Customer retention software

It’s hard work closing that first sale with a prospect, but it’s all worth it when you know that first sale can be the start of many more purchases to come. And while turning a prospect into a customer is certainly a success, customer retention isn’t a sure thing. Like any relationship, you must nurture it to keep your customers coming back.

Customer retention software can help your team manage and improve your strategies so those client breakups become few and far between. Discover the market’s top tools and vendors that are helping businesses cut down on customer churn and, in turn, grow customer bases.

More in this guide:

• What is customer retention software?
• Types of customer retention tools
• The 12 best customer retention software
• Features of customer retention tools
• Benefits of customer retention management software
• How to choose the right customer retention platform
• Frequently asked questions
• Prevent churn with a free trial of customer retention software

Customer retention software refers to a broad category of software that provides tools to help businesses reduce customer churn by enhancing customer satisfaction and building loyalty.

Customer retention tools can help sales, marketing, and customer service departments achieve their goals of engaging with and retaining current customers. Retention software and tools enable these teams to personalize customer service experiences and build targeted strategies that promote long-term relationships.

Customer retention software can address different aspects of customer retention initiatives. Businesses often combine these tools to create a comprehensive customer retention strategy. Here are a few common types of customer retention systems.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software

CRM software manages and organizes customer data, purchase histories, and sales pipelines. Both sales and customer service teams can reference the information from their CRM software to inform customer interactions and provide personalized experiences.

Without a CRM, it can be difficult for sales reps to remember the last time they contacted a specific customer and what they discussed. If they have CRM software, the sales rep can use the recorded call logs and meeting notes to remind themselves of all the details they might have forgotten. This allows the sales rep to avoid overwhelming the customer with outreach and tailor their talking points to what’s most relevant to the customer

Customer support software

Customer support software provides tools to manage and streamline customer interactions across communication channels, including email, phone, and chat. The software’s primary goal is to improve customer relationships and satisfaction, contributing to broader retention efforts.

Customer support software commonly features ticketing systems that organize and track customer requests, knowledge bases that enable customer self-service, and collaboration tools that help teams resolve complex issues. Teams can also leverage analytics to identify trends in customer behavior and agent performance to improve the customer experience.

Marketing automation software

Marketing automation software automates repetitive marketing tasks, lead scoring, and campaign analytics reports. It triggers timely, relevant emails post-purchase and nurtures engagement with content recommendations.

The software can also identify at-risk customers for targeted win-back campaigns. Automation lets you scale personalized offers within customer segments, fostering deeper connections and transforming casual shoppers into lifelong fans.

Customer feedback tools

Customer feedback tools administer surveys, gather insights, and analyze sentiment. These tools help businesses identify areas for improvement, address pain points before customers churn, and personalize experiences that resonate deeply.

When customer feedback tools live within a unified system, evaluating responses and comparing results against historical data is easy. Understanding and responding to customer sentiments builds trust and positions the company to make informed decisions.

Customer loyalty software

Customer loyalty software creates loyalty programs and tracks rewards to incentivize repeat business. This software collects valuable data on customer behavior, helping businesses understand consumer buying patterns and predict future needs.

Loyalty programs might use point systems that translate to discounts or gamify the shopping experience to encourage more purchases. They can foster community and belonging, making your customers feel valued and appreciated.

Behavior analytics tools

Behavior analytics tools monitor consumer behavior on websites and applications for insights into customer engagement. These tools can track and analyze website visits, clicks, and in-app interactions to uncover buying patterns and trends.

By delving into the nuances of user engagement, businesses can identify key touchpoints, recognize areas of interest, and detect potential friction points in the customer journey. Behavior analytics tools enable the creation of targeted retention strategies by offering a deep understanding of customer preferences and predicting future actions.

Here are 12 of the best customer retention software providers that offer a range of tools businesses can use to engage their customers.

1. Zendesk

Zendesk is a customer experience software and a powerful solution for improving customer retention. Our omnichannel agent workspace enables your business to support your customers over the channels most convenient for them. And with over 1,500 apps and integrations, your team can connect our service solution with your wider business ecosystem. This gives agents access to key customer context no matter the channel to personalize interactions and drive upsells and cross-sells.

