Compare customer service and customer experience software to decide which one aligns better with your business goals.
Both customer service and customer experience are important business processes that involve several difficult aspects, such as a lack of customer data integration and delayed customer interaction. While a customer service or customer experience tool can help customer support agents handle these issues with ease, how do you know which one to choose to increase customer loyalty, retention and satisfaction?
The confusion surrounding these two software solutions can make it difficult to select the best tool for your business. While the customer service system focuses primarily on handling customer inquiries and support, customer experience software aims to enhance the overall customer journey and create meaningful customer experiences by considering every touchpoint and interaction that the customers have with the business, both online and offline.
This article discusses the similarities and differences between customer service and customer experience software so you can select the right one for your business needs. For each software category, we’ve also included the top five products based on verified software reviews. Read more.
What is customer service software?
Customer service software is an online system that enables businesses to document, track, and resolve customer queries. The platform collates customer requests from multiple channels, including phone, email, and live chat into a single portal for easy and quick redressal.
With this software, multiple agents can work together on a ticket to ensure smooth collaboration and speedy ticket resolution. The software also provides detailed reports on customer interactions that can help businesses evaluate the quality of their customer support services.
Core features of customer service software
The core features of customer service software are:
Knowledge base management: Enables businesses to create, store, organize, and manage information related to their products or services. With this feature, businesses can support their customer service operations and provide their customer service agents access to a centralized repository of information that can be used to answer customer queries. A knowledge base typically includes frequently asked questions (FAQs), product manuals, troubleshooting guides, and instructional videos.
Multi-channel communication: Facilitates customer support across multiple channels, such as phone, email, live chat, and social media channels. The feature is used by help desk agents to interact with customers using a centralized platform, giving the latter the flexibility to choose the communication channel that works best for them. This allows customer service agents to handle multiple customer conversations simultaneously and reduce response times.
Support ticket management: Allows businesses to receive and respond to customer queries and service requests. Additionally, the feature can help businesses track and manage these queries in an effective manner. Support ticket management typically includes ticket assignment, routing, tracking, and prioritization functionality for efficient ticket handling.
5 top-rated customer service software
These products are listed in alphabetical order. (Check how we selected them.)
To present the most up-to-date information, the product information below shows the latest real-time ratings, which may differ from the ratings values at the time this report's analysis was conducted, since new reviews may have been left in the meantime.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
What is customer experience software?
Customer experience software, also known as customer experience management (CXM) or CEM software allows businesses to collect, organize, and track customer feedback. The software typically includes tools to collect customer opinions, segment customers, and convert text-based feedback into numeric information that can further be used for marketing purposes.
Businesses can use CXM software to fine-tune customer experience when interacting with the brand and build a positive brand image to boost profitability in the long run.
Core features of customer experience software
The core features of customer experience software are:
Feedback management: Allows businesses to gather and analyze feedback received from customers. The feature, which typically includes feedback collection, analysis, and reporting functionality, is used by businesses to understand their customer needs and areas of improvement. It also helps them measure the effectiveness of their customer experience efforts.
Multi-channel data collection: Aggregates customer feedback and insights from a variety of touchpoints—including email, social media, and chat—into a single dashboard, thereby making it easier for businesses to view and analyze data. This data can be used by businesses to understand customer behavior and make informed decisions.
5 top-rated customer experience software
These products are listed in alphabetical order. (Check how we selected them.)
To present the most up-to-date information, the product information below shows the latest real-time ratings, which may differ from the ratings values at the time this report's analysis was conducted, since new reviews may have been left in the meantime.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Customer service vs. customer experience software: How are they similar?
Customer service and customer experience software solutions share a common objective of providing a great customer experience, which can further lead to customer retention.
Both these tools facilitate data sourcing from multiple platforms, including phone, email, and social media channels. While customer service software enables customer service agents to interact and address customer queries across multiple channels, customer experience software analyzes data from all these channels to understand customer behavior and satisfaction scores.
In addition to multi-channel management, both customer service and customer experience solutions offer customer database features to track and store customer information, as well as reporting to analyze data related to existing customers. They also share alerts and notification functionality to ensure that customer escalations and inquiries are addressed in a timely manner.
Customer service vs. customer experience software: Which one is right for your business?
Choosing between customer service and customer experience software solutions depends on multiple factors, including your business goals.
If you are looking to manage and respond to customer inquiries, complaints, and other issues, customer service software should be an ideal solution for you. However, if you want to improve the overall experience that customers have with your brand, customer experience software could be the right platform for you. While customer service software majorly offers functionality that focuses on solving customer problems, customer experience software includes functionality centered around improving your relationship with existing customers.
In addition to your business goals, consider the teams that are most likely to use and benefit from the software. If you are looking for a tool to support the operations of your customer support/service teams and streamline customer engagement, you would most likely benefit from a customer service solution. On the other hand, if you are considering a tool for customer satisfaction measurement and customer retention, to be used by professionals in sales, marketing, or quality control departments, consider customer experience software.
Once you’ve decided which software to use, head to our customer service and customer experience software category pages where you can find a sortable list of products and software reviews from verified users.
How to choose customer service vs. customer experience software
Below are a few important things you can consider when selecting between customer service and customer experience solutions.
Understand your end goals: If you are looking to improve customer interactions and improve support processes, a customer service platform with features, such as ticket management, live chat assistance, and knowledge base management would be apt for you. However, if you are looking to provide a positive customer experience throughout the customer lifecycle, consider investing in a customer experience platform with feedback management, customer journey mapping, and customer segmentation functionality.
Look at metrics and reporting requirements: While both customer service and customer experience tools provide you with detailed insights into your customer service operations, the type of metric that you require will impact your software choice. If you need insights into customer conversion rate, customer lifetime value, and social media engagement, you should probably consider customer experience software. However, if you are keen to know about the average response time taken by your help desk agents to resolve queries, ticket volume, and backlog, customer service software can help you.
Consider ticket management functionality: Ticket management capabilities in customer service software enable users to track customer queries and complaints. The feature typically involves creating a ticket for each customer interaction, assigning it to a specific team member, and tracking its progress until the issue is resolved. While this feature helps businesses enhance overall customer satisfaction, an important thing to note here is that customer experience tools, unlike customer service solutions, offer limited ticket management capabilities as part of their offering.
Common questions when selecting customer service vs. customer experience software
Here are some questions you should ask software vendors before finalizing your purchase:
Does the software offer automated responses?
Both customer service and customer experience software systems often include the capability to automate responses to routine queries and requests. This reduces the administrative load of customer service agents and speeds up the customer service process, also ensuring that customers receive timely responses.
What are the communication channels supported by the system?
Multi-channel management is an essential feature of both customer service and customer experience solutions. Before investing in one, ask the vendor about the communication channels supported by the tool. At the most basic, either of the systems should help you collect, manage, and analyze data across phone, email, live chat, social media, video, and messaging apps.
Does the tool offer knowledge-base management capabilities?
Both software types often include a self-service or knowledge base portal for customers to find relevant information, FAQs, tutorials, and troubleshoot common issues independently without relying much and waiting for the support team. The feature not only helps reduce the response time but also enhances the overall customer experience.