20 Customer Success Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 20 best software from the 39 tools reviewed.
Customer success software helps your team proactively manage accounts, reduce churn, and identify growth opportunities. If you’re struggling with fragmented data, inconsistent onboarding, reactive customer management, or limited visibility into account risk and renewal potential, the right customer success software can address most of those issues.
In this article, I’ll review the best customer success software on the market that can help you scale customer retention efforts and enhance satisfaction.
Why Trust Our Reviews
We’ve been testing and reviewing customer success software since 2021. As CX professionals ourselves, we know how critical and difficult it is to make the right decision when selecting software.
We invest in deep research to help our audience make better software purchasing decisions. We’ve tested more than 2,000 tools for different customer experience use cases and written over 1,000 comprehensive software reviews. Learn how we stay transparent & our software review methodology.
The Best Customer Success Software Solutions Summary Table
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of my top 20 picks:
| Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Best for AI-powered customer support | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $15/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 2 | Best for tracking customer health scores | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 3 | Best for delivering enhanced customer experiences | Free plan available | From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 4 | Best for multi-touchpoint customer surveys | 10-day free trial + free plan available | From $25/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 5 | Best for AI-driven sentiment insights | 14-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 6 | Best for proactive customer engagement | 15-day free trial + free plan available | From $50/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 7 | Best for collecting detailed customer onboarding feedback | 14-day free trial | From $89/month | Website | |
| 8 | Best for reducing customer churn | Free plan available | From $150/month | Website | |
| 9 | Best for managing customer communication | 14-day free trial | From $25/user/month (billed annually, minimum 10 seats) | Website | |
| 10 | Best for its customer behavior analysis | 7-day free trial + free plan available | From $25/user/month | Website | |
| 11 | Best for collaborative customer communication | 30-day free trial | From $14/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 12 | Best for AI customer response suggestions | 30-day free trial | From $18/user/month | Website | |
| 13 | Best for unified customer interactions | 14-day free trial | From $49/user/month | Website | |
| 14 | Best for client-facing workspaces | Free plan available | From $350/month | Website | |
| 15 | Best for managing customer churn risks | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 16 | Best for creating how-to videos with AI | Free plan available | From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
| 17 | Best multichannel customer success software | Free Demo | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 18 | Best customer success software for upselling & retention | Free Demo | From $15/user/month | Website | |
| 19 | Best customer success software for SMS & text marketing | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
| 20 | Best for customer & client onboarding | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website |
-
Hiver
Visit WebsiteThis is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.7 -
CRM Creatio
Visit WebsiteThis is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.7 -
monday service
Visit WebsiteThis is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.6
Best Customer Success Software Reviews
Here’s a brief description of each customer success app to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
For those seeking a solution that simplifies customer service and boosts team collaboration, Freshdesk might be just what you need. It offers AI-driven tools and a centralized Command Center to help your team resolve complex queries and automate routine tasks. Freshdesk empowers businesses to deliver faster and more accurate resolutions, making it a valuable asset for modern customer support.
Why I Picked Freshdesk
I picked Freshdesk because it excels in AI-powered customer support, making it an ideal choice for those seeking customer success software. With Freddy AI, Freshdesk automates up to 86% of support queries, allowing your team to focus on more complex issues. It prioritizes customer issues based on sentiment and provides real-time translation, enhancing both speed and accuracy in responses. Additionally, the auto-triaging feature and insightful analytics enable your team to make informed decisions, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Freshdesk Key Features
In addition to its AI-powered capabilities, Freshdesk offers a range of features that cater to customer success needs:
- Ticketing System: It provides a shared inbox and internal threads to streamline communication, ensuring no customer query goes unanswered.
- Self-Service Tools: Your customers can access a multilingual knowledge base and community forums, allowing them to find answers independently without waiting for support.
- Routing and SLA Automation: This feature automates ticket dispatch and prioritizes tasks, enabling your team to focus on critical customer issues.
- Security Features: Freshdesk ensures data protection through role-based access control, single sign-on, and IP whitelisting, safeguarding sensitive customer information.
Freshdesk Integrations
Integrations include Shopify, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Playvox, Jira, Salesforce, Google Workspace, Trello, Mailchimp, and HubSpot.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Strong reporting and analytics tools for performance insights
- Intuitive interface supports fast adoption
- AI chatbots and automation reduce repetitive tasks
Cons:
- Advanced AI features require additional setup and training
- Customisation capabilities limited
Velaris is an AI-powered platform designed to support Customer Success (CS) teams in understanding customer needs, automating workflows, and enhancing collaboration. It centralizes customer information from various systems into a single, intuitive 360-degree view, regardless of the complexity of your segments.
Why I Picked Velaris: With AI-driven insights, you can quickly understand your customers' needs and behaviors. Velaris lets your team monitor customer health scores and sentiment analysis in real time, so you can address issues before they become bigger problems. This proactive approach helps keep your customers happy and loyal. Plus, with customizable success plans, you can tailor strategies for different customer segments, delivering personalized experiences that really connect with each client.
The customer portal feature supports in-app collaboration, allowing your team and your clients to work together on projects and tasks. This can improve communication and help you better understand what your customers need.
Velaris Standout Features & Integrations
Features include AI-driven sentiment analysis that helps you understand customer emotions, 360-degree customer data views, and automation of daily workflows. The platform's project management tools streamline task assignments, while its customer portal enhances collaboration across teams.