Zendesk AI is trained on billions of real customer interactions, so it’s ready to go from day one. Our AI-powered bots can support customers 24/7, so they’re not left waiting until the next business day for help. AI can also provide agents with valuable customer insights by detecting customer sentiment and intent, so agents know what customers want and how they’re feeling ahead of time.

After resolving customer queries, your team can gather valuable feedback through automated customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys to better pinpoint areas of improvement. You can use our customizable dashboards to track and analyze your entire customer experience in real time.

Features:

• Omnichannel capabilities
• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• AI and automation
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• 1,500+ integrations
• Industry benchmark reports
• Intelligent triage
• Ticketing system
• Dashboard sharing

Pricing:

• Suite Team: $55 per agent/month
• Suite Growth: $89 per agent/month
• Suite Professional: $115 per agent/month
• Suite Enterprise: Talk to sales
• Suite Enterprise Plus: Talk to sales
  *Plans are billed annually.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

Free trial:

14 days

Take 30 seconds to start a Zendesk free trial or request a Zendesk demo.

2. Whatfix

Whatfix offers a product analytics platform with behavior analytics tools that can help with customer retention. Customer segmentation allows businesses to categorize their customer base, using parameters like behavior, preferences, and demographics to tailor their product strategies to specific groups.

Plus, Whatfix’s dashboard provides a centralized interface for visualizing product metrics. Dashboards offer a snapshot of user engagement, feature adoption, and other key performance indicators (KPIs). And with user journey tracking, businesses get a detailed view of how users navigate the product.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• AI and automation
• Custom dashboard
• User journey tracking

Pricing:

• Product Analytics Standard: Contact Whatfix
• Product Analytics Premium: Contact Whatfix

Free trial:

Available

3. Hotjar

Hotjar's customer retention software helps businesses track user behavior. Its heatmap functionality visually represents user interactions on websites and applications, showing where users click, scroll, and engage most. This allows businesses to identify popular or problematic areas within their digital assets, informing decisions on design improvements, content placement, and overall user interface optimization.

By subscribing to any Observe plan, users can access the basic tools of Hotjar’s Ask and Engage plans. Businesses can gather targeted feedback and leverage AI to assist in survey creation and distribution. Additionally, Hotjar provides customer sentiment analysis tools that can detect emotions and attitudes expressed in user feedback.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• AI and automation
• Heatmaps
• Customer sentiment analysis

Pricing:

• Observe Basic: $0 per month (35 daily sessions)
• Observe Plus: $32 per month (100 daily sessions)
• Observe Business: Starts at $80 per month (500 daily sessions)
• Observe Scale: Starts at $171 per month (500 daily sessions)
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

Unavailable

4. ClickUp

ClickUp features analytics and collaboration tools for customer retention and project management. The platform’s real-time analytics deliver up-to-the-minute insights into customer interactions and engagement. Businesses can monitor customer behaviors, track key performance indicators, and assess the success of retention strategies.

The customer retention software’s Conditional Logic in Forms feature enables businesses to gather targeted customer information, and the forms adapt based on the user’s prior selections. Meanwhile, ClickUp's whiteboard feature can assist with collaboration and ideation for customer retention, providing resources for brainstorming, visualizing workflows, and strategizing.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• Conditional logic forms
• Collaboration whiteboards

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (100MB storage)
• Unlimited: $7 per member/month
• Business: $12 per member/month
• Enterprise: Contact ClickUp
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

Unavailable

5. ProfitWell

ProfitWell by Paddle offers customer retention tools for subscription-based businesses. Using predictive analytics, ProfitWell helps companies identify potential churn risks, allowing them to implement targeted retention strategies.

ProfitWell's customer retention software also provides industry benchmark comparisons, letting businesses assess their performance against industry standards, identify areas for improvement, and set realistic retention goals. Plus, the software's retention audits feature assesses current retention strategies and offers recommendations for improvement.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• Churn risk alerts
• Benchmark comparisons
• Retention audits

Pricing:

• Metrics: $0 per month (no custom reports)
• Retain: Contact ProfitWell
• Enterprise: Contact ProfitWell

Free trial:

Unavailable

6. HubSpot CRM Suite

HubSpot CRM Suite is a customer retention platform that can help businesses understand, engage, and retain customers. The software can track and analyze user behavior and interactions based on custom events.

