In this comprehensive guide, I’ll explain what a digital experience platform is and why brands need DXP for connecting with customers across channels.
Consumers today expect relevant, meaningful, consistent experiences at each and every intersection with a brand. If a buyer purchases a product via an Instagram ad, they don’t want an email days later pushing the same item. They want smart communications, personalized content, speed, and an all-around reliable and cohesive brand experience.
The problem is this caliber of experience isn’t easy to deliver. Marketing technologies address different pieces of the omnichannel puzzle, but stringing solutions together to work as a cohesive, data-driven marketing technology (martech) stack is often a challenge. That’s why industries and user types of all kinds are turning to the next generation of marketing technology — the digital experience platform (DXP).
What Is a DXP
A digital experience platform (DXP) is a collection of products that all work together to help organizations deliver an exceptional digital experience to their customers. A DXP achieves this coordination by eliminating technology silos. It provides businesses with one central hub from which to create, manage, deliver, and optimize content-driven experiences across any and all digital channels.
A DXP gives organizations tools to gather comprehensive, cross-channel data to understand their customers, and then incorporate these learnings into the creation, management, and delivery of content. Whether a customer encounters a brand on a website, app, chatbot, social platform, customer portal, in-store kiosk, digital billboard, wearable, or other — a DXP connects all of these digital touchpoints into a smaller, more-informed ecosystem for marketers to manage.
To achieve this, DXPs pack a lot of functionality into one system. They combine the power of many popular technologies, such as e-commerce, campaign management, digital asset management (DAM), customer relationship management (CRM), customer data platforms (CDP), and personalization tools. Certain vendors provide more capabilities than others (and not all of the products mentioned are always included — or needed), but generally speaking, all DXPs must:
- Offer content management and media storage capabilities
- Enable the quick development of websites, portals, landing pages, or apps
- Collect and connect customer data across touchpoints and content using APIs
- Use data to facilitate the personalization of digital content for customers
- Measure content performance and user experience through analytics
How Is a DXP Different From a CMS
While a DXP can offer content management system (CMS) capabilities, the two solutions are not one and the same. A traditional CMS focuses specifically on the management of content for websites (think: blogs, e-commerce sites, company intranets, and landing pages). But as we know, many organizations today need to connect with their customers across more than just their web properties. Enter the DXP. A DXP takes CMS functionality to the next level to address the entire scope of the user experience across not only a brand’s website but all digital channels. Often coined “the next evolution of the CMS,” DXPs are quickly becoming an attractive, more comprehensive alternative to a traditional CMS.
Types of DXPs
Marketing platforms never seem to come in just one variety — and DXPs are no different. Not only do DXP quality and capabilities vary from vendor to vendor, but there are actually two distinct types: an open DXP and a closed.
An open DXP is a solution that integrates multiple products from different third-party vendors into one, centralized system. An open DXP provides organizations with the flexibility to integrate products of their choosing, such as the CRM they love and are already using or a new technology they feel meets their needs perfectly. Additionally, many open DXP vendors also offer pre-built integrations with third-party products that are vetted and available for customers to “turn on” in the system.
A closed DXP is a self-contained platform with all DXP components or products built into the system itself. So rather than tapping into existing third-party tools, all DXP components are developed and maintained by the DXP provider and sold as a suite. That’s not to say a closed DXP can’t integrate with outside products; it’s just designed to work best within its own ecosystem of products.
Choosing between an open and a closed DXP comes down to preference. With that said, most buyers prefer an open model. A closed DXP is nice for organizations that don’t have tech resources to facilitate integrations or for those who want to work through a single vendor. But this can be limiting. There are over 8,000 marketing technologies out there, many of which do a really excellent job at what they’re built to do. So rather than reinventing the wheel, open DXPs put their time and resources toward bringing these best-in-class products together to work seamlessly within one global platform.
DXP and DAM
Content is the backbone of every digital experience. But getting this content out into the world and across all of a brand’s various digital channels is challenging. That’s why many organizations leverage a digital asset management (DAM) solution as part of their DXP.
With a DAM component, organizations can search and access content without leaving the DXP. This helps teams move faster, and it also ensures that only up-to-date, approved, and on-brand assets make their way into a brand’s digital experience. Teams can use dynamic resizing tools to adjust the images they pull from the DAM system, convert file formats on the fly, import metadata for search engine optimization (SEO), and much more. A strong digital experience is contingent on so much that happens behind the scenes — and a DAM system is often step one in setting up a solid and forward-looking digital marketing strategy.
When To Use a DXP
With so many vendors making a case for their particular solution, it’s tough to know when a DXP is really needed. This timing is different for every organization (and resources certainly play a role), but many organizations invest in a DXP when they’re looking to achieve objectives such as the following:
Create comprehensive strategies
Not every digital strategy requires a DXP. However, any organization with long-term omnichannel marketing aspirations should consider one sooner than later. The more ambitious a strategy becomes, the more difficult it is to understand what’s working and not working. A DXP eliminates traditional data silos by connecting customer data across all digital touchpoints and content — ultimately helping marketers execute their comprehensive strategies with greater speed, agility, and confidence.
Build personalized user experiences
Personalization at scale is tough to achieve without the help of technology. But many times, technologies only address part of a user experience. They rarely marry insights about a customer across the entire brand experience. A DXP solves this by unifying all data and digital experience tools into one comprehensive and unified platform. In turn, organizations gain a deeper customer understanding and can deploy smarter, more effective personalization tactics.
Impactful campaign management
Campaigns are challenging because they require quick insights and even quicker action. A DXP consolidates data from multiple sources for speedy analysis. But that’s just part of the equation. Campaigns require ongoing optimization and A/B testing, which can mean marketers are stuck waiting for developers to create or update landing pages for them. A DXP gives marketers the tools they need to make these updates and push changes live all on their own.
Benefits of a DXP
As organizations adopt more and more technologies, creating a cohesive brand experience across their various channels doesn’t necessarily get easier. A DXP is specifically designed to address this shortcoming by focusing on the digital experience and the specific (yet comprehensive) product offering needed to support it. With the right DXP in place, organizations will reap the benefits of:
- An integrated approach to data and content for smarter budget allocation, more informed campaign optimization, and faster decision-making
- Smarter personalization through machine learning and cross-channel insights into customer characteristics, preferences, content consumption, and more
- An open-architecture solution for customizable and easy integration of existing and new cutting-edge marketing tools
- Turn-key content creation methods for more agile digital marketing and less reliance on web developers
- A 360° view of the customer to effectively cleanse, manage, and operationalize online and offline data
- Governance controls to keep content on-brand, protect customer privacy, and mitigate risk
Conclusion
No matter how you spin it, receiving a positive digital experience is and will continue to be a priority for customers everywhere. Some brands can deliver on this expectation with the handful of marketing technologies they’re currently leveraging. But as digital strategies continue to evolve and more emerging digital channels enter the mainstream, it’ll be the brands that harness the power of a DXP that have the advantage.