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Keeping customers engaged shouldn’t feel like an uphill battle, but for many Customer Success Managers (CSMs), it does. Whether it’s manually following up with customers, switching between apps to track engagement metrics, or trying to gather actionable insights from fragmented systems, the process often feels inefficient and overwhelming.
The good news? Customer engagement tools are designed to simplify these challenges. The right tools can centralize your efforts, streamline communication, and help you focus on what matters most: building meaningful relationships with your customers.
In this blog, we’ll explore the top customer engagement tools available today, what makes them effective, and how they can help you boost retention and loyalty. Whether you’re new to these tools or looking to upgrade, this guide will help you make informed decisions.
1. Drift
Drift focuses on real-time conversations with customers through chatbots and live chat. Its AI-powered chatbots and account-based marketing (ABM) tools allow teams to deliver targeted, personalized messages, making it an excellent choice for businesses aiming to build strong customer relationships quickly.
It has customizable chatbot workflows that align with customer needs, and integrates well with CRM systems for seamless data sharing. It also helps identify qualified leads and generates automatic and personalized greetings for them.
However, it requires some technical expertise to set up advanced workflows, and can be costly for smaller teams. Exact pricing can vary, and you can contact Drift on their website for more information.
2. Pendo
Pendo helps improve product adoption and engagement through in-app guidance and analytics. Its onboarding walkthroughs are particularly helpful for guiding users through complex features.
Product usage tracking is also a useful feature Pendo offers, offering actionable insights into the effectiveness of new features.
It supports feedback gathering through NPS surveys and provides AI-generated qualitative insights from the data.This works well for product teams looking to understand customer needs on a deeper level.
There is, however, limited support for customer communication outside the app. Additionally, the features available can vary depending on which plan you select.
Pendo has a custom pricing based on monthly active users, so you will have to request more information on their website.
3. Velaris
Velaris is a Customer Success Management platform designed to help businesses streamline customer engagement, improve collaboration, and drive retention. With a focus on unifying data and providing actionable insights, Velaris offers a range of tools to help Customer Success Managers (CSMs) work more efficiently and build stronger customer relationships.
Key engagement features of Velaris include an automation builder that can create email sequences, analytics to optimize campaign performance, and an email template creator for streamlining communications.
The platform also enables in-app or email surveys for metrics like NPS, CSAT, and CES, making measuring engagement easier.
Velaris excels at uniting siloed data from sales, marketing, support, and onboarding teams, providing a centralized view of the customer journey. Its AI Copilot analyzes customer communications, such as emails and tickets, to suggest next steps in customer engagement strategies.
Velaris has customized pricing based on business needs. You can contact Velaris for details or to request a demo.
4. Zendesk
Zendesk is a robust platform for customer service management. With features like a ticketing system, omnichannel support, it’s ideal for businesses that need to handle a high volume of customer inquiries while maintaining quality engagement.
A highlight of Zendesk is its knowledge base which organizes necessary information and allows customers to have effective self-service. You can use Zendesk’s Web Widget and Mobile SDK to include in-context self-service inside a product or on a website.
Advantages of Zendesk includes that it scales well for businesses of all sizes, and offers extensive customization options for workflows.
However, it can feel overly complex for teams without a dedicated admin. Further, some advanced features require higher-priced plans.
Zendesk has a variety of plans, starting at $19 USD a month per agent. Details on the other plans are available on their website.
5. Typeform
Typeform transforms surveys and feedback collection into an engaging experience. Its customizable forms, logic jumps, and real-time response tracking make it useful for teams wanting to gather meaningful insights in a way that feels interactive and intuitive.
This tool places an emphasis on creating beautiful forms that attract customers and make them want to engage. You can also design surveys to align with your brand with its customizing features.
Typeform also allows adding logic jumps to create personalized question paths based on user responses. Additionally, it offers real-time response tracking, so teams can quickly analyze data and identify trends as they emerge.
However, Typeform’s primary focus is on surveys and forms, which means it doesn’t offer broader engagement capabilities like live chat, ticketing, or product analytics. For teams looking for an all-in-one engagement platform, this limitation may require supplementing Typeform with other tools.
Plans start at $25 USD a month, and more information on pricing is available on their website.
