Quick Overview
- 1#1: Klaviyo - Automates personalized email and SMS campaigns to boost e-commerce customer retention and lifetime value.
- 2#2: Braze - Powers cross-channel customer engagement with AI-driven retention journeys across email, push, and in-app messaging.
- 3#3: Iterable - Enables data-driven, personalized marketing automation for retention across multiple channels.
- 4#4: Customer.io - Delivers behavioral-based automated messaging to drive user retention and engagement.
- 5#5: Intercom - Automates customer messaging, support, and retention workflows through chat, email, and product tours.
- 6#6: ActiveCampaign - Provides email automation and CRM features focused on customer segmentation and retention nurturing.
- 7#7: HubSpot - Offers integrated marketing automation and CRM tools to nurture leads and retain customers.
- 8#8: Retention.com - Identifies anonymous website visitors and automates personalized retention campaigns for e-commerce.
- 9#9: ChurnZero - Automates customer success playbooks to predict and prevent churn while boosting retention.
- 10#10: Gainsight - AI-powered customer success platform that automates retention, expansion, and churn reduction.
We selected and ranked these tools by evaluating features (e.g., personalization, multi-channel integration), usability, performance (e.g., churn reduction), and overall value, ensuring a balanced list that caters to small businesses through enterprise-level needs.
Comparison Table
Retention automation software is critical for sustaining customer engagement and fostering long-term loyalty, with leading tools like Klaviyo, Braze, Iterable, Customer.io, and Intercom shaping its landscape. This comparison table explores their key features, strengths, and ideal use cases, providing a clear overview to help businesses choose effectively. Readers will learn how each platform differentiates, ensuring alignment with their unique retention and growth objectives.
| # | Tool | Category | Overall | Features | Ease of Use | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Klaviyo Automates personalized email and SMS campaigns to boost e-commerce customer retention and lifetime value. | specialized | 9.5/10 | 9.8/10 | 8.7/10 | 9.2/10 |
| 2 | Braze Powers cross-channel customer engagement with AI-driven retention journeys across email, push, and in-app messaging. | enterprise | 9.2/10 | 9.6/10 | 8.4/10 | 8.1/10 |
| 3 | Iterable Enables data-driven, personalized marketing automation for retention across multiple channels. | specialized | 8.9/10 | 9.4/10 | 7.8/10 | 8.2/10 |
| 4 | Customer.io Delivers behavioral-based automated messaging to drive user retention and engagement. | specialized | 8.4/10 | 9.2/10 | 7.8/10 | 7.6/10 |
| 5 | Intercom Automates customer messaging, support, and retention workflows through chat, email, and product tours. | enterprise | 8.7/10 | 9.2/10 | 8.0/10 | 7.5/10 |
| 6 | ActiveCampaign Provides email automation and CRM features focused on customer segmentation and retention nurturing. | specialized | 8.7/10 | 9.2/10 | 7.8/10 | 8.1/10 |
| 7 | HubSpot Offers integrated marketing automation and CRM tools to nurture leads and retain customers. | enterprise | 8.1/10 | 8.5/10 | 8.8/10 | 7.2/10 |
| 8 | Retention.com Identifies anonymous website visitors and automates personalized retention campaigns for e-commerce. | specialized | 8.2/10 | 8.5/10 | 9.0/10 | 7.8/10 |
| 9 | ChurnZero Automates customer success playbooks to predict and prevent churn while boosting retention. | enterprise | 8.7/10 | 9.2/10 | 8.4/10 | 8.2/10 |
| 10 | Gainsight AI-powered customer success platform that automates retention, expansion, and churn reduction. | enterprise | 8.3/10 | 9.2/10 | 7.4/10 | 7.8/10 |
Automates personalized email and SMS campaigns to boost e-commerce customer retention and lifetime value.
Powers cross-channel customer engagement with AI-driven retention journeys across email, push, and in-app messaging.
Enables data-driven, personalized marketing automation for retention across multiple channels.
Delivers behavioral-based automated messaging to drive user retention and engagement.
Automates customer messaging, support, and retention workflows through chat, email, and product tours.
Provides email automation and CRM features focused on customer segmentation and retention nurturing.
