Finding the right customer retention tool for SaaS isn’t about chasing shiny features like email personalization — it’s about keeping users loyal, happy, and growing with you.
We’ve helped scale SaaS businesses from their first 10 users to thousands, and if there’s one truth, it’s this: acquisition is sexy, but retention is where the real growth happens.
This guide cuts through the AI-generated noise.
You’re not getting another boring “top 10” list full of apps that sound good but don’t move the needle. You’re getting a straight-up breakdown of the tools that actually help you retain users — and why smart teams are using them.
Let’s start with the summary.
Overview: Customer Retention Software for SaaS
- Encharge – Best for automating user journeys and nurturing customers hands-free
- HubSpot CRM – Great for managing relationships across marketing, sales, and support
- Salesforce Service Cloud – Great for large-scale customer support and predictive insights
- Zendesk – Good for ticketing, live chat, and scalable customer support
- Freshdesk – Good for multichannel customer service and support automations
- Appcues – Best for improving in-app onboarding and feature adoption
- Userpilot – Best for no-code user onboarding flows and engagement analytics
- Akita – Best for customer success management and proactive churn prevention
- Mixpanel – Best for understanding user behavior and optimizing product retention
- Optimove – Best for AI-driven customer retention campaigns and lifecycle marketing
If you just want the quick answer — these are the best tools to help you keep more customers, boost retention, and grow your SaaS without guessing.
Each one solves a slightly different piece of the retention puzzle, from onboarding to support to behavior tracking
Contents
What is a Customer Retention Software in SaaS?
Answer: Customer retention software in SaaS helps you keep your users around longer — not just sign them up and lose them. It tracks behavior, triggers smart follow-ups, and automates actions that turn casual users into loyal customers.
Think onboarding flows, upsell emails, churn alerts, and in-app nudges — all working together to keep people active and paying.
The 5 Types of SaaS Customer Retention Tools
- Email and Messaging Tools – Send smart follow-ups, onboarding emails, upsell offers (example: Encharge, Klaviyo).
- Customer Success Platforms – Track user health, spot churn risks early, manage renewals (example: Akita, Gainsight).
- Product Analytics Tools – See how users behave inside your app and fix drop-off points (example: Mixpanel, Amplitude).
- Onboarding and In-App Experience Tools – Guide users with tooltips, popups, checklists (example: Appcues, Userpilot).
- Support and CRM Platforms – Help users faster with tickets, live chat, and manage relationships over time (example: Zendesk, HubSpot).
Most SaaS companies combine two or more types, like using a CRM + an email automation tool, to fully cover every step of the customer journey.
Now, What To Look For in a Customer Retention Tool?
The right customer retention tool helps you spot churn risks early, keep users engaged, and grow customer lifetime value without adding busywork.
Here’s what actually matters when choosing one.
1. Real-Time Churn Detection
Good retention tools don’t just track metrics — they catch problems as they happen. You want real-time alerts when user behavior changes, not a monthly report after it’s too late.
Early signals like reduced login frequency, skipped steps, or slower feature usage should trigger alerts. The faster you react, the more users you can save.
2. Personalized Customer Engagement
Retention isn’t about blasting generic emails. You need tools that help you deliver the right message, to the right user, at the right time — based on how they’re actually using your product.
Look for smart segmentation, automated messaging triggers, and the ability to personalize outreach based on actions, not just demographics.
3. Easy Integration With Your Product and CRM
Retention doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
Your tool needs to sync with your product, CRM, and customer support systems without breaking things. Manual work kills speed.
Look for direct integrations, flexible APIs, and easy event tracking setups. The smoother it fits into your stack, the faster you’ll start seeing real results.
But enough of that. Let’s see what are the best tools now.
My Picks: 10 Best Customer Retention Tools To Grow Your SaaS
Currently, the best SaaS-focused customer retention software is Encharge. Next on the line is HubSpot and then Salesforce.
Obviously, this is just the summary. Let’s see why that is!
