Key takeaways
- Customer engagement software is essential for ensuring that your current customers are satisfied with the level of your company’s attentiveness and willingness to solve problems.
- Often, customer engagement tools are features that already exist in various CRMs that you may currently be using.
When it comes to reaching your business’s full potential, it’s important to consider how well your company engages with its current clientele.
Customer engagement tools remove much of the guesswork from the equation and enables your team to stay focused on your customers’ needs. Providing clearer communication and being able to listen to your clients’ concerns will help boost customer engagement and offer higher retention rates.
To help you select the best customer engagement software tools, we evaluated dozens of providers based on pricing and features and narrowed down the list to the top eight.
- HubSpot CRM: Best for inbound marketing
- Zoho CRM: Best AI-powered customer insights
- Freshdesk: Best for multichannel customer engagement
- monday CRM: Best for no-code automation
- Pipedrive: Best for sales pipeline-driven engagement
- Creatio: Best for automated customer service
- Shape CRM: Best for industry-specific customer engagement
- Vivantio: Best for enterprise-grade customer support
What is customer engagement software?
Customer engagement software is a program that manages and tracks how well your business interacts with its existing clientele, making it easier to convert leads into new clients. It is a vital component for your business and can often be found baked into many CRM platforms that are on today’s market.
Our top customer engagement software picks
Omnichannel support
Native AI chatbot
Mobile app
My rating out of 5
HubSpot CRM
4.61
Zoho CRM
4.58
Freshdesk
4.52
monday CRM
4.36
Pipedrive
4.33
Creatio
4.09
Shape
4.04
Vivantio
4.01
The TechnologyAdvice editorial process follows strict standards that include intensive research, product assessment, and scoring of each provider. This ensures that we adhere to our mission of being a trusted source of information for tech buyers.
In this guide, I assessed the essential aspects of customer engagement management software. These inclue their pricing, features, ease of use, range of support services, and expert score.
Additionally, I read user reviews and conducted hands-on experience testing for software intuitiveness. Moreover, I use the following work experiences to put together buyer’s guides for sales software:
Over 13 years of editorial research and writing
Over six years of writing expert reviews about sales and business technologies
Almost four years in combined sales team and territory management
Bianca Caballero
Sales and Customer Service Expert at TechnologyAdvice
To identify the best ecommerce CRM, I assessed a curated list of top providers based on their pricing, features, compatibility, user experience, and real user scores. Each platform was scored using the following criteria.
Pricing: 25% of the overall score
Transaction-based pricing, yearly or bulk discounts, value for money, and scalability were key factors in evaluating the pricing. Providers that offered free trials and free plans received higher scores.
Key features: 30% of the overall score
I evaluated the customer engagement solutions based on the presence and quality of their features for omnichannel communication management and experience personalization. I also examined other key capabilities, such as automation, reporting and analytics, self-service tools, artificial intelligence (AI) tools, third-party app integrations, and mobile access.
Ease of use: 20% of the overall score
I evaluated how easy the software is to set up, learn, navigate, and use through hands-on trial and feedback from real users. I rated its built-in templates, learning curve, and ease of setup.
Support: 13% of the overall score
The factors that I considered for this criterion included the availability of 24/7 support and free resources for getting started, such as demos and webinars. In addition, I checked if each provider offered multiple support options, including email, phone, and live chat.
Expert score: 12% of the overall score
The expert score considers my perception of the software’s features and value for money. I also rated how easy it is to research the product and find details about its features and capabilities. Another factor I considered is its average user rating on reputable review sites, such as G2, Capterra, App Store, and Google Play Store.
HubSpot CRM: Best for inbound marketing
Overall Score
4.61/5
Pricing
3.88/5
Key features
4.67/5
Ease of use
5/5
Support
4.69/5
Expert score
4.5/5
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Customizable email templates with drag-and-drop email builder
- Offers an AI content generator
Cons
- Huge price jump from Starter to Professional tier
- Limited workflow customization
- Conversation intelligence is locked in with higher tiers
Why I picked HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is not only my best customer engagement software pick but is also one of the best CRM apps on the market because of its robust sales, marketing, and customer service tools. It allows you to create, personalize, and optimize your marketing emails using its drag-and-drop builder.
It also offers AI-powered service automation, omnichannel communication, and a no-code chatbot builder for conversational workflows. Despite its robustness, this platform manages to maintain its ease of use with its simple and highly intuitive interface.
- Email marketing: Design personalized emails using HubSpot’s customizable templates and drag-and-drop email builder. Automate email sends with simple workflows.
