crashes mid-conversation?”

You're not crazy for worrying about AI crashing out of the blue. Here, see why you shouldn't concern yourself over that happening.

Debunking AI Agent Fears: "What if my AI Agent takes too long to respond?"

Worrying that an AI agent will take too long to respond is not a valid reason not to adopt AI. Here, we'll show you why.

AI Agents vs. Answering Services: 13 Essential Questions Answered by Contact Center Experts

Discover how AI Agents vs. Answering Services stack up and why modern businesses are replacing outdated systems with emotionally intelligent, revenue-driving AI voice agents.

April 2025 Releases

Here's our April 2025 product releases, including the early access period for our AI SMS Agents!

What is the true cost of AI Agents?

Wondering about the true cost of AI Agents? Discover how Regal’s AI Agents compare to human labor and why the cost of implementing AI Agents delivers scalable, predictable ROI.

What Makes Regal AI Agents So Good?

See why leading companies trust Regal’s AI Agents for better conversations, real outcomes, and HIPAA-compliant customer experiences.

How to Build AI Agents for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to build AI agents for beginners with this step-by-step guide. Discover key skills, tools, and no-code AI agent builders to get started today!

Measuring Customer Experience: Proven Strategies to Assess and Enhance CX

Learn how you can start measuring customer experience effectively with key metrics, tools, and AI-driven strategies. Discover how to track CX impact, prove ROI, and enhance personalization to drive business growth.

How are Generative AI Voice Agents Different from AI Voice Assistants?

When it comes to comparing AI Agents vs. AI Assistants, Siri & Alexa handle simple tasks, but Gen AI Voice Agents—like Regal’s AI Phone Agent—drive real business impact with human-like conversations, automation, and seamless integration.

How to Choose a Text-to-Speech Provider for AI Voice Agents

Choosing a text-to-speech provider for AI voice agents can make or break your contact center’s customer experience. Discover how to evaluate TTS providers and find the best fit for industries like healthcare, insurance, and more.

Measuring AI Agent Success: Key KPIs for AI Agents in Your Contact Center

Discover key KPIs for measuring AI agent success in your contact center. Learn how to track performance, improve efficiency, and optimize AI-driven conversations for better business outcomes.

What is an AI Voice Agent for CX?

In this article, we’ll answer the question "What is an AI Voice Agent for CX?" and explore the technology behind AI voice agents, their benefits, real-world use cases, and how they are reshaping customer service across industries.

Introducing the AI Decision Node: Smarter AI Workflow Automation for Contact Routing

Introducing Regal's AI Decision Node—a new way to auto-route contacts in journeys based on the context of each customer interaction.

Debunking AI Agent Fears: "What if my agent says the wrong thing?"

Worried your AI Agent will say the wrong thing? Well, they might. But find out why that's just a natural part of the process, and how to mitigate the risk of it happening.

5 Customer Experience Journey Mapping Templates & Examples for 2025

Discover how customer experience journey mapping helps contact center leaders make small tweaks with big impact. Learn dynamic mapping tactics for personalization, optimization, and ROI.

7 Best Use Cases for AI Voice Agents in Your Contact Center

As AI technology continues to evolve, the use cases for AI Voice Agents in contact centers will only increase. By answering these six key questions, you can identify where AI agents fit best today in your contact center and plan for future integrations.

8 AI Agent Use Cases for Home Service Companies

Explore 8 powerful AI Agent use cases for home service companies that drive speed, increase capacity, and create predictable, high-converting customer workflows.

AI Collections: How Top Lenders Automate Growth in 2025

Automate follow-ups, reduce delinquencies, and boost ROI with AI Collections. Discover how Regal’s AI Agents are changing the future of loan servicing.

AI Agents Make AEP Easy for your Medicare Call Center

See how AI Agents are transforming the Medicare call center by automating AEP, screening, scheduling, and onboarding—with 24/7 support.

AI-Based Workflow Automation: How to Personalize and Scale Customer Journeys

Discover how AI-based workflow automation and customer journey automation can streamline operations, personalize customer interactions, and boost revenue.

How to Deliver a Unified Customer Experience with Regal in 2025

The more lines of communication you open with your customers, the more likely you’re starting the conversation on the right foot. Regal helps you unlock a more unified customer experience in a matter of days. See how.