1. Encharge → Marketing Automation, Onboarding
- Our Score: 4.9/5 ⭐ – Best for SaaS teams who want powerful automation without tech stress.
- Quick Reason: Encharge helps you keep users engaged, turn trials into paid customers, and prevent churn — without babysitting a complicated system.
When you’re building a SaaS business, losing good users hurts. Fast.
Encharge gives you the tools to catch churn risks before they slip away — and keeps customers moving toward upgrades, renewals, and expansions.
Instead of throwing manual emails at every problem, you set up smart automations that do the heavy lifting for you.
Encharge’s Features for Retention:
- Behavior-based email automations
- Lead and customer scoring
- Advanced segmentation by behavior, plan, company size
- Stripe, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zapier integrations
- In-app onboarding and activation emails
- Churn prevention sequences
- Win-back campaigns
Encharge’s Best Integrations for User Retention: HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, Zapier, Segment, Intercom, Slack, WordPress, Calendly.
How Encharge Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Send behavior-based nurture flows after signup
- Onboard users automatically with activation emails
- Identify churn risks early with customer scoring
- Personalize retention emails based on product usage
- Win back churned users with smart reactivation campaigns
Encharge is great for these SaaS stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Encharge? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ✅ Perfect for quick retention wins |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Powerful for scaling automations |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Great with CRM integrations like Salesforce |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Encharge:
- Send onboarding series triggered by signup behavior
- Trigger a save-offer when usage drops below threshold
- Send feedback surveys after trial expiration
- Reactivate churned users with personalized campaigns
- Offer plan upgrade promos based on user milestones
For instance, this is a personalized onboarding sequence in Encharge:
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
You can complicate or simplify all of your flows depending on your needs. From personalization to automation, Encharge always has your back.
Encharge’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Subscribers | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | $79/month | Up to 2,000 | Visual flow builder, behavior-based emails, advanced segmentation, Stripe + Zapier integrations |
| Premium | $129/month | Up to 2,000 | Everything in Growth + HubSpot, Salesforce, Segment integrations, transactional emails, API events |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | 50,000+ | Everything in Premium + dedicated account manager, free onboarding, custom objects |
✅ 14-day free trial included
✅ Unlimited team members on all plans
✅ Live chat support available
Your final price depends on the number of subscribers — check the Encharge pricing page to see exactly what you’d pay.
The Verdict: If you’re serious about retaining SaaS customers, Encharge is the smartest investment you can make. You’ll launch behavior-driven flows, automate upsells, and keep users engaged — without hiring extra help or duct-taping five different tools together.
Start with the free trial, build your first retention flow in minutes, and see the difference yourself.
2. HubSpot → CRM
- Our Score: 4.5/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: All-in-one CRM + marketing platform, but gets expensive fast.
HubSpot is one of the biggest names for a reason: it combines CRM, marketing automation, email, and customer support under one roof.
If you want one system that connects your sales, marketing, and service teams — and you’re willing to pay for it — HubSpot can seriously boost your retention efforts.
Just be ready for rising costs as your contacts, users, and workflows grow.
Hubspot’s Key Features for Retention:
- CRM, marketing, and service hubs all connected
- Advanced workflow automation for onboarding and retention
- Dynamic content personalization
- Ticketing and help desk tools
- Lead scoring and segmentation
- Cross-channel messaging (email, ads, in-app)
HubSpot’s Best Integrations for User Retention: Salesforce, Slack, Zapier, Shopify, WordPress, SurveyMonkey, Calendly, Facebook Ads
How HubSpot Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Automate onboarding sequences after signup
- Assign nurture tasks to sales based on lead behavior
- Personalize offers based on CRM data
- Trigger re-engagement campaigns automatically
- Help desk and ticketing to support active users faster
HubSpot Is Great For These SaaS Stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for HubSpot? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ⚠️ Overkill unless budget allows |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Excellent choice for unified teams |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Popular option, especially with big teams |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with HubSpot:
- Send onboarding nurture emails triggered by signup
- Escalate support tickets automatically for VIP customers
- Alert sales when customers show upsell potential
- Build customer loyalty workflows for annual renewals
- Launch survey campaigns to understand churn reasons
HubSpot’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Marketing Contacts | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $20/month per seat | 1,000 included | Basic email marketing, forms, landing pages, removes branding |
| Professional | $890/month | 2,000 included | Omni-channel marketing automation, ABM tools, dynamic personalization, SEO, A/B testing |
| Enterprise | $3,600/month | 10,000 included | Custom objects, behavioral event triggers, predictive lead scoring, revenue attribution |
3. Salesforce Service Cloud → Support
- Our Score: 4.4/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for large SaaS teams that need serious customer service automation.
