We’ve all experienced it—you check your phone and there’s an ad for sneakers. A second later, a notification pops up about a discount on a gadget you searched for yesterday. Scroll a bit more, and another flash sale grabs your attention. Before you know it, you’ve forgotten what you were even looking at in the first place.

Your customers go through the same thing. If you want to sell successfully, you must reach customers on multiple channels and speak directly to their needs.

The smartest way to do that?

Use a customer engagement platform.

In this guide, we explain how it helps you connect with customers, drive more conversions and strengthen loyalty. You’ll also learn what to look for when choosing the right solution and get a detailed look at nine top customer engagement platforms, their key features and user ratings to help you pick the best fit for your business. 

What is a customer engagement platform?

A customer engagement platform (CEP) is a SaaS solution that helps businesses create personalized and effective customer interactions at every customer journey stage, from first contact to long-term loyalty. It combines all your channels—social networks, email and website—creating a single space for managing communications.

The main goal of CEP is to improve the quality of interactions and provide customers with a personalized experience in which they feel genuinely understood.

For example, if a customer orders sneakers in an online store and something goes wrong (e.g., they receive the wrong size or a damaged product), the customer may contact the support service. A CEP enables customer support reps to see the entire history of the customer’s purchases and interactions with the brand. This way, the customer and the rep can immediately solve the problem without wasting time “mining” basic information. 

How does the customer engagement platform work?

CEPs combine data from sources like CRMs, social networks, websites and mobile apps to give a unified view of each customer interaction with your brand.

This data is analyzed using analytical tools and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify critical patterns in customer behavior. For example, the system might recognize that customers aged 20–35 often browse wireless headphones but haven’t bought them yet. Businesses can then use this insight to set up their CEP to send a personalized offer to this group at the right time, like when a new model is released or when there’s a limited-time discount, improving the chances of conversion.

Common engagement challenges and how a CEP can solve them

Here are some of the most common challenges businesses face that CEPs can help you overcome.

Lack of personalization

Customers want to feel seen and heard, and know your brand cares about them. In other words, they crave personalized communication from brands. The best customer engagement platforms give you the customization tools to make that happen. They use customer behavioral data to create personalized recommendations and offers that align with your customers’ needs and preferences. 

Low customer retention rates

The primary reason behind low customer retention and loyalty is the lack of regular, meaningful engagement. Keeping in touch with customers by providing them with relevant and valuable content and offers helps them stay connected to your brand.

Fragmented customer data

When customer data is scattered across different systems, it’s hard to get a complete picture of who your customers are and what they want. Engagement platforms solve this by bringing all your data together, giving you a 360-degree view of each customer. 

Difficulty in measuring engagement effectiveness

Many companies struggle to determine which engagement strategies actually work. Engagement platforms with real-time analytics and built-in metrics make it easier to assess how each of your engagement efforts impacts loyalty and revenue. 

5 tips on how to choose a customer engagement platform

Now that you know what a CEP is and how it can strengthen your marketing strategy, it’s time to take the next step—choose the right solution for your business. 

Here are five key tips to help you make the best choice.

Specify your goals

Many teams rush to assess and choose platform features, forgetting their strategic objectives. When you know what you’re aiming for, it’s easier to choose the platform that will get you there.

Ask yourself a few simple questions:

• Are you looking to increase personalization?
• Are you planning to launch rewards programs with loyalty features?
• Maybe your goal is to expand your analytics capabilities to understand customers deeply and improve your behavioral marketing efforts?

Understand the platform’s functionality

Not all CEPs are created equal.

Here are some of the most valuable capabilities your platform should have:

• Personalization: The platform should instantly adapt offers and content to your customers’ actions.
• Omnichannel communication: It should integrate all your communication channels, including email, social media, websites and mobile apps. 
• Loyalty programs: A CEP that lets you create loyalty programs with custom incentives like discounts, gifts and membership tiers will help you engage customers effectively and motivate them to return to your brand, strengthening customer relationships and retention.

Ease of integration

Even the most advanced platform will be useless if it’s challenging to integrate it with your existing technology infrastructure. Look for platforms with a flexible API and the ability to quickly set up integration with your CRM and marketing automation platform, CMS and other systems.

Usability and team training

User experience matters. If the interface is complex and requires extensive training, your employees may spend more time getting familiar with the platform than on actual marketing tasks. Choose solutions with an easy-to-use interface and straightforward, accessible training materials.

Support and reputation

Problems can arise anytime, and 24/7 support can be a lifesaver for your campaigns. Read reviews from other users and ensure the platform has a good reputation and a support team ready to help you at the implementation stage and during further use.

9 best customer engagement platform solutions 

The most important factor when choosing a CEP is selecting one that aligns with your business’s unique customer engagement needs.

Below are overviews of nine popular solutions to help you evaluate how well they fit your objectives. 

Loadstone

Loadstone is a customer engagement platform built to manage customer experience in e-commerce. It offers six products, letting you pick just the ones that best match your company’s needs and goals, so you never overpay for tools you’re not using.

