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The market is flooded with numerous customer intelligence tools, so selecting the most suitable one can be challenging. You want a tool that can accurately harvest customer data and extract meaningful insights - and you need to find the right one for your team. As a CX specialist who has spent countless hours researching various customer intelligence software, I bring you this list of the best customer intelligence tools.

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The Best Customer Intelligence Platforms Summary Table

Tools Price
SAS Customer Intelligence 360 Pricing upon request
Funnel $399/month/account
ZyloTech No price details
Coglide From $99 per month for 5000 contacts
Amperity AmpIQ Pricing Upon Request
ActionIQ No price details
Alida Sparq Pricing Upon Request
Dataforce Pricing Upon Request
YouGov Pricing Upon Request
Zeotap Pricing Upon Request
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How to Choose a Customer Intelligence Platform

Choosing the right customer intelligence platform can help deepen your understanding of customer behaviors, boost your team's efficiency, and also drive personalized marketing strategies.

As you're shortlisting, trialing, and selecting customer feedback software consider the following:

  • What problem are you trying to solve - Start by identifying the customer intelligence platform feature gap you're trying to fill to clarify the features and functionality the customer intelligence platform needs to provide.
  • Who will need to use it To evaluate cost and requirements, consider who'll be using the software and how many licenses you'll need. You'll need to evaluate if it'll just be the customer experience team, or the whole organization that will require access. When that's clear, it's worth considering if you're prioritizing ease of use for all, or speed for your customer intelligence platform power users.
  • What other tools it needs to work with Clarify what tools you're replacing, what tools are staying, and the tools you'll need to integrate with, such as accounting, CRM or HR software. You'll need to decide if the tools will need to integrate together, or alternatively, if you can replace multiple tools with one consolidated customer intelligence platform.
  • What outcomes are important - Consider the result that the software needs to deliver to be considered a success. Consider what capability you want to gain, or what you want to improve, and how you will be measuring success. For example, an outcome could be the ability to get greater visibility into performance. You could compare customer intelligence platform features until you’re blue in the face but if you aren’t thinking about the outcomes you want to drive, you could be wasting a lot of valuable time.
  • How it would work within your organization Consider the software selection alongside your workflows and delivery methodology. Evaluate what's working well, and the areas that are causing issues that need to be addressed. Remember every business is different — don’t assume that because a tool is popular that it'll work in your organization.

The Best Customer Intelligence Platforms Reviews

Here’s a brief description of each of the best customer intelligence platforms on my list showing what each does best, plus screenshots to showcase some of the features.

Best for enterprises

  • Free trial available
  • Pricing upon request
Visit Website
Rating: 4.5/5

SAS is an analytics powerhouse with over 40 years of experience in the field of embedded customer analytics and multi-channel marketing intelligence. They are experts in marketing planning and customer journey activation. They currently have customers in over 147 countries and are installed at more than 83,000 business, government, and university sites worldwide.

Features I love include the system’s ability to create an OLAP cube (a data structure in SQL Server Analysis Services) for uber-fast processing of large amounts of data for smart, fast insights. You may need a dedicated IT or dev team to take full advantage of this, which is why I recommend the tool for larger enterprise business users.

SAS has an open API and claims to integrate with your existing tech. However, it does not list specific integrations on its site.Customer support is available via email, phone, and an extensive knowledge base.

SAS doesn’t list pricing on their website, but sources indicate their service can cost from $8,700/year.

They offer a free demo.

Best for ecommerce companies

  • Free trial available
  • $399/month/account
Visit Website
Rating: 4.5/5

Funnel.io curates data from all your top sources like Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Facebook Ads, and Google Ads. It systemizes it using data connectors (freedom from CSV files!) to create valuable customer insights. In other words, Funnel.io helps in centralizing data from multiple sources into one place, with fresh data being pulled from all these sources several times a day. This way, you have the most up-to-date data always at your fingertips, helping you make accurate marketing decisions.

