This guide will walk you through what a customer engagement platform is, how they work, and how to choose the best one for you.
A customer engagement platform is software that helps businesses interact with customers across multiple channels, including email, social media, and mobile.
Top Customer Engagement Platforms
These platforms enable brands to manage interactions, gather data, and analyze behavior to improve overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.
With a unified view of customer interactions, an app engagement platform helps businesses deliver personalized experiences, build stronger relationships, and drive revenue growth–you can find the best customer engagement platforms in our directory below.
What is a customer engagement platform?
Customer engagement platforms enable app marketers to attract and retain users, allowing them to analyze customer behavior and integrate personalized communication methods.
Download our App Engagement Guide, covering all the trends, strategies, and metrics you need to know to ace app engagement in 2024.
App Engagement Guide
Mobile retention companies themselves cover every aspect of an app marketing campaign from a single platform.
Mobile app engagement platforms and services enable app marketers and product managers to manage the process of engaging with users first and foremost.
Methods such as push notifications and personalization, as well as the efficient tracking of data, are a key part of the package.
Featured Customer Engagement Platforms
The best customer engagement platforms
A customer engagement platform is software that helps businesses interact with customers across multiple channels, including email, social media, and mobile. The software helps businesses to better interact with their customers and retain their users.
We’ve listed the best customer engagement platforms below.
1. Braze
Braze is a customer engagement platform that enables businesses to build and manage personalized customer experiences across multiple different channels, including email, SMS, mobile push notifications, in-app messaging, and web push.
It’s focused on helping companies create real-time, relevant, and responsive communication with their users based on (data-driven) insights and behavioural analytics. Braze is widely used by consumer brands to engage, retain, and grow their customer base.
Overview
Braze was founded in 2011 by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman, and Mark Ghermezian. Originally known as Appboy, the company initially focused on helping mobile app developers engage users through notifications and in-app messages.
Over time, the company expanded to support multi-channel customer engagement across email and SMS and became a comprehensive engagement platform.
Services
Braze provides its customers with the following services:
- You can create custom messages that appear while users are active within the app, ideal for onboarding, promotions, and user guidance
- Reach users on desktop and mobile browsers with push notifications to keep them engaged even when not on the site
- In-app content that can display personalized promotions, updates, or recommendations within a card format, allowing users to access messages without interruption
2. Airship
Airship is a customer engagement platform that delivers personalized, real-time notifications and messages across multiple digital channels.
Originally known for its mobile push notification services, Airship expanded its offerings to help brands engage with customers across a range of channels, including in-app messaging, SMS, email, mobile wallet, and web notifications.
Overview
Airship (formerly Urban Airship) was founded in 2009 by Scott Kveton, Steven Osborn, Adam Lowry, and Michael Richardson.
The company initially focused on mobile push notifications, recognizing the potential of mobile devices as a new, powerful engagement tool for brands. Urban Airship quickly became a pioneer in push notification tech for mobile apps, which helped establish its reputation in the customer engagement industry.
Services
Airship provides its customers with the following services:
- In-app messaging that allows brands to deliver messages to users while they are actively using the app
- Brands can send alerts and updates directly to users’ desktops or mobile browsers, even when they are not active on the website
- Supports SMS and MMS messaging to help brands reach users directly on their phones
3. CleverTap
CleverTap is a customer engagement (and retention) platform that helps businesses deliver personalized, targeted messages to users across multiple channels based on real-time behavioural data.
It combines analytics, segmentation, and multi-channel messaging to engage customers at different stages of their lifecycle, aiming to boost user retention, loyalty, and lifetime value. The platform is especially popular among mobile-first companies in industries such as eCommerce, media, travel, and fintech.
Overview
CleverTap was founded in 2013 by Sunil Thomas, Anand Jain, and Suresh Kondamudi. The company started with a mission to help businesses improve customer retention (and engagement) by using real-time behavioural data and insights.
Based in Mountain View, California, and Mumbai, India, CleverTap quickly gained popularity among mobile-first companies for its analytics and engagement tools.
Services
CleverTap provides its customers with the following services:
- Marketers can see how users interact with their product, monitor app usage patterns, and gain insights into user journeys
- Businesses can track the retention and behaviour of users in different cohorts based on factors like acquisition date, actions taken, or engagement levels
- Allows you to create highly targeted segments of users based on real-time and historical behaviours, demographic and location data
4. Iterable
Iterable is a customer engagement platform designed to help businesses deliver personalized, cross-channel marketing campaigns. It allows marketers to manage (and automate) customer interactions across multiple channels, such as email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messaging.
Iterable focuses on providing a data-driven experience for both marketers and customers by utilizing real-time behavioural data, segmentation, and automation.
Overview
Iterable was founded in 2013 by Justin Zhu and Andrew Boni. The company was launched to provide marketers with a more robust and data-driven platform for personalized customer engagement.
The founders envisioned a solution that could help companies manage customer interactions across email, mobile, social media, and other platforms, using automation and real-time data to drive meaningful engagement.