Maximize Agent Throughput with Regal's Predictive Dialer

It’s critical for call center managers to understand how their power dialers work and to measure if they’re performing as intended. With Regal’s new Predictive Dialer, You can do just that, and much more.

8 Healthcare AI Agent Use Cases for Better Patient Outcomes

Discover how healthcare AI Agents are transforming patient engagement from intake to billing. See 8 powerful use cases driving higher adherence, faster scheduling, and better outcomes.

The Benefits of AI in Insurance: How AI Agents Are Reshaping the Industry

Discover the game-changing benefits of AI in insurance. Learn how AI Agents improve customer experience, reduce costs, and boost efficiency in claims processing, underwriting, and customer interactions.

6 Strategies to Optimize Phone Number Inventory Management

Discover effective strategies for phone number inventory management and learn how to maintain a stellar phone number reputation. Explore best practices, expert insights, and innovative solutions to optimize your communication operations.

Your Policyholders Hate You... File That Under "Totally Preventable Losses"

Not everyone gets excited about buying insurance. Learn how AI Agents improve the experience for policyholders, bring down your cost to serve, improve your response times, and help you get rid of the hold music for good.

AI Agents for Education: 8 Use Cases for More Meaningful Student Outcomes

AI Agents for Education are transforming student engagement—boosting enrollment, improving retention, and making support more human. Discover 8 game-changing use cases that free up your staff while delivering better student outcomes.

Click Your Heels, Ditch the Guesswork: Start Winning with A/B Testing

Many contact center leaders still wander through customer journeys as if they're in the Land of Oz. Dive in to see why and how A/B testing is your shortcut to unlocking provably, repeatably, and scalably better CX.

5 Must Run A/B Tests for your AI Voice Agent

Maximize your AI Voice Agent’s impact with strategic conversational AI testing. Discover 5 must-run A/B tests to optimize engagement, refine responses, and drive better business outcomes.

Regal Named One of Forbes America’s Best Startup Employers 2025!

Regal is officially one of Forbes America’s Best Startup Employers 2025, ranking #164 out of 500. This recognition is a testament to our incredible team, our innovative work culture, and our unwavering commitment to advancing AI technology.

February 2025 Releases

Here's our February 2025 product releases, including live progressive dialer performance measurement, support for Outlook signatures, and some new API endpoints for better data access!

AI in Education: The Future of Student Engagement & Enrollment

AI in education is helping to streamline admissions, automate student engagement, and enhance higher ed outreach. Discover key education technology trends to boost enrollment and learn why automated student engagement tools are the future.

January 2025 Releases

Here's our January 2025 (and last December's) product releases, including user profile URLs, deleting unintentional contacts, and early access to our Outlook integration!

Regal’s Q1 Product Roadmap: Webinar Highlights & Recap

Regal’s Q1 2025 product roadmap brings AI Agents, Intelligent Orchestration, and Enterprise Functionality to the contact center. Discover what’s coming next!

AI Agent Assist: Real-Time Insights for Smarter CX

Discover how AI Agent Assist transforms CX by boosting agent efficiency and customer satisfaction. Get real-time insights, automate tedious tasks, and empower your team to drive revenue.

A No-BS Guide to Rescuing Your Contact Center with AI

Discover how AI in customer experience can revolutionize your contact center. Learn to replace legacy tools, scale personalized outreach, and drive better outcomes with modern CX platforms like Regal.ai.

20 Questions to Grade Your Personalized Customer Experience

Learn how to create a personalized customer experience using AI and automation. Discover actionable steps to grade your CX, expert insights, and strategies for 2025.

AI Agent Ethics & Disclosure Timing in 2025

Explore the ethics of AI agents and the impact of AI agent disclosure timing on customer trust. Learn best practices for balancing transparency and performance in AI-powered customer interactions.

2025 Contact Center Automation Trends and Tools

Discover the 2025 contact center automation trends and tools to help you grow. Learn how AI-powered tools and best practices can enhance efficiency, customer experience, and cost savings.

Introducing Regal Custom Objects

Build your own data model and keep your agents in one tool with Regal Custom Objects.

November 2024 Releases

2024 Year In Review

The year Enterprise customers embraced Regal and AI Phone Agents came to contact centers. We look back at major milestones achieved in 2024.

10 Essential Call Center Metrics and KPIs for 2025

Discover the 10 most essential call center metrics and KPIs for 2025. Learn how to measure and optimize your call center's performance with our comprehensive guide.