Offers integrated marketing automation and CRM tools to nurture leads and retain customers.
Identifies anonymous website visitors and automates personalized retention campaigns for e-commerce.
Automates customer success playbooks to predict and prevent churn while boosting retention.
AI-powered customer success platform that automates retention, expansion, and churn reduction.
Klaviyo
specializedAutomates personalized email and SMS campaigns to boost e-commerce customer retention and lifetime value.
Built-in Customer Data Platform (CDP) with real-time behavioral profiling for one-to-one personalization at enterprise scale
Klaviyo is a leading customer data and marketing automation platform tailored for e-commerce brands, specializing in retention through hyper-personalized email, SMS, and push notification campaigns. It leverages a robust customer data platform (CDP) to sync behavioral data from online stores, enabling automated flows like abandoned cart recovery, win-back sequences, and birthday offers. Klaviyo's advanced segmentation, A/B testing, and predictive analytics empower businesses to nurture customer lifetime value with precision at scale.
Pros
- Unmatched e-commerce integrations (e.g., Shopify, BigCommerce) for seamless data syncing
- Sophisticated automation flows with dynamic personalization and predictive analytics
- Comprehensive reporting and revenue attribution to measure retention ROI directly
Cons
- Pricing scales quickly with contact volume and send limits, becoming costly for large lists
- Steep learning curve for advanced features despite intuitive drag-and-drop editor
- Limited non-marketing automation capabilities compared to full CRM suites
Best For
Scaling e-commerce brands seeking data-driven retention automations via email and SMS to maximize customer lifetime value.
Pricing
Free for up to 250 active profiles; paid plans start at $20/month (Pay-as-you-go) or $45/month (annual), tiered by active profiles (up to 100K+ at $3,000+/month) with additional costs for SMS volume.
Braze
enterprisePowers cross-channel customer engagement with AI-driven retention journeys across email, push, and in-app messaging.
Canvas: a visual, no-code journey builder for orchestrating dynamic, behavior-triggered retention workflows
Braze is a powerful customer engagement platform specializing in retention automation, enabling marketers to deliver personalized, cross-channel experiences across email, push notifications, SMS, in-app messaging, and web. Its Canvas tool allows for the creation of sophisticated, multi-step customer journeys triggered by user behavior and real-time data. With advanced segmentation, predictive analytics, and A/B testing, Braze helps optimize retention strategies to reduce churn and increase customer lifetime value.
Pros
- Exceptional multichannel support for seamless retention campaigns
- Advanced AI-driven personalization and predictive analytics
- Highly scalable for enterprise-level user bases
Cons
- Steep learning curve for complex features
- High cost unsuitable for small businesses
- Setup requires significant integration effort
Best For
Enterprise marketing teams managing large-scale, data-driven retention programs across multiple channels.
Pricing
Custom enterprise pricing based on monthly active users and message volume, typically starting at $100,000+ annually.
Iterable
specializedEnables data-driven, personalized marketing automation for retention across multiple channels.
AI-Powered Journeys with predictive behavioral targeting for hyper-personalized retention automation
Iterable is an AI-powered cross-channel engagement platform designed for customer retention through personalized automation across email, SMS, push, and in-app messaging. It excels in orchestrating behavioral journeys, segmentation, and predictive analytics to re-engage users and boost lifetime value. As a retention automation tool, it automates win-back campaigns, loyalty programs, and churn prevention with real-time triggers and A/B testing.
Pros
- Advanced AI-driven personalization and predictive modeling for retention
- Robust multi-channel orchestration and journey builder
- Strong analytics, experimentation, and data integration capabilities
Cons
- Steep learning curve for non-technical users
- High pricing suitable only for mid-to-large enterprises
- Complex setup and customization can delay time-to-value
Best For
Mid-market to enterprise marketing teams needing scalable, sophisticated retention automation across multiple channels.
Pricing
Custom enterprise pricing based on contacts and message volume; typically starts at $10,000–$20,000/month for mid-tier plans.
Customer.io
specializedDelivers behavioral-based automated messaging to drive user retention and engagement.
