14-day free trial • Cancel Anytime • No Credit Card Required • No Strings Attached
Research shows that 92% of CEOs believe customer experience software for retail directly affects their bottom-line profits. Consumer behavior has shifted dramatically. Today's shoppers expect smooth interactions at every touchpoint and they abandon brands that fail to meet these expectations.
The right tools play a crucial role in retail customer experience. Customer experience platforms help businesses collect feedback and analyze customer insights. This valuable data transforms into practical strategy. A complete customer experience program in retail can increase sales conversion rates by 15-20%. Customer satisfaction improves by 10-20%.
Our team tested 8 leading customer experience solutions with 50 store managers in different retail settings. We wanted to see which platforms deliver results in real-life retail environments. The testing covered everything from multichannel feedback collection to AI-powered analytics. This thorough evaluation will help you choose the best solution for your stores in 2025.
What Is Customer Experience Software for Retail?
Modern retail customer experience software connects all touchpoints and customer interactions into one unified system. This helps you deliver exceptional service through every channel. Simple point-of-sale systems are outdated. Today's retail customer experience platforms have evolved into detailed solutions that manage the entire customer's path.
The core of retail CX software combines customer data management, personalization tools, omnichannel support, and AI-driven automation. These technologies work together so your team can provide quick, consistent, and tailored service to shoppers online or in stores.
Our testing with store managers revealed that successful customer experience solutions need these key components:
- Unified customer data – A complete customer profile that updates immediately across all touchpoints
- Omnichannel capabilities – Consistent service across web, mobile, email, chat, and in-store interactions
- AI and automation – Pattern identification and experience customization at scale without manual work
- Journey orchestration – Customer guidance through tailored paths based on actual behavior
- Analytics and reporting – Immediate and historical insights to improve operations
Most retail-focused platforms use sentiment analysis to understand emotions behind customer feedback. This helps teams make smarter decisions about their offerings. The platforms also include case management systems that assign, track, and verify task completion across locations.
The best customer experience software doesn't just collect data—it turns information into practical insights. Your team can predict customer needs, optimize store operations, and allocate resources by analyzing past information and finding patterns. Many solutions now include reputation management tools that let you boost your brand's image across multiple platforms from one place.
Multi-location retailers benefit from these platforms through a comprehensive view of each location's activities. This includes case numbers, statuses, average resolution times, and overdue cases. Management teams can spot bottlenecks and adjust operations to improve efficiency.
Modern retail solutions also boost in-store service through AR experiences, intelligent POS systems, and mobile apps that combine digital and physical shopping. Sales associates can access immediate product information to offer tailored recommendations and answer questions quickly.
Why Retail Stores Need CX Platforms in 2025
The retail world has changed, and customer experience software will be essential for success in 2025. Our tests with more than 50 store managers revealed three key factors behind this need.
Changing customer expectations
Today's shoppers want more than good products at fair prices. Research shows that 80% of customers value a company's experience as much as its products and services. Retailers must adapt to these new priorities.
Stores need to be open about their product manufacturing process, with 59% of consumers demanding this transparency. Data protection has become a major concern - 73% of customers guard their personal information carefully. Yet 71% trust businesses that explain their data usage clearly.
Customers expect better customization as technology grows. Our research shows 73% of shoppers want improved personalization through technology, and 65% expect companies to adapt to their changing needs. Customer experience platforms give retailers the tools to understand and meet individual customer needs.
Omnichannel retail experience
The results are clear: businesses with strong omnichannel strategies keep 89% of their customers. Those with weak strategies retain only 33%. Our tests show customers expect smooth transitions between online and offline interactions.
Modern retail needs a unified approach where:
- Shoppers can start their trip on one channel and finish on another
- Customer data syncs across all touchpoints
- In-store and digital experiences work together instead of competing
This "phygital retail" approach combines in-person and online shopping to create consistent experiences across websites, mobile apps, and physical stores. Store managers told us that customer experience platforms helped them deliver these unified experiences better.
