A Comprehensive Guide to Choosing and Implementing Customer Retention Management Software

Customer Success leaders and CSMs know that retaining customers is far harder than closing them. Yet many teams still rely on disconnected tools, manual health tracking, and reactive renewal workflows.

When customer data lives in multiple systems, warning signs are easy to miss. Churn comes as a surprise, and teams have no time to build proactive strategies when they are stuck putting out the fires.

Customer retention management software solves this by centralizing customer data, automating lifecycle workflows, and surfacing risks early. 

In this guide, we break down the best customer retention software available today, what each platform is best for, and how to choose the right solution for your team.

Key Takeaways

• Velaris: Best for AI-native, proactive Customer Success teams that want automation, predictive insights, and unified customer intelligence.
• Gainsight: Best for large enterprises needing deep configurability and mature CS operations.
• Totango: Best for structured success programs with flexible segmentation.
• ChurnZero: Best for SaaS teams prioritizing engagement and in-app communication.
• HubSpot Service Hub: Best for teams already embedded in HubSpot seeking lightweight retention capabilities.

Things to Consider When Buying Customer Retention Software

The best customer retention platforms help you detect churn early, automate engagement, unify customer data, and scale proactive success.

Before evaluating vendors, focus on the capabilities that directly impact retention outcomes.

1. Proactive customer health monitoring

Look for platforms that combine usage data, engagement signals, and sentiment to give you a real-time understanding of account health.

Static dashboards are no longer enough. Modern teams need systems that surface risk automatically.

2. Automation built for the post-sale lifecycle

Retention software should orchestrate onboarding, success plans, renewal workflows, and expansion plays without requiring manual intervention.

Automation should reduce CSM workload, not create operational complexity.

3. AI-driven insights 

AI is rapidly becoming the line between reactive and proactive Customer Success.

Leading platforms now:

• Detect churn signals
• Analyze conversations
• Identify adoption blockers
• Recommend next-best actions

If a platform only reports on what happened, your team will always be behind.

4. Unified customer data

Retention is impossible without context. Choose software that integrates with product, CRM, support, and billing systems to create a single source of truth.

Fragmented data leads directly to missed risk signals.

5. Ease of adoption

Even powerful software fails if teams do not use it. Prioritize platforms with intuitive workflows that embed naturally into how CSMs already operate.

Opt for software with a user-friendly interface that requires minimal training. This ensures your team can quickly leverage the software to its full potential.

6. Scalability

Your retention strategy will evolve as your customer base grows. Select a platform that supports both high-touch and digital success motions without forcing a migration later. 

Look for platforms that offer flexible features and plans that can accommodate an increasing number of customers without compromising performance or requiring significant overhauls.

Even a small improvement to customer retention goes a long way, as proved by research from Bain & Company, which shows increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%. Implementing the right Customer Retention Management Software has the potential to go far beyond this. 

Best Customer Retention Management Software

The best customer retention platforms include Velaris, Gainsight, Totango, ChurnZero, and HubSpot Service Hub. Each supports retention differently, from AI-driven risk detection to structured success programs and enterprise-scale analytics.

Choosing the right platform depends largely on your team’s maturity, customer complexity, and how proactive you want your Customer Success motion to be.

1. Velaris

What it is

Velaris, a highly rated platform on G2, is an AI-native Customer Success platform built to help teams prevent churn, automate lifecycle workflows, and transform customer data into proactive engagement strategies. Rather than functioning as a passive system of record, Velaris acts as an intelligence layer that continuously interprets customer signals.

Many retention tools focus on dashboards that require manual interpretation. Velaris shifts this model by embedding AI directly into daily workflows, allowing teams to detect risk earlier, prioritize accounts faster, and act with greater confidence.

Key strengths

• AI Copilot: Recommends next-best actions based on real-time customer context, helping CSMs respond strategically instead of relying on intuition.
  
  
• CallSense: Converts customer calls into structured insights by identifying sentiment, risks, objections, and opportunity signals.
  
  
• Trending Topics: Automatically clusters feedback and conversations to reveal recurring issues across accounts.
  
