Customer retention management software

It’s hard work closing that first sale with a prospect, but it’s all worth it when you know it could be the start of many more purchases to come. That said, 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 client breakups become few and far between. In this guide, we detail some customer retention solutions you can use to reduce churn and build a thriving customer base.

More in this guide:

• What is customer retention management software?
• The 12 best customer retention management software
• Types of customer retention software
• Benefits of customer retention tools
• How to choose the right customer retention platform
• Frequently asked questions
• Retain your customers better with Zendesk

Customer retention management 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.

Below, we highlight some popular customer retention software providers so you can select the best one for your needs.

• Zendesk: Best for advanced CX management
• Whatfix: Best for user onboarding
• Hotjar: Best for behavior analysis
• ClickUp: Best for project management
• Paddle Profitwell: Best for subscription optimization
• HubSpot CRM Suite: Best for marketing
• Keap: Best for small business CRM
• ActiveCampaign: Best for email and marketing automation
• Mixpanel: Best for product analytics
• Open Loyalty: Best for loyalty programs
• ProProfs Qualaroo: Best for user feedback?
• Kissmetrics: Best for event analytics

1. Zendesk

Best for: Advanced CX management

Zendesk is an AI-powered customer experience software that can help you connect with your customers and build long-term relationships.

Zendesk AI is built on over 18 billion real customer service interactions, so you can understand your customers and unlock the power of personalized support from day one. Zendesk AI agents are advanced bots that can deliver 24/7 support, handle even the most complex customer interactions from start to finish, and provide human agents with a holistic view of your customers. This helps you delight them at every turn with fast, personalized interactions—while helping you boost customer retention.

Zendesk QA harnesses AI to help you control conversation quality and enhance your CX. AutoQA features can help you review 100 percent of customer interactions, giving you unprecedented insights into agent performance to ensure your customers are satisfied. It can also help you spot churn risk and outliers so you can step in and repair customer relationships before they jump ship.

Our AI is also intertwined with the omnichannel Agent Workspace, helping your team support customers across channels from one unified interface. And with over 1,700+ 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.

Pricing: Plans start at $55 per agent/month. A 14-day free trial is available.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

2. Whatfix

Best for: User onboarding

Whatfix is a digital adoption platform that helps customers onboard and understand software products. It has three main areas of focus: a digital adoption platform (DAP) that prioritizes user support, a mirror mode that lets users use the product in a sandbox environment, and analytics that give businesses usage data and actionable insights.

The platform’s customer segmentation features allow businesses to categorize their customer base, using parameters like behavior, preferences, and demographics to tailor their product strategies to specific groups. Whatfix’s dashboard provides a centralized interface for visualizing product metrics and offers 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.

Pricing: Contact Whatfix.

3. Hotjar

Best for: Behavior analysis

Hotjar is a website heatmap and analytics tool that helps businesses analyze 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.

Teams can watch and record user sessions in real time to identify bottlenecks in their website design or customer experience. 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.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $32/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

4. ClickUp

Best for: Project management

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

The product’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 team-wide collaboration and ideation for customer retention, providing resources for brainstorming, project management, and visualizing workflows.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $7 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

Learn more: Discover how ClickUp integrates with Zendesk.

5. Paddle Profitwell

Best for: Subscription optimization

Paddle Profitwell offers customer retention tools for SaaS and subscription-based businesses. It uses predictive analytics to help companies identify potential churn risks, allowing them to implement targeted retention strategies.

Automated cancellation flows give personalized offers and discounts to users trying to cancel their accounts and collect information about why they are leaving. Industry benchmark comparisons give businesses information on their performance against industry standards, allowing them to see how they stack up against competitors. Also, the software's retention audits feature assesses current retention strategies and offers recommendations for improvement.

Pricing: Plans start at 5% + $0.50 per checkout transaction.

6. HubSpot CRM Suite

Best for: Marketing

HubSpot CRM Suite is a customer platform that can help businesses understand, engage, and retain customers. The software has six areas of focus: marketing, sales, service, content, operations, and commerce.

Marketing capabilities allow teams to generate leads, run social media campaigns, engage in SMS marketing, and optimize ads. The customer journey analytics feature provides a view of the customer experience, from initial interactions to ongoing engagement. Businesses can set up automated workflows triggered by specific customer behaviors or milestones that provide proactive responses to potential churn indicators.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $15 per seat/month. A free plan is available.

Learn more: Discover how HubSpot integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. HubSpot compare.

7. Keap

Best for: Small business CRM

Keap is a small business CRM and automation builder that offers customer retention capabilities. Teams can use the drag-and-drop automation editor to establish custom customer retention actions, like sending a personalized email to a customer one day after attending a webinar.