Services
Iterable provides its customers with the following services:
- You can send real-time push notifications directly to users’ mobile devices, enabling engagement even when users are not actively using the app
- Marketers can reach customers with SMS and MMS for transactional updates, time-sensitive alerts, or promotions. Iterable supports both automated and personalized messaging for SMS
- You can reach users within the app through pop-ups, banners, or other message formats
5. Customer.io
Customer.io is a customer engagement platform focused on helping businesses create personalized, automated marketing and messaging campaigns.
It allows companies to send targeted communications based on real-time behavioural data and customer attributes, enabling marketers to build better user relationships through highly customized, automated interactions.
Customer.io is particularly known for its flexibility, API capabilities, and keen focus on data-driven messaging.
Overview
Customer.io was founded in 2012 by Colin Nederkoorn and John Alison. The founders launched with the goal of creating a platform that would enable companies to send personalized, data-driven messages based on real-time user behaviour.
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Customer.io has since become known for its flexible API, automation features, and strong focus on enabling marketers to engage with users.
Services
Customer.io provides its customers with the following services:
- Advanced email tools with customizable templates, drag-and-drop editing, dynamic content, and A/B testing. Emails can be personalized based on user behaviour and attributes to drive engagement
- Reach customers on their mobile devices with SMS and MMS messaging, suitable for alerts, reminders, promotions, and transactional messages
- Engage users with real-time, personalized push notifications to drive app engagement and notify users of key updates
6. MoEngage
MoEngage is an insights-led customer engagement platform that helps businesses create personalized, cross-channel marketing campaigns to drive user engagement, retention, and growth.
It enables companies to use data-driven insights to understand customer behaviour and deliver targeted messages across email, SMS, push notifications, in-app messaging, and more. MoEngage’s key strength lies in combining actionable analytics with engagement tools.
Overview
MoEngage was founded in 2014 by Raviteja Dodda and Yashwanth Kumar. The company was created to help businesses better understand and engage their users through personalized, data-driven marketing.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Bangalore, India, MoEngage has grown to serve clients globally, spanning industries like eCommerce, fintech, telecom, and media.
Services
MoEngage provides its customers with the following services:
- You can engage users directly within the mobile app with customized pop-ups, banners, and notifications
- Create and manage personalized email campaigns, including automated workflows, segmentation, and A/B testing
- Send SMS and MMS messages for timely updates, reminders, and alerts. Brands can also automate and personalize SMS campaigns
Types of customer engagement software
There are different types of customer engagement software available. They can be categorized into the following:
- Customer engagement platforms–These enable businesses to interact with their customers across various channels, including email, social media, and mobile.Â
- Sales engagement platforms–These are platforms that help sales teams streamline their communication. The platforms include features such as email automation, call tracking, call recording, lead management, and analytics.
- Mobile marketing software–Mobile marketing software helps businesses engage with customers with an exclusive focus on mobile devices. The software includes features such as SMS messaging, mobile app messaging, push notifications, and location-based marketing.
- Customer relationship management (CRM)—Customer relationship management involves managing interactions with customers (and potential customers) to improve customer satisfaction and drive sales.
- Customer data platforms (CDPs)–These platforms are becoming increasingly popular as they offer a way to unify customer data from various sources and create a 360-degree view of each customer. They track customer interactions across channels, personalize marketing campaigns, and gain insights into customer behavior.
- Customer experience management (CXM)–CXM involves tracking customer interactions and feedback across all touchpoints, using this data to create personalized experiences, and continuously improving your processes to serve customers better.
Customer engagement platform example
Source: CleverTap
Customer engagement platforms share similar features to sales engagement platforms, but the latter is laser-focused on sales instead.
A customer data platform can be a valuable tool in your CXM toolbox and allows you to gain a comprehensive view of each customer.
CRM software is designed to manage customer interactions and relationships, while mobile marketing software is focused on creating and delivering targeted marketing campaigns to customers via mobile devices.
While CRMs and mobile marketing software are collectively useful tools for improving the customer experience, they serve different purposes and should not be confused with one another.
Why do you need customer engagement platforms?
Customer engagement platforms are essential for businesses that want to build stronger relationships with their customers. Using these platforms, companies gain valuable insights into customer behavior, preferences, and needs, which can be used to improve their apps and services.
Below, we’ve listed the key reasons you need to employ the use of customer engagement platforms.
Improve customer experience
Improving the customer experience is crucial for businesses that want to build stronger relationships with customers (all of them). Using customer engagement platforms, companies can gain key insights into customer behavior and preferences.
The platforms allow brands to engage with customers and respond to inquiries quickly, allowing them to maintain a positive brand reputation.
Customer engagement platform example
Source: Braze
Engage customers accurately
Businesses need to engage with customers in an accurate and effective way.
Using app engagement platforms, app developers can tailor their engagement strategies to meet the needs and expectations of their audience. Improving the customer experience is key to building strong user relationships, increasing retention rates, and ultimately boosting sales.
Build customer loyalty
One of the most important aspects of running a successful business is building customer loyalty.
Customer relationship platforms enable you to do this via, among other methods, the use of social media, email, and messaging apps.
Prioritizing customer satisfaction and retention rates will ultimately increase your sales and supercharge your business.