- Conversational bots: Improve live chat efficiency by using bots that create tickets and send visitors to the right knowledge base articles or service reps.
Content Hub: Deliver value to your customers through relevant and engaging blogs, ebooks, webinars, and videos. Distribute your content via email, landing pages, and social media.
Free tools: $0 for two users
- Email marketing
- Conversational bots
- Live chat
- Ticket pipelines with ticket routing
- Facebook Messenger integration
Starter Customer Platform: $15/user/month, billed annually ($20/user/month, billed monthly)
- All free tools
- Starter tier of HubSpot Sales, Marketing, Service, and Content Hubs
- Ticket automation and conversation routing
Professional Customer Platform: $1,170/month, billed annually ($1,300/month, billed monthly) for five users
- Everything in the Starter Customer Platform
- Professional tier of HubSpot Sales, Marketing, Service, and Content Hubs
- Omnichannel marketing automation
- Knowledge base
- Conversation intelligence
Enterprise Customer Platform: $4,300/month for seven users, billed annually
- Everything in the Professional Customer Platform
- Enterprise tier of HubSpot Sales, Marketing, Service, and Content Hubs
- Customer journey analytics
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Zoho CRM: Best AI-powered customer insights
Overall Score
4.58/5
Pricing
5/5
Key features
4.32/5
Ease of use
4/5
Support
4.69/5
Expert score
4.44/5
Pros
- Cost-scalable plans
- Advanced AI insights into email and call intent, sentiment, and emotion
- Dedicated Social Tab for social media engagement
Cons
- Steep learning curve due to advanced and robust features
- AI tools are locked in with higher tiers
- Tier-based limitations for third-party app integrations
Why I picked Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM’s intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and deep customer behavior tracking provide you with real-time sentiment analysis, lead scoring, and personalized recommendations.
Its Zia AI tool helps you anticipate customer needs, suggests the best times to engage based on past interactions, and detects potential churn risks even before they happen. Aside from its AI tools, Zoho CRM’s omnichannel capabilities enable you to engage with customers via email, chat, social media, and phone from a centralized platform.
- Zia AI: Leverage predictive analytics to forecast customer behavior and engagement trends, gauge customer moods from messages, and receive smart suggestions for the best time to reach out.
- Social tab: Engage customers on Facebook and X directly from Zoho CRM’s Social Tab.
Marketing and sales automation: Automate follow-ups, lead nurturing, and drip campaigns, and use custom workflows to trigger personalized responses to customer interactions.
Free: $0 for three users
- Lead, account, contact, and deal management
- Standard reports
- Campaign automation
- Workflow and task automation
- Lead and contact forms
Standard: $14/user/month, billed annually ($20/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Free plan
- Social media integration
- Custom reports and dashboards
- Mass email
- Access to Zoho CRM Marketplace
Professional: $23/user/month, billed annually ($35/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Standard plan
- Scheduled mass emails
- Case management
- Email integration
Enterprise: $40/user/month, billed annually ($50/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Professional plan
- AI automation and insights
- Customer journeys and segments
- Survey creation
- Customer portals
Ultimate: $14/user/month, billed annually ($20/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Enterprise plan
- Highest feature limits
Freshdesk: Best for multichannel customer engagement
Overall Score
4.52/5
Pricing
5/5
Key features
4.18/5
Ease of use
4.9/5
Support
4.19/5
Expert score
3.38/5
Pros
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- Cost-scalable plans with option to include AI tools
- Omnichannel engagement supports multilingual translations
Cons
- Limited customization for workflows and reports
- AI features are not as advanced as competitors like Zoho CRM
- Self-service in lower tiers is limited to the knowledge base
Why I picked Freshdesk
Freshdesk seamlessly integrates customer interactions across email, chat, phone, social media, and self-service portals into a single, unified interface. It’s equipped with an omnichannel ticketing system that automatically categorizes, prioritizes, and assigns customer queries to the right agents.
Plus, it has robust self-service options that include a knowledge base and community forums to empower customers to find solutions independently. As a bonus, it has little to no learning curve because of its simple and intuitive interface.
Also read: Best Customer Service Software
- Unified inbox: Freshdesk’s unified agent workspace puts all customer history, ticketing, and teams together in a single view, making it easy to prioritize tickets and auto-assign tasks.
- Freddy AI: Leverage intelligent email bots that engage customers 24/7 and deflect the majority of customer requests. Supercharge your support team with smart suggestions, summarizations, automation, insights, and relevant trends.