6. Mixpanel
Mixpanel is all about analytics and understanding customer behavior. Its funnel analysis, retention tracking, and cohort analysis give businesses the insights needed to improve how users interact with their products over time.
Funnel analysis allows businesses to track user conversion paths, helping identify where customers drop off and optimize those steps.
Retention tracking provides insights into how often customers return to a product, while cohort analysis enables teams to group users based on shared behaviors or characteristics, allowing for more targeted strategies.
That said, Mixpanel is primarily focused on analytics and does not offer customer communication or engagement features like live chat or email automation. Additionally, some advanced features, such as custom dashboards, are only available in higher-tier plans.
Mixanel has a free plan available with limited features. Paid plans start at $24 USD per month, scaling based on events. Other plans available are detailed on their website.
7. HelpScout
HelpScout is a simple and effective tool for customer communication. Its shared inbox, proactive messaging, and knowledge base are perfect for small to mid-sized teams needing an intuitive platform for managing conversations.
The platform’s shared inbox feature is a standout capability, enabling teams to collaborate efficiently on customer queries while maintaining a unified voice. Proactive messaging allows businesses to engage customers before they reach out, helping to build trust and improve satisfaction.
HelpScout’s knowledge base functionality lets teams create self-service resources, empowering customers to find answers to their questions independently.
HelpScout also integrates with popular tools like CRMs, project management software, and analytics platforms, ensuring customer data is easily accessible across workflows
While HelpScout is an excellent choice for small to mid-sized businesses, it has limitations when it comes to scalability. Larger teams or enterprises may find its feature set too basic, as it lacks features like advanced automation.
Additionally, businesses requiring multichannel support (like phone or social media) may need to supplement HelpScout with other tools.
There is a free plan available, while the paid plans start at $50 USD per month. More information on pricing can be found on their website.
8. Intercom
Intercom combines personalized customer messaging with automation and AI. Features like live chat, chatbot automation, and customer data tracking make it ideal for teams looking to enhance engagement through conversational marketing and support.
Intercom’s live chat functionality allows businesses to provide instant support and personalized messaging. The platform’s Fin AI supports multilingual communication. Intercom also offers chatbot automation to handle common inquiries, freeing up team members for more complex tasks.
Intercom’s customer data tracking ensures that every conversation is informed by detailed insights, enabling teams to deliver highly tailored experiences.
Its user-friendly interface makes it accessible for teams of all sizes, and its scalability supports both startups and larger enterprises.
However, businesses need to thoughtfully configure automated messaging to avoid overwhelming customers with excessive communication.
Intercom’s pricing starts at $29 USD, with a free trial available. You can check out their website for information on other plans.
9. HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub is a customer service platform designed to help teams improve customer satisfaction, streamline support processes, and align service with marketing and sales efforts.
The platform’s key features include a robust ticketing system, customer feedback surveys (such as NPS, CSAT, and CES), and automation tools for workflows and follow-ups. Additionally, HubSpot’s shared inbox enables collaboration across teams, ensuring consistency in communication and resolution.
HubSpot Service Hub also provides detailed reporting and analytics to help teams track performance metrics and identify areas for improvement. Its integration with HubSpot’s broader ecosystem allows businesses to manage the entire customer journey within a single platform, fostering alignment between sales, marketing, and support teams.
Advanced features, such as custom automation and in-depth reporting, are only available in higher-tier plans. Smaller businesses may find the cost of these plans challenging, and those seeking highly customizable solutions may prefer platforms with more flexibility.
Plans start at $15 USD per month, while access to free foundational tools is available. More information on Hubspot Service Hub’s pricing can be found on their website.
Conclusion
Customer engagement tools play a crucial role in helping businesses streamline workflows, communicate effectively, and build lasting customer relationships. Each tool offers unique capabilities, so choosing the right one depends on your specific needs and goals.
Whether you need real-time communication, robust analytics, or tools to unify customer data, leveraging these platforms can make your engagement efforts more efficient and impactful.
If you’re looking for a solution that brings all your customer engagement efforts together in one place while offering actionable insights and automation to save time, Velaris could be the right choice for your team.
Book a demo today to explore how Velaris can help you deliver meaningful customer engagement.