Funnel.io also helps in visualizing your spending data alongside your revenue data, so you can derive key insights on your campaign performance. You can add or remove platforms without breaking your data model and send the data to any connected tool. It also stores raw historical data so you can access and extract insights without starting from scratch. Ultimately you do not have to manually transform the data into insights.

Funnel.io helps you in cleaning, mapping, and swinging it all together in one place. This unifying of data at one place plus an added feature of currency conversion makes it the right fit for ecommerce businesses.

Funnel.io integrates with over 500+ marketing data platforms like Google Analytics, Salesforce, Stripe, MailChimp, Facebook, and other similar apps.

The pricing starts with the essential plan, billed at $399 per month.

You can also request a free demo.

Best for B2B customer intelligence

  • Free Demo

Zylotech is a comparatively newer player in the game but has fast proven its excellence in the field of customer intelligence. It was founded in 2014 and has headquarters in Boston. They have some of the biggest names in the tech space as clients, like Google, Cisco, and Palo Alto Networks.

Zylotech is a specialist in providing customer contact intelligence to customer operations teams. They have features in data governance, account-based marketing enablement (to focus on decision-makers in target accounts that matter most), and AI-driven predictive analytics. It combines trusted data governance with your ideal customer profile (ICP) and then uses AI-driven predictive data analytics based on customer behavior to yield the best-prioritized leads.

Using this combination of features, you will know who to target and when, and also how to target them in a more personalized way.A Stand out feature is its AI-driven predictive analytics that lets you understand the behavior patterns in your contacts list. Based on that, you can identify and select the next best action for a streamlined experience.Taking the right action helps in better customer engagement, more cross-sell/upsell opportunities, and a highly optimized sales pipeline.

Zylotech also gives you the ability to measure these results. Zylotech does not list any integrations on its site.

Zylotech does not list pricing on their site and offers custom pricing available upon request.

You can also request a demo.

Best for buyer persona management

  • Free Trial
  • From $99 per month for 5000 contacts

Coglide helps marketers in building and managing buyer personas in automation so you can run high-performing campaigns. You can connect Coglide with all your apps and sync data to create a 360-degree profile of your customers. The feature I love in this one is how it maps and matches your contacts to buyer personas in automation by using dynamic persona mapping, a process that quickly identifies who your customer is and where they are in the customer journey.

This helps in determining the optimal level of touchpoints for more conversions in the sales funnel. You can use their visual analytics to understand your customer behavior and thus improve customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. You can create super-targeted lists and segment them to boost your campaigns. Their AI recommendation engine helps you understand campaign insights and discover hidden opportunities.

Coglide works out of the box with apps like HubSpot, GSuite, Salesforce, and other similar apps.

Coglide pricing starts from $99 per month for 5000 contacts with an option for a free trial.

Best audience segmentation software

  • Free Demo
  • Pricing Upon Request

With Amperity, you can pull various customer segments and study their predictive customer lifetime value, customer lifecycle, sensitivity to discounts and offers, and affinity to specific products. This way, you can launch specific targeted campaigns that appeal to various audience segments. All the messy data from a variety of sources are unified in clean tables for your marketing and reporting needs.What I especially like about Amperity (and so do a lot of its customers) is its ability to segment high-value tiers.

Basically, you can double-click into analysis and add the context of your high-value tiers. This helps in understanding your high-value tier customer and their behavior to every marketing action you commit. For example, you can measure whether your high-value tier customers were among the first to shop when you started a new seasonal offer. This helps in constantly measuring your engagement and conversion levels specific to high-value tiers or, in general, to any customer type of your choice.

Another special feature is Amperity’s stitch that uses AI to deliver human-level intuition at scale. It helps in finding the hidden connections across all your customer records, be it in point of sale, eCommerce, email, loyalty, mobile or more. This ultimately gives you the ability to build rich customer profiles.

Amperity works seamlessly with all the major marketing, analytics, customer service, and data management systems. It directly integrates with apps like Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Amazon Kinesis, Asana, AWS Cloud Trail, and similar software.Customer support is available via phone, email, and a ticketing system.

Amperity does not list its pricing, and it is available upon a custom request.

You can request a free demo.

