What is the Digital Experience Platform (DXP)?
A major challenge for companies offering complex products is to present them to their audiences in a clear and understandable way. In such a situation, an important stage of customer acquisition is to educate the customer and provide him with all the information he needs regarding the products offered. How to do it efficiently and effectively lead him to purchase? Tools to facilitate the aforementioned goal are provided by Digital Experience Platforms (DXP), which help automate marketing by shaping and optimizing the customer experience across all communication channels.
What is DXP (Digital Experience Platform)
DXP is a platform that acts primarily as a central system for collecting data on user behavior, analyzing it, creating tailored content and, based on that, delivering that content to users in whatever channel they encounter the organization and information about its offerings. As a result, this allows for effective improvement of the customer experience, which is the primary goal and objective of DXP solutions.
Going more into the technical details, DXP platforms should be understood as content collections that are central in terms of the organization, from which they are delivered via dedicated APIs to various channels and applications (e.g. landing pages, mobile apps, mailings, social media, e-commerce, online product catalogs).
DXP addresses the natural evolution of technology, which is becoming increasingly agile and capable of handling more complex tasks. The platform is also inspired by the growing need for a fully connected environment, where every customer interaction with any touchpoint is passed on to optimize the next interaction. Customer Experience (CX) has now evolved into full-fledged relationship management, and DXP can help manage every step of the customer journey in learning about, buying and subsequently using your product or service.
The obligation of "all-encompassing experience" and integration with neighboring technologies are driving its further expansion. Therefore, it is safe to say that such platforms will soon become the technological "center of the digital customer experience," affecting the entire organization. This, in turn, makes it possible to introduce marketing automation at a very high level.
In other words, the DXP platform combines:
- User Experience (Customer Experience), i.e., the entire experience of buying goods or using the services of an enterprise. These include the website, e-commerce, apps, emails, BOK.
- Marketing processes, i.e. purchasing, claims, self-service, onboarding, registration.
- Central content registries, i.e. Content Management System (CMS), Product Information System (PIM), Digital Asset Management (DAM).
Features of a modern DXP
Class Enterprise CMS content management system.
The DXP system is an extension of the CMS with content personalization functions for a consistent user experience. It is important that the content management functions are also scalable and efficient for large and complex sites, supporting business growth. The greater the level of complexity, the greater the benefits of personalizing content on the site.
Modularity and keeping complexity in check
Providing multiple functionalities in one system means more complexity in the DXP system itself. On the one hand, the system should have enough options as an "out-of-the-box," giving a reduction in labor and cost. On the other hand, the ability to add needed modules will ensure that all needs are met without implementing a huge system. Keeping it simple is the key to fast implementation at a reasonable cost.
Modularity means, for example, using the system in a "headless" form, making a product catalog or e-commerce with dynamic product suggestion, printing personalized content to PDF.
Ease of integration with other systems
Even if it's possible to do everything in one tool, usually an enterprise has dedicated systems that it doesn't make sense to give up. A modern DXP should easily connect with the systems currently in use to fit into the enterprise's IT ecosystem.
User confidence
A good DXP should be highly rated and current users should trust it. Many awards, decorations, honors, high rankings are an assurance of quality and satisfaction in the future.
A stable position in the market, reducing risk and giving independence from the supplier
If the technology is well established in the market there are more companies offering implementation support and more people in the labor market familiar with the technology. The ability to implement independently or switch vendors reduces the risk of failure during implementation. Large systems have the resources to develop the technology on a regular basis, so the risk of problems with maintaining outdated technology for which there are no longer specialists is reduced.
Open-source technology
Open-source software reduces costs by not requiring licensing fees or the cost of maintaining and developing the technology.
With a copyright on the code, the system is flexible and almost anything can be changed in it. Such versatility can give, on the one hand, a lot of "out-of-the-box" functions, potential modules spreading those modules and full versatility for customization.
Many people are developing the technology, and even more are implementing it in enterprises. Errors are less likely to occur, and if they do occur they are easier to spot and quicker to fix. This gives stability and security, which is especially important for large organizations storing a variety of data.
Pimcore DXP
One of the systems offering support for user experience management is Pimcore DXP, which is the only one to provide, in the form of a free open-source license, such advanced functions as collecting data on user behavior, conducting advanced analysis of user behavior, creating digital experience strategies, managing data and user experience. Those using this powerful tool have access to completely new possibilities for creating communications of the offer to target groups. The platform, thanks to its modularity, allows to flexibly add various packages of functions of other systems, ensuring full coverage of all user needs. Platofrma Pimcore has been repeatedly awarded by the Gartner Research Institute, the largest analytical and research company specializing in technology assessment.
How to use DXP? What is dynamic content generation?
An excellent example of the application of Pimcore DXP's capabilities can be the dynamic modification of the content of sub-pages of an online store based on data about the user who is just making his visit to the store. Based on data about the customer's previous purchases, how he uses the site, what sub-pages he visits, what products he looks for, and based on data from other systems such as CRM, we can automatically modify on the fly the content that is shown to that particular customer.
And so people looking at, for example, blue women's T-shirts in the store can be automatically, based on defined rules, classified into appropriate customer segments for which the content manager has prepared special content such as a banner on the homepage, products in promotion, suggested articles on the block and in the guide, or a completely different architecture of the entire entrance page and menu of the online store. Thus, over time, the store, collecting data on user behavior, adapts to the user's preferences, and its design and content sets presented to the visitor are unique and tailored to the visitor's preferences and expectations.
This process is called Dynamic Content Generation, and it's done using the Pimcore platform's built-in, free functions available "out-of-the-box." Of course, it is up to the content manager or customer experience manager (CX manager) to determine the strategy for creating dynamic content, no less the mechanisms for its optimized presentation work effectively and fully automatically thanks to Pimcore DXP capabilities.
Benefits of DXP implementation
Digitizing marketing technology to meet customer needs by streamlining data, operations and purchasing processes.
Increase visitor engagement by tailoring content on the site to the individual needs of the customer based on their behavior.
Many DXP platforms (e.g., Pimcore) provide modularity so that needs such as managing an online store, site content, product data, and digital assets can be met without integration with other systams.
Consistent buying experience across all distribution channels. Single source of data for multiple publishing channels, in multiple formats. Execute omnichannel strategy providing a consistent view of the brand and offerings.
Connecting to e-commerce, increasing ROI by making communications more effective and putting the customer at the center.
