An outstanding customer experience (CX) is non-negotiable for successful businesses, but knowing how to deliver it can be tricky. That’s why organizations are turning to modern tools to help make life easier for customers and empower support agents to work more efficiently.
Customer success software, sometimes called customer success management (CSM) software, provides many resources—like AI and automation—that help businesses increase revenue, hit long-term goals, and deliver an outstanding CX. In this article, we detail a handful of CSM options to help you find the right solution for your business.
Customer success software, or customer success management software (CSM), is a tool that businesses use to deliver fast and personalized support to their customers in an effort to increase retention and improve the overall CX.
Customer success tools help teams be proactive by providing data and insights to get ahead of issues. With features like workflow automation, custom dashboards, self-service options, and more, businesses can use CSM tools to decrease the touchpoints that lead to customer churn and increase the interactions that foster long-term loyalty.
What are the different types of customer success software?
Customer success software comes in various types to help businesses meet their goals. Some different variations include:
Customer communication: Software like
social media customer service software that helps teams interact with customers more effectively via social media, live chat, AI agents, and other omnichannel mediums.
Customer education: Platforms that prioritize content like customer onboarding guides, interactive tutorials, and product walkthroughs to foster learning and product adoption.
Customer support: Tools that help teams manage customer inquiries, track issues, and provide self-service options like knowledge bases.
Customer feedback and analytics: Solutions like customer feedback tools that can collect customer sentiment through surveys, track user behavior, and monitor usage to address customer churn proactively.
Organizations may use a combination of these tools or choose to invest in a partner like Zendesk, which has all of these capabilities in one system.
Benefits of customer success management tools
Customer success software integrates with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to create a unified view of the customer. Using their combined powers, you can use your CSM software to achieve the following benefits.
Delivers visibility into customer interactions
CSM software allows you to understand your customers—specifically, the channels they spend their time on and how they behave. This information lets businesses comprehensively view customer needs, patterns, and preferences. The increased visibility equips support teams with the information to personalize and tailor experiences to best suit their customers’ needs.
Provides omnichannel support
Customers interact with businesses across several channels, such as email, social media, and live chat. With so many communication platforms, consistency is important. With omnichannel routing, CSM software like Zendesk can transfer customers to the most capable agent. From there, the agent can quickly get up to speed with the customer’s situation, resulting in a seamless and convenient support experience.
Identifies and prevents customer churn
Losing customers is one of the most significant impacts on businesses. CSM software can analyze data, like customer engagement and behavior, to identify potential churn risks before they happen.
This predictive analysis helps customer success managers and their teams identify and reach out to high-risk customers to learn about issues and a lack of engagement before the problem escalates. Doing so can increase the likelihood of customer retention, as well as aid customer-first initiatives.
Improves customer onboarding
When you acquire new customers, they must receive comprehensive customer onboarding and support to help them understand your product. CSM software can streamline this process. With CSM, you can easily send relevant onboarding resources, automate tasks, and track progress. This can reduce the time it takes for new customers to realize the value of your offering, leading to higher retention and loyalty.
Increases agent productivity
With CSM software, businesses can support their agents with dashboards, task automation, ticket management systems, and easier access to internal knowledge bases. These features build on customer service training, allowing agents to focus on the level and quality of their customer support rather than mundane tasks.
Improves customer satisfaction
Finally, CSM software is a key driver of customer satisfaction. It can help teams gain better visibility into their customers, monitor churn indicators, improve customer onboarding, and empower agents to operate more productively. These capabilities combine to help businesses provide a better CX, increasing customer satisfaction.
Key features of CSM software
No matter which CSM software you choose, you need to ensure it has a few key features.
AI agents
AI agents are advanced chatbots that can provide 24/7 support to your customers. They can understand and respond to natural language queries, guide users to relevant resources like how-to articles, and autonomously resolve requests like password resets, refunds, and order status updates. If the problem is too complex for the AI agent, the technology can route the customer to the most qualified support agent with the full context of the situation.
AI-powered QA
AI-powered quality assurance (QA) tools can proactively address customer churn by automating the review of customer interactions, scoring them based on pre-defined criteria, and providing actionable coaching tips. These tools look for indicators of dissatisfaction, such as negative sentiment or unresolved issues.
By identifying potential areas of concern, businesses can proactively intervene and address customer needs before they escalate. Additionally, these tools offer valuable insights into agent performance, allowing for targeted coaching and development to improve overall customer satisfaction.
Workflow automation
Workflow automation streamlines customer support for businesses and consumers. It simplifies support teams’ duties, offering assistance for simple tasks so they can focus on more complex issues. For example, Liberty London, a UK-based premium department store and retailer, uses workflow automation to automatically classify and route incoming customer support tickets to the right agent, helping decrease ticket resolution time by 11 percent.
