Top Tools to Increase User Engagement and Customer Retention

​“Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing one.” Yet, despite this well-known adage, many businesses still pour resources into acquisition while neglecting retention strategies. In fact, only 18% of companies prioritize customer retention, even though repeat customers spend 67% more than new ones. 

Moreover, customer satisfaction saw a slight decline in late 2024, dropping to 77.3 on a 100-point scale ​, highlighting the need for effective customer engagement solutions. In this blog, we'll explore top tools designed to boost user engagement and enhance customer retention, helping you build lasting relationships and drive sustainable growth.

What are User Engagement and Retention Tools?

User engagement and retention tools are software platforms/solutions designed to keep users interested, active, and returning. Think of them as the digital equivalent of great customer service combined with personalized experiences. 

These tools help you track how users interact with your product or service, and then act on that data. These customer engagement solutions help to improve the experience, whether through timely personalized notifications, gamified features, loyalty programs, or in-app messages. 

They’re not just about making users stay longer; they’re about making those moments count so users feel valued and connected. Here are some of their benefits:

• Boost Customer Loyalty: Helps in building long-term relationships by delivering consistent value.

• Increase Lifetime Value (LTV): Engaged users are more likely to convert, upgrade, and refer others.

• Personalized Experiences: Tailors content and offers based on user behavior and preferences.

• Reduce Churn: Early alerts about drop-offs allow timely intervention to win users back.

• Optimize Product Features: Insightful analytics highlight which features users love and which need improvement.

• Improve ROI: Keeping existing users engaged often costs less than acquiring new ones.

In short, user engagement and retention tools act as your behind-the-scenes growth team, quietly working to turn casual visitors into loyal advocates.

With Nudge’s customer engagement solution, you can easily increase user retention for your business. Instead of relying on external channels like email or SMS, we enable you to drive targeted actions directly within the app! 

Now, let’s see some of the key features that you should look out for when choosing a customer engagement solution for your business! 

Key Features of User Engagement Solutions

Looking for a user engagement solution, but don’t know what to look for? Here are some must-have features in a solid user engagement solution:

• Real-Time Analytics: Instantly tracks user behavior, giving you insights into what’s working and what’s not, while it’s happening.

• Segmentation: Allows you to group users based on actions, preferences, or demographics for more targeted communication.

• Automated Messaging: Send personalized experiences at just the right moment, without lifting a finger.

• AI Testing: Helps you experiment with content, timing, or UI layouts to see what drives the most engagement.

• Gamification Elements: Adds points, rewards, or challenges to make the user journey more fun and sticky.

• Omnichannel Support: Connects across platforms, web, mobile, email, and even SMS, for a seamless experience.

• Behavioral Triggers: Automatically respond to specific user actions, like cart abandonment or inactivity.

Good customer engagement solutions don’t just collect data; they help you act on it, smartly and efficiently. And when your messages feel timely and relevant, users don’t just engage, they stick around. 

To understand user engagement solutions more deeply, let’s see some of the different types of them! 

Types of Customer Engagement Solutions for Retention

Keeping users engaged is no longer just about having a good product; it’s about delivering the right experience at the right time, across the right channel. Here are the key types of customer engagement solutions:

1. Personalization and Experimentation Platforms

These platforms are designed to make every user feel like the product was built just for them. By analyzing user behavior and preferences in real-time, they enable businesses to deliver unique experiences that drive deeper engagement. They also empower teams to test content, features, and user flows to discover what works best for different segments.

Key Features:

• Dynamic content updates based on user profiles and behavior

• AI and multivariate testing for UX and UI optimization

• Behavior-based personalization and audience targeting

• Real-time analytics and insights to guide experimentation decisions

2. Omnichannel Platforms with Broad Channel Support

Omnichannel platforms ensure your brand’s voice stays consistent, no matter where or how your user interacts with you. Whether it’s a mobile push notification, an email follow-up, or an in-app message, these tools centralize and sync communication across all channels to provide a seamless and coherent experience.

Key Features:

• Unified messaging across email, push, SMS, web, and mobile

• Drag-and-drop journey builders for cross-platform user flows

• Real-time channel preference detection and adaptation

• Integrated analytics for performance tracking across all channels

3. Customer Feedback Collection Tools

These tools help you close the loop between product development and customer sentiment. Instead of guessing what users want, businesses can ask directly through timely, well-placed feedback prompts. The result? A data-backed understanding of user satisfaction, product gaps, and opportunities for improvement.