HubSpot’s customer journey analytics feature provides a view of the customer experience, from initial interactions to ongoing engagement. Furthermore, businesses can set up automated workflows triggered by specific customer behaviors or milestones that provide proactive responses to potential churn indicators.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• AI and automation
• 1,500+ integrations
• Custom behavioral events
• Customer journey analytics

Pricing:

• Free tools: $0 per month
• Starter: $20 per month
• Professional: $1,600 per month
• Enterprise: $5,000 per month
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

Unavailable

7. Keap

Keap offers a customer retention system through its marketing automation platform. Its subscription management feature can help small businesses handle customer preferences, billing information, and subscription renewals.

A/B testing enables small businesses to experiment with customer engagement strategies by testing different content, offers, or communication methods. The information gained through this process can help businesses make data-driven decisions and refine their retention tactics. Automated workflows can trigger based on customer actions to provide targeted communications.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• AI and automation
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• A/B testing
• Subscription management

Pricing:

• Pro: $159 per month (2 users)
• Max: $229 per month (3 users)
• Ultimate: $279 per month (3 users)
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

8. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign's customer retention system has email and marketing automation tools to help businesses build and maintain customer relationships. The platform allows teams to create personalized email campaigns based on customer preferences, behaviors, and interactions.

ActiveCampaign also incorporates predictive sending and generative AI. Predictive sending adjusts the timing of email campaigns by analyzing individual subscriber behaviors and sending emails when they are most likely to get opened. Generative AI allows businesses to automate content creation and personalize messages for customers.

Features:

• Omnichannel capabilities
• Customer segmentation
• AI and automation
• Dynamic email content
• Predictive sending

Pricing:

• Lite: Starts at $29 per month (1 user)
• Plus: Starts at $49 per month (3 users)
• Professional: Starts at $149 per month (5 users)
• Enterprise: Starts at $259 per month (10 users)
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

9. Mixpanel

Mixpanel's product analytics software has multiple tools built for customer retention. Its customer activity alerts allow businesses to stay informed about key user interactions. Organizations can set up real-time notifications based on specific customer behaviors or engagement patterns, enabling proactive responses to potential customer churn indicators.

The behavioral frequency analysis feature tracks how often users interact with a product or service. With this tool, businesses can identify trends, preferences, and potential pain points. Additionally, Mixpanel's user conversion funnels visually represent the customer journey, allowing organizations to identify and address drop-off points in the conversion process.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• AI and automation
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• Behavioral frequency analysis
• Customer activity alerts

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (20M events)
• Growth: $20 per month
• Enterprise: $833 per month

Free trial:

Unavailable

10. Open Loyalty

Open Loyalty's software contributes to customer retention strategies through various loyalty program tools. Its gamification campaigns help incentivize and reward customer engagement, encouraging customers to interact with the company to earn points and unlock exclusive rewards.

The software’s loyalty programs also offer businesses a platform to create and manage customized loyalty initiatives. By tailoring programs to specific customer segments, businesses can encourage repeat purchases. Additionally, the inclusion of customer satisfaction surveys provides businesses with direct customer feedback on the effectiveness of their loyalty programs.

Features:

• Omnichannel capabilities
• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• Loyalty programs
• Gamification campaigns

Pricing:

• Contact Open Loyalty

Free trial:

Unavailable

11. ProProfs Qualaroo

ProProfs Qualaroo's customer feedback software can work with broader customer retention strategies by offering insights into customer sentiment and satisfaction. The software’s AI sentiment analysis, for example, analyzes responses to gauge customer emotions.

