Customer Experience Technology: 15 Options to Boost Satisfaction

What Is Customer Experience Technology? Customer experience (CX) technology are the tools and solutions businesses use to manage and improve customer interactions, aiming to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Delivering a top-notch customer experience is key to securing customer loyalty and trust. There are countless ways to differentiate your business through the CX you provide. At the same time, your customers have more options and less patience, and they expect you to meet their demands.

Knowing what your customers expect, how to measure CX, and how to assess ROI is tricky without the right tools at your disposal.

In this guide, we’ll explore the top customer experience technology available right now and explore use cases for each so you can keep more customers satisfied.

Let’s get started.

Top Customer Experience Technology Tools in 2024

Customer experience technology encompasses various tools, including CX software for customer feedback, communication, data analysis, and process automation to deliver personalized and efficient customer experiences. CX technology is about driving a digital transformation in customer experience.

These are the top CX technologies available right now.

1. Artificial intelligence (AI)

AI is a powerful contact center CX technology because it can process and analyze vast amounts of data quickly and accurately.

This data-driven approach allows you to better personalize your customer interactions by tailoring recommendations, options, and support based on their individual customer history.

Contact center AI can automate repetitive tasks like customer inquiries, order processing, and email marketing. This automation allows human agents to focus on more complex and high-value interactions.

Use cases

AI algorithms can create incredible opportunities to boost CX and satisfaction:

• Predictive customer analytics to scrape past actions and predict future behaviors like purchasing patterns or the likelihood of customer churn
• Voice-activated assistants to provide customers with hands-free access to information or services
• Dynamic pricing by analyzing market trends, competitor pricing, and customer behavior to optimize prices in real time

With AI support, you can proactively address customer needs before they even happen, helping your customers trust that you have their best interests in mind.

2. Chatbots

Chatbots excel as a CX technology because they can provide instant, personalized, and efficient customer service.

These intelligent virtual agents offer immediate responses to customer inquiries, significantly reducing response times compared to traditional support channels — the critical speed in a world where customers expect quick resolutions. Chatbots can also handle a large volume of inquiries simultaneously so that no one is left waiting for assistance.

You can also program chatbots to personalize interactions based on customer data and behavior. They can remember past interactions, preferences, and purchase history and tailor their responses and recommendations for each customer.

Use cases

Here are a few ways chatbots help to up your CX:

• 24/7 customer support to answer FAQs and resolve simple issues.
• Lead generation and qualification by engaging website visitors and collecting contact information
• Personalized recommendations by analyzing customer interactions and purchase history

These round-the-clock support superstars can enhance your customers’ overall shopping experience and drive more sales.

3. Cloud computing

Cloud computing is a strong CX technology because it virtualizes the customer service experience. This also centralizes customer data with a server-based thin client that doesn’t require on-premises physical space.

With cloud computing, you can scale your customer service operations up or down based on demand, ensuring that you can provide a consistent level of service even during peak times. You can also employ a cloud telephony tool that helps manage your business phone system via an online dashboard.

This scalability allows you to quickly deploy new features and services to meet evolving customer expectations and stay competitive in an evolving market.

Use cases

Cloud computing can improve CX in several ways:

• Virtualization to lower costs by removing the need for in-person hubs or offices
• Scalable data management as a thin client by centralizing the storing and managing of vast amounts of customer data securely
• AI-powered insights from analyzing customer data

The insights gained from cloud computing can help you better understand customer behavior and preferences in real time, no matter what channels your customers use.

4. CRM systems

CRM technology is a cornerstone of CX because it enables you to build and maintain strong customer relationships.

By centralizing customer data and interaction history, CRM gives you a comprehensive view of each customer, allowing you to understand their unique needs at a glance. Then, you can tailor service and support to meet their individual needs.

Customer management tools like CRM facilitate smooth internal communication and team collaboration. Data silos become a distant memory as all departments have access to the same customer information. This helps your team provide a more cohesive and integrated customer experience.

