10 Best Customer Experience Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 22 tools reviewed.
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
There are so many different customer experience software, so making a shortlist of the best ones can be tricky. You want to gather feedback, address customer pain points, and provide a stellar onboarding experience - and need to find the right tool for your business. In this article, I'll help make your decision process easier by sharing my insights on the best customer experience software that can help you improve customer satisfaction.
Why Trust Our Reviews
We’ve been testing and reviewing customer experience software since 2021. As CX professionals ourselves, we know how critical and difficult it is to make the right decision when selecting software.
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The 10 Best Customer Experience Software: Quick Comparison Chart
This comparison chart summarizes basic details about each of my top customer experience software selections. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best software for your budget and business needs.
Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
|
Best for customizable workflows |
Free trial available |
From $26/seat/month (3 seat minimum) | Website | |
2
|
Best for utilizing customer survey feedback |
14-day free trial + free plan available |
From $19/month | Website | |
3
|
Best for customer experience personalization |
Free trial + free demo available |
From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
4
|
Best AI-enabled customer experience software |
Free demo available |
Pricing upon request | Website | |
5
|
Best for a comprehensive ticketing system |
14-day free trial + free plan available |
From $15/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
6
|
Best for multi-channel feedback collection |
10-day free trial |
From $59/month | Website | |
7
|
Best for CX management within a complete CRM |
15-day free trial |
$14/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
8
|
Best for advanced surveys and forms |
Free plan available |
From $34/month (billed annually) | Website | |
9
|
Best for Google Workspace integration |
7-day free trial |
From $15/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
10
|
Best for customer service chatbots |
7-day free trial + free plan available |
From $25/user/month | Website |
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CRM Creatio
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.7 -
monday service
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.6 -
Issuetrak
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.1
Best CXM Software Reviews
To help you find the best customer management software for you, here are detailed descriptions of my top 10 CXM software solutions and an explanation for why I included them in this list.
monday Service is a next-level platform designed to streamline various service-related workflows within organizations. It offers advanced solutions for ticket management, multi-channel support, AI-driven automation, and service catalogs, among other functionalities. The platform is highly customizable, allowing teams to tailor it to their specific needs, whether it's for IT support, customer service, or internal help desks.
With monday Service, users can manage tasks, timelines, and budgets with various views (like Kanban, Gantt, and calendar). Additionally, monday Service offers strong reporting and analytics, time tracking, and a highly intuitive interface, making it suitable for managing complex projects across diverse teams and industries.
Integrations include Slack, Google Drive, Microsoft Team, Zoom, and Outlook.
SurveySparrow is a customer engagement software that's designed to help businesses gather feedback and engage with their customers. It's all about making the process of collecting and analyzing customer feedback a whole lot easier.
Why I picked SurveySparrow: I included SurveySparrow because their survey software covers a wide range of use cases for CX teams. You can embed their survey bots on your website to extend support or solve common queries, or set up surveys to measure key customer metrics, such as your customer effort score (CES), customer satisfaction score (CSAT), or your transactional or relational net promoter score (NPS). To help you reduce your churn rate, you can also use it to set up a customer exit survey that runs after each customer churn event.
SurveySparrow Standout Features and Integrations:
One standout feature for SurveySparrow is its omnichannel approach to collecting customer feedback. SurveySparrow lets you automate closing the feedback loop with personalized workflows to instantly value customers’ responses and pacify your detractors. The omnichannel approach helps you reach your audience through any medium, including via weblink, in-app embedding, email, SMS, or QR code.
SurveySparrow’s simple UI makes the customer survey creation process enjoyable. You can also combine their survey tool with SurveySparrow’s case management feature to create tickets and efficiently address your customers’ feedback. As a software provider, SurveySparrow is also well-known for providing excellent customer support, too.
Integrations are available with 180+ software solutions, including Salesforce, Freshdesk, HubSpot, Power BI, Zendesk, MailChimp, Intercom, Slack, Stripe, Zapier, and others. They also offer several APIs, as well as webhooks, to support additional custom integrations as well.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Offers mobile-first surveys purpose-built for mobile devices
- Over 180+ integrations
- Easy to automate recurring surveys
Cons:
- Overlap between their various products is confusing
- Costly to add extra users ($49/extra user/month) for larger teams
Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer experience management platform and helpdesk that supports companies in creating consistent customer service across multiple channels. It enables companies to efficiently manage customer interactions using automation and AI to enhance overall support quality.