Integrations include HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Intercom, MailChimp, Outlook, Google Drive, and Jira.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Automation workflows reduce manual tracking and outreach
- Dynamic health scoring adapts to lifecycle changes
- Centralized view combines usage, sentiment, and engagement
Cons:
- Fewer integrations available
- Smaller orgs may underuse the platform’s full scope
Hiver is a modern AI-powered customer service platform aimed at enhancing customer success. It helps teams manage all customer conversations across email, live chat, WhatsApp, voice, SMS, and social media from one unified, email-like interface.
Why I Picked Hiver: I chose Hiver because even though it has a strong feature set (shared inbox, knowledge base, automations, live chat, smooth internal collaboration), it still has a very simple, easy-to-use interface. It rejects the tradeoff that robust, feature-rich tools are also complex and clunky to use. Given that its interface is familiar to most of us, there isn’t much of a learning curve to the tool. You don’t need extensive training to get started. Setting up the tool and hitting the ground running takes a few minutes.
Hiver Standout Features & Integrations
Features include Hiver AI, which embeds AI capabilities across all touchpoints of the customer support journey. For example, the AI Copilot helps agents respond to customers through contextual answers, reply drafts, tone adjustments, and more, while the AI Agents help you set up autonomous workflows to handle FAQs, follow-ups, and other actions. It also has AI Insights that use conversations to forecast issues and risks.
Integrations include Aircall, Asana, Jira, Okta, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Slack, WhatsApp, and Zapier and 100+ other platforms.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Strong internal collaboration features
- Customer support from real humans available 24/7 via chat or email, across all plans (including free one)
- AI-features embedded at all stages of customer support journey
Cons:
- Mobile experience isn’t as strong as the desktop one
- Compared to some other platforms, Hiver offers fewer third party integrations
New Product Updates from Hiver
Hiver Adds Shared Inbox Support for Gmail Teams
Hiver introduces Shared Inbox support in Gmail, allowing teams to connect standard Gmail or Google Group email addresses to Hiver Omni for centralized email management. For more information, visit Hiver's official site.
Sogolytics is a robust online survey and feedback management platform designed to help organizations gather critical insights and make data-driven decisions.
Why I picked Sogolytics: One of its standout features is the ability to track and analyze customer feedback in real time, allowing companies to address issues promptly and improve customer satisfaction. The platform offers customizable dashboards that provide a holistic view of the customer journey, highlighting key touchpoints and trends.
Another reason Sogolytics is a top choice for customer success is its integration with various communication channels. This integration ensures that surveys can be distributed through multiple touchpoints across the customer journey, including through email, SMS, and social media, providing a comprehensive understanding of customer sentiment.
Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include advanced reporting that allows you to switch between surveys and apply advanced filtering options. The tool also offers unique features like a Survey Calendar and the ability to merge surveys for comprehensive analysis. You'll find the matrix question feature well-designed, simplifying complex survey structures.
Integrations include Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Google Analytics, Slack, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Zendesk, Tableau, and Zapier.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good for both employee and customer feedback
- Strong template library speeds survey creation
- Easy charting and export of feedback results
Cons:
- Older data format compatibility can cause issues
- Interface requires scrolling and feels cluttered
New Product Updates from Sogolytics
Sogolytics Release Enhancements
Sogolytics has rolled out new features that improve survey flow, streamline distribution, enhance dashboards, and expand directory data management. The update also brings improvements to email/SMS handling, data exports, and customization options across dashboards and invitations. For more information, visit Sogolytics' official site.
SurveySparrow is a comprehensive voice of customer (VOC) platform aimed at improving customer experiences through its advanced survey and feedback collection tools. It features AI-driven insights, conversational surveys, and multi-channel feedback options, enabling businesses to connect with customers through various platforms.
Why I Picked SurveySparrow: I like that it includes conversational surveys designed to boost response rates through engaging formats and supports omnichannel feedback collection via email, social media, and QR codes. Additionally, with ticket management, the software allows you to convert survey responses into actionable tickets for timely issue resolution.
SurveySparrow also offers AI insights, powered by Cognivue. This feature digs deep into large sets of data to pull out actionable insights. It's especially useful when you have tons of feedback from surveys and online reviews and need to make sense of it quickly. With AI insights, you get a clearer picture of customer sentiments and trends, which aids in crafting strategies that are customer-focused.
SurveySparrow Standout Features & Integrations
Features include survey customization options that let you tailor questions to fit your audience. You can utilize automated workflows to streamline the feedback collection process. The tool provides deep analytics, giving you valuable insights into customer sentiments and operational efficiency.
Integrations include Gmail, Google Sheets, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Jira Software Cloud, NetSuite, Pipedrive, QuickBooks Online, and Mailchimp.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Ideal for tracking satisfaction across CX programs
- AI analyzes text feedback for tone and emotion
- Conversational surveys increase response and engagement rates
Cons:
- Limited depth in custom analytics and reporting
- Complex logic setup can challenge non-technical users
New Product Updates from SurveySparrow
SurveySparrow's Enhancements to Survey Flows
SurveySparrow announced new updates, including enhancements in survey flows and user engagement. For more information, visit SurveySparrow's official site.
Help Scout is a customer success platform designed to help teams provide seamless, proactive support experiences across multiple channels. Its tools include shared inboxes, live chat, and a knowledge base that helps customers find answers on their own. By combining AI-powered assistance, analytics, and automation, Help Scout enables customer success teams to enhance engagement and retention with every interaction.