Salesforce Service Cloud is built for companies that take customer success seriously.
If you’re managing lots of accounts, handling complex support issues, or want predictive insights on churn risks, Service Cloud is one of the most powerful platforms you can get.
But it’s definitely a heavyweight — setup and costs can be intense if you’re not ready for it.
Salesforce Features for Retention:
- AI-powered predictive support and churn insights
- Omnichannel customer service (email, chat, phone, SMS)
- Automated case management and ticket routing
- Knowledge base and self-service portals
- Built-in customer success dashboards and reports
- Advanced SLAs and service contracts
Salesforce’s Best Integrations for User Retention: Slack, Zoom, HubSpot, Mailchimp, JIRA, Shopify, Intercom, Zapier.
How Salesforce Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Predict when customers might churn before they do
- Set up automated customer success touchpoints
- Route VIP support requests instantly
- Create upsell and renewal tracking workflows
- Monitor customer satisfaction and loyalty trends
Salesforce Is Good For These SaaS Stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Salesforce Service Cloud? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ❌ Too heavy and costly |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ⚠️ Only if big support teams needed |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Perfect for scaling customer success |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Salesforce:
- Proactive support outreach to at-risk accounts
- Real-time alerts when a customer’s usage drops
- Auto-prioritize customer tickets based on MRR or health score
- Launch CS-driven loyalty programs for upsells
Salesforce Service Cloud’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter Suite | $25/user/month | Monthly or annually | Dynamic email marketing, sales processes, customer service, storefront builder |
| Pro Suite | $100/user/month | Annually (contract required) | Enhanced real-time chat, automation, quoting, AppExchange access |
| Enterprise | $165/user/month | Annually | AI for customer service, workflow automation, self-service help center |
| Unlimited | $330/user/month | Annually | 24/7/365 support, AI-powered chatbots, advanced chat features |
| Einstein 1 Service | $500/user/month | Annually | All Unlimited features plus Digital Channels, Service Intelligence, and AI/Data Cloud tools |
4. Zendesk → Live Chat
- Our Score: 4.2/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Great for SaaS teams that need simple, reliable customer support across multiple channels.
Zendesk is built around one thing: keeping customers happy without overwhelming your team.
It’s not trying to be your CRM, your marketing tool, and your analytics hub — it’s laser-focused on support tickets, live chats, and help centers that actually work.
If you want fast onboarding, easy ticketing, and strong reporting for support, Zendesk nails it.
Zendesk’s Features for Retention:
- Multi-channel support (email, chat, phone, social)
- Smart ticket routing and automations
- Self-service portals and knowledge bases
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys
- SLA tracking and reporting dashboards
- AI chatbots and intent detection (for scale)
Zendesk’s Best Integrations for User Retention: Slack, Shopify, Salesforce, Jira, Mailchimp, Zapier, Trello, HubSpot
How Zendesk Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Give fast, reliable support across every channel
- Empower users with searchable help centers
- Proactively reach out to unhappy customers
- Track customer satisfaction scores over time
- Use automation to prevent long ticket queues
Zendesk’s Use Cases, By SaaS Stage:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Zendesk? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ✅ Great for early teams |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Strong support foundation |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Scales well with large support ops |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Zendesk:
- Auto-prioritize support for paying customers
- Set up follow-up sequences after solved tickets
- Launch satisfaction surveys post-support interactions
- Spot churn signals based on ticket volume or negative CSAT
Zendesk’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suite Team | $55/agent/month | Annually | Ticketing, email/chat/voice/social channels, help center, AI agents, prebuilt dashboards |
| Suite Growth | $89/agent/month | Annually | All in Team + multiple ticket forms, SLAs, multilingual support, customer portal |
| Suite Professional | $115/agent/month | Annually | All in Growth + skills-based routing, side conversations, live analytics, HIPAA compliance |
| Suite Enterprise | Custom pricing | Annually | All in Professional + AI-powered content cues, dynamic workspaces, custom roles, advanced security |
5. Freshdesk → Multichannel Support
- Our Score: 4.1/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Good for SaaS teams that want affordable multi-channel support with built-in automations.