Lead scoring allows teams to prioritize prospects who are more likely to buy, while lead capture helps businesses with landing pages and sending personalized follow-ups. Reporting and analytics capabilities allow businesses to track marketing effectiveness and modify campaigns where appropriate. Keap’s subscription management feature can help small businesses handle customer preferences, billing information, and subscription renewals.

Pricing: Plans start at $224 per month for two users, billed annually.

8. ActiveCampaign

Best for: Email and marketing automation

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

The customer retention system 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.

Pricing: Plans start at $15 per month.

Learn more: Discover how ActiveCampaign integrates with Zendesk.

9. Mixpanel

Best for: Product analytics

Mixpanel is a product analytics software that helps teams get business data across mobile and web applications. 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, identifying potential customer churn indicators.

Behavioral analysis 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 monitor and address drop-off points in the conversion process.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $24 per month. A free plan is available.

10. Open Loyalty

Best for: Loyalty programs

Open Loyalty is a customer retention management software that helps teams develop loyalty programs. It allows teams to tailor programs to specific customer segments. Gamification campaigns help incentivize and reward customer engagement, encouraging customers to interact with the company to earn points and unlock exclusive rewards.

Trigger-condition-effect logic allows teams to create automated rewards systems—for example, giving customers 100 points when they purchase $100 or more. Additionally, including customer satisfaction surveys provides businesses with direct customer feedback on the effectiveness of their loyalty programs.

Pricing: Contact Open Loyalty.

11. ProProfs Qualaroo

Best for: User feedback

ProProfs by Qualaroo is a user research and customer feedback tool that gives business insights into customer sentiment. With it, teams can send website and app visitors surveys and gather real-time feedback.

Businesses can customize survey templates about the quality of their website, content, product, and overall customer experience. AI analysis can give summaries of customer feedback and identify areas of improvement. Qualaroo has CSAT surveys, offering businesses standardized metrics to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Furthermore, A/B testing enables businesses to experiment with different survey designs and formats to increase response rates and gather actionable insights.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $19.99 per 100 responses/month, billed annually. A free plan is available for up to 50 total responses.

Learn more: Discover how ProProfs integrates with Zendesk.

12. Kissmetrics

Best for: Event analytics

Kissmetrics is an event analytics platform that tracks consumer behavior across the web and mobile. It has a funnel visualization feature so businesses can see how customers act along the buying journey, allowing them to identify drop-off points and areas for improvement in the customer experience.

The multichannel attribution tool helps users track customer touchpoints across various channels, providing insights into customer acquisition and retention channels. A/B testing helps teams test different customer messaging, while businesses can sort important KPIs by top customers, acquisition sources, and features.

Pricing: Plans start at $299 per month.

Customer retention software can address different aspects of customer retention initiatives. Here are a few common types of 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 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 and related tools, like customer success software, manage and streamline customer interactions across channels, including email, phone, and chat. The software’s 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 can include platform-specific features like social media customer service software and helps manage customer interactions. 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. These tools can pair with related products like customer churn prediction software.

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

Customer loyalty software

Customer loyalty software helps businesses create 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.

Businesses can experience several benefits of customer retention tools, including:

• Boosted customer satisfaction: Customer retention software enables your team to respond promptly to concerns. Customer satisfaction can significantly increase when businesses meet customer expectations and adapt based on customer feedback.
• Strengthened customer engagement: With the right software, businesses can personalize customer engagement, leading to lasting relationships. Features such as curated self-service resources, automated communication, and personalization can help businesses connect with their customers.
• Enhanced data collection: Retention tools 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.
• Improved customer onboarding: Customer retention software transforms customer onboarding from a one-size-fits-all process to a dynamic and personalized introduction to your offering. This can foster positive initial interactions and set the stage for long-term retention.
• Increased customer revenue: A higher rate of customer loyalty can increase revenue. With the right software, you can identify high-value customers through data-driven insights and analytics, understand their purchasing behavior, and tailor strategies to maximize their lifetime value.

Your business has unique needs, so finding the right software is important. Consider a few key factors in your selection process, such as:

• Prioritize scalability for company growth: 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.
• Decide how you want to analyze consumer behavior: Some solutions, like Zendesk, focus on customer support and the entire customer experience, while specialized platforms may focus on only one aspect of consumer behavior. Decide if you want to focus on the entire CX or a more limited view of customer activity.
• Identify the features that matter most: When selecting the right partner, identify the areas of your business that could benefit most from improvement. For example, if your lengthy first reply time is affecting customer churn, you would want to prioritize CX features that help you provide faster service.
• 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.

If you’re mindful of the above, you’ll be better equipped to choose the right software.