Selecting the right customer experience (CX) software is a crucial step for organizations aiming to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. A customer experience platform can make it easier to continue customer conversations across channels, find points in the customer journey that need improvement, and offer self-service options to customers.

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CallMiner CX Landscape Report: 2024

Discover how practitioners around the globe using data, analysis & AI to improve customer experience based on this landmark survey from CallMiner.

This guide features 25 tips on how to choose the best CX software, including:

• Finding a customer experience platform that automates services for customers
• Choosing CX software that guides agents through customer conversations
• Understanding your CX goals and aligning software features with those goals
• Considering what your business needs in terms of data analysis and reporting

In this article:

• What is CX software?
• Key features of CX software
• 25 tips for choosing the best CX software
• Frequently asked questions

What is customer experience (CX) software?

A customer experience platform assists companies in building and maintaining relationships with customers. These tools are designed to navigate the customer journey from end to end, like managing customer data, identifying points in the customer journey where personalized offers should be placed, and organizing customer conversations from multiple channels. CallMiner integrates with several leading CX platforms, including Oracle, Zendesk, and others.

Looking to better meet changing customer expectations? It's time to level-up your customer experience software.

Head over to our blog for a roundup of important elements to consider, frequently asked questions and more when selecting a #CX platform: https://t.co/Hb1QqIi8z0

— CallMiner, Inc. (@CallMiner) November 21, 2023

The importance of delivering an exceptional customer experience can’t be overstated. In fact, according to Gartner Research, 80% of businesses expect to compete primarily based on CX. The right software is key to maintaining a competitive CX advantage.

Key features of CX software

The capabilities of customer experience software can vary from platform to platform, but some common features include:

1. Customer feedback management: One of the most important features of CX platforms is the ability to collect and manage customer feedback. This includes surveys, polls, reviews, and unsolicited feedback that allow businesses to gauge customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement. Consolidating customer feedback from multiple channels, such as phone, email, chat, and social media, provides a comprehensive view of customers’ behavior, emotions, and sentiment.
2. Analytics and reporting tools: CX software often provides dashboards that offer analytics insights beyond surface metrics to help companies identify trends, segment customers for targeted engagement, and understand the impact of specific interactions on customer loyalty.
3. Customer journey mapping: Customer journey mapping creates a visual representation illustrating the steps customers take when interacting with your brand, product, or service. It helps businesses understand the customer’s experience from initial introduction to post-purchase support, highlighting each touchpoint and interaction throughout their journey.
4. Sentiment analysis: Many CX tools leverage advanced sentiment analysis technology to evaluate customer feedback through surveys, social media, reviews, and even live customer interactions via phone and chat. This data helps identify opportunities to close sales, shift the outcome of an interaction, track the success of your campaigns, and identify trends in customer preferences.
5. Omnichannel support: In the modern world, customers interact with businesses across various channels, including social media, phone, email, live chat, websites, and in-person. CX platforms provide the tools you need to provide seamless omnichannel customer support, providing consistent, personalized service regardless of where customers are engaging with your brand.
6. Automation capabilities: CX platforms often include tools that allow businesses to automate routine tasks and processes to streamline customer interactions. For example, CX software may help you automate responses to frequently asked questions or send personalized follow-up emails following a purchase.

25 tips for choosing the best CX software

We’ve curated this list of expert tips and best practices to help you select the best customer experience platform to meet your business’s needs. With the right CX software, you can deliver a powerful customer experience that drives customer loyalty and bottom-line results.

1. Choose software that automates parts of the customer journey. “Customer experience automation allows tools and processes to handle parts of the customer journey. Chatbots, personalized landing pages, and automated phone systems are examples of customer experience automation implementation.

“Four key components allow customer experience automation to happen:

• Orchestration, or the planning part of CX automation, draws upon existing data on your customers’ journeys to identify areas in which you can use automated processes or tools.
• Segmentation separates your customers into categories based on demographic characteristics like age or income level or behaviors such as shopping habits. Segmentation makes it possible for your company to target specific needs through personalized offers and automated processes.
• Personalization is when those personalized offers and processes step in. Segmentation helps you fit your customers into the right boxes, and personalization uncovers the best forms of assistance to deliver at the right time for each segment of customers.
• Automation completes the process by placing tools, self-service features, and other automated processes at necessary customer touchpoints using the data you’ve gathered about your customers and their needs.”

