The Emotional Infrastructure of Omnichannel Communication: Rethinking Bot-Human Interaction

This article examines interactions between bots and human advisors in the real estate sector in the context of omnichannel communication and theories of human-machine communication. Omnichannel environments require consistency and fluidity across digital and personal channels, making the interplay between automation and human presence particularly important. Based on 12 semi-structured interviews and a content analysis of 300 users, the results show that bots are valued for their immediacy, efficiency, and availability, but their role can best be understood as temporary emotional regulators. While bots reduce initial uncertainty, users consistently relied on human advisors at crucial moments to achieve empathy, personalization, and trust building. Audiovisual resources such as virtual tours and storytelling prove to be affective capital that projects expected future scenarios and influences decisions before signing a contract. Two original contributions are presented: the conceptualization of data disclosure as “emotional currency” and hybrid interaction as socio-technical dramaturgy, in which bots, omnichannel resources, and humans jointly construct narratives of belonging, trust, and legitimacy.