Why I Picked Help Scout: I picked Help Scout because it goes beyond reactive support, helping you connect with customers before issues arise. Features like proactive in-app messaging and AI summaries make it easy to deliver quick, informed responses. The shared inbox ensures that all team members stay aligned, so customers receive consistent, timely help. I also appreciate that Help Scout’s knowledge base and chat options empower customers to self-serve, reducing ticket volume while maintaining satisfaction.
Help Scout Standout Features & Integrations
Features include proactive customer messaging that lets you reach users before they experience problems, real-time analytics that measure performance and satisfaction trends, and automation for routing messages and managing workflows. You can also collect customer feedback through built-in CSAT and NPS surveys to identify improvement opportunities.
Integrations include Salesforce, Zapier, Shopify, Aircall, Intercom, HubSpot, Jira, Slack, Mailchimp, Google Sheets, Trello, and WordPress.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Strong analytics for tracking team performance
- Proactive messaging reduces churn and boosts engagement
- Centralized inbox simplifies communication management
Cons:
- Customization options for knowledge base are limited
- Some advanced chat features only in higher tiers
Best for collecting detailed customer onboarding feedback
Product Fruits is a user onboarding software that helps businesses understand their customers' needs and track their satisfaction levels through surveys and feedback.
Why I Picked Product Fruits: the software helps product owners onboard new customers and engage existing ones by creating interactive in-app flows such as surveys and messaging.
The surveys and feedback mechanisms are easy to set up and customize, making it simple to get started with collecting customer feedback. Users can add videos and screenshots to provide greater context and clarity. You can automate surveys and feedback requests to collect customer feedback regularly. The tool also offers real-time reporting and analytics, giving businesses the ability to monitor customer satisfaction levels of a product and respond to feedback quickly.
Product Fruits Standout Features & Integrations
Features include in-app surveys and feedback widgets that gather user insights seamlessly, interactive onboarding guides to navigate new users through your app, and custom event triggers to personalize the onboarding experience. These tools are crafted to ensure your team can collect and act on user feedback effectively.
Integrations include Mixpanel, Heap, Google Analytics, Customer.io, Slack, HubSpot, Smartlook, Sessionstack, and Segment.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Helps teams spot friction in activation journeys
- Supports text, ratings, and segmentation questions
- In-app surveys capture contextual onboarding feedback
Cons:
- Branding and logic customization somewhat restricted
- Limited reporting and analytics depth for insights
Akita is a customer success management tool that provides businesses with the capability to track customer interactions, manage tasks, and automate customer success processes.
Why I picked Akita: Akita assists customer success teams in monitoring and engaging with their customers effectively. It offers features such as customer health scores, which help in assessing the risk of churn and identifying opportunities for growth, and automated playbooks, which ensure consistent follow-up actions based on specific customer behaviors or milestones.
The task management system within Akita allows for the organization and prioritization of customer success activities, while the integration capabilities ensure that customer data from various sources is centralized, providing a holistic view of customer interactions. These features collectively aid in the retention and satisfaction of customers, ultimately contributing to the sustained success of a business.
Akita Standout Features & Integrations
Features include personalized dashboards with a 360° Customer View tool that compiles customer data, automated workflows, and customer segmentation tools that allow users to tailor strategies based on behavior, demographics, or product usage.
Integrations include HubSpot, Paymo, Capsure CRM, Stripe, Kayako, Freshsales, Help Scout, Mailjet, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Segment, and Zendesk.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Automated playbooks guide retention and renewal actions
- Custom health scoring highlights churn-risk patterns
- Real-time alerts flag at-risk customer accounts
Cons:
- Dashboard customization feels limited in flexibility.
- Data integration and setup require internal resources
Front is a customer service platform that combines the efficiency of a help desk with the personal touch of email or chat applications.
Why I picked Front: Front stands out for its commitment to delivering excellent customer service at scale, combining the efficiency of a help desk with email and/or chat applications, all while being powered by AI to ensure fast, top-quality service.
Its capabilities, such as the omnichannel inbox, AI chatbots, and workflow automation, enable teams to manage customer interactions effectively. What makes Front different is its emphasis on collaboration and the ability to integrate customer data and context into every conversation, ensuring personalized and fast responses.
Front Standout Features & Integrations
Features include shared inboxes, email templates, automated rules, internal comments, message assignments, reminders, integrated calendars, real-time analytics, and multi-channel communication.
Integrations include over 110 systems, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Salesforce, Slack, Asana, Zoom, Gmail, Shopify, and more.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Supports metrics on team response time and engagement
- Automation and workflows reduce response time significantly
- Unified inbox for email, chat, SMS and social
Cons:
- Advanced filtering and analytics require familiarisation
- Interface redesigns have frustrated some long-time users
Tidio is a customer success software that helps customer experience teams manage customer interactions using live chat, email marketing, chatbots, and customer feedback.
Why I Picked Tidio: Tidio helps you engage with customers proactively, understand their needs, and resolve their issues. Its ticketing system enables your customer experience teams to track and resolve customer queries and requests. The software includes a knowledge base and community forum for sharing best practices, providing a searchable database of articles and FAQs that can be used to resolve customer queries.
Tidio’s live chat tool enables you to engage in real-time customer conversations. You can also build and configure chatbots which help send automatic replies for missed conversations and personalized messages for returning visitors. Tidio also helps you segment customers and site visitors based on behavior so that you can send personalized messages.