Best customer value calculation software

  • Free Demo

Action IQ helps in giving you a 360-degree view of user activity, pushing multi-channel customer behavioral data into your CRM. This helps you in delivering more personalized experiences and engagement to your customers.The feature I like about ActionIQ is its ability to deliver personalized offer timing and segmented offer types to customers based on the calculation of customer value and likelihood to churn.

This way, you can identify at-risk customers and deploy hyper-personalized retention campaigns across email and paid media, thus reducing churn.You can also calculate your audience affinity to specific products and launch targeted campaigns based on their preferences. This ultimately leads to higher conversion rates and more revenue for your business as you are delivering offers the audience is interested in.

ActionIQ integrates with customer data and audience management tools like Adobe Analytics, Facebook Ads, Optimizely, Salesforce, Shopify, and other similar apps.

ActionIQ does not list pricing on its site but gives customized pricing available upon request.

You can also request a free demo.

Best for integrations

  • Pricing Upon Request

Alida helps in creating deep customer insights through using progressive profiling where your database is continuously updated with insights about customer preferences, priorities, and buyer behavior.

Alida Sparq operates with a relationship-based approach where it uses every customer interaction touchpoint to segment and profile the customer. Here customer truths like motivations, preferences, and beliefs are translated into actionable data that help customers make decisions, optimizing the customer journey for sales, and de-risking decision making.

Alida has a huge list of integrations. It integrates out of the box with Adobe Experience Cloud, Salesforce, Marketo, Zendesk, SAP CRM, Tableau, Marketo, Facebook, Twitter, Hubspot, Kronos, Amazon, Campaign Monitor, Qualtrics, Squarespace, Shopify, Zoho CRM, and dozens more.

Alida offers customized pricing based upon request.

You can also book a free demo.

Best for competitive intelligence

  • Pricing Upon Request

Dataforce lets you get the latest juicy intel on your competitors. I am talking about data like new product introductions, product renewal cycles, pricing, social media data, and key customer wins. It collects data of your competitors from thousands of web sources and gives you real-time alerts of updates and changes. You can use this data to identify sales opportunities and win them with the right messaging that is refined with the knowledge of your competitor’s approach.

You can combine this data with Dataforce’s prospecting features such as predictive sales alerts and buyer signals. This helps you in identifying the right sales opportunities at the right time.

Dataforce works with your existing CRMs like HubSpot, Marketo, and Salesforce.

Dataforce does not list pricing on its website, and it is available upon request.

Currently, they do not offer a free trial or demo.

Best self-service research tool

  • Pricing Upon Request

With YouGov, you have a proprietary panel of 15 million people worldwide in 50+ markets. You can leverage and survey this panel to generate thousands of accurate data points on consumer behavior, opinions, and attitudes. You can use this information to shape your market strategies that are up to speed with your current market demands and conditions.A special feature I like about YouGov is its ability to connect the research data and deliver meaningful insights based on 250k variables.

The YouGov profile feature helps you in building rich personas from these variables using the responses of YouGov panelists.You can create depth and detail by accurately linking consumer tastes, perceptions, and habits. You can choose from thousands of variables refreshed every week including brand usage, social media consumption, hobbies, and interests.

Your data sets are stored in a cloud-based data store and updated weekly.With its audience profiling feature, you can reach respondents that reflect your target audience and segments across demographics and attitudes. There is also an ability to get rapid insights with live access to real consumer opinions and the latest industry trends within minutes of you launching your survey.

You can use this to trial and test new product concepts and creatives, getting a real-world opinion rapidly.

Pricing is available upon request. Currently, there is no option for a free demo.

Best identity resolution software

  • Free Demo
  • Pricing Upon Request

With Zeotap, you can onboard your company’s 1st party CRM data with high match rates to uncover customer insights. Zeotap features include customer data unification by merging offline CRM data with online worlds (digital IDs). This helps in customer profiling and an advanced level of segmentation leading to more targeted campaigns.