Use cases

CRM is a key technology to create a strong customer experience:

• Customer data management by storing and managing data in a centralized location to track interactions and preferences
• Sales and marketing automation like lead management, email campaigns, and follow-up tasks
• Customer service and support that gives agents access to customer history for more efficient support

With the right type of CRM tool, you can gain more complete insights into your customer behaviors and target them with better, more personalized support and service.

5. Omnichannel communication tools

Omnichannel communication tools create a better CX because they allow you to provide seamless and consistent communication across multiple channels.

These omnichannel CX tools allow customers to interact with businesses through their preferred channels, whether email, chat, social media, phone, or elsewhere, without experiencing service disruptions.

Omnichannel is all about continuity and seamless support — both for your customers and your team. Omnichannel gives your agents one view of the customer so all their history is instantly accessible, meaning your agents will spend less time looking for important information.

Use cases

Omnichannel is an essential tool for outstanding customer experiences with:

• Seamless customer interactions across multiple channels for a more convenient experience
• Unified customer engagement to give you a single view of each customer for easy tracking
• Efficient customer support that enables agents to handle inquiries from multiple channels on a single interface

Omnichannel support reduces the need for customers to repeat information and helps your agents resolve issues more quickly, leading to higher customer satisfaction.

6. Natural language processing (NLP)

Natural language processing fuels a great CX by using conversational AI to chat with customers in a way that feels human and natural.

NLP is key for intuitive, conversational customer experiences that don’t feel robotic. NLP-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can interpret customer questions and requests and provide immediate, accurate responses. They can also analyze customer feedback and return valuable insights into customer preferences by crawling CSAT data for actionable takeaways.

Use cases

NLP helps support a competitive customer experience in many ways:

• Automated customer support with chatbots and virtual assistants that understand and respond to customer inquiries in natural language
• Sentiment analysis from product reviews or customer feedback to gauge how customers feel about products and services
• Personalized recommendations from analyzing customer interactions and behaviors

With smart natural language processing, you can better understand your customers’ intent and behaviors to provide more relevant and targeted recommendations.

7. Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics is a key function of AI that helps anticipate customer needs so you can proactively address issues and provide personalized recommendations.

Predictive call center analytics analyzes historical customer data and identifies patterns and trends to forecast future outcomes like purchasing behavior, churn likelihood, or product preferences.

Use cases

The ability to see into the future (or at least to predict it) has valuable implications for your business:

• Churn prediction to spot customers who are at risk of churn and implement targeted retention strategies
• Personalized marketing to identify patterns and preferences and tailor marketing messages accordingly
• Inventory management to forecast demand based on historical data, seasonal trends, and other factors

The more you can proactively address customer demands, the more your customers will be able to trust that you have their needs covered.

8. Multi-factor authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication is a key CX technology because it simultaneously enhances security and ensures a seamless customer experience.

MFA can use SMS-based delivery to validate requests, such as delivering a one-time password (OTP) to create or reset security credentials on their account. This type of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) texting adds additional security by protecting customer accounts from unauthorized access and fraud.

Use cases

MFA is a CX tech tool that helps accomplish several different objectives:

• Enhanced security with extra verification to protect customer accounts from unauthorized access and fraud
• Simplified user experience by reducing the need for complex passwords and replacing them with push notifications or biometrics
• Compliance requirements for data security and demonstrating your adherence to them, enhancing your reputation

While MFA technically adds another step to the authentication process, it still simplifies things for users by prompting them and removing questions about how secure their data is.

9. Customer experience measurements

Tracking CX analytics is important to ensure you can find a CX baseline to improve upon. That is, without CX measurements, your CX strategy won’t have a metric of success to determine ROI.

By collecting data on key CX analytics like customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score® (NPS), and customer effort score (CES), you can spot areas for potential improvement and track those improvements over time. Those metrics also help you benchmark your performance against industry standards and direct competitors to see where you can differentiate yourself in the market.

Use cases

Measuring CX allows you to create new initiatives to track and analyze data as well as implement changes:

• Customer journey mapping to visually represent the customer’s interactions across touchpoints and identify pain points and wins
• Voice of the customer (VoC) programs to collect and analyze direct customer feedback and ensure you’re meeting expectations
• Benchmarking and comparison against industry standards and competitors

By assessing your customer service metrics, you can better understand the effectiveness of your CX approach and make changes as necessary.