Why I chose Salesforce Service Cloud: The software's AI can analyze customer interactions to provide proactive service recommendations, anticipate customer needs, and customize interactions at scale. Agents get a 360-degree view of customer interactions, allowing them to offer more personalized support and services.
Other AI features like chatbots and automatic triaging ensure that customer inquiries are quickly directed to the most qualified agents, improving response times and support quality. The platform also offers a user-friendly interface with a drag-and-drop editor for creating a self-service center, enabling customers to find solutions independently and reducing the burden on support teams.
Salesforce Service Cloud Standout Features & Integrations
Standout features include a robust knowledge base that helps agents to quickly find information and solutions to common issues, speeding up resolution times. The field service feature supports mobile workforce management, equipping field technicians with the necessary tools and information to deliver outstanding service.
Integrations include Freshdesk, CloudTalk, Twilio, Brandwatch, Paligo, Mailchimp, HubSpot CRM, Trello, TeamViewer, Smartsheet, Klaviyo, Aircall, Gainsight, and Conversocial.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Multiple pricing tiers to support various stages of growth
- Effectively simplifies support procedures
- Customizable and adaptable to user needs
Cons:
- Some usability features are locked to higher-tier plans
- Implementation can be time-consuming
Birdeye offers a robust AI-enabled platform to manage your company’s online reputation and various aspects of the customer experience. It’s well-suited to the needs of local businesses seeking to monitor customer sentiments and provide a more consistent experience across customer touchpoints.
Why I Picked Birdeye: This software made it onto my list because of its focus on customer feedback and review management. Users can monitor customer reviews and messages across multiple channels and manage their brand’s social media presence through the platform. It’s highly useful for keeping control over word-of-mouth referrals and local brand reputation.
The software is compatible with over 150 different online review sites, so you’ll be able to track how your brand is reviewed in multiple places. You can also use the software to request feedback from your existing customers, and compare your brand against competitors on factors like NPS and specific customer service areas.
Birdeye Standout Features & Integrations
Standout features include the software’s topic tracking tool. This helps you monitor trending topics related to your business and jump into the conversation to drive brand awareness. You can also respond to relevant customer questions and spot relevant content you might not have otherwise.
Another great feature of this software is its survey building tool. Surveys let users capture real-time feedback from customers, which can then be used to inform customer success strategies, marketing tactics, and even product and service offerings.
Integrations include QuickBooks, Square, Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice, Pipedrive, Thryv, Keap, HubSpot, Lightspeed, and hundreds of other SaaS tools.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Automates surveys and reviews
- Customer feedback management tools included
- Tons of integrations available
Cons:
- No free plan or trial available
- Limited customer support available
Freshdesk is a customer service software that employs AI-powered support automation to deliver timely and consistent support across businesses of various sizes. It offers advanced ticketing, self-service options, and proactive AI-driven insights, positioning Freshdesk as a suitable choice for organizations looking to leverage generative AI for reducing redundancy, improving productivity, and providing accurate resolutions.
Freshdesk offers a comprehensive ticketing system that consolidates customer interactions from multiple channels into a unified view, enabling support agents to categorize, prioritize, and track customer issues efficiently. The platform includes a self-service knowledge base and community forums to help customers resolve common issues independently. It features AI-driven automation for sorting and assigning tickets, as well as scenario-based triggers for specific actions. Collaboration tools within Freshdesk allow agents to work together and consult experts across teams.
Freshdesk software offers a range of key features including ticketing, collaboration, automations, self service, reporting & analytics, customizations, and a secure helpdesk. These features are designed to enhance customer support and service management.
Freshdesk integrates with Freshchat for messaging, Freshservice for IT service management, and Freshmarketer for marketing automation. It also connects with Google Calendar, MailChimp, Segment, Zapier, Office 365, Google Apps, Slack, Facebook, LinkedIn, Jotform, Typeform, Calendly, Email Parser by Zapier, and ClickFunnels Classic to facilitate various business processes.
Survicate is a survey software designed to collect feedback across multiple channels, including email, websites, in-product, and mobile in-app surveys. Its capacity to integrate with a wide array of tools and provide a holistic view of customer insights makes it ideal for businesses looking to understand and act on user feedback.
Why I picked Survicate: This customer experience management software allows you to choose from different feedback collection options, depending on what works for you and your target audience. It's easy to create surveys that integrate seamlessly with your existing systems, allowing for efficient and consistent data flow from your customers.