Tideo Standout Features & Integrations
Features include a real-time visitor tracking system that lets you see who is on your website and engage them promptly. You can use chatbots to automate responses and gather information even when you're not available. Tidio also offers email marketing capabilities, allowing you to follow up with customers or send newsletters, further enhancing customer engagement.
Integrations include email integration, which is helpful for having multiple email inboxes. Integrations include Zendesk, Google Analytics, Pipedrive, Mailchimp, OpenCart, and thousands more through Zapier.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Simple setup with highly rated customer support
- Visitor monitoring reveals engagement and drop-off points
- AI chatbots and live chat track behavior
Cons:
- Chatbot triggers can deplete usage limits quickly
- Some users report lag under heavy usage
Missive is a collaborative inbox software designed to enhance team communication by integrating email management with collaborative tools. It's crafted to help teams manage their email interactions more effectively, turning usual email tasks into opportunities for teamwork.
Why I Picked Missive: I picked Missive because it merges email management and team collaboration into a single, seamless experience. Unlike traditional inboxes, it lets your team chat directly within email threads, draft responses together, and assign ownership to ensure accountability. I also like that Missive supports workload balancing, so messages are automatically distributed to available team members, preventing bottlenecks and ensuring faster responses. Its task conversion feature is another standout — you can turn customer messages into actionable tasks, helping your team stay organized and track follow-ups efficiently.
Missive Standout Features & Integrations
Features include collaborative drafting so multiple team members can write and edit responses together, internal chat within email threads for quick discussions, and shared inboxes that provide transparency across your customer-facing team. You can also automate message routing, set up rules for task assignment, and integrate real-time live chat for direct customer engagement.
Integrations include Google Workspace, Office 365, Salesforce, Slack, HubSpot, Zapier, Dropbox, Google Drive, Asana, ClickUp, Trello, and Shopify.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Integrates with 25+ major tools
- Turns emails into actionable tasks
- Centralized team inbox collaboration
Cons:
- Slight learning curve for beginners
- Offline functionality is limited
Guru is an AI-powered platform designed to improve enterprise search, intranet, and knowledge management. It serves as a single source of truth, providing instant answers by integrating with existing workflows and tools.
Why I picked Guru: Guru can help your customer success team by integrating directly with your tools and providing real-time AI-powered response suggestions based on your internal knowledge database. This gives you quick access to knowledge across your entire company's system, ensuring you're providing customers with the most accurate information.
For example, if a customer inquires via email about your product but is on the fence because of the pricing, Guru can offer smart suggestions, like the kinds of discounts currently available based on existing internal documentation and sales collateral.
Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include the ability for users to easily access AI-generated answers by typing questions into Guru’s search bar, significantly reducing time spent searching for information. Users can copy answers, provide feedback, and flag incorrect information, which helps improve the AI's performance over time. The AI Training Center allows workspace admins to review and improve answer accuracy, reassign flagged questions, and coach team members on effective questioning.
Integrations include Slack, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, GitHub, Jira, HubSpot, Dropbox, Asana, Trello, BambooHR, Freshdesk, Notion, ServiceNow, Airtable, and Adobe Workfront.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Rich content support including images, videos and GIFs
- Intuitive interface and minimal learning curve
- Centralized knowledge repository improves team alignment
Cons:
- Analytics and tracking of content engagement could improve
- Custom templates and branding options feel limited
Zendesk is customer success software that helps businesses manage customer conversations across multiple channels in one workspace. It gives your team the tools to provide consistent, personalized support whether customers reach out by email, chat, social media, or phone.
Why I Picked Zendesk: I chose Zendesk for its ability to centralize all customer communications and data into a single view, giving agents full context on each interaction. This unified workspace means your team can respond faster and with greater accuracy, without switching between tools. Its AI-powered agents also handle common inquiries and route complex issues to the right people, reducing manual workload and ensuring customers get help quickly.
Zendesk Standout Features & Integrations
Features include smart routing to match each inquiry with the most qualified agent, prebuilt dashboards and analytics to track metrics like Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Sunshine Conversations for integrating messaging channels such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. These capabilities help CX teams deliver responsive, personalized service.
Integrations include Geckoboard, eWebinar, Klaus, TypeGenie, Nicereply, Hootsuite, Mailchimp, PandaDoc, Trello, Jira, Dialpad, and Zapier.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Extensive integrations with CRM, telephony and social systems
- Automates routing and response workflows, reducing manual tasks
- Brings email, chat, phone and social into one workspace
Cons:
- Advanced features locked behind higher-tier add-ons or customisation
- Setup and configuration are complex and resource-intensive
Dock is a customer onboarding and deal management software that helps customer success teams ensure new users make the most of their products.
Why I picked Dock: This software earned its spot on my list because of its customizable customer portals. These centralized spaces house documents, proposals, quotes, and other important items where clients can access them easily. They also facilitate collaboration through task management and customizable project plans.
What's nice about the platform is that it helps sales teams nurture potential customers and track them through the buyer's journey. For example, digital sales rooms create a space for sharing educational content, and analytics tools allow users to better understand prospect behaviors.
Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include customizable client portals where you can manage and share resources with ease. Dock's task-tracking system helps you keep an eye on project timelines and deliverables. The tool's branding capabilities allow you to reflect your company's identity in all client interactions.
Integrations include HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Zoom, Airtable, Pandadoc, Typeform, and more.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Analytics track onboarding progress and engagement clearly
- Shared workspaces improve collaboration between customer and team
- Personalized customer portals centralize onboarding and renewal tasks
Cons:
- Custom branding and workflow flexibility less intuitive
- Some loading and performance delays during high usage
ChurnZero customer success software is a cloud-based customer success platform that helps you manage churn risks. It's designed to help you identify your most at-risk customers, engage them, and retain them.