AI-powered self-service
Empowering consumers to find solutions to issues or queries is crucial to boosting customer satisfaction while easing the workload of a support team. Articles, guides, FAQ pages, and other knowledge base solutions can result in faster resolutions and a positive customer experience. The addition of AI enhances the overall capabilities and effectiveness of self-service resources.
Customer segmentation
With customer success tools, businesses can segment customers based on demographics, behavior, trends, and other factors. With this information, management can use customer success playbooks to target a specific customer segment—like consumers at high risk of churning—and deliver tailored solutions to meet their needs. Some tools may also include customer loyalty software capabilities to build on those customer segments and deliver personalized incentives and support.
Reporting and data management
CSM software can deliver valuable insights into your consumers' health and behavior. Reporting dashboards can provide a real-time view of essential metrics like ticket times and customer satisfaction so you can make the most effective data-driven decisions.
Modern CSM software should also provide a unified hub where businesses can gather, organize, and access consumer information from various touchpoints. This gives support teams and operations managers a roadmap to deliver personalized and relevant consumer interactions.
Powerful integrations
You won't be able to use CSM software to its full potential if it can't integrate with the tools you use every day. At Zendesk, for example, we offer 1,700+ apps and integrations via the Zendesk Marketplace so you can sync all of your software into one unified ecosystem. This allows your team to operate more efficiently and eliminates unnecessary downtime when first adopting CSM software into your operations.
The 18 best customer success software
Below are 18 customer success software options on the market. Our overview breaks down each tool and its pricing so you can make the best choice for your operations.
Zendesk is a leading customer experience software that empowers businesses to deliver an exceptional CX across all channels. Organizations can use it to streamline their support operations, enhance agent productivity, and improve overall customer satisfaction. Our intuitive interface and robust features suit businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprise-level corporations.
For businesses looking to gain deeper insights into their customer support performance, Zendesk QA offers advanced analytics and quality assurance. These features provide real-time reports on key metrics, agent performance, and customer satisfaction trends so you can make data-driven decisions to continually improve your success strategies. QA tools score interactions, noting if the customer had a positive or negative sentiment, allowing your team to enact churn prevention strategies.
Unlike the general AI that other software employs, Zendesk AI is purpose-built for CX and trained on over 18 billion customer service interactions. It makes it easier to serve customers and improve their experiences. Zendesk AI agents provide immediate answers to customers and perform complex tasks, so fewer requests get pushed to your agents.
Our customer success solution also features AI-powered self-service options, enabling customers to find answers to their questions quickly and easily. This includes intelligent knowledge management tools and community forums that use machine learning to improve search results and suggest relevant content. Knowledge management tools will also identify content gaps so your team can create new articles that address more customer inquiries.
While AI has plenty of ways to assist the customer directly, it can also make your human agents more effective. The Agent Copilot feature leverages AI to suggest relevant responses, articles, and solutions during conversations, significantly reducing resolution times and increasing personalization. Additionally, Zendesk workflow automation capabilities allow businesses to create custom rules and triggers, automating repetitive tasks and ensuring consistent service delivery across all customer touchpoints.
Gainsight provides a customer success platform that allows businesses to build and maintain customer relationships. Using information like survey responses, integrated data, and customer health scoring (CHS), Gainsight pairs your customer tickets to provide a view of the customer. The CHS system lets businesses track and analyze various customer satisfaction, engagement, and risk metrics. Additionally, Gainsight offers features such as customer journey mapping, customer segmentation, and automated workflows to manage the customer experience.
Pros
Cons
360-degree customer view
Playbooks and success plans
Expansion forecasting
Self-service capabilities are paid add-ons no matter the plan
ChurnZero is a CSM software designed for subscription businesses. By integrating with a business’ CRM, ChurnZero helps evaluate how customers use products, how likely they are to renew, and how personalized and appreciated their experience is. The platform uses an algorithm to collect and analyze customer participation data and generate reports within the software and across a business’s tech stack. For instance, the system can alert you in real time when customers make changes to their accounts so agents can take the appropriate actions.
Pros
Cons
In-app communication
Renewal forecasting
Reporting and analytics
Lacking in certain CX features like knowledge bases
Planhat is a CSM built to manage business workflows while fostering customer acquisition, providing customer insights, and identifying real-time churn warnings. The customer health dashboard visually represents customer metrics, allowing businesses to identify at-risk customers. Organizations can use the software to monitor customer health and help teams set realistic goals and outcomes.