- Self-service: Empower your customers to find answers to their queries independently through knowledge base articles, branded customer portals, and community forums.
Free: $0 for two users
- Canned responses
- Social media integration
- Basic knowledge base
Growth: $15/user/month, billed annually ($18/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Free plan
- Personalized pre-written emails
- Customer portal
- Ticket dispatch and automation
- Auto-suggest solutions
Pro: $49/user/month, billed annually ($59/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Growth plan
- Multilingual conversations
- Freddy AI email bots
- Community forums
- Ticket templates
Pro + AI Copilot: $78/user/month, billed annually ($94/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Pro plan
- Freddy AI Copilot ticket summarizations and suggestions
- Freddy AI Insights
Enterprise: $79/user/month, billed annually ($95/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Pro + AI Copilot plan
- Skill-based ticket assignment
- Custom object analysis
monday CRM: Best for no-code automation
Overall Score
4.36/5
Pricing
3.88/5
Key features
4.25/5
Ease of use
4.5/5
Support
4.75/5
Expert score
4.25/5
Cons
- User-friendly, no-code, drag-and-drop automation builder
- Multichannel communication log and tracking
- Seamless integration with popular email, CRM, and communication tools
Pros
- No built-in ticketing and phone system
- Lacks AI-powered chatbots
- Limited email and marketing automation capabilities
Why I picked monday CRM
monday CRM’s highly customizable workflows allow you to automate follow-ups, task assignments, lead nurturing, and customer responses without coding. Its visual automation builder makes it easy to set up triggers based on customer behavior.
For instance, you can automatically send emails when a lead reaches a certain stage or set up notifications for sales reps when a deal requires attention. Moreover, its real-time dashboards provide insights into customer engagement trends to help teams respond proactively to customer inquiries.
- No-code workflow automation: Use monday CRM’s no-code automation builder to trigger follow-ups, lead assignments, and status updates based on customer actions.
- Multichannel communication tracking: Log emails, calls, and meetings to get a complete customer interaction history. Integrate monday CRM with popular tools like Gmail, Outlook, Slack, and WhatsApp for seamless customer communication.
- Customizable pipelines and dashboards: monday CRM’s drag-and-drop interface lets you design custom pipelines for different customer journeys. It also has real-time dashboards for customer behavior insights, engagement tracking, and response performance.
Basic: $12/user/month, billed annually ($15/user/month, billed monthly)
- Unlimited contacts, boards, and customizable pipelines
- Templates for lead, deal, and contact management
- Customizable notifications
Standard: $17/user/month, billed annually ($20/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Basic plan
- Lead and deal management
- AI email generator
- Automation
- Integrations
Pro: $28/user/month, billed annually ($33/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Standard plan
- Email templates
- Mass emails
- Sequences
- Sales analytics
Enterprise: Contact the provider for a custom quote.
- Everything in the Pro plan
- Lead scoring
- Post-sales management
- Enterprise reporting and analytics
*Requires a minimum of three users.
Pipedrive: Best for sales pipeline-driven engagement
Overall Score
4.33/5
Pricing
4.25/5
Key features
4.12/5
Ease of use
5/5
Support
3.88/5
Expert score
3.69/5
Pros
- Simple and easy-to-use interface
- Customizable chatbots and web forms for automatic lead capture and routing
- AI Sales Assistant identifies engagement patterns and suggests next best actions
Cons
- No built-in marketing automation tools
- Lacks native customer support tools
- Does not have deep customer engagement and sentiment analysis
Why I picked Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM that’s known for its intuitive and visual pipeline management features. Its Kanban-style pipeline interface makes it easy to track customer interactions, deal progress, and engagement stages in real time. You can also automate follow-ups and email tracking to facilitate proactive conversations. Moreover, its AI-powered Sales Assistant provides you with data-driven suggestions to help leads move through the pipeline efficiently.
- Visual sales pipelines: Use the Kanban-style pipeline to track customer interactions and deal progress.
- Email and communication tracking: Pipedrive’s two-way email sync with Gmail and Outlook allows you to automatically log conversations and track email opens for engagement insights.
- AI Sales Assistant: Pipedrive’s AI Sales Assistant analyzes customer interactions, suggests next best actions, identifies engagement patterns, and prioritizes high-value leads.