Survicate also provides metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES) to track and understand customer satisfaction and loyalty. Whether you're looking to gauge customer experience through email, in-product, your website, or mobile apps, you can customize your survey attributes and reach specific customer segments to gather actionable insights.
Survicate Standout Features and Integrations:
Standout features include multi-channel surveys that you can set up using an intuitive drag-and-drop creator. The platform also offers NPS, CSAT, and CES metrics to measure and track experiences at all user touchpoints. Moreover, Survicate provides over 400 professional templates for different user research initiatives. You can also automate your feedback collection and access real-time reporting and analysis for a more consistent stream of insights.
Integrations include Active Campaign, Drip, FullStory, Google Analytics, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Intercom, MailChimp, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zendesk, and much more.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Real-time analysis
- Many integrations available
- Ability to edit surveys from a template
Cons:
- Learning curve for users wanting to maximize the platform's features
- Continuous customer responses may be overwhelming to navigate
Zoho CRM is a robust customer relationship management platform used by over 250,000 businesses in 180 countries. It offers tools to help you effectively manage your sales pipeline, marketing automation, and customer support activities, covering all areas of your revenue operations. The software can facilitate customer conversations via phone, email, live chat, and social media.
Why I picked Zoho CRM: I included Zoho CRM in this list because of its ability to use artificial intelligence for better CX interactions. For example, the software uses AI to learn from customer interactions in order to provide useful suggestions like the best time to contact customers or predict business trends. Zoho CRM also has an analytics feature that uses data across your entire organization to provide you with an impact analysis of business decisions, helping you minimize risks and increase your potential for success.
Zoho CRM Standout Features and Integrations:
The biggest standout feature for Zoho CRM is its omnichannel engagement coverage. When a customer interaction is initiated through any of your connected channels, your CX team will be notified. The software also stores detailed communication data and customer records, ensuring your agents have all the context they need to effectively handle requests. Teams can also manage their calendars, files, and emails through the system. Workflow automations help you easily respond to simple requests without adding to your team's workload.
Integrations include Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Zapier, Zendesk, and ServiceNow.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Helps analyze customer sentiments, trends, and engagement levels
- Feature-rich and affordable
- You can monitor social mentions in one inbox
Cons:
- Many features creates a steep learning curve
- AI features are limited to their highest paid plan
Jotform Enterprise is a cloud-based form builder and automation platform that enables B2B organizations to create and share professional-looking forms and then record and analyze customer responses. The software helps sales and marketing teams generate leads for their pipeline, process order payments, and conduct customer surveys. Through customer surveys, sales teams can easily capture actionable insights based on customer satisfaction and overall experiences.
Thousands of templates are available and tailored for various use cases, from smart PDF forms with conditional logic to customer experience surveys and thank you page customizations. All forms created with Jotform are mobile-optimized, as the software utilizes mobile-first technology to ensure that all published forms look good on any device. Users can create and manage forms easily on their mobile devices too.
Advanced form options also help users add a different dimension to their customer feedback surveys, such as adding multilingual support, automation features, incorporating conditional logic, and creating offline forms. The software has dozens of in-built features tailored to improve customer interaction with different forms and surveys.
Jotform Enterprise also has a report builder that allows users to visualize and present their data to stakeholders within seconds. They can leverage the report builder to convert customer responses into detailed reports that are easy to understand. This will help them identify useful insights crucial to making future business decisions.
Pricing details are available upon request.
Hiver is a customer experience and multi-channel helpdesk platform that's built around Google Workspace. It also includes tools to administer customer satisfaction surveys and monitor key metrics related to your customer support team, helping them improve their performance and response times.
Why I picked Hiver: I included Hiver because of its unique integration with Gmail. Your team can manage a shared inbox and assign, track, and respond to customer support requests right from their Gmail account. It's quick to set up and intuitive to use. Small businesses and startups can benefit from the fact that the software works natively in their Google products.
As your team scales, a manager or admin can use the delegation tool to assign emails to specific team members. You can also track the status of emails, to spot if a request goes unattended for too long or needs escalation. Service level agreements (SLAs) can be configured in the platform. This helps ensure timely and consistent responses to incoming tickets.
Hiver Standout Features and Integrations:
Standout features for Hiver include auto-assignment of incoming customer emails, email tags for better organization of queries, and email templates that allow for standardization of customer responses. Hiver also helps support teams monitor and improve performance by offering real-time analytics, custom SLAs, and customer satisfaction surveys.