Zeotap’s privacy-first CDP allows you to customize user journeys while keeping consent as a priority (save yourself from the GDPR police!). Its AI-based predictive analytics use machine learning to proactively help customers make decisions (thus building powerful customer relationships!) and give them an optimized experience, leading them towards a sale.

Zeotap works out of the box with Google Marketing Platform, Salesforce, Adobe, Facebook, and other similar apps where your customer data is stored.

Zeotap does not list pricing but offers a custom quote based on request.

You can also request a free demo.

Other Customer Intelligence Platform

Here’s a few more that didn’t make the top list.

  1. ActiveCampaign

    Best for internet marketers

  2. Know Your Customer

    Best digital KYC compliance software

  3. Plumb5

    Best for auto-segmentation

  4. LiftIQ

    Best for Salesforce users

  5. Gong.io

    Best customer intelligence platform for revenue intelligence

  6. Clootrack

    Best for B2C companies

  7. Adtelligence Customer Intelligence

    Best business intelligence platform for financial institutions

  8. Arbit

    Best for customer interviews

  9. FullStory

    Best for consent management

  10. Glassbeam

    Best for healthcare companies

  11. Leadspace

    Best for SaaS companies

  12. PriceSpider

    Best for customer journey visualization

  13. Customer Happiness Index

    Best predictive analytics software

  14. Upland Localytics

    Best mobile app analytics software

  15. Oracle Unity Customer Data Platform

    Best for unified customer profile

  16. Customer Thermometer

    Best for survey creation

  17. Auryc

    Best session replay software

If you still haven't found what you're looking for here, check out these related customer experience tools that we've tested and evaluated.

Selection Criteria for the Best Customer Intelligence Platforms

Selecting the right customer intelligence platform requires a strategic approach, focusing on functionality and how well it meets the specific use cases critical to enhancing customer journeys. This involves a thorough evaluation of features intrinsic to these platforms, addressing buyers' needs and pain points effectively. It's essential to leverage actionable analytics to optimize customer experiences. Based on my extensive research and hands-on experience with these tools, I've developed a comprehensive set of criteria for evaluating these platforms.

Core customer intelligence platform Functionality: 25% of total weighting score

Common features for customer intelligence platform typically include data integration capabilities, customer segmentation, behavior tracking, predictive analytics, personalized recommendation engines, customer journey mapping, real-time analytics, A/B testing, customer feedback collection, and social media monitoring. To be considered for inclusion on my list of the best customer intelligence platforms, the solution had to support the ability to fulfill common use cases including:

  • Segmenting customers based on behavior and preferences for targeted marketing.
  • Tracking customer interactions across multiple channels to understand their journey.
  • Utilizing predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs and trends.
  • Creating personalized experiences based on collected data to increase engagement.
  • Measuring and analyzing customer feedback to drive continuous improvement.

Additional Standout Features: 25% of total weighting score

  • Innovative data visualization tools that go beyond basic charts and graphs.
  • Advanced AI and machine learning capabilities for deeper insights and predictions.
  • Integration with a wider ecosystem of marketing and sales tools for seamless workflows.
  • Robust privacy and data security features to protect sensitive customer information.
  • Customization options that allow businesses to tailor the platform to their specific needs.

Usability: 10% of total weighting score

  • Intuitive user interface that simplifies complex data analysis for users of all skill levels.
  • Drag-and-drop features for easy report creation and dashboard customization.
  • Clear and concise documentation that helps users understand how to use all features.

Onboarding: 10% of total weighting score

  • Comprehensive training materials, such as videos, templates, and interactive product tours.
  • A streamlined setup process that gets businesses up and running with minimal downtime.
  • Access to customer success teams for personalized onboarding assistance.

Customer Support: 10% of total weighting score

  • 24/7 support availability through multiple channels (phone, chat, email).
  • A responsive support team with a proven track record of solving customer issues promptly.
  • A robust online knowledge base for self-service troubleshooting and learning.

Value For Money: 10% of total weighting score

  • Transparent pricing models that align with the features and value provided.
  • Scalable plans that grow with your business, avoiding unnecessary costs for unused features.
  • A free trial or demo to evaluate the platform's effectiveness before making a financial commitment.