Key Features:

• Customizable in-app surveys and feedback forms

• Real-time NPS and CSAT scoring

• Sentiment analysis using qualitative and quantitative responses

• Integration with CRM, helpdesk, and analytics platforms

4. AI-Powered Communication Platforms

AI-powered platforms use machine learning and natural language processing to turn basic communication into intelligent, scalable conversations. These tools can automatically adjust tone, timing, and content based on a user’s interaction history, enabling proactive support and hyper-personalized outreach without manual effort.

Key Features:

• Predictive behavior analysis for next-best-action recommendations

• Chatbots capable of human-like interactions and escalations

• NLP for understanding user intent and sentiment

• Automated content customization at scale

From smart personalization to AI-driven communication, each tool type brings a unique layer of value to your retention strategy. With Nudge, you'll get personalization, experimentation, AI support, and customer feedback collection all in one place! 

Top Tools to Increase User Engagement in 2025

User engagement in 2025 is all about smarter, faster, and more personalized experiences. The top tools this year are reshaping how brands connect with users, making every interaction count and every click more meaningful. Here are the tools:

1. Nudge

Nudge is a smart, lightweight decisioning & engagement layer designed to help consumer teams drive better user behavior, without relying on dev teams. Its strength lies in delivering contextual experiences that feel natural, not noisy. 

Whether you're introducing a new feature, reducing friction in key flows, or gathering timely feedback, Nudge fits in perfectly, serving the right message to the right user at the right moment. And the best part? It’s no-code and fast, making it super easy to test and iterate. 

Key Features of Nudge:

• In-App Personalization: Automatically adapts nudges based on each user’s behavior, preferences, and past interactions.

• Omnichannel Compatibility: Connects easily with your existing analytics and messaging stack for a unified engagement experience.

• Nudge Orchestration: Ensures nudges are sequenced thoughtfully, enhancing usability without overwhelming users.

• In-App Targeting Rules: Target users precisely using custom events, user attributes, and behavioral triggers—all without writing code.

• Native Integration with Analytics Tools: Sync with platforms like Mixpanel or Amplitude to measure engagement and optimize strategies using your existing data.

2. Zendesk

Zendesk goes beyond just being a support ticketing system. It’s a full-blown engagement platform that helps brands build trust and resolve issues before they escalate. It gives support teams the tools to respond faster, personalize every conversation, and stay on top of customer needs across multiple channels. 

With features like AI-powered response suggestions and detailed customer context built right into the workspace, Zendesk keeps interactions human, even when scaled. Whether it’s through chat, email, or social media, Zendesk helps you stay consistent, helpful, and proactive, making sure every customer feels heard, not just handled.

Key Features of Zendesk:

• Agent Workspace with Contextual Insights: Centralizes customer history, preferences, and prior interactions so agents have full context without switching tabs.

• AI-Powered Macros and Suggestions: Recommends the best next response or action based on past conversations and current context, saving agents time.

• Integrated Messaging Across Channels: Manage chats, emails, social messages, and web tickets from one place, ensuring no conversation slips through.

• Answer Bot for Instant Help: Automatically resolves common questions using a self-updating knowledge base, reducing ticket volume.

• Flow Builder for Custom Bot Journeys: Create conversational bots with conditional logic and rich media for guided customer experiences—no coding required.

3. Typeform

Typeform is designed to make data collection feel personal. It helps businesses create interactive forms, quizzes, and surveys that actually engage users rather than bore them. Whether you're gathering product feedback, qualifying leads, or onboarding users, Typeform’s one-question-at-a-time flow keeps people focused and more likely to finish. 

It’s smooth, friendly, and surprisingly effective at getting more responses and better ones. Plus, with conditional logic and seamless integrations, you can personalize each interaction to match the user’s journey, making it feel less like a form and more like a real conversation.

Key Features of Typeform:

• One-Question Flow Design: Presents one question at a time to keep users focused and reduce form fatigue, increasing completion rates.

• Conditional Logic Branching: Tailors follow-up questions based on previous answers, so users only see what’s relevant to them.
  Embedded Forms with Inline Interactions: Easily add Typeform to landing pages or product flows without pop-ups, keeping the user journey seamless.

• Customizable Design Themes: Offers branded styling with fonts, images, and layouts that match your product’s look and feel perfectly.

• Real-Time Response Notifications & Integrations: Instantly routes answers to your CRM, Slack, or email for fast follow-up or action.

4. HubSpot

HubSpot brings all your customer touchpoints under one roof, so marketing, sales, and support teams stay aligned and responsive. It’s perfect for businesses that want to engage users at every stage, from the first visit to long after the sale. 