8 Ways AI Sales Tools Assist in the Success of Call Centers

Discover how AI sales tools enhance call center performance, improve efficiency, and increase customer satisfaction with these 10 powerful strategies.

What Is Conversation Intelligence? Improve CX & Sales Insights

Learn how conversation intelligence can enhance customer experience and provide valuable sales and support insights. Discover key technologies, implementation strategies, and best practices.

6 Ways Agent Insights Into the Buyer’s Journey Improve CX

Discover 6 real-world examples for how high-consideration B2C companies are arming their agents with real-time customer data to drive more effective sales, support and retention interactions across industries.

October 2024 Releases

10 Proactive Outreach Strategies to Build Loyalty with Personalization

In order to build loyalty, it’s essential to create proactive outreach strategies that demonstrate your awareness of your customers' challenges and show that you’re taking action before they even need to ask for help.

5 Ways to Improve Agent Productivity & 5X Outbound Performance

In this blog, we share tips to improve agent productivity for handling high volumes of calls, whether it's inbound support teams or outbound sales teams. The guiding principle is simple — focus your agents on tasks that absolutely requires their attention, and automate everything else.

Regal Raises $40M to Bring AI Phone Agents to Contact Centers

Regal just raised $40M to accelerate our mission of building the new standard in high-touch customer communication with the rollout of our exceptional AI Phone Agents for contact centers.

8 Strategies to Improve Call Answer Rates by 40%

Discover 8 proven strategies to improve call answer rates by 40%. Learn how personalized outreach, Branded Caller ID, and AI-driven solutions can transform your outbound contact center and boost engagement. Increase your call answer rates and drive more revenue today!

The Modern B2C Growth Stack for High Consideration Businesses

The modern B2C growth stack for high consideration brands is different from the retail and B2B growth stacks. AI agents are the next change vector for these stacks.

September 2024 Releases

Customer Data Management: 10 Strategies to Personalize Interactions

Discover 10 customer data management strategies to help you build engagement, increase conversions, and drive revenue.

5 Outbound Call Center Strategies to Connect with Customers

Learn five game-changing outbound call center strategies that’ll help you reach the right people, at the right time, with the right message.

7 Tips for Building AI Agents That Perform

Explore tips for building AI Agents that perform for your business - Spoiler: It's a lot like coaching human agents.

AI Emotional Intelligence: How AI Agents Keep Calm

Learn more about how AI emotional intelligence allows artificially intelligent voice agents to create emotion-regulated interactions using empathy, while keeping their cool even in heated situations, ensuring calls stay on track and productive.

AI Phone Agents vs. AI Copilots for Human Agents

AI Phone Agents can only do a fraction of your interactions today. But they are the future. Understand why you should not wait to invest.

Introducing Custom Events in Agent Desktop Activity Feed

Improve agent context with a synthesized view of the buyer's journey -- leading to more personalized conversations.

August 2024 Releases

AI for Contact Centers: Insights from Industry Leading CEOs

Explore how AI for contact centers is transforming businesses and how leveraging AI can enhance customer interactions and improve retention.

July 2024 Releases

Power vs. Progressive vs. Predictive Dialers

There is no one "best" auto dialer. There's just the right auto dialer for your campaign goals. We compare the capabilities of each and outline a framework for how you can make the right choice.

Demystifying AMD: How Answering Machine Detection Really Works

Regal's advanced AMD algorithm uses multiple factors to determine if a human answers your call. Learn more about the different techniques available.

Outbound Abandon Rate: Why It Matters & 5 Strategies Master It

Explore 5 actionable strategies to keep your outbound abandon rate low, optimize your dialer efficiency, and maintain customer trust.

Pros and Cons of a Progressive Dialer

Progressive dialers achieve more reach and agent efficiency, but there are compliance and customer experience implications.

Key Metrics for Optimizing Branded Caller ID Performance

The effectiveness of your Branded Caller ID strategy should be evaluated based on business impact using these 5 metrics.

What Are the Best Use Cases for Branded Caller ID

Branded Caller ID is a great tool to increase call answer rates. Find out the best use cases for Branded Caller ID, and learn when it's not the right solution.