Qualaroo has CSAT and Net Promoter ScoreⓇ (NPS) surveys as well, offering businesses standardized metrics to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Survey templates can simplify the feedback-gathering process so users can quickly deploy surveys. Furthermore, A/B testing enables businesses to experiment with different survey designs and formats to increase response rates and gather actionable insights.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Customer satisfaction surveys
• AI and automations
• Sentiment analysis
• A/B testing

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (50 responses)
• Business: $19.99 per 100 responses/month
  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

Unavailable

12. Kissmetrics

Kissmetrics analytics software can contribute to customer retention efforts by tracking customer behavior. It has a funnel visualization feature so businesses can see how customers act along the buying journey, helping businesses identify drop-off points and areas for improvement in the customer experience.

The multichannel attribution tool allows users to track customer touchpoints across various channels, providing insights into the most effective customer acquisition and retention channels. Businesses can allocate resources based on accurate attribution data, ensuring their efforts align with the channels that yield high customer retention.

Features:

• Customer segmentation
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• Funnel visualization
• Multichannel attribution
• Customizable dashboard

Pricing:

• Silver: $199 per month
• Gold: $499 per month
• Platinum: Contact Kissmetrics
• Build Your Plan: Starts at $233.91 per year (10K events)
• Pay As You Go: $0.0025 per event
  *Silver, Gold, and Platinum plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

7 days

The best customer retention software provides tools with various applications to fit into any retention strategy. Here are some key features to prioritize when you shop for your software.

Omnichannel capabilities

Omnichannel capabilities play a crucial role in retention by allowing businesses to engage with customers on their preferred channels. An omnichannel approach also enables businesses to capture and leverage data from multiple channels, providing a holistic view of customer behavior and preferences. With the help of omnichannel retention tools, businesses can design customer retention strategies based on this comprehensive understanding of how customers engage across different channels.

For example, when real estate solutions provider CoreLogic took an omnichannel approach, the company gained a 360-degree view of the customer by consolidating scattered customer profiles and touchpoints across all channels. This empowered CoreLogic to send more personalized and proactive messages, leading to an increase in customer retention.

Customer segmentation

Customer segmentation lets businesses categorize their customer base according to various parameters, such as:

• Demographics
• Purchasing behavior
• Engagement levels

By understanding customer segments, companies can deliver personalized experiences, promotions, and communications that align with the unique needs and preferences of different customer cohorts. This granular approach enables more effective and relevant customer engagement to foster stronger connections and increase the likelihood of customer retention.

Customer satisfaction surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys are valuable tools for businesses to collect direct feedback on products, services, and overall customer experiences. Customizable survey templates and deployment options allow companies to measure satisfaction at various touchpoints in the customer journey. By analyzing survey responses, businesses can identify areas for improvement, address customer pain points, and refine their retention strategies.

AI and automation

Customer retention software equipped with AI and automation tools can reduce agent workloads—automating repetitive tasks such as targeted marketing campaigns, data analysis, and customer support interactions—while improving retention efforts.

AI algorithms analyze vast datasets to identify patterns and recommend tailored strategies to mitigate churn risks. Automation streamlines processes and ensures timely and relevant engagement, creating a seamless and responsive customer experience.

Real-time analytics and reporting

Analytics and reporting tools can offer businesses valuable insights into customer behavior and the performance of retention strategies. These tools provide a comprehensive view of customer experience KPIs, such as:

• Retention rates
• Customer lifetime value
• Engagement metrics

Customizable reports and dashboards enable stakeholders to track the success of retention initiatives in real time. Insights can facilitate data-driven decision-making, highlight the impact of current strategies, and, in turn, help businesses refine and optimize future retention efforts.

Integrations

Pre-built integrations can extend the performance and effectiveness of your customer retention software. Integrations allow you to connect tools easily with your other systems, such as CRM platforms, marketing automation tools, and e-commerce platforms.

For example, Zendesk integrations can streamline data flow, eliminate data silos, and help ensure a cohesive ecosystem where information synchronizes across various touchpoints. By leveraging these integrations, businesses can harness a 360-degree view of the customer, resulting in more informed decision-making and personalized engagement.

Here are some of the primary benefits businesses stand to gain from utilizing customer retention software tools.

Boost customer satisfaction

With the ability to track and analyze customer feedback, customer retention software enables your team to respond promptly to concerns. And when businesses meet customer expectations and adapt based on customer feedback, customer satisfaction can significantly increase.