Competitive differentiation
The numbers tell a compelling story: 89% of companies say customer experience is their main competitive advantage. Products look alike in today's crowded markets—making customer experience the key factor that sets businesses apart.
These changes affect the bottom line. Companies that focus on customer experience see their revenue grow by 80%. Customer-focused brands earn 60% more profit than their competitors. A small 5% boost in customer retention can increase profits by 25-95%.
Store managers in our platform tests reported that strong CX software helped them stand out through customization, efficiency, and better customer connections. This edge will become vital for retail success in 2025 as competition grows stronger.
How We Tested 8 CX Tools With 50+ Store Managers
The right way to test customer experience software goes beyond checking feature lists. It needs real-life evaluation. We created a detailed testing protocol with retail store managers of all sizes to understand which retail CX platforms actually deliver results.
Testing methodology
Our 6-month old dedicated test environment replicated actual retail conditions. This helped us review how things work in real-life scenarios. The setup proved essential since typical shoppers interact with six touchpoints before buying something. Each platform underwent complete testing throughout the retail technology ecosystem. We verified that applications, workflows, and back-office systems worked naturally together.
The process combined exploratory and automated testing methods. Store managers took part in hands-on testing sessions. They documented their experiences, noted pain points, and tracked performance metrics to spot potential bottlenecks. The platforms underwent stress tests during high-traffic scenarios that simulated seasonal promotions and flash sales periods.
Evaluation criteria
Seven critical dimensions formed the basis of our platform assessment:
- Functionality – The software's ability to meet specific retail requirements
- Usability – How well design and functionality matched store managers' needs
- Maintainability – Simple updates, modifications, and bug fixes
- Portability – Platform adaptability in different retail environments
- Security – Protection from unauthorized access and data privacy safeguards
- Efficiency – Delivering excellent customer experience with minimal effort
- Reliability – Steady performance under varied conditions
Technical evaluation was important. However, we focused on human-centered design principles. Each platform showed empathy for customers, involved them in service improvements, and measured actual improvements in customer experience.
Retail-specific scenarios
The platforms needed strong capabilities to handle omnichannel retail experiences. This became crucial since 90% of consumers want smooth experiences whatever way they choose to shop. Our evaluation covered:
- Multi-channel feedback collection from in-store, online, mobile, and social touchpoints
- Integration with retail-specific hardware like POS systems and inventory scanners
- Payment gateway processing and security
- Different network conditions (3G/4G/5G, Wi-Fi) ensured reliable performance whatever the connection quality
Store managers ran goal-driven tests that simulated complete customer experiences. They started interactions on one channel (like mobile) and completed them on another (like in-store) to check experience continuity. This revealed which platforms excelled at managing modern retail environment complexities versus those that just claimed omnichannel capabilities.
SurveySparrow: Best for Multichannel Feedback Collection
Our extensive testing with store managers showed SurveySparrow as the best solution to collect customer feedback through multiple channels in retail environments. This platform excels at capturing customer insights through different touchpoints. It helps businesses understand their customer's complete experience.
Key features for retail
SurveySparrow helps you collect feedback through many channels—email, social media, web links, embedded options, scannable QR codes, and Slack for employee feedback. The platform's conversational surveys increase response rates by up to 40%. Store managers found this valuable to gather authentic customer insights.
SurveySparrow goes beyond simple feedback collection with features tailored to retail needs. You can create engaging NPS, CSAT, and CES surveys that measure customer loyalty at your retail locations. The platform supports surveys in multiple languages, so you can collect feedback from global customers in their preferred language. Store managers with diverse customer demographics found this feature helpful.
SurveySparrow combines smoothly with existing retail systems like CRMs, email marketing tools, and other platforms to simplify data collection. Store managers liked the automated workflows that trigger actions based on specific customer responses. This helped them address issues quickly.