Freshdesk feels like Zendesk’s scrappy younger brother — a little cheaper, a little simpler, but still powerful enough for most SaaS companies.
If you’re growing fast and need to manage email, chat, and social media support without breaking the bank, it’s a strong pick.
The bonus? Freshdesk’s automations are surprisingly good for this price range.
Key Features for Retention:
- Ticket management across email, chat, phone, and social
- Smart automations (ticket routing, priority rules)
- SLA management and escalation workflows
- Help center and community forum features
- CSAT, CES, and NPS surveys
- AI-powered ticket response suggestions (on higher plans)
Freshdesk’s Best Integrations for User Retention: Slack, Salesforce, Shopify, WhatsApp, Zoom, WordPress, Mailchimp, Zapier.
How Freshdesk Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Centralize all customer support in one clean system
- Build automated follow-up and escalation workflows
- Offer self-service help centers for faster resolutions
- Set clear SLA expectations with automated escalations
- Gather customer feedback with built-in surveys
Freshdesk is Great For These SaaS Stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Freshdesk? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ✅ Great value for small teams |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Works well for scaling support |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ⚠️ Better options exist for large complex ops |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Freshdesk:
- Set up auto-escalation for VIP customers
- Send NPS surveys after key support interactions
- Use chatbot + agent handoff for 24/7 coverage
- Track ticket trends to spot potential churn risks
Freshdesk’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | $18/agent/month | Monthly | Ticketing, shared inbox, customer portal, multilingual conversations |
| Pro | $59/agent/month | Monthly | All in Growth + advanced automation and reporting |
| Pro + AI Copilot | $94/agent/month | Monthly | All in Pro + AI features (Freddy AI insights and automations) |
| Enterprise | $95/agent/month | Monthly | All in Pro + deeper customization, bots, skill-based routing |
6. Appcues → Feature adoption
- Our Score: 4.2/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS teams that want to nail onboarding and feature adoption without code.
If you’re losing users because they don’t “get” your app fast enough, Appcues fixes that. It lets you guide users inside your product with onboarding flows, tooltips, feature announcements, and more — without needing your dev team every time.
It’s one of the best ways to increase activation rates and drive long-term retention without drowning in engineering tickets.
Key Features for Retention:
- No-code onboarding flows
- In-app announcements and NPS surveys
- User segmentation for personalized experiences
- Goal tracking (see how onboarding impacts churn)
- Templates for modals, slideouts, hotspots, checklists
- A/B testing and analytics on in-app experiences
Appcues’ Best Integrations for User Retention: HubSpot, Salesforce, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Segment, Slack, Intercom.
How Appcues Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Onboard users fast with product tours and checklists
- Guide users to discover and adopt new features
- Run in-app surveys to capture feedback
- Trigger custom experiences based on user activity
- Spot drop-off points and fix activation leaks
Ideal For These SaaS Stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Appcues? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ⚠️ Pricey unless funded |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Best sweet spot |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Powerful when scaled |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Appcues:
- New user onboarding tours + activation checklists
- In-app nudges for underused features
- Announce updates inside the app
- Run NPS surveys and guide feedback loops
- Segment experiences based on behavior (free vs paid)
Appcues’ customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $300/month | Annual billing | 5 user licenses, 50 experiences, Flows & Checklists, reporting, email support |
| Grow | $750/month | Annual billing | 15 user licenses, 100 experiences, Resource Center, NPS surveys, premium integrations, Customer Success support |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Annual billing | Unlimited licenses, 150+ experiences, multi-product pricing, advanced security, priority support |
7. Userpilot → Onboarding
- Our Score: 4.2/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS teams that want better user activation and adoption without heavy coding.
