Buyer's Handbook: Customer experience management enhances branding and success Article 1 of 4

Determine the best platform to manage your CX

Positive customer experiences can play a critical role in the success of a business. With the prevalence of social media and review sites like Yelp, it has never been easier for customers to express both praise and criticism for a company for the whole public to see. Customer experience management software can help companies keep tabs on how their customers are experiencing their platform or product to ensure both their reputation and ultimate success.

CXM platforms perform many tasks in order to place vital information into the hands of decision-makers who can then utilize those insights to prioritize and strategize. With the right implementation, companies can enjoy extensive benefits such as analyzing customer feedback, addressing customer concerns in real time, choosing the right customer investments, measuring customer loyalty and, overall, aligning the company better toward meeting customer experience goals.

Prospective buyers should take a careful approach, however. Many vendors claim to be CX management platforms and possess overlapping features and capabilities sets. But the right tool depends on what exactly a company needs. Buyers should look at what major platforms offer for integration, inventory management, reporting and analytics, web content management, marketing optimization, workflow optimization and social media insights. These seven features are just a starting point for tech buyers to plan their plunge into the very vast market of CXM software.

Options are diverse, from CRM software with CXM add-ons to fully-featured customer experience management platforms. This guide takes prospective customers through the full range of CX management tools through their top use cases and what to look for in the leading products.

Armed with this information, buyers can find the right product that will get them the 360-degree customer view their CX strategy requires, drilling down to how they came to the brand, the platforms they are most likely to utilize (social media, phone, media) and what necessary actions companies can take to retain those customers.