The core of all these products is the Customer Data Platform (CDP). It collects and tracks all your customer data, from online sources like websites and emails to offline sources like physical stores and kiosks. You get detailed customer profiles, with details like names and birthdays, and insights from past interactions, e.g., product views and purchase history.

No matter which Loadstone products you choose, the CDP complements them. This ensures all your customer engagement revolves around buyers’ preferences and interests.

Here are brief overviews of all Loadstone products:

• CRM and Communication ensures your communications are relevant and personalized. It lets you set up automation and trigger mailings based on specific user actions like abandoned cart reminders or promotional messages for products customers browsed. These automated scenarios save your team time because, once set up, they run automatically. They also improve customer engagement by encouraging actions that benefit your business.
• AI Recommender System uses AI to analyze customer behavior and suggest products that each customer is most likely to buy on your website, app or through emails.
• AI Commerce Search delivers relevant search results, recognizing customers’ search intent. For example, a customer might type “violet gown” but your product catalog might list similar products as “purple dresses”. AI Commerce Search will understand the customer’s intent and show the correct items.
• Loyalty Management provides e-commerce tools to build long-term relationships with customers. You can offer points programs so customers earn rewards for purchases and activities that they can use for discounts or exclusive offers. Another option is to create a tiered-level system where customers can move up to new levels, opening access to exclusive privileges and rewards. 
• Promotional Marketing helps you maintain customer interest by offering special discounts on products they have already shown interest in. Use this tool to optimize revenue by responding to changes in demand. For example, if a product is in high demand, the platform can increase its price.
• Retail Media monetizes your channels. It shows personalized ads on e-shelves, banners and in-store displays. Your customers will see products that match their interests, motivating them to buy.

When you sign up with Loadstone, you also get access to our team of experts. They’ll guide you through the setup and help ensure your solution runs smoothly. They’re also there to help you get the most value from your composable Loadstone solution.

Key features

• Real-time personalization: Loadstone creates unique offers, adapting content based on customer behavior immediately. The platform doesn’t wait for the customer to complete their journey—it reacts instantly and integrates relevant offers into the process.
• Unification of all channels: Our solution synchronizes communication with the customer across all channels. This ensures that previous interactions and preferences are carried over when they switch between devices or move from online to offline.
• No-code campaign and messages builder: Create marketing campaign flows and design messages exactly how you want your audience to receive them with Loadstone’s “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) editor.
• AI analytics and reports: Loadstone shows insights into audience behavior, e.g., how much your customers spend with your brand and what products they buy. You can also see campaign metrics, such as impressions and click-through rates. 

Book a call to learn how the Loadstone composable commerce platform can support and improve your customer engagement.

User ratings

Loadstone has a 4.3/5 score on G2. 

Taslim Khaled, Loadstone user and Assistant Regional Manager at GSK shared:

“It can actually get you new clients and maximize sales with triggered emails and targeted e-marketing emails. It’s an absolutely brilliant service full of benefits.”

Salesforce Customer 360

Salesforce Customer 360 unifies customer data from all touchpoints into a single platform. Instead of working with siloed data, companies can see the “full picture” of the entire customer journey. The platform includes modules like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud that teams can purchase separately.

Key features

• Centralized business operations view: Users get a centralized view of their business operations, including customer service hub, marketing and sales.
• AI insights: Salesforce Customer 360 uses AI to provide insights into customer behavior, such as who are the most engaged customers. 
• Data visualization dashboard: Companies can see geographic clusters with product demand in different areas. 

See also: Top 8 Salesforce Competitors for Enterprise-Level CRM and CDP 

User ratings

Salesforce Customer 360 has a 4.8/5 rating on Capterra.

HubSpot

HubSpot is a customer engagement platform that lets businesses manage sales, marketing and customer service from one interface. It’s focused on simple setup and rapid adoption. HubSpot CRM collects and organizes customer data so companies can access customer profiles and see details like customers’ names, phone numbers and lead statuses.

Key features

• AI support: HubSpot AI tool Breeze assigns customers lead scores based on factors like their engagement level and likelihood of conversion.
• Marketing analytics: Teams can track campaign performance and see how marketing assets like ads, emails and social media posts perform. 
• Newsletter builder: Companies can use the drag-and-drop builder to create emails. 

See also: 7 HubSpot Alternatives for Marketing and CRM in 2025

User ratings

Users rate HubSpot with 4.5/5 stars on Capterra.

Twilio 

Twilio offers communication tools for SMS, calls, video and email that companies can plug into their systems to keep interactions smooth and personal. Teams can use the platform for in-app messaging to send alerts and notifications, such as reminders to complete a purchase or confirmation messages after successful payments.

Key features

• CDP: Twilio has a CDP that unifies and segments customer data. 
• Customer journey orchestration: Teams can set up customer journey conditions like triggers and following actions. 
• Marketing campaigns: This tool has a drag-and-drop editor that companies can use to design campaigns and send emails. 

User ratings

Twilio scores 4.2/5 on G2.