Managers can use it to assign inbound messages to members of their support team and add notes to each contact record to provide further details. Managers can also use their team performance features to keep an eye on key metrics such as response time and resolution time to gauge the quality of their customer or IT support.
Integrations are available with Aircall, Asana, Jira, Okta, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Slack, WhatsApp, and Zapier.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Sends automatic notifications of potential SLA breaches
- Customer support is available 24/7 via chat or email
- Includes knowledge base capabilities
Cons:
- More focused on reactionary customer support and less focused on proactive CX management
- Only suitable for businesses using Google Workspace
Tidio is a customer service software that works well for customer experience management. It has a chatbot, live chat, and email marketing tool all rolled into one.
Why I picked Tidio: Their chatbot is easy to customize, meaning you can make it sound just like you or your brand. The chatbot can also handle a bunch of different tasks, such as answering FAQs, booking appointments, or selling products. Then there's the live chat feature, which lets you talk to your customers in real time.
Tidio Standout Features and Integrations:
Standout features for Tidio include its email marketing tools which are integrated with it's chatbot/live chat software, allowing you to send out targeted campaigns to keep your customers engaged. This is a particularly useful feature since, usually, CX tools specialize in one or the other.
The email marketing tools let you hand-craft emails using a simple, drag-and-drop designer or email templates to get you started quickly. They have over 500 templates to choose from and will often add more to the library. You can automate email flows using event triggers - for example, whenever you get a new subscriber to your site (welcome letter) or a customer wraps up an experience with customer service (survey).
Some additional features include analytics for your email campaigns; the ability to turn emails into support tickets; and the ability to classify conversations based on customer intent. These key features can help you better prioritize your work, ensure customers are taken care of, and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Integrations are available with WordPress, Shopify, and Mailchimp, allowing you to keep all your customer interactions in one place, no matter where they're happening. Tidio also has a robust API to support additional custom integrations as well. If you sign up for the Tidio+ plan, additional integrations are available with Wix, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, Recharge, Meta, Attentive, Yotpo, and Judge.me.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Multilanguage capabilities are included in all plans
- The Free and Starter plans offer a wide range of features
- Includes up to 500 chatbot triggers in their Starter plan
Cons:
- Live chat support is limited to 24/5 and not available in the free plan
- Limited customization options
Other Customer Experience Management Software
Looking for more customer experience management tools to check out? Here are a few more that didn’t make it into my top 10 shortlist, but are still worth considering:
-
Nextiva
For personalized journey orchestration
-
Zendesk
AI-powered, omnichannel support solution
-
Acquire
For efficient customer service workflows
-
Churn360
For multi-source customer behavior monitoring
-
Snoball
For automated referral growth
-
Compass
For interactive walkthroughs
-
Oracle CX
For integrated customer data across functions
-
Satmetrix
For a holistic voice-of-the-customer solution
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Adobe Experience Manager
For digital asset and content management
-
UserZoom
For syncing CX and product development
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UserGuiding
For NPS surveys and microsurveys
-
LiveAgent
For building a self-serve content hub
Customer Experience Software Selection Criteria
When selecting the best customer experience software to include in this list, I considered common buyer needs and pain points like collecting customer feedback and ensuring quick response times. I also used the following framework to keep my evaluation structured and fair:
Core Functionality (25% of total score)
To be considered for inclusion in this list, each solution had to fulfill these common use cases:
- Collecting customer feedback
- Managing support tickets
- Analyzing customer data
- Automating responses
- Tracking customer interactions
Additional Standout Features (25% of total score)
To help further narrow down the competition, I also looked for unique features, such as:
- Real-time sentiment analysis
- Customizable dashboards
- Multichannel communication
- Predictive analytics
- AI-driven insights
Usability (10% of total score)
To get a sense of the usability of each system, I considered the following:
- Intuitive interface design
- Easy navigation
- Minimal learning curve
- Customizable workflows
- Responsive design
Onboarding (10% of total score)
To evaluate the onboarding experience for each platform, I considered the following:
- Availability of training videos
- Interactive product tours
- Access to templates
- Supportive AI chatbots
- Webinars for new users
Customer Support (10% of total score)
To assess each software provider’s customer support services, I considered the following:
- 24/7 availability
- Multiple support channels
- Response time
- Quality of assistance