Essential: $14/user/month, billed annually ($24/user/month, billed monthly)
- Contact, lead, deal, and activity management
- Customizable pipelines
- Automatic call logging
- Email inbox
- Sales Assistant
Advanced: $39/user/month, billed annually ($49/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Essential plan
- Two-way email sync
- Meeting scheduler
- Automation
- Web-to-mobile calls
Professional: $49/user/month, billed annually ($69/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Advanced plan
- Automatic lead assignment
- AI email creation and summarization
- AI-powered Sales Assistant
Power: $64/user/month, billed annually ($79/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Professional plan
- Project planning, tracking, and delivery
- Advanced account permissions
- 24/7 live chat support
- Phone support
Enterprise: $99/user/month, billed annually ($129/user/month, billed monthly)
- Everything in the Power plan
- Unlimited reports and customizations
- Highest feature limits
Creatio: Best for automating customer service
Overall Score
4.09/5
Pricing
3.13/5
Key features
5/5
Ease of use
3.5/5
Support
4.44/5
Expert score
3.75/5
Pros
- Robust sales, marketing, and service features
- Highly customizable interface
- Offers AI-powered customer engagement
Cons
- Steep learning curve due to advanced features and customizations
- Base platform fee is separate from sales, marketing, and service module subscriptions
- Limited third-party app integrations
Why I picked Creatio
Creatio’s AI-driven automation, omnichannel support, and no-code workflow customization make it the best platform for automating customer service processes. You can automate case routing, ticket management, and proactive customer communication to ensure faster response times and better service quality.
Its AI-powered chatbots, predictive analytics, and self-service portals also enable businesses to anticipate customer needs and resolve issues efficiently.
- AI-powered ticketing: Creatio’s intelligent case and service management system automates case categorization, routing, and resolution. It also features a self-service portal and knowledge base for faster issue resolution.
- Studio Creatio: Non-technical users can design, build, and develop enterprise-grade apps with no code. You can also create branded user interfaces and customize workflows, integrations, reports, and dashboards.
Creatio.ai: Creatio’s base platform is powered by a unified AI architecture for sales, marketing, and service. You can view and manage all AI skills from the AI Command Center.
Base Platform
Growth: $25/user/month, billed monthly (minimum of 5 users)
- Creatio.ai
- No-code interface and workflow designer
- 1GB database storage per user
Enterprise: $55/user/month, billed monthly (minimum of 5 users)
- Everything in the Growth plan
- Unlimited workflow runs
- 2GB database storage per user
- Custom branding for the user interface
Unlimited: $85/user/month, billed monthly (minimum of 50 users)
- Everything in the Unlimited plan
- Unlimited storage and attachments
Products
Sales: $15/user/month, billed monthly
- Customer data management
- Lead and opportunity workflow automation
- Sales forecasts
- Contracts, documents, orders, and invoices
Marketing: $15/user/month, billed monthly
- Customer segmentation
- Omnichannel marketing campaigns
- Lead cycle orchestration
Service: $15/user/month, billed monthly
- Case and customer request management
- Omnichannel communication management
- Knowledge management, automation, and sharing
Shape CRM: Best for industry-specific customer engagement
Overall Score
4.04/5
Pricing
2.38/5
Key features
4.86/5
Ease of use
4.2/5
Support
4.5/5
Expert score
4/5
Pros
- Offers industry-specific customization options
- AI-powered lead automation and engagement
- Integrated sales and marketing tools
Cons
- Pricing is not transparent
- Steep learning curve for beginners
- Limited third-party integrations
Why I picked Shape CRM
Shape CRM offers tailored features for specialized industries like mortgage, insurance, small business, solar, and debt. It has industry-specific templates, automated compliance tools, and built-in marketing solutions that can help you streamline customer interactions.
In addition, its AI-driven automation, personalized customer journeys, and customizable workflows help reduce manual tasks and ensure efficient customer engagement.
- Industry-specific customizations: Shape CRM offers pre-built workflows, templates, automation, and compliance tools for industries like mortgage, insurance, and debt.
- Shape AI: Leverage AI insights and automation to optimize lead follow-ups, task reminders, and drip campaigns for personalized customer journeys.
- Marketing tools: Shape CRM allows you to run email marketing and drip campaigns, and automate lead scoring and nurturing to prioritize high-value prospects.
Shape Engage: Contact the provider for a custom quote.
- AI CRM with lead management
- Call, text, and email
- Sales automation
- Marketing tools
- Integrations
Shape Professional: Contact the provider for a custom quote.
- Everything in the Shape Engage plan
- Unlimited calling package
- AI lead scoring
- Customer profile builder
- Self-learning algorithms
Shape Enterprises: Contact the provider for a custom quote.