Userpilot is like having an in-house onboarding team — minus the salary bill.
It helps you launch product tours, feature announcements, onboarding checklists, and in-app surveys without bothering engineering.
If your churn is happening early (like users signing up but not sticking around), Userpilot plugs that leak fast.
Key Features for Retention:
- No-code onboarding flows and checklists
- Contextual feature discovery prompts
- NPS surveys and in-app feedback collection
- User segmentation based on behavior and metadata
- Powerful analytics on activation and feature adoption
Userpilot’s Best Integrations for User Retention: HubSpot, Salesforce, Intercom, Amplitude, Segment, Mixpanel, Slack
How Userpilot Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Onboard users faster with targeted flows
- Personalize feature discovery based on activity
- Collect user feedback directly inside the app
- Trigger upsells and cross-sells with behavior-driven messages
- Track adoption rates and optimize user journeys
You should go for Userpilot in these stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Userpilot? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ⚠️ Best if funded |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Perfect match |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Handles scale easily |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Userpilot:
- Welcome flows for new users
- Onboarding checklists tied to trial activation
- Feature adoption nudges (contextual tooltips)
- Churn-risk surveys for users slipping away
- Upsell prompts for power users hitting milestones
Userpilot’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | From $249/month | Annual billing ($299 if monthly) | Up to 2,000 MAUs, in-app engagement, user segmentation, usage analytics, NPS surveys |
| Growth | From $799/month | Annual billing | Everything in Starter + product analytics, retroactive event capture, in-app surveys, resource center |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Annual billing | Everything in Growth + premium integrations, SSO, bulk data export/import, security compliance, priority support |
8. Akita → Customer Success Management
- Our Score: 4.1/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS teams serious about customer success and churn prevention.
If you’re struggling to keep users engaged post-onboarding, Akita is built for you. It’s a customer success platform that helps you monitor health scores, spot churn risks early, and automate playbooks to keep customers on track.
Instead of guessing who’s about to leave, Akita shows you exactly where to act — and when.
Key Features for Retention:
- Customer health scoring based on real-time data
- Churn risk prediction and alerts
- Playbooks to automate retention actions
- 360° customer view (usage, billing, support history)
- Success journey mapping and milestone tracking
- Deep integrations with CRM and support platforms
Akita’s Best Integrations for User Retention: HubSpot, Salesforce, Intercom, Zendesk, Slack, Pipedrive, Stripe
How Akita Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Identify at-risk customers before they churn
- Automate personalized outreach based on health scores
- Map customer journeys to spot drop-off points
- Centralize customer insights from multiple platforms
- Launch success playbooks for onboarding, upsells, and renewals
Ideal For These SaaS Stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Akita? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ⚠️ Expensive if small user base |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Great fit |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Full customer success suite ready |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Akita:
- Health score alerts and automated saves
- Customer onboarding milestone tracking
- Upsell/cross-sell opportunities based on usage patterns
- Automated check-ins for at-risk accounts
- Post-renewal customer engagement flows
Akita’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom-Connect | $49/month | Monthly billing | 2 users included, sync Contacts/Accounts/Conversations, unlimited read-only users, create Segments |
| API-Connect | $149/month | Monthly billing | Full API access, customize app as needed, 2 users included, unlimited read-only users |
| Customize | Custom pricing | Contact sales | Advanced integrations, dedicated Success Engineer, onboarding sessions |
9. Mixpanel → Analytics
- Our Score: 4.2/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS teams who want deep insights into user behavior to drive smarter retention.
Mixpanel isn’t just about tracking clicks — it’s about understanding what makes users stay or leave.
With detailed cohort analysis, funnel tracking, and retention metrics baked in, it gives SaaS teams the hard data needed to turn new users into lifelong customers.