- Access to a knowledge base
Value For Money (10% of total score)
To evaluate the value for money of each platform, I considered the following:
- Competitive pricing
- Features offered for the price
- Scalability options
- Transparent pricing models
- Discounts for long-term commitments
Customer Reviews (10% of total score)
To get a sense of overall customer satisfaction, I considered the following when reading customer reviews:
- Overall satisfaction rating
- Commonly mentioned pros
- Commonly mentioned cons
- Frequency of updates and improvements
- Feedback on customer support services
How to Choose Customer Experience 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 offer flexible plans and can handle increased workloads without affecting performance. |
Integrations | Check if the tool integrates with your existing systems like CRM, email marketing, or social media platforms to ensure seamless data flow and efficiency. |
Customizability | Assess whether you can tailor the software to fit your specific needs, such as custom fields, reports, and workflows, to enhance your team's productivity. |
Ease of Use | Consider how intuitive the interface is. A user-friendly design reduces the learning curve and helps your team quickly adapt to the new system. |
Budget | Look at the total cost of ownership, not just the initial price. Factor in implementation, training, and potential upgrade costs to avoid budget surprises. |
Security Safeguards | Verify that the software has robust security features, such as data encryption and compliance with regulations like GDPR, to protect your customer data. |
Trends in Customer Experience Software
In my research, I sourced countless product updates, press releases, and release logs from different customer experience software vendors. Here are some of the emerging trends I’m keeping an eye on:
- AI-driven insights: AI is being used to analyze customer data and predict behaviors. This helps businesses personalize experiences more effectively. Companies like Salesforce and Zendesk are integrating AI to offer predictive analytics and sentiment analysis.
- Voice of the customer programs: Gathering and analyzing customer feedback in real time is becoming more prevalent. Tools are now offering advanced sentiment analysis and feedback loops to improve customer satisfaction. Qualtrics and Medallia are leading in this space.
- Omnichannel support: Customers expect consistent service across all channels. Vendors are focusing on providing a unified view of customer interactions, whether they occur via email, chat, or phone. Freshdesk and HubSpot are enhancing their platforms to support this trend.
- Self-service portals: More businesses are offering self-service options to reduce support costs and empower customers. These portals include knowledge bases and community forums. Zendesk and Zoho Desk are expanding their self-service functionalities.
- Data privacy and compliance: With increasing concerns over data security, vendors are prioritizing features that ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR. This trend is crucial for maintaining customer trust. Salesforce and HubSpot are emphasizing data protection in their offerings.
What Is Customer Experience Software?
Customer experience software is designed to help businesses manage and enhance interactions with their customers. These tools are generally used by customer service teams, marketing professionals, and product managers to improve customer satisfaction and retention.
Features like AI-driven insights, omnichannel support, and self-service portals support the analysis, management, and personalization of customer interactions. Overall, these tools provide businesses with the ability to understand and meet customer needs more effectively.
Features of Customer Experience Software
When selecting customer experience software, keep an eye out for the following key features:
- AI-driven insights: Analyze customer data to predict behaviors and personalize experiences with real-time data analysis.
- Omnichannel support: Provide a consistent service experience across all customer interaction channels.
- Self-service portals: Empower customers to find solutions independently, reducing support costs.
- Real-time sentiment analysis: Understand customer emotions and feedback instantly to improve satisfaction.
- Customizable dashboards: Tailor data views to fit your team’s specific needs and priorities.
- Predictive analytics: Anticipate customer needs and trends to proactively address them.
- Feedback management: Collect and organize customer feedback to drive product and service improvements.
- Data privacy and compliance: Ensure customer data protection and adhere to regulations like GDPR.
- Interactive product tours: Guide new users through features to enhance onboarding and adoption.
Benefits of CXM Systems
Implementing customer experience software provides several benefits for your team and your business. Here are a few you can look forward to:
- Improved customer loyalty: By providing optimized customer experience, you can expect customers to keep coming back.
- Enhanced service efficiency: Automate routine tasks and provide self-service options to reduce workload on your support team.
- Better decision-making: Use real-time sentiment analysis and predictive analytics to understand customer needs and trends with data insights.
- Increased revenue: Happ customers spend more, espcially if they feel like their concerns and feedback are being heard.
- Streamlined feedback loops: Collect and manage customer feedback efficiently to drive continuous improvements in products and services.