Related: 14 Customer Experience Best Practices to Master CX

10. Website personalization

Tailoring web experiences around individual customer needs is a key part of a competitive CX strategy. It signals to your customers that you’ll meet their needs, not just the needs of your general customer base.

To achieve this, you can use AI-powered tools to track validated, authenticated, or otherwise cookie-tagged traffic and create unique experiences for them, such as 1:1 microsites for a specific use or campaign.

Use cases

Personalizing user journeys on your website creates the potential for tailored experiences that impress both current and potential customers:

• Dynamic content that changes based on the visitor’s behaviors, preferences, or demographics
• Tailored offers like exclusive discounts for users that have shown interest in a related product or service
• Customized user experience (UX) to increase engagement, like related or recommended articles

Most web personalization efforts exist to increase engagement and loyalty and, in turn, drive conversions.

11. Sentiment analysis

You can’t underestimate the importance of customer reviews. With AI comes impressive capabilities to analyze the intent behind customer comments and complaints. AI can conduct real-time sentiment analysis to help agents address critical issues and even trigger helpful communications to customers.

It can also help you spot where you excel to reward or reinforce those systems, processes, or behaviors internally. It can even help product and support teams improve offerings by analyzing where customers are the least happy.

Use cases

It’s important to gauge customer opinions and feelings to improve CX or continue doing what you do well:

• Social media monitoring to respond promptly to comments and messages, improving brand reputation
• Feedback analysis to identify common themes and areas for improvement
• Competitor analysis to gain insight into their strengths, weaknesses, and market perception

More than just a temperature check, sentiment analysis helps make data-driven decisions to enhance CX and drive business growth while maintaining brand integrity.

12. Co-browsing

Co-browsing is a form of hands-on support that allows your agents to give real-time help to customers navigating their site or mobile app. Co-browsing allows agents to view and interact with the customer’s screen to guide them through complex processes, troubleshoot issues, and provide contextual information.

This CX approach can increase satisfaction and loyalty by providing immediate, tailored support to address an urgent need.

Use cases

Co-browsing creates opportunities for collaboration that provide direct CX benefits:

• Technical support for agents to provide step-by-step instructions, visual demonstrations, or other assistance
• Sales assistance to help customers navigate your site, find products that meet their needs, and complete transactions
• Form completion for complex applications or registrations so agents can help ensure accuracy

All of these contribute to CX technology’s ability to solve problems faster and improve customer satisfaction.

13. Interactive knowledge bases

Interactive knowledge bases empower customers to find answers to their questions and solve problems independently without needing contact support. These helpful articles can include videos and illustrations and can also sync visitor data back to your CX platform to track customer use of the resource.

Knowledge bases facilitate customer service automation that reduces frustration and improves satisfaction by putting answers right at customers’ fingertips. They can also free up time for agents to address more value-added interactions instead of answering frequently asked questions.

Use cases

Knowledge bases help customers help themselves, which creates several use cases for overall CX:

• 24/7 self-service support with a user-friendly interface and a comprehensive library of articles and tutorials
• Product education with resources to learn how to use products or services effectively, giving them more out of their purchase
• Community engagement that allows customers to contribute knowledge and expertise via questions, tips, feedback, or a forum

By making resources available that help customers get the most out of their purchases, you can drive customer engagement and loyalty — and track their journey to draw new insights out of how they used the knowledge base.

14. Web journey tracking

Web journey tracking crawls customer journeys across your website or app and provides diagnostics and feedback on visitor experiences. These insights can act as canaries in the UX coal mine, directly revealing opportunities for CX improvement.

This customer journey map can also help you further personalize customer experiences by understanding individual behaviors in context with their interactions on your site. For example, for customers who spend time browsing product features, you can engage them over chat to try a product trial.

Use cases

Tracking web journeys is a big part of monitoring your CX trends and can help boost CX in many ways:

• Behavioral insights like the paths customers take through the website, the pages they visit most frequently, and the actions they take before making a purchase or abandoning their cart
• Personalization options based on frequently visited pages or previous interactions
• Optimized conversion rates by spotting trouble areas like confusing navigation or lengthy checkout processes

Optimizing your customer journeys across your website or app can enhance the customer experience and increase the likelihood of conversion.