- How technology is transforming customer experience automation, CallMiner; X/Twitter: @CallMiner

2. Understand your goals to find a CX platform that can help you meet them. “Your goals for implementing a customer experience program dictate the features you’ll need.

“For example:

• Is there a global behavior (a drop in customer retention) you can’t easily explain?
• Is there a specific customer pain point you’ve already identified that you want deeper insight on how to fix?
• Do you need a way to help monitor and improve the performance of your customer service team?
• Are you looking for a way to improve adoption of a new product feature?

Once you have an idea of what you’re trying to accomplish, the feature set will make itself clear. The remaining questions below help you think through the options.”

- How to choose the best customer experience management software for your business, Delighted; X/Twitter: @delighted

3. Look for automation features for agents. “You can automate repetitive manual tasks like lead management, customer segmentation, and campaign management, thereby reducing clutter and improving data accuracy. The latest AI automation features help marketing teams concentrate on more complex activities, saving time and resources.”

- Manogna Chandrika Matta, What Is Customer Experience Management? A Comprehensive Guide, SelectHub; X/Twitter: @SelectHub

4. Usability is key. “The user experience of the tool itself is a major consideration:

• Intuitive Interface: A good customer experience management tool should be easy to navigate, with a clean design and clearly marked functions.
• Quick Onboarding: The tool should allow for a quick setup process, with straightforward instructions and ideally, templates to get started faster.
• Scalability: The tool should be able to grow with your business, handling increased data volume without compromising performance.
• Reliable Support: Access to prompt and helpful customer support ensures any technical hitches do not disrupt your customer experience tracking.”

- Craig Borowski, 26 Best CX Software Reviewed For 2024, CX Lead; X/Twitter: @CxLead

5. Make sure dashboards are customizable. “Utilizing dashboards is a powerful way to efficiently organize and analyze the abundance of data managed by your customer experience management tool. Seek a tool that offers customizable dashboards featuring intuitive data visualizations, making it effortless to identify emerging customer trends.”

- Chloe Decker, The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best CX Management Services, via LinkedIn

6. CX software shouldn’t let any customer issues slip through the cracks. “Some CX solutions offer "closed-loop" case management functionality. This means that when customers provide negative survey feedback or raise an issue, the software automates the issue resolution process, usually by creating a support ticket so staff can act quickly.”

- Find the best Customer Experience Software, Software Advice; X/Twitter: @SoftwareAdvice

7. Personalize the customer experience with the right CX software. “The capability to categorize all your customers based on behavioral analytic data will allow you to personalize communication, target advertisements, process customer requests quicker and increase customer satisfaction in the long term.”

- Sabina Sher, Guide to Choosing a Customer Experience Platform, FuseBase; X/Twitter: @nimbuswebinc

8. CX software should provide actionable data. “A good-quality CXM (customer experience management) platform will support your team in gathering experience data, organizing and categorizing it in a usable way, and helping you communicate across departmental silos where present.

“That technology also needs to go one step further, giving you the tools to analyze and report on your findings and ultimately, turn your data into improvements. By opting for a platform with advanced analytical tools, you can unlock more value from your CX program and use it to discover the behavioral key drivers underpinning your findings, assign weighting and priorities to your improvement to-do-list, and even make predictions on future developments that will help you plan ahead.”

- Bruce Temkin, What is a customer experience (CX) program?, Qualtrics; X/Twitter: @Qualtrics

9. Real-time agent guidance improves conversations. “Real-time agent guidance is an AI-driven process that listens to customer conversations to find opportunities for suggestions and improvements. These suggestions are meant to enhance the conversation by giving agents ideas for upsells, offering things to say to improve the sentiment of the conversation, or proposing a call escalation. ”

- Achieve contact center success with real-time agent guidance, CallMiner; X/Twitter: @CallMiner

10. Prioritize omnichannel connections. “Today’s customer journeys are complex, multi-layered, and span a number of different channels. A customer may want to start an interaction with your company through a self-service bot or app, and then move on to a conversation with an agent on the phone.