- Faster onboarding: Guide users with interactive product tours and training resources to ensure quick adoption of the software.
Customer Experience Software Integrations
To give customers the best experience, businesses need the right tools working together. Customer experience software integrations help different systems connect, making it easier to track interactions, answer questions, and improve service. Here are some integrations to look out for:
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Helps track customer interactions and history for better service.
- Help Desk Software: Manages customer support tickets and inquiries efficiently.
- Live Chat & Chatbots: Provides real-time support and automated responses to common questions.
- Email Marketing Platforms: Automates and personalizes email communication with customers.
- Social Media Management Tools: Monitors and responds to customer feedback on social platforms.
- Survey & Feedback Tools: Collects customer opinions to improve products and services.
- E-commerce Platforms: Syncs customer data, orders, and support with online stores.
- Analytics & Reporting Tools: Tracks customer behavior and service performance for insights.
- Phone & VoIP Systems: Integrates with call centers to log and manage customer calls.
- Knowledge Base & Self-Service Portals: Provides customers with easy access to FAQs and guides.
Costs and Pricing of Customer Experience Software
Selecting customer experience software requires an understanding of the various pricing models and plans available. Costs vary based on features, team size, add-ons, and more. The table below summarizes common plans, their average prices, and typical features included in customer experience software solutions:
Plan Comparison Table for Customer Experience Software
Plan Type | Average Price | Common Features |
---|---|---|
Free Plan | $0 | Basic ticketing, limited analytics, and community support. |
Personal Plan | $5-$25/user/month | Email support, basic reporting, and self-service options. |
Business Plan | $30-$75/user/month | Advanced analytics, multi-channel support, and automation features. |
Enterprise Plan | $100-$200/user/month | Customizable dashboards, dedicated account manager, and enhanced security and compliance features. |
Customer Experience Management: FAQ
Here are answers to some common questions about managing the customer experience:Integration with Other Technologies
What are the 3 E's of customer experience?
The 3 E’s of Customer Experience are:
- Ease – How simple and effortless it is for customers to interact with your business. This includes navigation, support, and transaction processes.
- Effectiveness – How well your product, service, or support meets customer needs and expectations. This is about delivering the right solution efficiently.
- Emotion – How customers feel about their interactions with your brand. Positive emotions foster loyalty, advocacy, and long-term relationships.
Balancing these three elements ensures a seamless and memorable customer experience.
Why is customer experience important?
Martin Zwilling states that “companies with the highest customer experience typically grow more than double their competitors’ rate.” He also states that brands could easily lose their competitive advantage when they focus on the wrong things.
In the same article, Zwilling notes that CXM has become more vital as a result of the “advent of social media and real-time interactive feedback via the Internet [which] allows every customer to build and expect a relationship with your business, rather than just touchpoints”.
With products generally becoming the same, and the cost of switching brands becoming easier, CXM becomes the one way your brand can ensure its competitive edge, satisfying customers and reducing customer churn. Positive customer experiences will help build an ongoing relationship with your customers.
What is the difference between customer experience management and customer service?
It’s important not to confuse customer service with customer experience management. The former tends to be reactive, only kicking into action when a customer meets a challenge. The latter is proactive as it anticipates the challenges a customer will meet and ensures that such challenges are averted.
What are some good customer experience software KPIs?
The right CX software KPIs provide insights into how well a company meets customer expectations, improves service quality, and streamlines support processes. Whether you’re assessing customer loyalty, service response times, or self-service adoption, these metrics offer valuable data to enhance decision-making and customer-centric strategies.
Below is a list of essential CX software KPIs that organizations should monitor to drive continuous improvement:
Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty KPIs
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) – Measures short-term customer happiness.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) – Gauges customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend.
- Customer Effort Score (CES) – Evaluates how easy it is for customers to resolve issues.
- Churn Rate – Tracks the percentage of customers who stop using the service.
- Customer Retention Rate – Measures the percentage of returning customers.
Engagement & Interaction KPIs
- First Response Time (FRT) – Measures how quickly support responds to inquiries.
- Average Resolution Time (ART) – Tracks the time taken to resolve customer issues.
- First Contact Resolution (FCR) – Measures the percentage of issues resolved in the first interaction.
- Self-Service Adoption Rate – Shows how often customers use self-service options.
- Ticket Volume & Trends – Analyzes the number and type of customer queries.
Operational Efficiency KPIs
- Agent Productivity – Evaluates the efficiency of support agents.