🤓 Learn More: 30+ Contact Center Statistics You Need To Know

15. Callback requests

Callbacks enable customers to request phone support from a live human, improving CX by removing the need to wait on hold to engage customer support. Hold times can lead to frustrated customers, and callbacks (from an outbound call center or your in-house team) reduce the effort they have to commit to a support ticket, instead putting the burden on you to reach out to them.

Requesting a call via the web can trigger an automation that sends your customer support team the full context regarding the customer’s site interactions leading up to the request. This reduces the need for customers to catch agents up-to-speed, lowering overall customer effort and improving satisfaction. 

Use cases

CX tech that allows users to request a callback and avoid holds can improve CX in several ways:

• Complex support issues that require more time and attention or that need to happen at a time that is convenient for the customer
• High-value sales opportunities to address questions or concerns before purchasing a high-ticket product
• Lead generation to schedule consultations or sales meetings for a later, more convenient time

Building comprehensive customer support, nurturing leads, and driving sales can become easier with the right tools.

Related: Intelligent Customer Experience (ICX): How to Deliver It

Benefits of Implementing CX Technology

CX technology comes in many different forms — and all CX tech options offer one of four main business benefits to adopters.

Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty

CX technology improves customer satisfaction and loyalty by helping you deliver exceptional experiences.

CX tech can give businesses a boost to:

• Personalize interactions
• Provide timely support
• Offer seamless cross-channel experiences

With better customer experiences comes the potential for more repeat business and positive word-of-mouth from previous customers.

Enhance data-driven decision-making

CX technology implementations provide valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. You can use these details to make informed decisions more likely to resonate with target audiences.

💡Remember: Don’t just collect data — do something with it! Get excited about continuous improvement by acting on customer feedback and insights. Only then can you begin to see an ROI on CX solutions.

Streamline customer service processes

Chatbots, automation tools, and other CX tech can handle routine inquiries and free up human agents for more urgent or complex customer service goals and issues. This lowers response times and improves overall service quality.

By giving agents access to pertinent customer information before, during, and after interactions, agents can also give more efficient support and tailored solutions for better satisfaction.

Increase sales and revenue

CX tech can help you increase sales and revenue with personalized recommendations based on customer preferences and behavior, leading to higher conversion rates.

These tech solutions can even increase:

• Customer advocacy
• Repeat business
• Referrals

Each of these can drive growth significantly over time.

Best Practices for Implementing CX Tech

Now that you know the best customer experience technology options available for increasing satisfaction, let’s break down the best practices to keep in mind when implementing them:

1. Map, analyze, and understand the customer journey to spot potential problems.
2. Set clear and measurable goals to address those problems.
3. Choose the right combination of CX technology to solve the specific issues.
4. Prioritize data privacy and security for peace of mind and compliance.
5. Provide comprehensive training to get all employees on board with the new tech.
6. Encourage cross-team collaboration to create faster, more effective solutions.
7. Mystery-shop your customer journeys for a walkthrough in the customer’s eyes.
8. Act on customer feedback to ensure you’re addressing any new issues.
9. Stay agile and flexible to adapt to changing customer preferences.
10. Continuously improve to remain competitive and show customers your commitment to their needs.

Following these best practices with your CX technology implementation will make you better prepared to futureproof your CX strategy with constant updates and evolutions.

Related: How to Turn Customer Experience Transformation Into a Business Asset

The Ultimate Customer Experience Starts with Nextiva

Customer experience technology offers you a powerful toolkit to enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue. You can create more seamless and personalized experiences that keep customers hungry for more while you also gain valuable insights into their usage patterns and behaviors.

With Nextiva, you can set yourself up to improve continuously through constant customer experience management. Surprise your customers by exceeding their expectations: communicate faster and more clearly, talk to them where they want to be reached, and create opportunities to gather critical customer feedback.

Related: What Is Digital CX & Why Does Every Business Need It in 2024?

Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

Customer Experience Technology FAQs

For more on customer experience technology, check out these frequently asked questions.