You’ll notice a solid theme if you look at just about any of the hard hitting topics top media channels are discussing today, and that’s streamlined attention to a customer base. The saying “the customer is always right” has now shifted to an understanding that marketers need to know what the customer is going to say, think or want before they even know it.

Consistent engagement is a huge component in understanding your customers and keeping them happy. Engagement gets you two things. One, it offers customers a way to reach you. Availability helps diffuse frustration and it helps customers get the answers they need quickly – which leads to a happy returning customer. Second, it helps you understand your customers…who they are, what type of concerns they have and what kind of information/services they need.

The creators of UserVoice not only understood these customer feedback and management needs, they designed an entire software around it. Users can opt-in for either feedback solutions, helpdesk solutions or both. Feedback options allow users to submit/discuss ideas without having to sign up for new accounts, which often deter participation. The software helps push forward the best ideas while their fraud prevention system ensures authentic feedback through “unique voting systems” often used in feedback polls. The key here is probably in the fact that the feedback process doesn’t exclude the customer once they’ve submitted their thoughts; customers are kept engaged via email throughout the process.

Feedback software fees are set in three tiers at $15/month per agent (Plus Package), $45/month per agent (Premium Package) and $95/month per agent (Ultimate Package). The Plus gets you domain aliasing, feedback widgets and customer logo/colors, whereas Premium offers single sign-on, private communities and custom CSS. Finally, Ultimate offers advanced security, pre-moderation and fully customizable design.

UserVoice’s Helpdesk Management Software lets users track and respond to issues in a simple and effective way. The helpdesk creates support tickets so you don’t lose track of customers and issues. The system makes it easy to be notified of issues, respond to them and track support requests through the software’s interface. Users can also change system settings to notify them via email rather than having to engage the interface.

There are a lot of ways to engage with customers, and UserVoice has included some of the best-rated solutions. Beyond simple interfaces, the software offers game mechanics and built-in leadership to make it less of a chore to engage in the customer relations. Customers can also “like” your service efforts by giving “kudos” along any step of the way – which is helpful when tracking what’s working and what’s not as far as customer service goes. And your team can save a ton of time by offering customers instant answers to frequently asked questions.

UserVoice packages are similar to their Feedback tiers, with Plus ($15), Premium ($35) and Ultimate ($65). However, what you get varies widely. Plus gets you an “instant answers” widget, knowledge base and domain aliasing. You can build on that with Premium, which includes customer CSS, single sign-on and unlimited custom fields; alternatively, Ultimate gets users a fully customizable design, unlimited email addresses and paper invoicing.

Users interested in both the Feedback and HelpDesk features can get the software at competitive rates compared to just one feature alone. Getting both gets you case tracking, instant answers and prioritized feedback, all under one roof. Of course, you can always take advantage of their 30-day free trial if you’re not sure about the benefits of either a feedback or helpdesk system, or if you want to see which one is best for your company.