- Case Escalation Rate – Tracks the percentage of issues needing higher-level support.
- Cost per Resolution – Calculates the average cost to resolve customer issues.
- AI/Chatbot Deflection Rate – Measures how many issues bots resolve without human assistance.
- Omnichannel Engagement Rate – Tracks customer interactions across multiple channels.
Customer Sentiment & Feedback KPIs
- Sentiment Analysis Score – Uses AI to measure emotions in customer feedback.
- Review & Rating Trends – Monitors online reviews and scores.
- Survey Response Rate – Measures customer participation in feedback surveys.
- Escalation Due to Negative Sentiment – Tracks cases flagged by sentiment analysis.
- Resolution Sentiment Shift – Measures sentiment change from issue start to resolution.
How do CX management tools handle data privacy and GDPR compliance?
CX management tools prioritize GDPR compliance by requiring explicit consent for data collection and ensuring transparency about data usage. Secure storage is a must to prevent unauthorized access, and some situations necessitate appointing a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to oversee compliance. Additionally, many of these tools mandate the reporting of data breaches within 72 hours and necessitate regular reviews of data practices to align with GDPR standards.
What is the connection between customer service and employee empowerment?
Customer service and employee empowerment are deeply connected, as empowered employees are more equipped to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
When employees have the authority, resources, and confidence to make decisions, they can resolve customer issues faster, personalize interactions, and create positive outcomes without unnecessary escalations. This autonomy fosters a sense of ownership, motivation, and job satisfaction, leading to better service quality and stronger customer relationships.
Organizations that prioritize employee empowerment through training, trust, and supportive policies ultimately see higher customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and improved business performance.
Who uses customer experience management software?
Customer Experience Management (CEM) platforms have garnered significant market recognition, reflecting their effectiveness and leadership in the industry. In 2023, the global CEM market was valued at approximately $12.04 billion and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.8% from 2024 to 2030.
This growth underscores the increasing importance businesses place on understanding and enhancing customer interactions. The adoption of CEM software spans various industries and roles, including:
- Retail and Consumer Goods: Enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty through personalized shopping experiences.
- Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI): Improving client relations and service efficiency.
- Healthcare: Enhancing patient engagement and care quality.
- Information Technology and Telecommunications: Managing user experiences and support services.
- Automotive: Enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty through personalized services.
- Media and Entertainment: Tailoring content delivery to audience preferences.
- Government: Improving public service delivery and citizen engagement.
- Customer Experience Managers: Overseeing strategies to enhance customer interactions across various sectors.
These industries and roles leverage CEM software to gain insights into customer behaviors, streamline interactions, and foster long-term loyalty.
Can you share some tips for managing customer experience?
1. Seek Feedback: It would be impossible to manage customer experience without customer insights into what they are experiencing. Seek feedback actively by establishing channels such as support tickets and customer data collection through surveys, social media listening, and analytics tools. Then use this feedback to identify and resolve common challenges in the customer journey, enhancing their overall experience.
2. Connect with the Customer Emotionally: Build emotional connections with customers through empathy and understanding of their challenges, using social media and review sites as platforms for engagement. Brands that effectively address customer frustrations while maintaining an emotional bond will enhance customer approval and engagement.
3. Use Multiple Channels and Platforms: Customers have their preferred channels and platforms for interacting with brands. For example, some customers may prefer speaking to a team member over a chatbot, and still others might prefer social media interactions. Thus, you should use different channels and platforms for contacting and interacting with clients to ensure you meet their needs.
4. Personalize the Experience: Creating a personalized experience for individual customers is great for improving customer experience. For example, memes may appeal to younger people, but they may not make sense to another generation. Therefore, it is crucial to personalize customer experiences so you can meet their needs as well as possible.
5. Focus on Usability and Onboarding: If customers don’t know how to access or use your product or service, they will inevitably be frustrated. Invest in assisting your customers by providing in-depth customer onboarding, training, and resources to ease customer frustration. Have team members dedicated to answering customer inquiries and tickets.
Optimize Engagement Using CX Management Software
Choosing the right customer experience software is essential for businesses looking to enhance interactions, streamline support, and build long-term customer loyalty. The best platforms offer a balance of ease, effectiveness, and automation to create seamless experiences across multiple touchpoints. By leveraging the right tools, companies can not only meet customer expectations but also set themselves apart in an increasingly competitive market.
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