Every company that wants to get a foot into the market needs unique selling points to assert itself against competitors. This includes excellent products and effective sales channels so that marketing can also be precisely implemented. In addition, successful companies are characterized by the use of intelligent marketing tools and a sophisticated marketing strategy. Over time, however, other market participants will catch up, so that a strategic realignment is often necessary to secure and expand the market position.

The research and advisory company, Forrester, defines a DXP as "software that administrates, provides and optimizes the digital experience in all phases of the customer lifecycle", and Gartner explains it as “a well-integrated and cohesive set of technologies designed to enable the composition, management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences across multi-experience customer journeys."

In the course of the rapid development of the Internet with product overviews, competitive information and product reviews, consumers now have much greater power. Analyst reports show that 60-70% of purchasing decisions are made before a sales pitch even takes place. This requires from companies to present their products and services in such a way that they can be experienced as part of the customer experience.

Even in this new era of COVID-19, the customer experience will remain a focus area for marketers. A DXP offers the perfect interplay of intelligent technologies that enable companies to communicate with their customers in an innovative and personalized way. With AI-supported and tailor-made digital experiences, companies can differentiate themselves from competitors, optimize customer loyalty and conversion, and significantly increase sales.

To initiate a customer experience, all areas of the company should be involved: marketing, sales, customer service and R&D department. Marketers and IT managers must start to realign their customer journey with digital technologies that have conquered the market and increased the demands on the digital experience. And it gets really exciting when it comes down to reaching millions of customers at multiple touchpoints and in different languages around the world. Then a digital experience platform can develop its full potential and address customers accordingly.

Core components of a digital experience platform

An outstanding digital experience is only possible when companies are connected to their customers, partners, and influencers at all touchpoints, and personalized content can be edited and made available on all communication channels. That is why content management, personalization and omnichannel functionality are among the core components of a digital experience platform.

In addition to these core components, there are other important technologies that support a comprehensive digital experience, but the DXP connects these technologies with the core components to form the company's digital experience ecosystem.

You might want to keep the three different approaches to building a digital experience in mind which are: (1) monolithic all-in-one solution, meaning a DXP from only one provider as a complete solution (currently no provider can really offer this); (2) many companies are currently opting for a DXP with a solid infrastructure and diverse integration options, the last option (3) is to develop your own DX ecosystem, but this still needs cooperation with individual solution providers.

By Daniela La Marca