Real-time behavioral data platform with event-based triggers and Liquid for complex, code-like personalization logic
Customer.io is a customer data and automation platform designed for personalized messaging across email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app channels. It excels in retention automation by leveraging behavioral data to trigger dynamic journeys, segments, and experiments that re-engage users and reduce churn. Businesses use it to build sophisticated retention strategies like win-back campaigns, onboarding sequences, and milestone-based nudges.
Pros
- Powerful behavioral data integration for hyper-personalized automations
- Visual journey builder with A/B testing and experimentation tools
- Multi-channel support including email, SMS, and webhooks
Cons
- Steep learning curve for advanced customizations using Liquid templating
- Pricing can escalate quickly with high message volumes
- Limited native analytics; relies on integrations for deeper insights
Best For
Mid-sized SaaS or e-commerce teams needing scalable, data-driven retention automations without heavy engineering resources.
Pricing
Free plan for testing; Essentials starts at $150/mo; Growth and Enterprise are custom/usage-based on monthly tracked users and messages.
Intercom
enterpriseAutomates customer messaging, support, and retention workflows through chat, email, and product tours.
Series automated workflows that trigger personalized retention sequences based on real-time user behavior
Intercom is a comprehensive customer messaging platform that automates retention through targeted in-app messages, emails, and chatbots based on user behavior and segmentation. It enables businesses to create automated workflows like Series for re-engagement campaigns, churn prediction, and personalized nurturing to reduce customer loss. With its customer data platform, it unifies user data for precise targeting across web, mobile, and email channels.
Pros
- Advanced segmentation and behavior-based triggers for precise retention campaigns
- Multi-channel automation including chat, email, and push notifications
- AI-powered insights like Fin for churn prediction and proactive engagement
Cons
- Pricing scales quickly and becomes expensive for high-volume users
- Steep learning curve for setting up complex automations
- Limited standalone CRM capabilities, best paired with other tools
Best For
Mid-sized SaaS and e-commerce companies seeking sophisticated, multi-channel retention messaging automations.
Pricing
Starts at $74/month (Essential plan, billed annually) for up to 1,000 monthly active users; Advanced ($139/month) and Expert plans scale based on users and features, with custom enterprise pricing.
ActiveCampaign
specializedProvides email automation and CRM features focused on customer segmentation and retention nurturing.
Customer Experience Automation (CXA) with AI-driven predictive sending and machine learning content recommendations
ActiveCampaign is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that excels in retention automation through personalized customer journeys, behavioral triggers, and multi-channel messaging including email, SMS, and site messages. It leverages site tracking and CRM integration to monitor user interactions and automate re-engagement, win-back, and loyalty campaigns. With machine learning-powered content recommendations and predictive sending, it helps businesses nurture long-term customer relationships and reduce churn effectively.
Pros
- Powerful visual automation builder for complex retention workflows
- Deep behavioral tracking and CRM integration for personalized retention
- Multi-channel support including SMS and site messaging for re-engagement
Cons
- Steep learning curve for advanced automations
- Pricing scales quickly with contact volume
- Reporting lacks depth for pure retention analytics compared to specialists
Best For
Mid-sized e-commerce and SaaS businesses needing robust, all-in-one automation for customer retention across multiple channels.
Pricing
Starts at $29/month (Lite, up to 500 contacts, billed annually); Plus ($49), Professional ($149), and custom Enterprise plans for advanced retention features.
HubSpot
enterpriseOffers integrated marketing automation and CRM tools to nurture leads and retain customers.
Customer health scoring and proactive workflow automation that predicts and prevents churn across the customer lifecycle
HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM platform with Marketing, Service, and Operations Hubs that automate customer retention through personalized workflows, email campaigns, and churn prediction tools. It enables businesses to track customer health scores, trigger re-engagement sequences, and analyze retention metrics in one unified system. While powerful for mid-market users, its broad scope makes it less specialized than dedicated retention tools.
Pros
- All-in-one CRM integration streamlines retention across marketing, sales, and service
- Intuitive drag-and-drop workflow builder for automated campaigns and churn prevention
- Robust analytics and AI-powered insights for customer health scoring
Cons
- Pricing escalates quickly for advanced retention features and higher contact volumes
- Overkill and complex for small teams focused solely on retention automation
- Limited depth in niche retention tools like loyalty program builders compared to specialists
Best For
Mid-sized SaaS, e-commerce, or B2B businesses needing scalable retention automation integrated with full CRM capabilities.
