Digital Experience Platforms: Key 2024 Updates to Know

A Digital Experience Platform (DXP) is a set of tools designed to help companies create, manage, and deliver personalized digital experiences for customers. Often referred to as a digital customer experience platform, it combines several technologies to give businesses the ability to offer tailored online experiences. In simpler terms, a DXP allows companies to build and manage their websites, apps, and other digital touchpoints, ensuring that users have a seamless, engaging interaction with their brand.

Key Features of a Digital Experience Platform

There are four main things to consider when evaluating a digital experience platform:

1. Content Creation: This includes how easy it is for teams to create, edit, and manage content. The best platforms simplify working on content, collaborating with team members, and maintaining different versions of what’s being created.
2. Content Delivery: The platform’s ability to deliver content across various channels, whether it’s a website, mobile app, or even social media, and personalize these experiences for different users.
3. Flexibility and Integration: How easy is integrating other tools, scaling up as needed, or customizing the platform? The best DXPs are flexible and can be adjusted based on the business’s unique needs.
4. Vendor Support: What is the overall experience of using the platform in the long term? How well does the vendor support its users with updates, troubleshooting, and improvements?

The Evolution of Digital Experience Platforms

Over time, digital experience platforms have gone through several phases:

• Early Days (CMS): Originally, businesses used content management systems (CMS) to create and manage websites. These systems allowed users to build websites and manage content like text and images.
• Web Experience Management (WEM): As technology progressed, CMSs evolved into web experience management (WEM) platforms, which added more features like user engagement tools and analytics.
• Modern DXPs: Today, DXPs are more advanced, offering many features to help businesses deliver highly personalized and engaging digital experiences across multiple channels.

Content Management Still Leads the Way

Despite all the advancements, the core function of many digital experience platforms is still content management. While vendors promote their platform’s personalization and other features, most businesses use DXPs to manage and deliver content. Many content creators even prefer working with familiar tools like Google Docs or Microsoft Word before transferring content into the DXP. This reliance on traditional tools may seem old-fashioned, but it’s still familiar.

Critical Components of a DXP

A DXP offers a variety of features that make it a valuable tool for businesses. Some key components include:

• Content Creation and Management: The ability to create, edit, and organize content efficiently.
• Personalization: Tools to tailor content and experiences based on user behaviour and preferences.
• Analytics: Insights into how healthy content performs and how users interact with digital touchpoints.
• Integration: Connecting with other systems like CRM, eCommerce platforms, and marketing automation tools.
• Multichannel Support: Managing content across devices (e.g., desktops, smartphones, tablets) and platforms (e.g., websites, social media).
• Digital Asset Management (DAM): A DXP may also include or integrate with digital asset management (DAM) systems to help organize and store media files like images, videos, and documents.

Best Digital Experience Platforms

There are many top digital experience platforms in the market today. Some well-known digital experience platform examples include Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore, and Acquia. Businesses favour these platforms because they offer comprehensive tools for managing digital content, integrating with other systems, and delivering personalized experiences.