If you want to fix churn with facts (not guesses), Mixpanel is one of the smartest moves you can make.
Key Features for Retention:
- Cohort and retention analysis based on real user behavior
- Funnel tracking to spot where users drop off
- Event-based tracking (button clicks, feature usage, etc.)
- User segmentation by behavior, plan type, demographics
- Real-time dashboards to monitor user engagement and growth
- A/B testing integrations to validate changes fast
Mixpanel’s Best Integrations for User Retention: Segment, Amplitude, Salesforce, Slack, Zapier, Intercom, Optimizely.
How Mixpanel Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Pinpoints user churn drop-off points
- Measures product feature adoption and stickiness
- Identifies top customer segments for targeting
- Helps A/B test changes to improve retention
- Tracks lifecycle stages and user milestones
Ideal For These SaaS Stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Mixpanel? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | ✅ Free plan makes it accessible |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Great for growth and feature analysis |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Advanced analytics at scale |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Mixpanel:
- Funnel analysis for onboarding and feature activation
- Cohort analysis to track engagement over time
- Predict churn risk based on usage patterns
- Benchmark product stickiness and engagement ratios
- Data-driven roadmap updates based on retention insights
Mixpanel’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free forever | No credit card | Up to 1M monthly events, 5 saved reports, 10K monthly session replays, insights and funnels reports |
| Growth | Starts at $0 (pay-per-use) | Pay-as-you-go | 1M monthly events free, then $0.00028 per event, unlimited reports, 20K monthly session replays, cohorts, Spark AI queries |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Contact sales | Unlimited events, advanced analytics, data governance and security, premium support |
10. Optimove → Lifecycle Marketing
- Our Score: 4.1/5 ⭐
- Quick Reason: Best for SaaS teams who want AI-powered, predictive customer retention campaigns without heavy manual work.
Optimove isn’t just a campaign manager — it’s like having a smart retention strategist built into your marketing stack.
It watches user behavior, predicts when someone might churn, and helps you send the right message at the right time automatically.
Perfect for SaaS companies that want to get proactive about retention — not just react after users leave.
Key Features for Retention:
- AI-driven customer segmentation and lifecycle management
- Predictive churn scoring and proactive campaign triggers
- Multichannel orchestration (email, SMS, push, in-app)
- Real-time optimization based on user engagement
- Unified customer profiles with historical and real-time data
- Retention-focused analytics and reporting dashboards
Optimove’s Best Integrations for User Retention: Salesforce, Shopify, Zendesk, Segment, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Snowflake
How Optimove Helps SaaS User Retention:
- Predicts churn before it happens
- Automates hyper-targeted retention campaigns
- Personalizes messaging across channels based on user lifecycle
- Optimizes campaign timing and content with real-time AI adjustments
- Identifies retention-driving customer behaviors
Ideal For These SaaS Stages:
| SaaS Stage | Fit for Optimove? |
|---|---|
| Early-stage SaaS (<$1M ARR) | 🚫 Overkill for early stages |
| Growth-stage SaaS ($1M–$10M ARR) | ✅ Great for scaling retention |
| Enterprise SaaS ($10M+ ARR) | ✅ Excellent for complex multi-product companies |
Common Retention Flows You Can Build with Optimove:
- Predictive churn campaigns (auto-detects when to act)
- Dynamic customer journey orchestration across email/SMS/push
- Win-back campaigns for dormant users
- Behavior-triggered product adoption nudges
- Loyalty and upsell lifecycle campaigns
Optimove’s customer retention tools for SaaS cost this much:
| Plan | Price | Billing | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build | Custom pricing | Contact sales | Customer Data Platform with 150 attributes, up to 3 marketing channels, up to 55 weekly campaigns, journey builder, multichannel engagement |
| Grow | Custom pricing | Contact sales | 300 attributes, up to 5 marketing channels, up to 160 weekly campaigns, advanced journey orchestration, self-optimizing campaigns |
| Scale | Custom pricing | Contact sales | Unlimited attributes, unlimited channels, unlimited weekly campaigns, full experimentation suite, optimization bot |
How to Choose the Right Customer Retention Tool for Your SaaS
Picking the right customer retention tool for your SaaS isn’t just about features — it’s about choosing something that fits your product, team, and growth goals.