Why I picked ChurnZero: ChurnZero uses data science to identify at-risk customers based on what they've done in the past and what they're doing now. The software then uses machine learning to predict which customers are likely to leave, so you can take action before they do. ChurnZero customers can use the platform's features to identify their most at-risk customers; set up automated messages to encourage engagement with these customers; and use a predictive model to reach out to these customers before they leave.
ChurnZero is a simple, easy-to-use customer success software that helps you avoid customer attrition. The tool provides actionable insights into your customer behaviour and lets you track their activities across many online platforms at once. It also offers an automated retention process for keeping an eye on your users and ensuring they don't leave.
ChurnZero Standout Features & Integrations
Features include automated customer journeys that adapt to real-time data, providing timely interventions when customers show signs of disengagement. Real-time alerts notify your team of significant changes in customer behavior, allowing for quick responses. The platform also offers in-depth analytics to track customer health scores, helping you identify at-risk customers.
Integrations include Salesforce, Hubspot, Netsuite, Close.io, Spiro, Zoho CRM, Chargebee, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Pipedrive, Copper, Freshsales, Zendesk Sell, Teamwork CRM, Helpscout, Jira, Segment, Pendo, and other tools. ChurnZero also offers a REST API if you would like to integrate your data into a system not listed.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Excellent automation for proactive outreach and expansion
- Rich segmentation based on usage, communications and journeys
- Real-time health scoring identifies at-risk customers early
Cons:
- Dashboard customisation and advanced reports limited
- Initial configuration can feel complex and time-intensive
Guidde is the generative AI platform for customer success teams to create how-to video guides. It enables your team to capture workflows in seconds, leveraging AI to generate detailed step-by-step guides in multiple formats that customers will understand.
Why I Picked Guidde: Guidde's AI simplifies the video creation process, from text-to-voice with translation in 100+ languages to adding professional-looking visual effects. You can even share your guides as a link, MP4, PDF, or HTML file, allowing your team to tailor your content to diverse audiences.
The platform's easy-to-use interface enables your team to incorporate your brand elements, such as logos and colors, into your video guides. This ensures that all your documentation aligns with your company's visual identity, enhancing brand consistency.
Guidde Standout Features & Integrations
Features include video editing tools, customizable branding, and analytics that help you track engagement with your content. You can also utilize integrations with platforms like Slack and Salesforce to streamline your workflow. Additionally, the platform's security features, such as role-based access and authentication options, ensure your content remains protected.
Integrations include Salesforce, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Slack, Zoom, Zendesk, ServiceNow, Notion, Chrome, Confluence and more.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Offers voice-over and multi-language narration support
- Great for onboarding, support, and feature walkthroughs
- AI auto-generates tutorials from screen recordings
Cons:
- Limited integrations with customer success ecosystems
- Browser extension can struggle with complex UIs
Planhat is an all-in-one customer success software solution that allows users to easily and accurately manage customer relationships, track customers’ usage of their products, identify areas of improvement, and create personalized support services.
Why I Picked Planhat: What makes Planhat stand out from other customer success solutions is its ability to collect data from multiple sources such as email, web analytics, social media channels, and CRM systems. This data is used to create tailored analytics dashbaordcs and reports to inform strategies for improving customer engagement and loyalty.
Planhat also offers detailed analytics reports that provide insights into customers’ behavior and preferences. With its intuitive interface, Planhat makes it easy for users to navigate the program and make informed decisions about how best to interact with their customers.
Planhat enables users to tailor their customers’ experiences according to their preferences, creating an environment that encourages loyalty. There are also detailed customer profiles, which provide an in-depth look into each user’s journey. This allows users to adjust strategies easily to meet cutomer needs.
Planhat Standout Features & Integations
Features include advanced data transformation that allows your team to convert complex data into actionable insights without coding. Customizable object configurations let you tailor the platform to fit your specific business needs. Granular access control ensures that your team has the right level of access to sensitive customer information, enhancing security.
Integations include Aircall, Pendo, Segment, SatisMeter, Stitch, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Outlook, Complete CSM, Jira, Mixpanel, Inercom, Mailchimp, Snowflake, Slack, Delighted, Chili Piper, Gmail, Promoter, Ctrl,Zendewsk, Hubspot, FReshdesk, Mandrill, and more if you have a separate account with Zaperi (may incur additional costs).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Custom dashboards support proactive success management
- Tracks customer health scores and engagement signals
- Combines product usage, support, and financial data
Cons:
- Onboarding and data setup can take time
- Full feature suite may overwhelm small teams
Catalyst customer success software is a powerful customer relationship management platform that helps you to deliver personalized experiences to your customers for upselling and retention strategies.
Why I Picked Catalyst: Catalyst helps you capture more leads, boost conversions, retain your existing customers, and grow your revenue with detailed analytics. They accomplish this using tools like automated customer communication follow-ups based on predetermined rules. You can create rules based on the behavior of customers, such as if they don't open emails, send them a reminder email. Or, if they haven't logged in to your platform for two weeks, then send them a "we miss you" email. With this, you can follow up automatically with customers who are not engaging with your brand anymore.
They also offer comprehensive lead scoring. This feature allows businesses to classify leads into different categories based on their likelihood of becoming a customer. This feature helps businesses understand which customers are most likely going to convert into sales, return purchasers, upsells, and even brand advocates.