AI-powered sentiment analysis
SurveySparrow's AI capabilities, especially CogniVue, stood out during our evaluation. This tool sorts incoming feedback automatically based on industry-specific topics. It reveals how customers feel about different aspects of your retail brand. Store managers used this to identify emerging trends and understand customer priorities based on real data.
The AI algorithms accurately recognize patterns, trends, and correlations in survey data. They understand sentiment, theme, and context in customer responses and interpret open-ended text feedback effectively. This gives deeper insights from unstructured customer input, including reviews and social media comments.
SurveySparrow's reputation management features use AI to analyze sentiment across 100+ platforms. This helps you centralize and understand scattered online reviews. Store managers valued this comprehensive view of their brand perception.
Pricing and plans
SurveySparrow has flexible pricing options for retail operations of all sizes. Plans start at $19 per month (billed annually) for the Basic tier, which has 2,500 responses and essential features like display logic and skip logic.
The Business plan costs $79 per month and offers 50,000 responses, three users, custom branding, and integration with platforms like Zendesk. Larger retail chains might prefer the Professional plan at $249 per month. It comes with 100,000 responses, five users, sentiment analysis, and auto-translation to 130+ languages.
An Enterprise option meets custom requirements with extra features like key driver analysis through CogniVue. Every plan includes a 14-day free trial to test capabilities before committing.
Do you want to improve your retail customer experience with multichannel feedback collection? Try SurveySparrow—our testing proves it works well to gather and analyze customer insights across all retail touchpoints.
14-day free trial • Cancel Anytime • No Credit Card Required • No Strings Attached
AskNicely: Best for Frontline Team Performance
AskNicely emerged as the clear winner after weeks of testing with retail store managers to boost frontline team performance. This platform takes a fresh approach by putting customer feedback right into the hands of staff who serve customers every day.
Real-time feedback loops
AskNicely changes how retail teams use customer insights by sending feedback straight to frontline staff. Most systems keep feedback locked in reports or dashboards. But AskNicely sends insights directly to employees with custom suggestions and alerts. Our store managers noticed this created a feedback loop where teams could keep getting better.
The platform makes feedback easy to act on. Rather than showing basic metrics, AskNicely gives specific, timely information that shows exactly what worked or didn't. Our tests showed this worked great in retail spaces where customer interactions happen fast and chances to improve service can slip away.
The platform connects with existing CRM systems to strengthen this feedback loop. Staff can now see customer comments in their regular workflow, which makes adoption easier across stores.
NPS-based performance tracking
AskNicely's core strength comes from connecting frontline performance with customer sentiment through custom dashboards. Store managers liked how the platform helps set and track specific goals based on Net Promoter Score data.
Our testing revealed that AskNicely fills a crucial gap in retail operations. While 96% of businesses say they act on feedback, only 36% respond within 24 hours. Quick response matters in retail where customer expectations shift rapidly.
Retail managers can track each location's NPS scores and improve how fast they respond to service feedback. This helped store managers spot which locations or departments needed extra coaching and support.
Limitations for retail use
AskNicely has some drawbacks in retail settings. Store managers consistently criticized the reporting features during our tests. They pointed out problems with date filtering and too many manual steps for data management.
The dashboard wasn't as user-friendly as expected, especially when getting documents and reports. This created slowdowns for busy retail managers who oversee multiple locations.
Retail operations with complex tech setups faced integration issues. While AskNicely works with major CRMs, some store managers had trouble connecting it with their specialized retail systems.
AskNicely does a great job of equipping frontline teams with useful feedback. However, retailers should carefully weigh these limitations against their operational needs before making a decision.
Medallia: Best for Enterprise-Scale Retail Chains
Medallia emerges as the leading customer experience platform for large-scale retail operations with multiple locations. Our evaluation of enterprise retail chains shows Medallia's detailed suite of tools handles the complex needs of businesses that manage many touchpoints in both physical and digital environments.
Omnichannel data capture
The platform excels at collecting customer feedback from stores, websites, mobile apps, and contact centers. Your contact center systems and fulfillment processes integrate into a unified hub of customer insights. Retail managers can track the complete customer experience, which becomes vital when customers buy online but return items in-store.