With real-time visitor tracking, smart content targeting, and automated workflows, HubSpot helps you send the right message at the right moment. You can monitor what users do on your site, follow up with personalized emails, and even send triggerred messages based on behavior.

Key Features of HubSpot:

• Behavioral Triggers for Automation: Automatically sends emails or prompts based on actions like form submissions, page views, or inactivity.

• Smart Content Personalization: Displays tailored content on your website or emails depending on the visitor’s lifecycle stage or past interactions.

• Conversations Inbox: Centralized inbox that combines live chat, email, and bot messages so teams can manage all communication in one place.

• Lead Scoring with Predictive AI: Ranks leads based on behavior and likelihood to convert, helping sales teams prioritize the right contacts.

• In-Depth Contact Activity Timeline: Tracks every user touchpoint, emails opened, pages viewed, and forms filled, for a full engagement picture in one scroll.

5. Intercom

Intercom turns customer engagement into an ongoing conversation, not just a series of support tickets. It helps businesses reach users at just the right moment, whether through chat, email, or product tours, based on their actions and needs. 

With powerful targeting and automation, you can onboard users, announce features, and provide support in a way that feels personal, not robotic. What sets Intercom apart is how it merges real-time communication with rich user insights, making each interaction meaningful.

Key Features of Intercom:

• Custom Bots with Rules-Based Automation: Build bots that qualify leads, answer FAQs, or route users based on their actions and profile.

• Product Tours and Onboarding Flows: Guide users through key features using step-by-step in-app walkthroughs that can be tailored by segment.

• Inbox with Customer Data Sidebar: Support agents get live user data (recent activity, location, tags) right next to each message for faster, informed replies.

• Series Campaign Builder: Create multi-step engagement campaigns that trigger based on time, behavior, or user events, no coding needed.

• Event-Based Messaging: Send in-app or email messages triggered by actions like button clicks, inactivity, or reaching milestones within the app.

These are some of the top customer engagement solutions in the 2025 market. Choose the one that fits your needs and preferences! 

Strategies for Effective User Engagement and Retention

Great user engagement isn’t just about grabbing attention; it’s about creating lasting value in every interaction. With the right strategy and the right tools like Nudge, you can go from being just functional to becoming unforgettable. Here are some effective strategies:

1. Developing Personalized Engagement Strategies

Personalization is no longer optional. Users expect experiences tailored to their behavior and needs. It’s not about using their name in an email; it’s about showing them what they care about, when they care about it.

How Nudge Helps:

We make personalization easy with behavior-based targeting and in-app personalization. You can set up nudges that trigger only when a user reaches a certain milestone, hesitates on a page, or completes a specific action. Our micro-moments feel personal because they are, and that’s what keeps users engaged.

2. Utilizing Technology for Analytics and Real-Time Tracking

If you don’t know what your users are doing (or not doing), it’s tough to improve the experience. Real-time analytics lets you spot friction points and act fast, before users bounce.

How Nudge Helps:

With native integrations to tools like Mixpanel and Amplitude, we work hand-in-hand with your analytics setup. We also provide real-time data on campaign and user performance, so you can see what’s driving engagement and tweak campaigns instantly.

3. Building Strong Customer Relationships Through Consistent Interaction

The strongest brands aren’t just used, they’re remembered. And that happens when communication is regular, relevant, and helpful, not random or overwhelming.

How Nudge Helps:

Nudge allows for orchestrated nudging, meaning your prompts are timed and spaced to feel natural. Whether it’s a quick tip, a helpful reminder, or a check-in nudge, users stay connected without feeling bombarded.

Engagement and retention are about meaningful, consistent, and well-timed user journeys. Our platform turns those strategies into action by offering just the right level of support, personalization, and insight, exactly when it matters! 

Conclusion

From smart nudging to real-time messaging, each tool we explored brings something powerful to the table. These aren’t just platforms; they’re engagement engines designed to keep users active, informed, and happy. Whether it’s through tailored prompts, interactive experiences, or unified conversations, these tools help build stronger relationships with your users. 

And the best part? You don’t need to do it all manually. Start small, pick the tool that fits your flow, and watch your retention climb. When engagement feels human, customers stick around, and that’s where real growth begins.

To get most of the features in just one place, try Nudge today! Whether you are operating in the e-commerce industry, fintech, or the edtech industry, you can improve your user experience with personalization and AI-supported analytics! So, book a demo today to level up your UX journey!