Selling a product to a new customer is great, but retaining the clients is what will grow your business.
And instead of wild guessing which retention tactics work, you should use the customer retention system to guide you through the process.
Customer retention software collects the main insights about customers’ pain points, so you can take action to address them. The software tracks user data and satisfaction metrics. It also lets you discover what tactics work well to provide a great shopping experience and make first-time buyers want to come back.
Fortunately, the market is full of retention systems—
And in this article, we’ll review the best ones out there:
| Platform | Rating | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | 4.7/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | AI tools |
| Zendesk | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | Free trial | Self-service options |
| HubSpot | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | CRM software |
| Freshdesk | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Ticketing system |
| OpenLoyalty | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | Loyalty programs |
| Yotpo | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | Referral program |
| Qualaroo | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Feedback system |
| Survey Monkey | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | Surveys |
| ProfitWell | 4.9/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | Subscription management |
| Kissmetrics | 4.1/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | Analytics dashboards |
| Custify | 4.8/5⭐️ | ❌ | Customization |
Let’s get straight into it—what is the best churn software?
Top 10 customer retention software
In recent years, the market for retention technology has grown exponentially. This is because demand increased after the boom of 222% in acquisition costs in the last eight years. The retention software tools listed below address all the main issues that cause high churn rates (one of the most critical SaaS metrics) in ecommerce and SaaS businesses.
Here are detailed reviews of the top 10 solutions to decrease your customer churn:
1. Tidio
Ratings: 4.7/5 ⭐️ (1,530+ reviews)
Tidio is an effective customer retention tool that can significantly improve user experience with your brand. This software offers a proactive live chat, conversational AI, and a helpdesk ticketing system. You can proactively communicate with customers, reach out to new visitors, and catch the ones who are about to leave your website in real-time. Tidio also provides chat surveys to collect customer feedback and analytics to keep track of your results effectively.
Main features:
- Custom notifications
- Lyro, AI and NLP chatbot
- Website visitor tracking tools
- Customer segmentation tools
- Shared inbox tools for all client communication
- 7-day free trial available
- Free version available
- Starter ($29/mo)
- Growth (starts at $59/mo)
- Plus (starts at $749/mo)
- Premium (starts at $2999/mo)
Save time with the best customer retention software
Read more: Discover how Lyro works and how it can help your business. Learn how eye-oo increased revenue by $177K after installing Tidio.
2. Zendesk
Ratings: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (5,860+reviews)
Zendesk is a sales CRM that can help you execute your customer retention strategies and close more deals. It manages every interaction your clients and potential customers have with your business. This customer retention platform can store data and analyze it for you to get a clear view of your results. It can also help you customize marketing campaigns by providing a better understanding of your users’ behavior.
Pros:
- Robust reporting features
- Self-service options (chatbots, knowledge base, and FAQs)
- Intuitive interface and dashboards
Cons:
- Some reviewers had technical challenges with data migration
- The system can be overwhelming for new users
- Free 14-day trial available
- Suite Team ($69/agent/month)
- Suite Growth ($115/agent/month)
- Suite Professional ($149/agent/month)
- Suite Enterprise → contact sales team
Read more: Check out the top Zendesk alternatives and choose the right one for your business.
3. HubSpot
Ratings: 4.4/5 ⭐️(2,340+ reviews)
The HubSpot Service Hub is a customer retention software that enhances front-end customer interactions. Its automated ticketing system prioritizes service issues, enabling agents to address critical concerns promptly. This platform centralizes communication by integrating multiple channels, including email, live chat, AI chatbots, and social media, into a unified team inbox.
Pros:
- Variety of email marketing templates
- Canned responses
- Customizable knowledge base and FAQs
Cons:
- It can be challenging to set up
- Only basic analytics and reporting available
- Free plan available
- Service Hub Professional (starts at $90/mo/seat)
- Service Hub Enterprise (starts at $150/mo/seat)
- Professional Customer Platform (starts at $1,143/mo)
- Enterprise Customer Platform (starts at $4,200/mo)
Read more: Compare the best HubSpot alternatives available on the market today.
4. Freshdesk
Ratings: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (3,130+ reviews)
Freshdesk offers comprehensive customer retention services including an intuitive, cloud-based help desk solution. This user-friendly platform enhances customer loyalty by streamlining helpdesk management through intelligent automations, ticket escalation and consolidation, and customizable alerts. It empowers support teams to efficiently view, assign, and combine incoming customer inquiries. This ultimately boosts operational efficiency and workflow optimization to improve customer satisfaction and reduce churn.
Pros:
- Automated ticket assignments
- Custom notifications
- Agent activity logs and analytics
Cons:
- Users say the reports frequently don’t synchronize
- Slow customer support
- Free version available
- Growth ($18/agent/month)
- Pro ($59/agent/month)
- Enterprise ($95//agent/month)
Read more: Learn the top Freshdesk alternatives with pros, cons, and pricing compared.