Pricing
Free CRM starter; Marketing/Service Hubs from $20/month (Starter) to $800+/month (Professional), up to $3,600+/month (Enterprise) based on contacts and features.
Retention.com
specializedIdentifies anonymous website visitors and automates personalized retention campaigns for e-commerce.
Cookie-independent identity resolution that matches 70%+ of anonymous visitors to emails using first-party signals
Retention.com is a retention automation platform for e-commerce stores that identifies anonymous website visitors using first-party data and cookie-less identity resolution. It enables businesses to capture emails from incognito or new visitors and trigger personalized retention campaigns via integrations with ESPs like Klaviyo or Attentive. The tool focuses on recovering lost revenue by automating nurture sequences and reducing cart abandonment without relying on third-party cookies.
Pros
- Cookie-less identity resolution captures high-value anonymous traffic effectively
- Seamless integrations with major ESPs for quick campaign deployment
- Proven ROI with reported 20-30% revenue lift from retention emails
Cons
- Pricing scales aggressively with traffic volume, pricey for high-traffic sites
- Limited to email/SMS retention; lacks broader multichannel automation
- Requires pixel installation and some setup for optimal data capture
Best For
Mid-sized DTC e-commerce brands focused on email-based retention marketing to recover anonymous visitors.
Pricing
Starts at $100/month for low-traffic sites, scales to $1,000+/month based on monthly visitors and resolved identities; custom enterprise plans available.
ChurnZero
enterpriseAutomates customer success playbooks to predict and prevent churn while boosting retention.
Success Playbooks for automating personalized customer journeys and interventions
ChurnZero is a customer retention platform that empowers SaaS teams to monitor customer health in real-time, automate success workflows, and deliver personalized in-app experiences to reduce churn and drive expansion. It offers tools like health scoring, success playbooks, surveys, and messaging to proactively engage at-risk customers. The software integrates deeply with CRMs and product analytics for a unified view of customer behavior and sentiment.
Pros
- Real-time customer health scoring and alerts
- Robust automation via success playbooks and workflows
- Extensive integrations with tools like Salesforce and Intercom
Cons
- Pricing is enterprise-focused and can be steep for SMBs
- Initial setup and configuration require significant time
- Advanced reporting lacks some native customization options
Best For
Mid-market and enterprise SaaS companies with dedicated customer success teams seeking proactive retention automation.
Pricing
Custom pricing starting at around $10,000-$20,000 annually, based on monthly active users and features; contact sales for quote.
Gainsight
enterpriseAI-powered customer success platform that automates retention, expansion, and churn reduction.
Customer 360, providing a unified, real-time view of all customer data across touchpoints for proactive retention.
Gainsight is a comprehensive customer success platform designed to automate retention and expansion efforts for SaaS companies. It offers tools like Customer 360 views, health scoring, churn prediction, success plans, and automated CTAs (Calls to Action) to proactively manage customer health. The platform integrates deeply with CRM systems like Salesforce and leverages AI for insights, helping teams reduce churn and drive renewals at scale.
Pros
- Deep integrations with Salesforce and other CRMs
- Powerful AI-driven health scores and churn prediction
- Robust automation for success playbooks and workflows
Cons
- Steep learning curve for setup and customization
- High cost unsuitable for small teams
- Overly complex for basic retention needs
Best For
Mid-to-large enterprises with dedicated customer success teams managing complex B2B customer relationships.
Pricing
Custom enterprise pricing, typically starting at $50,000+ annually based on customer volume and features.
Conclusion
The reviewed retention automation tools each offer unique strengths, but Klaviyo leads as the top choice, renowned for its personalized email and SMS campaigns that drive e-commerce customer retention and lifetime value. Braze and Iterable, while strong alternatives, stand out for their AI-driven cross-channel journeys and data-driven personalization respectively, catering to distinct needs. Ultimately, Klaviyo’s dedicated focus on retention solidifies its position as a must-have for businesses seeking to boost engagement.
Don’t miss out—try Klaviyo today to automate impactful retention strategies and build long-term customer loyalty.
Tools Reviewed
All tools were independently evaluated for this comparison