Multi-location retail store managers praised Medallia's real-time feedback capture from every brand interaction during our testing. The platform keeps up with trends by monitoring changing customer priorities. This detailed signal capture helps retailers spot meaningful trends and adjust their strategies.
AI-driven insights
Medallia Athena's AI capabilities bring a revolutionary change to enterprise retail analysis. The AI engine uses machine learning to:
- Find recurring themes in customer feedback
- Give predictive insights from identified patterns
- Create individual-specific responses to customer feedback
The platform's text analytics proved valuable to store managers who needed to understand unstructured data from reviews, social media, and open-ended survey responses. This qualitative information transforms into applicable information. The root cause analysis feature automatically creates summaries that answer pressing business questions without building time-consuming dashboards.
Setup complexity
The platform's powerful capabilities come with a steeper learning curve than other options. Our testing showed a 7.1 score for ease of setup, which suggests a more challenging implementation process. Teams need substantial training to use the platform's full capabilities, even with its user-friendly interface.
In spite of that, enterprise-scale operations see strong returns on their investment. Retail chains reported impressive results after implementation: a 54% increase in NPS and 19% growth in customer numbers. Organizations should consider these long-term strategic benefits against the original setup challenges.
Medallia proves its worth for large retail enterprises that need to understand customer experiences across complex operations.
Qualtrics: Best for Advanced Analytics and Dashboards
Qualtrics stands out as the best choice for retail businesses that need reliable analytics. Currently, 8 out of 10 of the world's largest retailers use their platform. Our hands-on testing showed how Qualtrics turns large amounts of customer data into useful insights for retail settings.
Custom dashboards for store managers
Store managers particularly liked Qualtrics' accessible, role-based dashboards that show which actions best improve customer experience. These dashboards look great and prove valuable for daily retail operations. Store managers can create their own metrics to track specific retail KPIs, like the percentage of visitors who reached their goal on your website.
Retail environments create huge amounts of feedback data. Qualtrics helps managers spot trends early through customizable charts and gages. The platform lets you match dashboard themes to your retail brand's look, which creates a unified experience.
TextIQ and StatsIQ explained
TextIQ, Qualtrics' text analysis tool, changes how retailers understand open-ended customer feedback. The system automatically:
- Assigns topics to customer comments
- Performs sentiment analysis (scoring from -2 for very negative to +2 for very positive)
- Creates dynamic widgets to visualize text data
- Supports 14 languages including English, Spanish, and Japanese
StatsIQ works alongside TextIQ to help retailers relate text responses with number-based data. You can find answers to questions like: "Do customers who mention your mobile app give higher NPS ratings?" or "Does positive sentiment about your support team link to higher overall satisfaction?". This analysis helps identify which parts of your retail experience truly build customer loyalty.
Integration with Salesforce
Our testing confirmed the smooth connection between Qualtrics and Salesforce. Retail teams can trigger customer surveys after specific events like completed purchases. You can send satisfaction surveys automatically after in-store purchases or online transactions.
The integration takes minutes to set up and offers powerful features. Survey responses map directly into your Salesforce records. When customers give feedback about their shopping experience, that information appears in their contact record automatically. This creates a detailed view of each customer relationship.
This combined approach eliminates data silos and helps retail teams make quick, informed decisions to improve customer experience at every touchpoint.
InMoment: Best for Journey-Wide Experience Management
Our evaluation shows InMoment stands out with its detailed experience management capabilities across customer trips. Retailers find this platform valuable to understand customer emotions and manage experiences at multiple locations.
Emotion AI and Workflow™ tech
The emotional core technology sets InMoment apart from simple tag-based emotion detection systems that power intelligent workflows. The platform uses advanced AI and Natural Language Processing to learn about customer sentiment, emotion, and intent. The technology relies on a BERT deep learning model to identify specific emotional states like happiness, frustration, or disappointment in customer feedback.