Pros
Cons
Onboarding
Customer health scores
Customization
Customer success and customer service capabilities exist on different plans
UserGuiding is a specialized customer success software focused on guiding customers through onboarding and product walkthroughs. The platform includes features like onboarding checklists, resource centers, guided product tours, and analytics tracking so businesses can monitor their processes' effectiveness. Additionally, UserGuiding lets businesses promote new or underutilized product features in their walkthroughs.
Pros
Cons
Email and chat support
Reporting and analytics
Goal tracking
Only up to 3 active customer surveys outside of the most expensive plan
The AI assistant is charged on a per-resolution basis
Custify is a CSM platform for software as a service (SaaS) businesses. The product helps organizations understand customer health and use that data to create action plans and business strategies. Its Customer 360 feature gives a central dashboard of customer health, which determines their actions and how long they are using your product. Its automation capabilities can help companies send welcome emails, assign accounts to team members, and automatically notify companies of customer behaviors.
Totango is software that provides customer success and churn prevention tools. This CSM provides real-time health reports, risk alerts, and specified engagement opportunities to help businesses monitor their customers' statuses. It also provides pre-built success program templates so businesses can onboard, upsell, and monitor customer engagement.
Pros
Cons
Churn risk identification
Growth intelligence
Customer onboarding
Only 5 teams are allowed in the Enterprise plan
Advanced AI features come separate from the customer success platform
ClientSuccess aims to help organizations build a customer journey through four areas of focus: onboarding, adoption, expansion, and renewal. Features like Pulse™ provide real-time customer updates so businesses can identify churn risks and upsell opportunities, while its SuccessCycle and customer feedback capabilities focus on customer retention and growth initiatives. Teams can set and track organizational goals, including metrics like progress percentage, current stage, and target objective.
Pros
Cons
Task management
Third-party integrations
Goal tracking
Custom reports are only included in the most expensive plan
Customer portals not available in lower-tiered plans
Vitally is a customer success software that focuses on strategies, processes, and workflows. The platform offers customer hubs, full-scale integration, and omnichannel communication options. Businesses can establish hubs for teams and individuals so everyone has a dedicated workspace to manage customer data, documents, and projects. Users can also create visual workflows that include playbook automation and lifecycle tracking.
ZapScale is a customer success platform that seeks to bring visibility to customer relationships so businesses can address churn rates and product adoption. Its predictive analytics analyze customer behavior and provide insights into potential upsell opportunities and overall engagement. Additionally, ZapScale offers customizable workflows and automation tools so teams can manage tasks, monitor account health, and communicate with clients.
Pros
Cons
Customer churn prediction
Upsell identification
AI account summaries
Only 90 days of data retention in the Starter plan
No custom views or customer segmentation in the Starter plan
SmartKarrot is a customer success software that can help teams increase customer visibility and develop automated playbooks. Onboarding features allow teams to automate product adoption and scale what works. Integrated data provides a full view of customer information, while health scores pinpoint churn risks and the strength of client relationships. Teams can use account expansion capabilities to identify and contact new business opportunities.
Pros
Cons
Third-party integrations
Dynamic segmentation
Account expansion
Advanced AI is a paid add-on outside of the most expensive plan
Akita is a customer success software geared toward SaaS businesses and startups. Actionable alerts allow teams to establish pre-defined triggers that flag when customers perform certain actions— allowing them to address churn or present an upsell opportunity.
Customer segmentation allows teams to create different strategies for their customer bases, while automated playbooks help users establish pre-defined workflows based on customer behavior or attributes.
Pros
Cons
Customer health scores
Self-service capabilities
Reporting and analytics
Only 10k contacts are allowed in the basic plan
Limited amount of tracking events per month outside of the most expensive plan
InMonment helps teams with their customer experience strategy. AI capabilities analyze consumer behavior to generate customer insights and predict user behavior and intent. Reputation management helps teams monitor their social media activity and track reviews and ratings. Customer feedback tools like surveys, ratings, reviews, and summarized chat logs provide insight into customer sentiment. Market research capabilities allow businesses to use AI to learn about consumer trends.
EverAfter is a customer success software geared towards B2B teams. The AI-powered interface builder allows businesses to build a customer interface that can help with onboarding, success plans, and POC management. Task management helps users create success plans, while data collection capabilities can gather customer information and help import it into a CRM system.
Pros
Cons
Third-party integrations
AI and automation
Reporting and analytics
Non-transparent pricing
Since it's built for B2B teams, it may not be as ideal for other use cases
OnRamp is a customer success software that prioritizes the onboarding process. Personalized customer portals allow teams to build client workspaces and guide project completion. Progress trackers give insight into how the customer is completing onboarding, and helps users achieve pre-defined goals. Workflow mapping capabilities leverage Kanban project management techniques and automation to launch, organize, and guide users throughout onboarding.