Regal Journey Builder Now Available for 8x8 Customers

Regal and 8x8 launch a joint offering, through the 8x8 Technology Partner Ecosystem, making Regal the only Journey Builder provider for 8x8’s outbound contact center customers.

Identity Resolution: Why It Matters for Outbound Contact Centers

Identity Resolution is necessary to build a 360-degree view of your customer and power personalization. Learn how Identity Resolution works and why it matters for outbound contact centers.

June 2024 Releases

4 Essential SMS Campaigns for Home Insurance Companies

The fastest growing Home Insurance brands are using SMS in intelligent ways to drive higher customer engagement and more revenue. Get started with these 4 essential campaigns.

Insurtech Insights: How Regal Drives Revenue Across the Policy Lifecycle

Our Co-Founder & CTO, Rebecca Greene, delivered a presentation at the recent Insurtech Insights NYC 2024 event about how insurance brands can meet the moment of global uncertainty and rebuild trust by turning untapped customer data into personalized, revenue driving conversations across the Policyholder lifecycle.

May 2024 Releases

April 2024 Releases

Previewing Custom Objects

With Custom Objects, brands will be empowered to tailor their customer data models within Regal and provide a single pane of glass for agents – leading to better customer conversations.

Introducing REGAL AI

Improve agent efficiency and win more customers with REGAL AI.

Introducing Regal Live

Monitor intraday call center metrics in real-time to adjust staffing, campaigns or coaching on the spot.

Introducing Regal IVR

Regal’s IVR leverages unified customer profiles to personalize inbound caller experience – delivering better customer experiences and business outcomes.

Introducing Progressive Dialer

Regal’s powerful progressive dialer multiplies your reach and maximizes agents’ time for personalized conversations.

March 2024 Releases

Transforming the Patient Journey: From Reactive to Proactive Care

Regal helps Healthcare brands deliver proactive care, better patient outcomes, and improve provider efficiency by personalizing patient outreach and increasing patient engagement.

5 Essential SMS Campaigns for Home Services Companies

Use these 5 essential SMS campaigns for home services drive higher customer engagement and more revenue for your business.

Beyond CCaaS: How to turn your Contact Center into a Revenue Center

Why are so many contact centers stuck being cost centers? Why do they keep looking for cost reductions instead of revenue increases? Bad data and technology decisions are at the core of this issue. We need "marketing automation" (aka unified customer profiles, event-driven systems and a/b testing) like Regal.io in the contact center to empower teams to start looking for incremental revenue instead.

February 2024 Releases

6 Use Cases for REGAL AI Call Summaries

Discover 6 ways customers are using REGAL AI Call Summaries to drive better business outcomes.

The Next Step Forward in AI will come from Consumer Businesses

Consumer businesses are implementing AI-enabled customer experiences without any change in behavior on the part of consumers, which is leading AI to become common with more speed than past transitions like the internet and the smartphone. And it means that the next step in AI will not come from the LLM providers. The next big step forward in AI rests in the hands of consumer businesses.

Beyond CCaaS: From Customer Data Dips to Customer Data-Driven

Modernizing your Contact Center to drive personalization and more revenue requires a new tech stack you won't get with legacy CCaaS.

Innovating on Patient Care | B2C Sales Podcast Episode 7

Explore Eric Hauser's remarkable career journey from GovTech to healthcare disruption at Cadence, highlighting the transformative power of innovation, collaboration, with a special focus on the pivotal role of Regal in driving patient engagement and outcomes.

The Future of Conversation AI | B2C Sales Podcast Episode 6

Discover the transformative power of AI in conversations and how Regal's cutting-edge technology is reshaping call analysis and optimization for enhanced customer experiences with Balto's Marc Bernstein on our B2C Sales Podcast.

How SoFi, Perry Health & Allstate Personalize CX at Scale

Discover how Regal.io's AI-powered personalized outreach solutions are revolutionizing outbound sales and customer experience across industries like healthcare, finance, and insurance in our latest eBook, "Modernizing Outbound Contact Centers: How to Treat Millions of Customers like One in a Million."

January 2024 Releases

Introducing Custom Tasks: Sometimes Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Use custom tasks to orchestrate Agent actions beyond just customer conversations.

2023 Year In Review

We look back at major product releases in 2023.

November 2023 Releases

Treat your customers like royalty

Ready to see Regal in action?
Book a personalized demo.

Thank you! Click here if you are not redirected.

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.