Catalyst Standout Features & Integrations
Features include customer health monitoring, which keeps you informed about client satisfaction levels. You can also use automated playbooks that guide your team in executing consistent and effective customer interactions. Additionally, Catalyst's reporting tools provide insights into customer trends and potential growth areas, helping you make informed decisions.
Integrations include Zendesk, Service Cloud, Salesforce, Google platforms, Outlook, Jira, Slack, Snowflake, Redshift, Segment, BigQuery, Redshift, Amazon S3, and Mixpanel.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Scales customer journeys from onboarding through expansion
- Single data view consolidates siloed customer information
- Customer-health management tools help track retention risk
Cons:
- Analytics and visualisation features feel basic
- Custom setup and integration can be resource-heavy
Podium is a customer success software that helps organizations manage customer engagement, communication, and feedback to improve customer satisfaction and retention.
Why I Picked Podium: Podium customer success software is a comprehensive platform for SMS marketing and text marketing. With Podium, organizations can send personalized text messages to customers, such as appointment reminders, promotional offers, and other important updates.
Podium also automates routine tasks and workflows, including SMS marketing campaigns. For example, Podium can be used to automate the sending of promotional offers and appointment reminders via SMS. Podium provides tools for personalizing SMS marketing messages based on customer data, such as location, behavior, and preferences. This makes it possible to create targeted SMS marketing campaigns that are more relevant and effective.
Podium Standout Features & Integrations
Features include AI-driven campaign generation that helps craft targeted messages, and robust review management tools that allow you to manage your online reputation across platforms like Google and Facebook. The platform's contact management centralizes customer interactions, providing an all-in-one inbox for various communication channels. Additionally, its video chat feature supports real-time customer interactions, enhancing engagement.
Integrations include Salesforce, Hubspot, Zoho CRM, Marketo, Pardot, Stripe, PayPal, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Review invites and text-to-pay boost retention
- Unified inbox simplifies text, webchat, and reviews
- SMS campaigns drive quick customer engagement and replies
Cons:
- Some automation paths need manual configuration
- Heavy focus on messaging, not full lifecycle
GuideCX is a customer experience management platform that provides a centralized location for managing customer interactions and improving customer satisfaction.
Why I Picked GuideCX: GuideCX is used for customer and client onboarding as a means of improving customer satisfaction and success. The platform provides a centralized location for managing customer interactions, making it easy to ensure that customers receive a consistent and positive experience. GuideCX provides tools for automating onboarding processes, reducing manual tasks, and improving efficiency.
GuideCX also provides tools for monitoring customer engagement and usage, making it easy to identify potential issues and take action to address them. The platform integrates with other tools and systems, such as CRM and marketing automation platforms, which helps to provide a complete view of the customer experience. By using GuideCX for customer and client onboarding, organizations can improve the customer experience, increase customer satisfaction, and drive customer success.
GuideCX Standout Features & Integrations
Features include the ability to automate task assignments, providing real-time updates on project status, and offering a client-facing portal for transparency. You can customize templates to fit your specific onboarding needs, making the process more efficient for both your team and your clients.
Integrations include Salesforce, Hubspot, Microsoft Dynamics, Marketo, Pardot, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Stripe, Recurly, Jira, Trello, and other common apps.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Users praise intuitive UI and responsive support
- Client portal increases transparency and engagement
- Streamlines onboarding with task automation and timelines
Cons:
- Advanced setup requires admin time and resources
- Reporting customization options remain fairly limited
Other Customer Success Software
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- Skilljar
Customer success software for customer education
- Nextiva
For personalized customer journey orchestration
- Sprout Social
For centralizing social inboxes
- Custify
Customer success software for SaaS-centric companies.
- ClientSuccess
Customer success platform for building healthy customer relationships.
- LiveAgent
Customer support software with a ticket management system.
- CustomerSuccessBox
AI-powered customer success platform for driving product adoption.
- Vitally
Customer success platform for identifying trends and leveraging insights towards improved customer health scores.
- Gainsight
Customer success and product experience software to help increase product adoption and reduce churn.
- Accelo
Professional services automation software for handling customer tickets.
- Conversica
Cloud-based software for attracting new customers and retaining existing ones with the help of virtual assistants.
- Rocketlane
Customer onboarding platform.
- UserGuiding
For no-code onboarding tools
- Totango
For tracking & managing customer health scores
- HubSpot Service Hub
A customer service software for small to medium businesses.
- Paddle
Subscription software for customer success and revenue growth.
- inSided
For managing NPS & CSAT scores
- Involve.ai
Software for gaining visibility on customer data to improve retention rates and increase revenue.
- Front
For customized customer issue escalation paths
Related CX Software
If you still haven't found what you're looking for here, check out these related customer experience management tools that we've tested and evaluated.
- Customer Service Software
- Help Desk Software
- Call Center Software
- Customer Messaging Platform
- Digital Experience Platform
- Sentiment Analysis Tools
What is Customer Success Software?
Customer success software is a platform that helps businesses track customer health, engagement, and outcomes to proactively drive retention and growth. It’s used to monitor usage, identify risks, and ensure customers receive ongoing value from your product or service.
