Digital Experience Platform

What is a digital experience platform? 

A digital experience platform (DXP) is a centralized digital portal that enables a brand to develop and deliver personalized and unique content experiences for consumers across a variety of digital environments with the help of data and artificial intelligence.

It is an inclusive and integrative system that is usually an open-source platform that enables API integrations from multiple departments, such as sales, to give users extremely individualized experiences. These characteristics set this platform type apart from others, which we will describe later.

With the ultimate objective of creating and delivering incredible digital customer experiences, DXPs are a new frontier of enterprise software that aims to fulfill the demands of businesses going through a digital transition. DXPs might be a single product, but they are frequently a suite of inter-aligned tools. DXPs give businesses a framework for digitizing business processes, delivering integrated user experiences, and gathering useful consumer feedback.

 DXP vs CMS vs WEM

DXPs are an evolution of the classic content management systems (CMSs), and also have some features in common with both web content management and digital asset management software. DXPs, however, perform a great deal more – along with content management and asset monitoring, these platforms also considerably accelerate the development of a business’s final solution, website, or interface. Web Experience Management (WEM) platforms go beyond managing content too – they determine user behavior and serve content that meets their needs to enhance the overall experience.

The below infographic depicts the main difference between the three:

Benefits of a digital experience platform

The digital experience platform provides an integrated toolset that helps organizations listen and speak to their audiences while also supporting the organizational transformation that is required to improve customer service. A digital experience platform offers the following benefits:

1. Real-time evaluation of user requirements.
2. Become more knowledgeable about customers by gaining a comprehensive view of their needs.
3. More accurate and optimized marketing initiatives, content development strategy, and personalized customer interactions.
4. Provides an intelligent and highly flexible architecture that helps in quickly adjusting to the ever-changing digital marketing landscape.
5. Integrates existing systems more easily and assists in building more responsive applications through API integration.
6. Syncs up your siloed applications by integrating the technology stack.
7. Built-in AI capabilities that can help retrieve useful information from within loads of data.

Do you need a digital experience platform?

Even though a digital experience platform might not be the required logical step for every organization, it may be the best course of action if you:

• Are having trouble keeping up with several integrations and just need a platform to move everything forward.
• Achieve most of the profit through digital methods.
• Belong to a highly competitive sector that requires software systems that can swiftly adapt and expand in response to shifting client needs.

To decide whether you need a DXP, you need to answer the below questions:

• Do I require additional consumer touchpoints?
• Is it necessary to integrate data from sales, inventory, and other departments?
• Is it essential that every touchpoint of the customer journey has a consistent and customized message?
• Could I do all of these tasks simultaneously and from one place if I had a platform?
• Are sales sufficient to support acquiring new platform knowledge and making an investment?
• Do we have the internal or external technical help needed to handle the learning curve of a new platform?

If you have answered most of the questions with a “yes”, it is a clear indication that you are in dire need of an effective digital experience platform. 

Selection criteria for an effective digital experience platform

Creating a digital experience that users adore is no easy affair, but an appropriate platform can undoubtedly be advantageous.

In addition to helping you stand out from your rivals, who are just a click away, a wonderful experience delivered at the right moment may significantly deepen your relationship with your clients.

A digital experience platform can be valuable here. You can manage and enhance your digital experience with confidence if you use the relevant platform and an effective strategy at the right time. It ought to assist you in lowering operating expenses, improving user experiences and boosting conversions, and ultimately raising client satisfaction and loyalty.

So, what features should be considered while choosing a digital experience platform? Here is a checklist of the assessment criteria:

1. User interface (UI): Is the look of the interface smooth and captivating?
2. Usability: Is learning and mastering it simple? Does the enterprise provide effective user support, technical help, training, tutorials, and instructional videos?
3. Features & functions: 
   • Adjustable content formation: How simple is it to create a new item? How adaptable are the components and configuration? How quickly can a prototype be created?
   • Cross-platform publishing: Is it possible to swiftly and reliably publish a single piece of content across multiple platforms simultaneously?
   • MRM and workflow development:  Are workflows and marketing resource management easy to set up and customize?
   • Analytics and reporting: Does the platform have the capacity to track numerous important performance parameters, observe websites over time, and display data in a meaningful way? Make sure the solution you select has analytics that eliminates noise and provides useful insight.
4. Integrations: At its core, the platform should be interoperable. Simple integration with solutions from third parties is a must. A pre-built integration would be much better, wouldn’t it?
5. Value for money: Evaluate the below costs in context to the anticipated advantages and don’t accept anything less than an excellent ROI.

• Is the price fair in comparison to the features and capabilities on offer?
• Take into account the cost of membership, licensing, consulting services, etc.
• Is the pricing transparent, precise, and adjustable?

6. Security and compliance: Any DXP you choose must, of course, offer the highest security on every level. Compliance with privacy laws across the globe is another crucial aspect to evaluate for multinational firms.

Examples of some of the best digital experience platforms

Below are some of the well-known and best digital experience platforms that are available:

• Expresia
• Adobe AEM
• Acquia
• Contentstack
• Mura
• Salesforce
• Bloomreach

Read this to know more about these platforms.

Customers control the experience-driven digital environment of today, and companies that can provide constant, smooth experiences for their clients are more inclined to retain them as clients for the long term and attract new clients more quickly.

DXPs are fast becoming a must for companies that want to stay at the forefront of new technological developments, future-proof their processes, and offer unforgettable customer experiences across digital channels.