How do customer engagement solutions work?
Customer engagement solutions help brands interact with their customers in a more meaningful way.
These solutions can take many forms, from those that offer email marketing campaigns to others with social media outreach programs. The goal of customer engagement is to create a lasting relationship between the business and the customer, which can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
Below, we’ve listed some key benefits of using the platforms.
Segment data
Customer engagement solutions allow you to segment data based on personas, user demographics, behavior, and journey, allowing for a more personalized and effective approach to communication and engagement with users.
App marketers can tailor their messages and interactions by identifying different groups of users and their unique characteristics. This approach also helps to identify patterns and insights that can inform decision-making and improve the overall user experience.
Centralize customer interactions
Centralizing customer interactions is a proven way to streamline communication and ensure consistency across all touchpoints.
Customer engagement platforms collate interactions into a central location, enabling you to better track and manage customer inquiries, complaints, and feedback. Centralizing customer interactions can help you to identify areas of improvement in your processes and systems.
Featured Customer Engagement Platforms
Personalized marketing strategies
You can increase customer engagement and loyalty by creating personalized marketing strategies.
Customer engagement solutions allow you to create targeted campaigns that speak directly to an audience’s interests–this not only improves the customer experience but also increases the effectiveness of your marketing.
Show customers that you understand and actually care about their individual needs, and you’ll build stronger relationships as well as drive long-term loyalty.
Customer engagement platform example
Source: MoEngage
Data reporting
It’s important to establish a thorough and consistent system for data reporting. This should include tracking customer interactions across all channels and touchpoints, as well as collecting feedback and preferences from customers themselves.
With a strong data reporting system in place via a customer engagement platform, app marketers can stay agile and responsive to changing customer needs, ultimately driving greater engagement and loyalty.
Customer support
Customer engagement platforms allow you to track interactions across various different channels. This enables you to provide personalized support and recommendations.
In a nutshell: solving customer problems is key to maintaining app retention and engagement.
Third-party tool integration
Customer engagement platforms can seamlessly integrate with a variety of helpful third-party tools that enhance the customer experience and streamline your workflow.
For example, the best customer engagement solutions commonly integrate with a number of leading analytics tools, including the likes of Kissmetrics, Amplitude, Google Analytics, and Intercom.
Choosing a customer engagement platform
When choosing a customer engagement platform, there are several factors to consider, and it’s important to assess your app’s business goals.
What specific features and functionalities do you require in a platform? Are you looking for a platform that can handle a high volume of customer interactions, or do you need something more tailored?
Below, we’ve listed some of the key features to look out for.
Multichannel communication
One key benefit of multichannel communication is the increased customer engagement. You provide customers with multiple ways to interact with your brand and thereby create a more personalized and convenient experience for them, which leads to increased loyalty and satisfaction.
For example, the customer engagement platform Optimove allows app marketers to maximize their communications with hundreds of different segments across key channels.
Customer self-service functionality
Offering self-service options for customers can be a great way to improve their overall experience and reduce support costs.
The customer engagement platform should provide users with access to information (and resources) they need to solve their problems, allowing you to free up your team and focus on more complex issues.
When implementing self-service options, it’s important to ensure they’re easy to use and accessible. Consider offering a knowledge base or FAQ section.
Chat support
The best customer engagement platforms offer a blend of human and chatbot support; this speeds up response times, and customers aren’t picky as long as their question gets answered at the end.
Look out for app engagement platforms that support live and AI chat.
Includes key marketing strategies
You’ll need to find a customer engagement platform that enables you to deploy key marketing strategies. For instance, email marketing, where you build a list of subscribers and send out regular newsletters and promotions to keep an audience engaged.
By creating engaging content and interacting with followers, you’ll be able to build a solid online presence and reach a wider audience. Be sure to look for customer engagement platforms that offer these marketing tactics from the start.
Customer engagement platform example
Source: Airship
Easy set up and use
You’ll want to look for an app engagement platform that’s user-friendly and easy to set up.
You should be able to have it up and running and start connecting with your audience (and increasing interaction) within a few hours. Look for built-in safety features that ensure all interactions are fair and secure, too.
Offers flexible pricing optionsÂ
Look for customer engagement platforms that offer a variety of pricing options to suit different requirements and budgets.
Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a large organization, a plan should be available that can work for you. Custom packages are a good answer here: they allow you to choose which add-ons to include and which to ignore, saving time and money in the process.
Able to scale as your mobile app grows
You’ll want to choose a customer engagement platform that’s able to scale as your mobile app grows. In other words, as your user base expands and your needs change, the platform can adapt to meet those needs.
This desirable level of flexibility prevents you from having to switch to a different platform down the line and start all over again. It’s an overlooked feature that you should consider carefully.
Work with top customer engagement platforms
When engaging with your app users, working with the top customer engagement platforms is essential. These platforms help you to build strong relationships with customers and ensure they remain loyal to your app.
By leveraging the power of the platforms, you can create personalized experiences for your customers, deliver targeted messages, and build a community of loyal and returning fans.
Be sure to take your app customer engagement to the next level and work with the platforms below.