“You need to make sure your CX solution allows you to communicate with your customers through the channels they use most often. But it’s also important that these channels are connected on the backend so you can track the context and details of a conversation from one environment to the next.

“96% of consumers expect companies to make it as easy as possible for them to move between channels. So if you’re giving your customers the option to choose between text, video, and phone, make sure it’s all connected. Speaking of connected solutions: Try to make sure your CX platform makes it easy for your customers to move from a self-service environment to a conversation with an agent. The right tools should automatically pass contextual information to your agents when they pick up the phone or answer a chat message.”

- CX Software – The 5 Must-Have Features to Look For, Bulb Tech

11. Consider all costs associated with implementing new CX software. “Understanding the spectrum of CX software costs involves considering both the upfront implementation costs and the ongoing expenses for maintenance and updates. Businesses must also factor in the cost of training staff to use these platforms effectively. Comparing the long-term benefits against the initial investment is crucial for making an informed decision.”

- CX Software, Ultimate Guide + Collection, EarlyShark; X/Twitter: @earlyshark_com

12. Knowledge base support can help customers and agents. “We live in the era of ‘Googling It’, where people are used to looking for answers on the internet. In fact, that’s the first thing that most people do before they take their query elsewhere.

“According to Harvard Business Review, 81% of customers across industries attempt to resolve issues on their own before contacting a live representative.

“By investing in a knowledge base software tool, you can create, manage and share self-service content in the form of FAQs pages, how-to-videos, and step-by-step tutorials. One of the biggest benefits of having a knowledge base is that it brings down the workload of your support team, as customers can look for answers themselves.

“Your support team can also refer to the knowledge base while answering common queries — this improves response time as frontline agents don’t have to figure out solutions/answers from scratch.”

- Smeetha Thomas, 10 Must-Have Customer Support Tools to Include in Your Tech Stack in 2024, Hiver; X/Twitter: @hiverhq

13. Consider how integrations work with new CX software. “One factor that organizations will want to consider is how a CX management platform integrates with their existing systems, as well as their people and processes.

According to [Faith] Adams, [analyst at Forrester Research], when it comes to IT integrations, it's critical to know how the system maps data and how integrations work with different aspects of the IT landscape. ‘Organizations need to know that they can get the data they want for their CX initiatives with the system, and different vendors have different capabilities to achieve this. Some already have prebuilt integrations or connectors, or organizations can use APIs to integrate. If companies need to build a custom integration, however, this may add more costs,’ she said.”

- Christine Campbell, 7 features of CX management tools to consider, TechTarget; X/Twitter: @TechTargetNews

14. Seek software that connects the dots between customer feedback. “Customer Feedback Management tools help even giant companies stay in tune with their customers’ wants and needs. CallMiner Eureka, for example, is a powerful software solution that analyzes every customer interaction using automated scoring and sentiment analysis and combines that data with data from chat interactions, customer surveys, email and tweets, providing a comprehensive view of the customer.”

- What is Customer Feedback Management (CFM)?, CallMiner; X/Twitter: @CallMiner

15. CX software should help you understand the customer journey. “Any customer experience management (CXM) software suite worth its salt will help you understand customer journeys like never before, by bringing together every facet of all customer experiences into one centralized hub. That includes:

• Customer lifecycle and customer segmentation: Is the customer at the start of their buying journey? Or are they a longtime, loyal customer of yours already? Customer experience management is all about building up profiles that differ depending on where in the buying journey customers are. The resulting segmentation and customer data will help you deliver personalized experiences, and to nurture each stage of the customer journey.
• Next-generation listening and understanding of customer feedback: It’s essential to be able to analyze your customer’s feedback at scale and understand what they are saying to you. Modern CXM software applies sophisticated AI, machine learning, and natural language processing to alert you to what’s happening, and recommend the actions to take next. Understanding signals such as emotions and emotional intensity, effort, sentiment and intent with AI-driven tools can help your team to make definitive predictions, allowing your business to anticipate customers’ next steps.
• Customer engagement and customer touchpoints: You need to be able to see how and where customers are talking about (and with) you. That means collecting engagement data with an omnichannel approach. In today’s business environment, a review on a third-party website, an off-hand tweet, an email, and a customer support call should all be given the same weight in terms of importance.”