Pros
Cons
Third-party integrations
Security features
Customer playbooks
Non-transparent focus
Few AI capabilities compared to other products on the list
Intercom is a customer service software with customer success capabilities. Fin, the product's AI agent, can interact with customers, gather insights, and complete basic actions. Help center capabilities allow teams to create multilingual self-service resources. The product's ticketing system allows support agents to deliver omnichannel service and assist customers across channels, while workflow automation features help teams build roadmaps and tasks for customers and employees.
Pros
Cons
Omnichannel support
Help center
AI copilot
AI agent is charged on a per-resolution basis
Advanced security is only available in the most expensive plan
HubSpot Service Hub is a customer service software in the wider HubSpot ecosystem. The platform has self-service features like a knowledge base and a help desk integrated with AI to assist support agents in helping customers. Customer health scores and product usage allow businesses to gain insight into consumer behavior and identify churn risk.
Furthermore, the platform can also link with other HubSpot products like Sales and Marketing, so teams that use those systems can integrate everything.
Pros
Cons
Integration with the wider HubSpot ecosystem
Ticket routing
Third-party integrations
Workflows not available outside of the Professional plan
Only 500 minutes of customer calling in the Starter plan
Help Scout is a customer success software that prioritizes shared inboxes, help centers, and customer live chat. Generative AI capabilities can summarize customer support ticket threads, edit and translate replies, and suggest responses that support agents can modify or execute.
'Snooze' and 'Send Later' ticket capabilities can temporarily pause non-urgent conversations and schedule replies for a later date, respectively. Reporting and analytics can help teams monitor customer behavior and identify areas of improvement.
Pros
Cons
Shared inbox
Unlimited AI drafts and assists
In-app messaging
Team grouping is only available in the most expensive plan
Customer surveys are not available in the free plan
Without an open and flexible CSM software that integrates with your other tools and systems, agents will be forced to toggle between different interfaces to get key customer information, which decreases efficiency, negatively impacts collaboration between departments, and leads to data silos. Make sure integration is seamless and all relevant personnel have complete access.
Prioritize an AI-powered solution
By leveraging AI, you can gain valuable insights into customer behavior, automate workflows and complex tasks, and deliver personalized support. AI agents, copilots, and QA tools enable proactive issue resolution, improve customer satisfaction, and drive long-term loyalty. Investing in such a solution enhances customer experiences, streamlines operations, boosts agent efficiency, and contributes to business growth and success.
Consider the total cost of ownership
While the initial price of the software may be a significant factor, it’s crucial to consider the total cost of ownership (TCO). It includes all direct and indirect costs of ownership, such as maintenance, training, customization, full-scale adoption, and other factors a business may accrue while owning the product. At Zendesk, for example, we are a top vendor for total ROI and low TCO.
Evaluate the level of security provided
CSM software is all about data—and it’s important to consider how your business and consumer data will be protected and stored. When evaluating software options, pay attention to the vendor’s security measures. Look for customer data protection features such as data encryption and compliance with industry standards to protect sensitive information.
Assess ease of use and scalability
If CSM software is challenging to operate, you won’t have much success with implementation and facilitating wide-scale adoption in your organization. Consider how responsive the vendor is and if the software offers user-friendly navigation and an easy-to-use interface. Also, ensure you can easily find answers to your problems via an internal help center or forum—like what we established in the Zendesk community.
Frequently asked questions
Any business that has regular customer interactions can benefit from a CSM tool. If you have a customer success plan, the software will help with the implementation and management of those strategies so you can drive customer retention.
The difference between CRM and customer success software is that CRMs primarily focus on managing sales and marketing interactions with prospects, while customer success software focuses on the post-sale relationship.
Try CSM software for free
If you’re ready to try a CSM tool, opt for an industry-leading product—choose Zendesk. Our scalable, robust software aids businesses of all sizes to streamline their operations and create meaningful connections with their customers. Industry-leading AI, QA tools, and intelligent knowledge management software are just a few of the solutions we provide that enable you to deliver an engaging CX that positively impacts your balance sheet. Try it today.
Mozhdeh Rastegar-Panah is a seasoned customer experience leader and the Senior Director of Product Marketing at Zendesk. With over 12 years at the forefront of customer service innovation, Mozhdeh specializes in translating complex AI and CX technologies into impactful, scalable solutions for global businesses. Her work focuses on elevating customer support through messaging, automation, and omnichannel strategies. She brings a unique blend of strategic vision and hands-on expertise to the future of customer service.
Related customer success guides
From customer success to the CX, here’s some related information you can use to help your operations.