Selection Criteria for the Best Customer Success Software
Having tried and researched various customer success platforms, I've identified the essential features and use cases that any customer success software must support to be considered effective. Here’s a summary of the evaluation criteria I used to make my final selections for the best customer success software:
Core Functionality (25% of score):
- Customer Onboarding
- Feedback Collection and Analysis to drive improvements
- Customer Support Management to resolve issues and inquiries
- Proactive Customer Health Monitoring
- Reporting and Analytics
Additional Standout Features (25% of score):
- Leveraging AI for predictive analytics to forecast customer behaviors and needs.
- Integration with broader CRM and ERP systems for a unified approach to customer data.
- Advanced personalization in customer interactions to enhance engagement and retention.
Usability (10% of score):
- Intuitive interfaces, such as drag-and-drop functionality in workflow management.
- Clear, user-friendly dashboard designs.
- Minimal learning curve.
Onboarding (10% of score):
- Comprehensive training materials such as videos, interactive tours, and templates.
- Easy setup processes that allow teams to quickly adopt and integrate the tool into their daily operations.
- Immediate access to support resources to assist new users in leveraging the tool to its full potential.
Customer Support (10% of score):
- Multi-channel support, including live chat, email, and phone.
- Speed and effectiveness of the support team in resolving issues.
- Proactive support measures like regular check-ins and updates.
Value For Money (10% of score):
- Comparative analysis of pricing versus the breadth and depth of features offered.
- Flexibility in pricing plans to accommodate different sizes and types of businesses.
- Overall return on investment through enhanced customer retention and satisfaction.
Customer Reviews (10% of score):
- Consistency in customer satisfaction across various dimensions like usability, support, and functionality.
- Specific feedback on how the tool has improved customer relationships and business outcomes.
- Positive trends in reviews over time, indicate the tool's evolution and improvement.
How to Choose Customer Success Software
It’s easy to get bogged down in long feature lists and complex pricing structures. To help you stay focused as you work through your unique software selection process, here’s a checklist of factors to keep in mind:
| Factor | What to Consider |
|---|---|
| Scalability | Ensure the software can grow with your business. Look for solutions that handle increased customer data and more users without sacrificing performance. |
| Integrations | Check if it connects seamlessly with your existing tools like CRMs and communication platforms to streamline processes. |
| Customizability | You need software that can be tailored to your specific workflows and customer touchpoints for maximum efficiency. |
| Ease of Use | Choose software that's intuitive for your team to learn and use daily, minimizing training time and increasing productivity. |
| Budget | Align the software's pricing with your financial constraints. Consider both upfront costs and ongoing fees to avoid surprises. |
| Security Safeguards | Ensure robust data protection measures are in place to protect customer information and comply with regulations. |
Trends in Customer Success Software
It is crucial for customer success managers and customer support teams to stay aware of trends in customer success software to optimize their strategies and enhance customer experiences. By keeping up with the latest advancements, CSMs can leverage innovative features and functionalities offered by software solutions to drive customer success.
Additionally, staying informed about emerging trends allows CSMs to adapt their workflows, streamline processes, and stay ahead of the competition in the rapidly evolving landscape of customer success. Here are four recent trends to be aware of in 2025:
AI-Driven Analytics for Comprehensive Customer Insights
AI is revolutionizing how customer data is analyzed and utilized, allowing CSMs to collect and view comprehensive customer data easily. AI can also help track customer interactions and provide customer insights using several features, including automated data processing, predictive analytics, and personalization.
Try implementing AI-driven analytics tools to gain deeper customer insights. This will not only save time but also help in tailoring your services to meet customer needs more effectively.
Want to know more about collecting and storing data for customer success? Check out our article on free customer database software.
Unified Communication Platforms
Unified communication platforms are becoming essential for closing communication and collaboration gaps among different teams. Through customer success software, this can offer benefits such as centralized communication, integration with other CRM tools, and real-time collaboration for problem-solving among teams.
Adopt a unified communication platform to enhance team collaboration, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards a common goal, such as maximizing customer success and satisfaction.
Mobile Accessibility and Cloud-Based Solutions
By adopting mobile and cloud-based solutions, you can efficiently manage high volumes of customer interactions with features like remote access, allowing team members to access customer data from anywhere for quicker remote support, and real-time updates via mobile applications, ensuring that all team members are consistently informed and aligned with the latest customer interactions. This approach enhances flexibility and scalability in customer interaction management.
Advanced Reporting and Dashboard Customization
This trend highlights the shift towards enhancing efficiency by reducing manual processes through features like customizable reports that can be tailored to focus on business-critical metrics, automated report generation to save time, and interactive dashboards that facilitate quick, informed decision-making.
Investing in customer success software with these advanced features allows for better automation and customization of data analysis, freeing up time for more strategic tasks and addressing key challenges in customer success operations.
Features of Customer Success Software
When selecting customer success software, the priority is to ensure that it enriches customer interactions and maximizes the value customers get from your products or services. Here are the top features to consider:
1. Comprehensive Customer Profiles: Gather and display all relevant customer data in one place. A holistic view of each customer makes it easier to personalize interactions and anticipate needs.
2. Automated Communication Tools: Streamline interactions through scheduled emails, alerts, and reminders. Consistent communication keeps customers engaged and informed.
3. Usage Tracking: Understanding customer engagement patterns helps tailor support and development to enhance their experience.
4. Health Scoring Metrics: Assess and score customer health based on interaction data and usage statistics. This alerts teams to potential issues before they escalate, ensuring timely interventions.
5. Task and Workflow Automation: Automation of routine tasks improves efficiency, reduces human error and allows customer success teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.
6. Success Planning Tools: Set and track customer goals and milestones, helping customers achieve success with your product or service, which in turn enhances satisfaction and loyalty.