Customer Reviews: 10% of total weighting score

  • High ratings for ease of use and customer support, indicating a positive user experience.
  • Positive feedback on the platform's impact on customer engagement and business growth.
  • Testimonials highlighting specific features that users found valuable in achieving their goals.

Through this comprehensive approach, businesses can select a customer intelligence platform that not only meets their immediate needs but also positions them for sustained success in a competitive marketplace.

This year, the landscape of customer intelligence platforms is marked by rapid evolution, with a focus on leveraging actionable analytics to optimize customer journeys. Here's a summary of key trends and features shaping the future of customer intelligence:

  • Integration with Advanced Analytics and AI: Products are increasingly incorporating advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI to offer deeper insights into customer behavior. This allows for more personalized customer interactions and predictions of future behaviors, optimizing customer journeys.
  • Emotion AI and sentiment analysis: Newer customer intelligence platforms are incorporating advanced emotion AI to analyze customer sentiment beyond just text. This can include analyzing facial expressions in video chats or vocal intonations in phone calls, enabling highly personalized customer interactions.
  • Customer journey simulation: Forward-thinking platforms are offering customer journey simulation tools. These allow businesses to model different scenarios and predict the impact on customer satisfaction, helping to identify and address potential pain points proactively.
  • Focus on explainable AI: While AI plays a bigger role, there's a growing demand for explainable AI within CI platforms. This means the platform should be able to explain the reasoning behind its recommendations, fostering trust and transparency for CX professionals.
  • Decreased emphasis on basic reporting: Basic reporting functionalities like basic customer segmentation are becoming commoditized. Leading CI platforms are moving towards offering more advanced analytics and actionable insights to differentiate themselves.

By embracing these trends, CX specialists and customer service professionals can unlock the full potential of customer intelligence platforms to deliver exceptional customer experiences and foster enduring customer loyalty.

What is a Customer Intelligence Platform?

A customer intelligence platform is a tool that collects customer data from a variety of relevant data sources and combines them into a single platform. It achieves this by using AI to uncover trends and hidden insights in customer behavior and then provides actionable recommendations to inform marketing campaigns, product development, or pricing strategies.

Using a customer intelligence platform ensures that you can understand your customers deeply and deliver personalized experiences by leveraging the analytics, customer segmentation, and data visualization features that these tools provide. As a marketer, you can also use insights from this software to build custom audiences and launch the right customer-centric, data-driven offers at the right time.

Features of Customer Intelligence Platforms

To truly transform customer interactions, you need a customer intelligence platform that unlocks actionable insights. Here, I highlight the most crucial features to look for when searching for a solution that solves your specific needs:

  1. Data Integration and Management: Efficiently consolidates and manages data from various sources. This feature is fundamental because it ensures that all customer interactions and data points are captured and organized, making it easier to analyze customer behavior and preferences.
  2. Customer Segmentation: Allows for the grouping of customers based on specific criteria. By segmenting customers, businesses can tailor their marketing and customer service efforts to meet the unique needs of each group, enhancing personalization and effectiveness.
  3. Predictive Analytics: Employs machine learning algorithms to predict future customer behaviors. Predictive analytics are crucial for anticipating customer needs and preferences, allowing businesses to proactively address potential issues and opportunities.
  4. Customer Journey Mapping: Visualizes the path customers take with a brand. Understanding the customer journey helps businesses identify key touchpoints and moments of truth that influence customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  5. Sentiment Analysis: Analyzes customer feedback to determine the sentiment behind it. This feature is important for gauging overall customer satisfaction and identifying areas for improvement in products, services, or customer interactions.
  6. Real-time Analytics: Provides immediate insights into customer behavior and interactions. Real-time analytics enable businesses to act quickly, adjusting strategies as necessary to address customer needs and market trends.
  7. Churn Prediction: Identifies customers who are at risk of leaving. By predicting churn, businesses can take preemptive action to retain customers, improving customer loyalty and reducing turnover.
  8. Personalization: Tailors experiences to individual customer preferences. Personalization is key to delivering relevant and meaningful experiences that resonate with customers, enhancing satisfaction and engagement.
  9. Voice of the Customer (VoC): Captures and analyzes customer feedback across channels. VoC programs are essential for understanding customer needs, pain points, and satisfaction drivers, allowing businesses to make informed decisions.
  10. Actionable Reporting and Dashboards: Delivers insights through easy-to-understand reports and dashboards. This feature enables businesses to quickly grasp complex data, making it easier to derive actionable insights and make informed decisions.