The platform detected emotions quickly during our tests, which helped retail teams act fast on customer feedback. Store managers liked how this instant feedback helped them turn problems into opportunities for better customer relationships. The AI does more than find issues—it triggers workflows based on emotional responses to create meaningful interactions.
Use in multi-location retail
Retailers with multiple units found InMoment worked well because it recognizes local stores' impact on customer experiences. The platform helps retailers create personal experiences by capturing priorities and customizing offers, promotions, and in-store interactions.
Store managers praised InMoment's omnichannel feedback solutions that collected data from social media, review platforms, and direct surveys. This detailed approach will give a complete picture of customer experiences at every touchpoint. The platform's standard comparisons are a great way to get insights about how a business measures up against industry peers.
Reporting limitations
The platform showed some reporting challenges during our tests. Store managers found InMoment's dashboards packed with data but needed extra customization to get location-specific insights. The resilient data collection sometimes created information overload, which meant more time spent on analysis and planning.
Freshdesk: Best for Customer Service Ticketing
Freshdesk won our testing team's approval by turning messy customer communications into a simplified ticketing system. This system is a vital component of any retail customer experience strategy. Our hands-on evaluation with store managers showed how Freshdesk reshapes retail support operations from reactive to proactive.
Unified inbox for support
Freshdesk's standout feature combines all communication channels into one central dashboard. The platform connects email, social media, chat, and web interactions to create a seamless support experience. Store managers don't need multiple tabs or applications to respond to customer questions anymore.
Retail operations benefit from Freshdesk's automatic conversion of customer emails into tickets. These tickets can be categorized, prioritized, and assigned with ease. Our tests showed the system prevents duplicate replies by notifying agents when someone else handles a ticket.
Support teams work more efficiently with collaborative features. Agents can add internal notes, share ticket ownership with experts, and solve complex customer issues together without switching platforms.
AI automation for retail queries
Freshdesk's Freddy AI capabilities boost retail customer support by handling up to 80% of routine questions in all channels without human input. The AI delivers impressive results by:
- Reducing response times by 83% with under 2-minute resolution times
- Achieving 97% first-contact resolution in all channels
- Improving agent productivity by 60% through AI assistance
Freddy AI agents work like digital team members. They collect customer information, process refunds, update orders, and manage everyday tasks independently. The AI Agent Studio has hundreds of prebuilt skills for platforms like Shopify and Stripe, making it ideal for retail applications.
Pricing tiers
Freshdesk's flexible pricing works for retail operations of all sizes. The Free plan supports up to two agents at no cost and has simple ticketing and knowledge base features. Growing retailers can choose the Growth plan at $15/agent/month (billed annually) which adds automation capabilities.
The Pro plan costs $49/agent/month and suits retailers who need complex support features like custom support portals and advanced ticketing. The Pro + AI Copilot bundle combines Pro plan features with AI capabilities at $78/agent/month. Our tests found this combination works best for medium-sized retail operations.
UXPressia: Best for Customer Journey Mapping in Retail
UXPressia stood out as the most user-friendly platform to visualize complex retail customer experiences during our testing. This specialized tool turns scattered customer interactions into clear visual maps that show exactly how shoppers interact with your brand.
Visualizing in-store and online journeys
UXPressia excels at mapping both physical and digital retail experiences. The platform comes with 20 different section types such as text, charts, sliders, and touchpoints to create detailed retail journey maps. You can link macro and micro journeys together to see how customers research online and make purchases in-store. This feature is a great way to get insights into moments that matter most to customers.
Persona creation for retail segments
UXPressia's specialized tools make creating detailed retail personas simple. You can build rich customer profiles with demographic information, behaviors, goals, and pain points. The platform can generate names and photos automatically. You can even compare different personas' experiences on one map to spot how various customer segments interact with your brand.