Strengthen customer engagement

Customer retention software can help businesses personalize customer engagement, leading to lasting relationships. Automated communication and engagement tools ensure timely and relevant customer interactions, while segmentation features provide tailored strategies, delivering content and offers that resonate with specific customer segments.

Enhance data collection

Customer databases, feedback forms, and analytics tools let businesses collect comprehensive data on customer behavior, preferences, and interactions across touchpoints. Customer retention software can build customer profiles with structured data, such as purchase history and demographics, alongside unstructured data from customer feedback and surveys. The result is a holistic and detailed view of the customer journey.

Additionally, automation capabilities streamline the data collection process, ensuring accuracy and timeliness. This rich dataset becomes the foundation for informed decision-making, personalized engagement strategies, and the continuous improvement of customer retention initiatives.

Improve customer onboarding

Customer retention software transforms customer onboarding from a one-size-fits-all process to a dynamic and personalized introduction to your offering, fostering positive initial interactions and setting the stage for long-term retention. By tracking user behavior during onboarding, your business can identify potential hurdles and proactively address issues, ultimately improving the overall onboarding experience.

Another way to improve the onboarding experience is to connect your knowledge base to your customer help center. You can add automated support tools—like Zendesk chatbots—to these self-service options so customers can instantly access the answers and resources they need to resolve issues at any time of day.

Increase company revenue

Customer retention software is a strategic investment in nurturing customer loyalty, which can increase revenue through higher customer retention rates. You can identify high-value customers through data-driven insights and analytics, understand their purchasing behavior, and tailor strategies to maximize their lifetime value.

Additionally, predictive analytics can help businesses mitigate potential churn risks and proactively address issues before they impact revenue. Satisfied and loyal customers are more likely to make additional purchases, refer others, and become brand advocates, contributing to organic growth.

Your business has unique needs, so finding the right customer retention software is important. Use these considerations to inform your selection process.

Prioritize scalability for company growth

Your customer base, data volume, and operational requirements will likely change over time. The retention software you select must accommodate your evolving needs as your business expands without compromising performance. Choosing a scalable customer retention system future-proofs your investment and allows your business to adjust its customer engagement efforts as it grows.

For example, Vimeo has grown significantly since it started using Zendesk in 2013, yet the software has been able to meet Vimeo's changing CX needs and grow alongside the company. The software’s inherent scalability allowed the Vimeo team to build more advanced workflows that incorporated automation and self-service resources to minimize the number of help requests sent to agents. Providing customers with more avenues for support has contributed to a 5 percent increase in Vimeo's average CSAT rating, helping to boost loyalty and retention.

Try before you buy

A free trial allows you to experience customer retention management software firsthand and assess if it’s suitable for your business needs. During a 14-day trial with Zendesk, for instance, you can explore the features, user interface, and functionality in a real-world context. This hands-on experience helps you evaluate the software’s ease of use, customization options, and overall fit within your existing workflows.

Seek out a short time to value

Opting for retention software with a short time to value (TTV) means quicker access to enhanced customer insights, streamlined processes, and improved engagement strategies. A solution with a short TTV means you can start improving customer retention from day one because it doesn't require a team of developers to implement or extensive training to use.

It also enables you to swiftly adapt to changing market dynamics, stay competitive, and immediately leverage the software's capabilities without prolonged implementation timelines. For example, Zendesk offers solutions that work out of the box, so your team can start using them to improve customer retention right away. Other solutions could take months to get up and running, potentially prolonging customer issues.

Push for a low total cost of ownership

Beyond the initial licensing or subscription costs, the total cost of ownership (TCO) factors in implementation, training, maintenance, and potential scalability expenses. By assessing the TCO, you gain insights into the complete financial impact of the retention software over its life cycle.

A thorough evaluation of the TCO allows you to make strategic choices, balancing the benefits of advanced retention capabilities with the financial resources required for successful and sustainable implementation. With a solution like Zendesk, your business won’t need an army of developers to tailor the tools to your needs, resulting in a lower TCO.