You want a tool that helps you keep more users without making your workflows harder or messier.
1. Match the Tool to Your SaaS Growth Stage
Early-stage SaaS companies need different retention tools than mature ones.
If you’re early, you need something lightweight that gives you quick insights without overwhelming your team. Think simple analytics, basic in-app messaging, and clear churn signals.
If you’re scaling, you might need deeper segmentation, predictive churn models, and integration with other parts of your stack like your CRM or billing platform. Always pick based on what your team can realistically use — not just what sounds impressive.
2. Prioritize Strong Integration With Your Existing Stack
Your retention tool needs to fit naturally into the tools you already use.
Otherwise, you’ll spend more time fighting tech issues than solving churn. Look for clean integrations with your CRM, product analytics, support platform, and email marketing tools.
If a retention tool forces you to add extra manual work or duplicate data, it’s a red flag. The best tools make your systems work together so you get a full view of your customer health without juggling spreadsheets.
3. Focus on Actionable Insights, Not Just Data
Data is important — but unless a tool helps you act on it, it’s just noise. Good retention tools don’t just tell you who is about to churn; they help you understand why and what to do about it.
Look for features like automated alerts for at-risk users, health scoring models, and recommended actions (like trigger emails, discounts, or outreach tasks).
Insights should lead directly to action, not analysis paralysis.
4. Make Sure It Scales With You
Switching tools later is expensive and painful.
Choose a platform that can grow with your company, even if you’re starting small. That means customizable dashboards, the ability to add more users without huge extra costs, and support for more complex workflows as you mature.
Scalability doesn’t just mean technical features — it also means having access to good support, documentation, and community resources as your needs get more advanced.
All Customer Retention Tools Compared
| Tool | What It’s Good At | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|
| Encharge | Best for automating user retention across SaaS lifecycles | $79/month |
| HubSpot CRM | Great for combining CRM, marketing, and support | $20/month per seat |
| Salesforce Service Cloud | Best for enterprise-level customer service and retention | $25/user/month (Starter Suite) |
| Zendesk | Good for scaling customer support with automation | $55/agent/month |
| Freshdesk | Great for multi-channel customer service with automation | $18/agent/month |
| Appcues | Best for in-app onboarding and feature adoption | $300/month |
| Userpilot | Good for guiding users and improving adoption | $249/month |
| Akita | Good for churn prediction and customer success management | $49/month |
| Mixpanel | Best for tracking user behavior and retention metrics | Free (up to 1M events) |
| Optimove | Best for AI-driven marketing automation and loyalty | Custom Pricing |
| FullSession | Good for UX analysis to prevent user drop-off | Free (limited) / Paid from $0 with usage fees |
FAQ: Customer Retention Tools
1. Why invest in customer retention management software?
Because keeping existing customers is cheaper and more profitable than constantly finding new ones — good retention software helps you build loyalty, reduce churn, and grow revenue faster.
2. How to manage customer retention for SaaS?
You manage customer retention by onboarding users fast, staying proactive with automations, and personalizing their journey based on real behavior.
Focus on three things:
- Onboard users fast: Help them see value early with clear onboarding emails and in-app guidance.
- Stay proactive: Use automations to check in before users churn — not after.
- Personalize the journey: Segment users by behavior and send emails that match where they are, not where you want them to be.
The goal is simple: make it easier for users to stick around than to leave.
3. What is a good customer retention rate for SaaS?
Specifically for SaaS, a 90% retention rate is considered good, though top companies can reach up to 97%.
4. What is a realistic customer retention rate?
For most businesses, a realistic customer retention rate is between 70% and 90%, depending on the industry and product type.
Thank you so much for reading this,
David Ch
Head of Marketing at Encharge