- Everything in the Shape Professional plan
- Proprietary branching model
- AI insights
- Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) lead engine funnels
- Content Management System (CMS) design suite
Vivantio: Best for enterprise-grade customer support
Overall Score
4.01/5
Pricing
3.25/5
Key features
4.3/5
Ease of use
4.2/5
Support
3.75/5
Expert score
4.19/5
Pros
- Advanced service management tools
- Customizable workflows and service level agreement (SLA) management
- Scalable for enterprises
Cons
- Pricing scheme has higher licensing fees for smaller teams
- Complex setup for beginners
- Lacks native sales and marketing automation features
Why I picked Vivantio
Vivantio is equipped with powerful IT service management (ITSM) capabilities specifically designed for large-scale service teams. These include customizable workflows, SLA management features, and an advanced ticketing system. It also offers self-service portals, a knowledge base, and intelligent case routing capabilities that enable enterprises to provide faster and more effective resolutions.
Also read: Best Employee Engagement Software
- Advanced ITSM: Provide efficient case management with Vivantio’s advanced customer support, enterprise-grade ticketing system, automated case routing, and self-service tools.
- SLA management: Track SLAs and build custom workflows to meet service-level commitments. Leverage AI-based monitoring for proactive issue detection.
- Multi-department service management: Handle diverse customer needs through Vivantio’s multi-department support and ensure secure data management with role-based access controls.
Cost:
- Named license starts at $59/user/month, billed annually (500 users)
- Concurrent license starts at $89/user/month, billed annually (500 users)
- Custom pricing for enterprises
Key features:
- Unlimited tickets
- SLA management
- Knowledge and asset management
- AI CRM
- Surveys
What are the benefits of customer engagement tools?
Good customer engagement can yield several benefits for your business, such as improved customer loyalty and higher retention rates. Leverage your customer engagement platform to its fullest potential to enjoy the following benefits:
Centralized customer interactions
A customer engagement platform streamlines communication by consolidating all customer interactions across multiple channels into a single view. With real-time access to past conversations, support agents and sales teams can respond more efficiently, reducing friction and enhancing the overall customer experience.
This ensures that every interaction is productive and personalized, ultimately strengthening customer relationships.
Improved customer loyalty
A seamless, consistent customer journey leads to increased customer loyalty. Engagement platforms provide businesses with the tools to deliver personalized experiences that keep customers engaged throughout their lifecycle.
Higher customer retention
Companies that excel in customer engagement retain more customers by offering personalized experiences across all touchpoints. By leveraging data from customer interactions, businesses can proactively address concerns and anticipate needs, increasing the likelihood of repeat business.
Competitive advantage
While many companies aim to be customer-centric, only a fraction truly prioritize customer engagement at the core of their business strategy. Implementing an omnichannel engagement platform gives businesses an edge by enhancing responsiveness, streamlining interactions, and delivering consistent value.
Companies that successfully integrate engagement tools into their operations differentiate themselves from competitors and position themselves as industry leaders.
Higher profit margins
Customer engagement isn’t just about communication — it’s a revenue driver. Omnichannel engagement strategies enable smoother customer transitions between platforms. Whether a customer starts browsing on a mobile app, continues on a desktop, or engages through social media, an integrated engagement approach ensures a frictionless experience that fosters loyalty and maximizes revenue opportunities.
Choosing the best customer engagement tools
Customer engagement platforms are essential for ensuring that your current customers are satisfied with the level of your company’s attentiveness and willingness to problem solve.
Often, customer engagement tools are features that already exist in a variety of CRMs that you may currently be using, so it’s important that your company realizes this and utilizes customer engagement tools to their fullest.
Monday CRM utilizes no-code automation, which are easy to customize and learn, and allow for better time management overall. This is similar to Creatio CRM, which is a simplified platform that, like Monday CRM, offers automation to improve customer service workflows.
Customer satisfaction is often prioritized by companies that have the desire to retain their current client base and gain new customers in the process. Shape offers tools that are built for online marketing and promotion,s meant to connect directly with clients and put them first.
Not to be outdone, Zoho CRM has the benefit of being able to integrate third-party software solutions like G Suite and MailChimp. Your teams may already use these pieces of software, so the integration Zoho can achieve allows team members to continue working comfortably with third-party software that they love.
Vivantio is an excellent option for B2B service automation, which builds relationships between businesses. Lastly, Freshdesk can benefit just about any company that wishes to track and monitor customer conversations across email, phone, social media, and instant messaging.
Looking for the latest in CRM solutions? Check out our CRM Software Buyer’s Guide.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