- Your guide to the best customer experience management software, Qualtrics; X/Twitter: @Qualtrics

16. Prioritize cloud-based flexibility for remote teams. “Deploying cloud-based solutions gives call centers the flexibility they will need to pivot quickly from in-office to work-from-home environments—and back again—as the situation dictates, without any disruption to customer service. Having an advanced solution that can be accessed and fully leveraged by all of your agents, no matter where they are based on any given day, will help to ensure consistency and the highest of standards in the customer experience.

“By using a cloud solution, agents will have access to all of the tools they need to best service customers, and callers should not be able to tell that they are speaking with agents not based at headquarters. One important element to consider in this area is that finding solutions that can also support overlay/hybrid models of both on-premise and cloud can be helpful as call centers make the transition over to cloud.”

- Todd Carothers, Top Seven Call Center Software Requirements for the “Now Normal”, Contact Center Pipeline; X/Twitter: @CCPipeline

17. Get trainable software. “When a call center uses sentiment analysis software to detect customer emotion as they speak with a representative, machine learning processes continuously monitor the conversation to learn more about what constitutes a positive or negative emotion.

“People can train these algorithms to become better at doing what they do. Sentiment analysis platforms work behind the scenes during customer conversations, but humans can use tagging, alerts, and other tools to make the platform drill down elements of conversations the company wants to highlight. Similarly, data analysts can update and tweak machine learning systems for continued improvements.”

- Sentiment analysis & machine learning: 2023 guide, CallMiner; X/Twitter: @CallMiner

18. Consider your data analysis needs. “Some people love segmenting and analyzing data in Excel. Others, not so much.

“CXM platforms with built-in analysis and reporting tools cut down on the amount of time you need to dig for insights. On the other hand, if you have a robust setup, maybe all you need your CXM platform to do is pipe all the feedback data into your analytics platform.”

- How to choose the best customer experience management software for your business, Delighted; X/Twitter: @delighted

19. Redaction technology assists compliance efforts. “Many regulatory standards require organizations to capture recordings. In addition, both companies and consumers benefit greatly from capturing the voice of the customer. This allows them to analyze information and adjust how they respond and work with customers to deliver a more efficient and positive customer experience.

“However, there is risk associated with the capturing of sensitive customer data. Once you capture information, it becomes your responsibility. You are immediately in charge of security, ensuring compliance, and are on the hook for all the associated costs and risks that come with it.

“There are many benefits to implementing redaction technology in your operations. Here are a few bound to get the attention of your compliance, risk and security teams.

• Identify and remove sensitive numeric data with sophisticated redaction algorithms without customer or agent impact
• Reduce legal exposure and compliance risk through automated redaction for both post-contact and real-time interactions
• Adapt to evolving call volumes and metadata with scalable, cloud-based platform”

- Under Redaction! Why Companies Can’t Seem To Get It Right When It Comes To Recorded Data, CallMiner; X/Twitter: @CallMiner

20. Let your CX software manage inventory, too. “Inventory management for customer experience management (CEM) purposes goes beyond just keeping tabs on what products are -- or are not -- in stock. A good CEM system will include an integrated product database that can easily track inventory as well as provide insights into what products and product versions customers already have. It will also monitor any customer issues by tracking bug reports and feature requests and creating trouble tickets from these items. Checking for integrations will be important if the organization wants to integrate with existing inventory management software.”

- Christine Campbell, 7 features of CX management tools to consider, TechTarget; X/Twitter: @TechTargetNews

21. CX tools (and businesses) should prioritize data security and transparency. “As consumer awareness of artificial intelligence (AI) grows, as many as 33 percent of our practitioner network said this is influencing work.

“As a result, an increasing number of APAC businesses are becoming aware of the importance of adopting ethical AI practices and improving communication about data security measures to maintain customer trust. This shift towards responsible AI usage is becoming a key component of customer engagement strategies, as informed consumers expect businesses to adopt AI while handling their data with care and transparency.

“Companies like Alibaba have been transparent about their AI-driven recommendation engines and chatbots that enhance the shopping experience on platforms like Tmall and Taobao. Similarly, Grab provides clear explanations of its AI functionalities for ride allocation and customer support, which has helped to foster strong stakeholder relationships.”