Intercom

Intercom helps companies stay connected with customers from first contact through support. It combines human support and AI automation to create personalized customer interactions. Intercom connects channels like web chat, email and push notifications and collects data from all communications. 

Key features

• Customer segmentation: Companies can send targeted messages based on users’ characteristics and behavior, such as location or purchase history. 
• AI insights: Intercom’s AI bot, Fin, analyzes customer interactions, providing insights like the total number of conversations and response times. 
• Workflows builder: The platform has a no-code interface where teams can create automated workflows for tasks like routing and closing conversations.

User ratings

Intercom scores 4.5/5 on Capterra.

Freshdesk Customer Engagement Suite

The Freshdesk customer engagement suite helps businesses manage customer interactions. Teams can track and manage tickets from multiple channels, including email, phone and social media apps. Freshdesk also includes collaboration tools like team huddles and notes. 

Key features

• Analytics: Businesses can track and compare agent performance and customer satisfaction data.
• AI tools: The Freshdesk AI program Freddy automates routine tasks like answering frequent customer questions. 
• Self-service portals: Businesses can create self-service portals with a knowledge base that customers can access to find answers. Agents can also turn their responses into knowledge base articles. 

User ratings

Freshdesk has 4.4 out of 5 stars on G2.

Braze

Braze is a customer engagement platform that collects data on users’ preferences and behaviors and extracts details from it. Businesses can then use that data to reach customers with personalized emails, phone messages and ads.

Key features

• Reporting: Braze clients receive reports with insights like active users, revenue achieved and click rate. 
• Journey automation: Teams can design logic that leads customers through journey paths based on their behaviors. 
• Testing tools: Companies can A/B test promotions and messaging to find the one that resonates most with customers. 

User ratings

Braze has 4.5/5 stars on G2.

Zendesk

Zendesk lets teams handle all customer interactions—across the web, SMS, social media and emails—from one interface. The platform includes AI that routes tickets to live support agents based on their skills. It can also send automatic responses to customers.

Key features

• Performance insights: Zendesk provides analytics into customer interactions and agent performance.
• Personalized messages: Teams can send messages based on customer behaviors, like browsing a specific product. 
• Data protection: Zendesk clients can use Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) encryption, which means they have control over their security keys to protect their data. 

User ratings

Zendesk has 4.3 out of 5 stars on G2.

Sprinklr

Sprinklr is a platform where marketing and customer service teams work together to publish content, communicate with customers and view campaign performance and audience behavior insights. This customer engagement software also offers details about customer sentiment, helping companies understand how their audience reacts to brand messaging.

Key features

• Unified metrics view: Teams can view reports that show how all their marketing efforts—such as ads, website content and social media—are performing. 
• AI industry insights: Sprinklr AI delivers insights on market trends, consumer preferences and best practices. 
• Local campaigns: The platform offers customer experience data for different geographical locations. 

User ratings

Users give Sprinklr a 4.2/5 rating on Capterra.

Mixpanel

Mixpanel combines all business data in one place. The platform provides insights into KPIs like return on ad spend and cost per lead. Teams can also track their funnels to see which customers convert and pinpoint exactly when they’re ready to make a purchase decision.

Key features

• Data warehouse connectors: Mixpanel integrates into businesses’ data warehouses to analyze customer behavior across CRM, marketing and support. 
• Session replay: Teams can watch replays of users’ interactions with brand content to identify patterns. 
• Analytics: Mixpanel shows how user behavior and demographics influence changes in metrics like conversion rates and user engagement. 

User ratings

Mixpanel users rate it with 4.5/5 on Capterra.

Top customer engagement platforms: Comparison table

Final thoughts

Selecting your Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) is a long-term commitment to shaping your business’s future. The right one helps you build brand loyalty and personalize customer interactions, fostering deeper engagement. It should also give you the flexibility to customize your system to your needs.

Loadstone is one such solution. 

Our drag-and-drop editor helps you create campaigns in just a few clicks. Detailed insights about your customers’ behavior updated in real time let you create highly personalized messages that motivate them to interact with your brand. Set up targeted ads across your online and offline channels to ensure customers see and buy your products. 

Sign up today and get a customer engagement platform packed with the right tools to level up your customer experiences and drive better business results.

FAQs

What is a customer engagement platform (CEP)?

A customer engagement platform (CEP) is software that helps businesses deliver personalized customer interactions across touchpoints.

What are the best customer engagement platforms?

Some examples of the best customer engagement platforms include Loadstone, Salesforce Customer 360 and Hubspot. 

What is the difference between CRM and a customer engagement platform?

CRM platform stores customer data, tracks interactions and manages sales relationships. A customer engagement platform goes beyond storing data—it helps businesses engage with customers in real time across channels like web, apps and social media to create personalized experiences.

What problems do customer engagement platforms solve?

Customer engagement platforms address issues such as lack of personalization, low customer retention rates, fragmented customer data and difficulty measuring engagement strategies’ effectiveness. They offer features like omnichannel support, personalization and automated interactions. These tools help customer service reps make customers feel valued and understood, fostering loyalty and improving customer retention rates.

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