  
• Health + sentiment fusion: Combines behavioral signals with emotional context for more accurate health scoring.
  
  
• Signal-based automation: Playbooks trigger directly from risk indicators, adoption drops, or engagement changes.
  
  
• Canvas: A unified customer workspace that provides cross-functional visibility so that customers and internal teams can operate from the same context.

Considerations

Velaris is designed for proactive Customer Success organizations. Teams transitioning from spreadsheets or heavily manual workflows may need to rethink processes to fully benefit from automation and AI-driven insights.

Best for

Mid-market and enterprise Customer Success teams looking to scale intelligently, improve forecasting, and build a predictive retention strategy powered by AI.

2. Gainsight

What it is

Gainsight is one of the most established Customer Success platforms, known for its depth, configurability, and enterprise-ready capabilities. It provides tools for health scoring, workflow automation, and advanced reporting across large customer portfolios.

Strengths

• Extensive customization options to support complex CS operations
  
  
• Powerful analytics and reporting for executive visibility
  
  
• Mature partner ecosystem and integrations
  
  
• Scales well across global teams

Considerations

Gainsight’s flexibility often comes with operational overhead. Implementation can be lengthy, configuration may require specialized expertise, and many organizations rely on dedicated admins to manage the platform effectively.

Best for

Large enterprises with sophisticated Customer Success programs, complex hierarchies, and the resources to support a highly configurable system.

3. Totango

What it is

Totango is a modular Customer Success platform designed to help teams operationalize structured customer journeys through pre-built success programs and segmentation.

Strengths

• Flexible architecture that adapts to different success motions
  
  
• Strong segmentation for targeting customer cohorts
  
  
• Pre-configured templates that accelerate program setup
  
  
• Supports both digital and high-touch engagement models
  
  

Considerations

While Totango provides strong structure, advanced workflows often require thoughtful configuration. Teams seeking faster time-to-value may need to invest upfront in designing their programs.

Best for

Organizations that value repeatable frameworks and want to formalize Customer Success processes without building everything from scratch.

4. ChurnZero 

What it is

ChurnZero is a Customer Success platform built with SaaS companies in mind, emphasizing real-time engagement, product adoption, and automated communication.

Strengths

• In-app messaging that connects directly with users inside the product
  
  
• Strong automation for lifecycle outreach
  
  
• Real-time alerts that help teams respond quickly
  
  
• Tools geared toward improving adoption and engagement
  
  

Considerations

To unlock its full potential, teams often need clearly defined processes and operational discipline. Without strong strategy, automation alone may not deliver meaningful retention gains.

Best for

SaaS businesses prioritizing product usage, customer engagement, and scalable communication strategies.

5. HubSpot Service Hub 

What it is

HubSpot Service Hub extends HubSpot’s ecosystem into customer support and retention, offering tools like ticketing, knowledge bases, and feedback collection within a familiar interface.

Strengths

• Native integration with HubSpot CRM
  
  
• Intuitive, easy-to-adopt user experience
  
  
• Strong customer support infrastructure
  
  
• Ideal for teams already standardized on HubSpot
  
  

Considerations

Service Hub is not purpose-built for Customer Success. Advanced capabilities such as predictive health scoring, lifecycle automation, and deep retention analytics are more limited compared to dedicated CS platforms.

Best for

Growing companies already operating within HubSpot that want lightweight retention functionality without introducing another platform.

Conclusion

Customer retention has become a defining factor in long-term business growth. As customer expectations rise and post-sale journeys grow more complex, relying on manual processes or fragmented tools is no longer sustainable. 

While several strong retention management platforms exist, the biggest shift in Customer Success is toward intelligence-driven operations. AI-native platforms are helping teams move beyond static dashboards by interpreting customer signals and recommending actions before issues escalate.

Velaris, a highly rated software on G2, represents this next evolution. If you're evaluating customer retention software and want a platform built for modern, AI-powered Customer Success, book a demo to see how Velaris can help you prevent churn, uncover growth opportunities, and turn customer insights into action.