- Jerome Smail, 6 customer behaviors influencing CX strategy in APAC, CX Network; X/Twitter: @CX_Network

22. Seek proactive software. “Customers in search of the perfect experience always demand “speed.” However, getting ahead of customer expectations today doesn’t just mean responding to needs quickly. It means proactively anticipating and addressing them in advance.

“With CRM data, AI solutions, and insights, companies can predict what their customers need before picking up a phone. The information companies gather about customers, and their purchasing habits can even allow AI tools in CRM software to determine the best time to reach out to a customer with a deal or offer.

“Some solutions even integrate with workforce management and optimization tools, helping companies to forecast changes in demand based on contact volume.”

- Rebekah Carter, CRM Customer Experience Benefits: Reasons to Invest in CRM Software, CX Today; X/Twitter: @cxtodaynews

23. Automated translation can help you connect with global customers. “Automated translation tools will improve your international sales and support. It’s extremely difficult to gain customers in new markets if you can’t clearly communicate with them. Retaining these same customers over the long term is virtually impossible. At the same time, hiring a multilingual sales and support staff is usually prohibitively expensive. Plus, it’s worth remembering that workers hired primarily for their language abilities may not be well-trained in sales or support, and may provide a lower quality of service than your primary staff. The result is often a flat — or even slightly negative — ROI from investing in a dedicated multi-language support staff.

“This equation changes completely with automated translation tools. By leveraging the power of neural machine learning, like the Google Translate API, it is possible for everyone on your sales and support teams to access high-quality, real-time text translations of over 100 languages. These tools also remove barriers for your staff, allowing them to deliver great results to your international and multilingual customers.”

- Jennifer Karpus-Romain, 3 Reasons to Add Translation Capabilities to Your CX Software, Faye; X/Twitter: @faye_digital

24. AI-driven tools make support more accessible to customers. “There’s no doubt that our rapid shift to online and digital-first experiences has left a wide swath of customers behind. And as we’ve shifted into these digital environments, accessibility challenges have become much more complex.

“Customers with physical or visual impairment, for example, might not be able to point-and-click a mouse or see a screen. Neurodivergent customers may find certain words or writing styles confusing. And accessibility doesn’t just mean for customers with disabilities. Language barriers may prevent certain customers from navigating a website properly—or engaging with an agent.

“AI can help organizations provide service to anyone, anywhere, in a way that is personalized to their unique needs. Voice AI makes it possible for customers to make purchases without having to touch their phones. Generative AI can summarize text on a page to make it easier to understand. And improved AI capabilities are helping to bridge language gaps on multiple customer service channels.”

- Cristina Fonseca, The Role Of AI In Making CX More Accessible And Inclusive, Forbes; X/Twitter: @Forbes

25. Set a budget before searching. “Curiosity got the better of you — a quick Google search showed you some options that caught your eye. You considered them and added them to your shortlist, only to find they’re way too expensive.

“To avoid disappointment and wasted time, try to set your budget from the get-go. Talk with your team members to set your expectations, and rule out any CRM tool outside the price range.‍”

- How to Choose CRM Software: A Practical Buying Guide, Guru; X/Twitter: @Guru_HQ

CallMiner is an advanced customer experience platform that monitors 100% of customer interactions across channels such as phone, email, live chat, social media, and more, providing deep insights into customers’ thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Request a demo today to discover how CallMiner can help you identify patterns and insights at scale to better understand your customers and meet their needs and expectations.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose the best customer service software?

The best customer service software solution will align with your unique business needs. For example, if your customers typically contact your business through multiple channels, like email, website forms, and social media, you’ll need an omnichannel solution. Advanced analytics and reporting are also important to learn more about your customers and identify parts of the customer journey where sales can happen or customers need more help. Also, consider customizability and integration capability to tailor your software to your workflow.

How does CX software integrate with existing systems and tools?

Many CX software solutions offer API integration, which allows them to connect with popular customer relationship management tools you may already be using. Check a software’s website for more information about the tools it integrates with and how integration works.

How can I avoid challenges when implementing CX software?

The best way to avoid challenges when implementing CX software is to offer plenty of training to help all team members feel confident in using the software. A good CX software solution will offer in-depth onboarding and high-quality customer service to ensure successful implementation.