7. Feedback Collection Mechanisms: Solicit and manage customer feedback directly through the software for insights into customer needs and preferences.
8. Reporting and Analytics: These insights help refine strategies and demonstrate the impact of customer success efforts on overall business goals.
9. Integration Capabilities: Integration ensures that all customer data is synchronized and accessible, enhancing service coherence and reliability.
10. Onboarding Support: Provide resources and tools for effective customer onboarding, ensuring long-term user engagement and satisfaction.
Benefits of Customer Success Software
Customer success software offers a wide range of benefits that can have a ripple effect throughout your entire organization. After all, a 2021 study from Forrester found that companies with a customer-led approach to investing in technology grew 1.8 times faster than their competitors.
By choosing the right customer success software, you can expect the following benefits:
1. Enhanced Customer Retention: This software helps your team proactively address customer needs and concerns, leading to higher satisfaction rates and reduced churn. By identifying at-risk customers early, retention strategies can be implemented effectively.
2. Data-Driven Insights: Customer success software provides analytics and reporting tools that offer deep insights into customer behavior and preferences. This data enables you make informed decisions that improve customer loyalty, experiences and outcomes.
3. Increased Operational Efficiency: Automating routine tasks such as follow-ups, ticketing, and customer queries with customer success software frees up team members to focus on more strategic activities. This boosts productivity and optimizes resource utilization.
4. Personalized Customer Interactions: The software allows for tracking and understanding the customer journey to customize communication and services based on individual customer data. Personalized interactions are more likely to increase customer engagement and loyalty.
5. Scalable Customer Engagement: As your business grows, managing increasing volumes of customer interactions becomes challenging. Customer success software scales to handle this growth, maintaining the quality of customer service without requiring proportional increases in staffing.
The strategic use of this technology not only enhances the customer journey but also drives sustainable business growth by keeping customer satisfaction at the forefront.
Costs & Pricing for Customer Success Software
Customer success software offers a variety of pricing and plan options, each tailored to cater to different business needs and sizes. Familiarizing yourself with these plans and their features is crucial for choosing a software solution that aligns with your organization's goals and budget constraints. Here's a snapshot of typical plan options you might encounter:
| Plan Type | Average Price | Common Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Basic analytics, limited customer profiles, email support |
| Basic | $25 per user/month | Enhanced customer profiles, email & chat support, basic reporting |
| Professional | $75 per user/month | Full customer lifecycle tracking, advanced reporting, integrations, priority support |
| Enterprise | $150 per user/month | Custom features, dedicated account manager, 24/7 support, AI capabilities |
When selecting a plan, consider the complexity of your customer relationships, the scale of your customer base, and the level of support and customization you anticipate needing. The right customer success software should not only meet your current needs but also scale with your organization, ensuring a good balance between functionality and cost to maximize value and effectively support your business's customer success objectives.
FAQs About Customer Success
Here are some answers to FAQs about customer success software that CX teams use.
What are customer success software types?
Customer success software typically falls into three main types: all-in-one platforms, specialized tools, and analytics solutions. All-in-one platforms combine onboarding, health scoring, and engagement in a single tool. Specialized tools focus on a specific need, like surveys, feedback, or renewals. Analytics solutions provide deep insights into customer data for tracking retention and upsell opportunities. Choosing the right type depends on your team’s goals, current pain points, and how well a tool integrates with your workflow.
How can I measure the ROI of customer success software?
You can measure ROI by tracking metrics such as customer retention rates, expansion revenue, reduction in churn, and improvements in Net Promoter Score (NPS). Compare these before and after software implementation. Account for time saved by automating manual tasks, improved team productivity, and increased upsell opportunities. Reporting these concrete results will help justify your investment to stakeholders.
What integrations should I prioritize when choosing customer success software?
Prioritize integrations with your CRM (like Salesforce or HubSpot), support ticketing systems, and communication tools such as Slack or email platforms. Seamless integration with your existing stack ensures customer data is always up to date and reduces manual work. For customer success leaders, strong integrations with analytics and billing tools are especially valuable for full-lifecycle visibility and reporting.
How do customer success platforms help reduce churn?
Customer success platforms help reduce churn by delivering early warning signals with health scores, automating follow-up processes, and surfacing at-risk accounts. Features like usage tracking, automated check-ins, and personalized engagement make it easier to intervene proactively. This helps your team build stronger relationships and resolve issues before customers consider leaving.
What are common mistakes to avoid when implementing customer success software?
Common mistakes include skipping the needs assessment, underestimating data migration challenges, and not involving frontline users in setup. Don’t neglect to train your team or set clear success criteria. Avoid over-customizing workflows at the start—get quick wins with core features first, then iterate. Change management is key for high adoption.
Can customer success software improve cross-functional collaboration?
Yes, customer success software can improve collaboration by centralizing customer data and making it easy to share insights with sales, product, and support teams. Features like shared notes, task assignments, and executive dashboards keep everyone aligned. This helps you break down silos and drive a unified customer experience.
What do you think about this list?
Customers who get what they need from products and services are happy customers and will continue to bring revenue to your company. Attracting new customers is more costly and time-consuming than retaining current ones. So companies need to focus on customer success.
Customer success software is an excellent tool to help you address customer concerns and deliver exceptional services to help turn casual customers into loyal fans.
Aside from customer success software, there are other useful tools your company can use to grow your business and attract new customers, and you can read about them when you subscribe to The CX Lead.