Collaboration features
UXPressia's team collaboration features make it stand out. Store managers from different locations can work on journey maps together in live sessions. The platform displays active users and locks cells being edited to avoid conflicts. On top of that, it lets teams have embedded discussions within maps to share opinions and prioritize improvements right in the tool.
ChurnZero: Best for Reducing Retail Customer Churn
ChurnZero proved to be the best platform to identify at-risk customers and prevent lost business during our retail-focused testing. This robust system uses AI to convert customer information into practical insights that improve retention.
Customer health scoring
ChurnZero's health scoring system (ChurnScores) outperforms competitors by measuring renewal likelihood through multiple factors. The system lets you create custom scores using quantitative data (product usage, support history) and qualitative information (relationship quality, customer feedback). Store managers found this especially valuable when they could segment customers by size, lifecycle stage, or industry to predict outcomes accurately.
Real-time alerts and playbooks
ChurnZero's alert system impressed us by sending notifications through email, Slack, and Teams. Retail managers don't need to monitor dashboards constantly—they get instant alerts about critical customer events. These notifications can spot expansion opportunities or highlight risky customer behaviors that need quick action.
Use in loyalty programs
ChurnZero enhances retail loyalty programs by identifying high-value customers automatically. The platform's automated playbooks can target customers based on their position, usage patterns, or account health. You can create specific plays to recognize power users or guide new loyalty members through onboarding milestones that build stronger customer relationships.
How These Tools Compare: Features, Pricing, and Use Cases
We analyzed 8 customer experience platforms used in retail and created practical tools to help you make better decisions. Our comparison shows significant differences in what each platform can do, how much they cost, and where they work best.
Comparison table: features vs pricing
The retail customer experience solutions show clear patterns when we look at their value and cost. You'll find free plans from Freshdesk and SurveySparrow, while enterprise solutions like Medallia and Qualtrics need custom quotes. Most platforms let you try them free for 14 days, so retail teams can test everything before they buy.
These top platforms all support multiple channels, but they differ in their retail-specific features:
| Platform | Starting Price | Key Retail Strength | Free Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| SurveySparrow | $19/month | Multichannel feedback | 14 days |
| Freshdesk | $15/user/month | Customer service ticketing | 14 days |
| AskNicely | $449/month | Team performance | Available |
| Medallia | Contact sales | Enterprise-scale insights | Unavailable |
Best tools by retail use case
Each retail scenario needs specific solutions. Here's what our testing revealed:
- For high-volume customer feedback: SurveySparrow's conversational surveys boost response rates up to 40%. Their retail-specific templates help capture meaningful insights that improve your store's performance.
- For frontline staff optimization: AskNicely connects immediate feedback to employee performance, making it stand out from the rest.
- For multi-location management: Medallia gives larger retail chains the detailed oversight they need.
Scalability and integrations
Your platform's integration abilities will affect its long-term value. The most flexible platforms connect with over 1,500 apps, which creates smooth data flow between your CX platform and existing retail systems. When thinking about scalability, look beyond user numbers and check how well it handles data volume - this matters a lot if your retail traffic changes with seasons.
Conclusion
Our testing across retail environments revealed one clear truth: choosing the right customer experience platform isn’t just about features—it’s about fit. With 92% of CEOs linking CX directly to profits, your platform choice can define your retail success.
Each tool shines in its own way—SurveySparrow leads in multi-channel feedback, AskNicely powers frontline teams, Medallia scales enterprise-wide, and Qualtrics dominates analytics. Together, they share one mission: creating exceptional experiences that drive loyalty and sales.
Modern shoppers expect seamless journeys across every touchpoint. Our results showed 15–20% higher conversions when retailers implemented complete CX solutions—proof of the power behind customer insight.
Small boutiques may thrive with Freshdesk, while large chains might choose Medallia. Tools like UXPressia and ChurnZero help map and retain customer journeys.
Ultimately, investing in the right CX platform means investing in your future. Retailers who act fast on customer insights will lead in 2025 and beyond. The retail game has changed—experience is now the true competitive edge.