5. OpenLoyalty
Ratings: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (7+ reviews)
OpenLoyalty is a client retention software you can use to deliver personalized loyalty experiences. It lets you create loyalty programs based on points, tiers, and rewards according to your own rules. Moreover, the product has a referral tool and its own CRM to profile customers. And OpenLoyalty has a digital wallet functionality that lets customers mix payment with loyalty rewards at checkout.
Pros:
- Ease of use and great documentation
- Quick and helpful customer support
- Various customization options
Cons:
- Limited reporting functionality via the admin console or API
- Some users report problems attributed to the language barrier and different time zones
- Contact sales team for pricing and demo
Read more: Check out some discount code ideas you can use to offer your loyal customers a reduced price for their favorite products.
Encourage customers to shop again with incentives sent post-purchase
6. Yotpo
Ratings: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (230+ reviews)
Yotpo is a powerful ecommerce customer retention management system that specializes in loyalty, rewards, and referral programs. This platform is designed to attract and retain shoppers through customizable incentive systems. It allows businesses to create personalized rewards for customers who engage in actions that benefit the company. The software provides pre-built campaign templates and offers a wide range of incentive options, including points, products, samples, discount codes, and store credit.
Pros:
- Analytics and metrics available
- Smart filters for reviews
- Mobile-friendly
Cons:
- Limited customization of the system
- Some reviewers say that reviews sometimes don’t display as Google rich snippets
- Starter (starts at $24/month)
- Pro (starts at $169/month)
- Premium → contact sales team
Read more: Learn all you need to know about ratings and reviews including benefits and how to make the most out of user feedback.
7. Qualaroo
Ratings: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (45+ reviews)
Qualaroo is an all-in-one feedback software with feature-rich and customizable template. It’s AI powered so that you can target the right customer at the right time, e.g., about pricing when someone is looking at the pricing page. This is one of the best customer retention solutions that lets you find out what people think about your website and get more detailed product insights. You can also run exit surveys and get feedback about customer experience on all available channels.
Pros:
- Easy-to-use platform
- Built-in AI-based analytical tool
- Various survey templates
Cons:
- Not possible to export reports in bulk from multiple surveys at once
- No feature to embed surveys directly into the mail body
- Free plan available
- Business ($79.99/100 responses/month)
Read more: Learn about chat surveys with tips and best practices.
8. Survey Monkey
Ratings: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (22,830+ reviews)
SurveyMonkey’s customer loyalty and retention software excels in gathering multichannel customer feedback and generating actionable insights. This solution is crucial for businesses aiming to identify pain points, boost retention rates, and improve conversion. The platform’s intuitive analysis features provide real-time metrics and produce filtered summaries using advanced logic. By leveraging these capabilities, businesses can make data-driven decisions to enhance client satisfaction and loyalty.
Pros:
- Variety of integrations
- Customer segmentation features
- Automation tools available
Cons:
- Reviewers report occasional crashes and server issues
- First-time users will need time to get used to the tool
- Team Advantage ($30/user/month)
- Advantage Annual ($38/month)
- Standard Monthly ($40/month)
- Premier Annual ($75/month)
- Team Premier ($79/user/month)
- Enterprise → contact sales team
Read more: Learn how to create customer satisfaction surveys with samples and templates.
9. ProfitWell by Paddle
Ratings: 4.9/5 ⭐️ (120+ reviews)
ProfitWell is a customer retention program that can automatically recover declined payments. It uses algorithms to leverage customer data points collected from all the companies that they serve to push recovery rates up. This software captures metadata from your existing customers to retry payments tactically. It can also design custom churn reduction strategies to win back your customers more effectively.
Pros:
- Accurate, clean interface
- Subscription revenue analytics dashboard
- Easily connected to Stripe account and add users
Cons:
- Slow response time from the customer support team
- Mostly useful for companies using Stripe heavily
- Pay-as-you-go (5% + 50¢/checkout transaction)
- Custom pricing → contact sales team
Read more: Learn how to increase revenue using sales chatbots.
10. Kissmetrics
Ratings: 4.1/5 ⭐️ (160+ reviews)
A user behavior tracking tool, like KissMetrics, is great for gathering insights on the customer journey. This customer retention technology interprets the data to help you understand how to create a better website experience. It helps you discover what troubles people encounter on your site and fix the interface to create a more user-friendly experience. You can also compare pages with a long average time spent with those with high bounce rates, to see what’s making people leave.