By integrating these features into their operations, companies don't just stay ahead; they pave the way for a new era of customer engagement where every interaction is an opportunity to delight and retain.

Benefits of Customer Intelligence Platforms

Customer intelligence platforms have become essential tools for businesses aiming to deepen their understanding of customer behaviors, preferences, and trends. By leveraging data analytics, these platforms offer insightful perspectives that help organizations make informed decisions, enhance customer experiences, and drive growth.

Below are five primary benefits that users and organizations can gain from integrating customer intelligence software into their strategies.

  1. Enhanced Personalization: Tailored customer experiences become achievable. Customer intelligence platforms analyze customer data to reveal individual preferences and behaviors, enabling businesses to personalize marketing messages, product recommendations, and services, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  2. Improved Customer Retention: Strategies backed by customer insights. By understanding the customer journey and identifying potential friction points, these platforms help businesses implement proactive measures to improve customer satisfaction, reduce churn rates, and foster long-term relationships.
  3. Data-Driven Decision Making: Informed strategies and actions. Customer intelligence platforms provide comprehensive analytics and insights, allowing businesses to base their strategic decisions on data rather than assumptions. This leads to more effective marketing, product development, and customer service strategies.
  4. Increased Operational Efficiency: Streamlined processes and reduced costs. By automating the collection and analysis of customer data, these platforms free up valuable resources, allowing teams to focus on strategy and innovation rather than manual data handling, thereby reducing operational costs.
  5. Competitive Advantage: Staying ahead in the market. Access to detailed customer insights enables businesses to anticipate market trends, adapt to changing customer needs faster than competitors, and identify new opportunities for growth and innovation.

By leveraging the power of these platforms, organizations can transform data into actionable insights, leading to improved customer experiences, operational efficiencies, and strategic decision-making.

Costs And Pricing For Customer Intelligence Platforms

Customer Intelligence Platforms (CIPs) are sophisticated tools designed to gather, analyze, and interpret data about customers to improve business decisions and enhance customer relationships.

These platforms offer a range of functionalities from basic data collection to advanced predictive analytics, making them invaluable for businesses looking to understand and serve their customers better. For software buyers new to this domain, it's crucial to choose a plan that aligns with their business size, needs, and growth trajectory. Pricing and features can vary widely, making it essential to understand what each plan offers.

Plan TypeAverage PriceCommon Features
Free$0Basic analytics, limited customer data storage, community support, access to standard reports
Basic$500/monthEnhanced analytics, increased data storage, email support, dashboard customization
Professional$1,500/monthFull analytics suite, unlimited data storage, priority email and phone support, API access, integration capabilities
EnterpriseCustomAdvanced predictive analytics, dedicated account manager, custom integrations, personalized training sessions, 24/7 support

When considering a Customer Intelligence Platform, it's crucial to assess not only the immediate needs of your business but also potential future requirements as your company grows. The right platform should not only fit your current budget but also support your strategic goals with scalable features and capabilities.

People Also Ask

Here are a few additional questions—answered—to help you find your way.

What Do You Think About These Customer Intelligence Platforms?

Companies that lead in customer experience management outperform those that lag by over 80%. Moreover, avoidable churn costs companies up to $35.3 billion in lost revenue, making customer intelligence platforms an appealing option for growth-focused organizations.

The tools on this list are my top selections for the best customer intelligence platforms. If you liked this list, I would really appreciate it if you could hit the share button and share it with your network on your social media channels. Who knows who you might be helping with this tool list!

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