Pros:
- Easy to set up dashboards
- AB tests over web-based products available
- Robust analytics data
Cons:
- Some reviewers say that the pricing structure listed on the website is misleading
- Installation can be difficult, so people require training to be able to use the platform
- Silver ($299/mo)
- Gold ($499/mo)
- Platinum → contact sales team
10. Custify
Ratings: 4.8/5 ⭐️ (500+ reviews)
Custify is a top customer success platform designed to help SaaS businesses reduce churn and maximize customer retention. It provides powerful tools like automated health scoring, task automation, and customer lifecycle tracking to help CS teams proactively address churn risks and foster long-term relationships. With its user-friendly dashboards and detailed analytics, Custify ensures you’re always one step ahead in understanding your customers’ needs and delivering value.
Pros:
- Intuitive interface with easy onboarding
- Highly customizable health scoring and reporting features
- Excellent customer support and resources
Cons:
- Best suited for SaaS companies; may be an overkill for smaller businesses
- Pricing details available only upon request
- Custom pricing with special options for startups → contact sales team for details
Read more: Learn all about chatbot analytics and which metrics you should track.
Business benefits of customer retention platforms for your business
The majority of customers would not think twice about abandoning your brand after a bad experience. But we don’t really need research to know it’s true—
Haven’t we all ditched a shopping cart just because the business took too long to reply to a question about the product? Or switched to a competitor because of the rep’s attitude?
Let’s look at some more data about what convinces first-time buyers to become repeat customers and what makes them churn.
According to a Salesforce report, companies that implement CRM see a 27% boost in retention.
If you’re wondering how come, listen to this—
- As many as 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them
- Up to 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging
- Personal experiences have more of an impact on 65% of American customers than advertising
- Over 71% of customers want to use messaging apps because they value fast and easy resolution of their issues and what frustrates them most is having to repeat themselves
So, fast responses to support tickets and follow-ups after the purchase are important to buyers, but that’s not all. As many as 85% of customers who connect emotionally with a brand will continue to do business with that company.
The bottom line is—don’t treat customers like strangers.
Create a customer loyalty program based on the data you have about your customer base. According to the Bond Brand Loyalty Report, 80% of consumers are more likely to stay with a brand that has a reward program. Not to mention additional benefits, like better average order value and higher referrals.
Read more: Discover the main customer service metrics you should track in your business including net promoter score (NPS), customer lifetime value, and customer retention rate.
Since you know the research-based benefits, let’s have a look at what you should keep an eye out for when choosing your system.
How to choose the right customer retention management software for your business
Selecting the ideal customer retention apps for your business is a critical decision that can significantly impact your client relationships and long-term success. With numerous options available on the market, it’s essential to focus on key features that align with your specific needs and goals.
Here are the crucial factors to consider when evaluating CRM for customer retention services:
Automations
Automated customer retention capabilities and AI should be a top priority. That’s because this technology can significantly streamline your customer retention efforts, saving time and resources while improving consistency and effectiveness of your teams. The automation tools help you set up triggered responses based on customer behaviors or milestones and enable task automation for your team to ensure timely responses to customer inquiries.
These features include email marketing automation, bots, and in-app onboarding guides that increase the number of satisfied customers which then boosts repeat purchases. By leveraging AI features, you can maintain consistent communication with your clients at scale, identify and address potential churn risks, and foster stronger relationships.
Customization
Customization is a crucial feature to look for when selecting customer retention platform, as it allows you to tailor the system to your unique business needs and customer base. So, look for software that offers flexible loyalty program options and the ability to customize customer segmentation. This will help you create targeted campaigns based on purchase history, customer engagement level, or demographic data.
Moreover, a customizable interface and reporting dashboard ensure that you can focus on the metrics most relevant to your business goals. With robust customization options, you can create a more personalized experience for your customers, which can increase brand loyalty, and retention rates in the long run.
Analytics and reports
When selecting a retention management system, robust analytics and reporting capabilities are essential features to prioritize. These tools provide invaluable insights into your customer base, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that can significantly improve your retention strategies.
Look for software that offers comprehensive data collection across various touchpoints, enabling you to track customer interactions, purchase patterns, and engagement levels. Real-time reporting features are crucial for staying agile and responsive to emerging trends or customer issues. By leveraging these analytical tools, you can continuously refine your retention strategies and allocate resources more effectively.
Customer retention software: key takeaway
As a recap—
The purpose of retention systems is to manage the flow of customers out of your business and encourage them to stay with you. Customer relationship management is a must-have tool that manages all client interactions and can help you improve customer satisfaction. You can benefit from customer retention platforms that capture and analyze users’ feedback about your products and services
Top customer retention management software include:
- Tidio
- Zendesk
- HubSpot
- Freshdesk
- OpenLoyalty
- Yotpo
- Qualaroo
- Survey Monkey
- ProfitWell by Paddle
- Kissmetrics
As loyal clients are easier to retain, our prediction is that mixing payments with rewards programs will become a trend in loyalty programs in the upcoming years. And you can easily entice shoppers with coupon codes distributed by chatbots straight on your website.
Why not try them out today?
Boost customer retention using chatbots
