47% of consumers will go to Amazon if a brand they’re shopping with doesn’t provide relevant product suggestions. Does that mean we’re all in competition with Amazon? Pretty much. Your customer has expectations of Amazon levels, and if you’re falling short, it’s over, but the digital experience platform (DXP) is here to help.
Impact found that 32% of companies say that a major challenge in delivering personalization is a lack of relevant technology, with 46% blaming legacy technologies. 44% of companies have already moved to a digital-first approach for customer experience and 34% of companies have already undergone a digital transformation.
If you’re (correctly) thinking it’s time you did too, and that you want to be able to deliver those magical experiences that create customers for life, then here are a few reasons why a digital experience platform (DXP) is for you.
But first... a what?
Built specifically to help you meet those sky-high expectations a DXP can help you create, deliver, and optimize user experiences consistently across all different channels (including web, mobile, social, email, other connected devicesーhere now or to be invented) for all stakeholders (customers, partners, and employees).
They usually cover a wide range of features, the core of which can include content management, digital marketing, and e-commerce.
So let’s take a look at why your company or brand just can’t exist without one.
1. Centralized Data = Marketing Power
A DXP is a purpose-built all-in-one platform from which data is distributed to and from your digital touchpoints of choice. All too often silos of valuable data are locked in a variety of teams and technology that don’t (or can’t) speak to each another. With one system covering all aspects of delivering an amazing multi-touch customer experience, everyone is singing from the same sheet, all working toward a common goal.
Just 54% of marketing professionals consider themselves to have the technology they need to deliver great customer experiences, with 66% saying their technology isn’t sufficiently joined up.
So what comes joined up in a DXP? Well, really great ones supplement their core capabilities with e-commerce, marketing automation, social integration, analytics, digital asset management, and translation features all included. Yep, all under one roof.
One system, one interface, one customer profile, one vendor.
A typical retaliation against the all-in-one concept is that no all-in-one vendor could possibly provide the same level of sophistication per feature as best-of-breed solutions. However, good DXPs have APIs that allow teams to integrate third-party tools.
2. Positive Experiences = Positive Experiences²
Your customer absolutely has to come first, but you can’t expect a team working on disparate, out of date, or clunky technology to create happy seamless experiences when their own experience is disjointed and less-than-positive.
The success of your campaigns lies in the hands of your employees and what you put in them. 3 out of 4 employees in America believe they don’t have access to the latest technology to do their job efficiently.
DXPs bring internal stakeholders together, not just customers. Not only are you handing employees the tools that enable them to knock their aims, objectives, and SLAs out of the park, but they often come wrapped in a friendly, super-intuitive, easily adopted, and empowering package.
Value in. Value out.
The spattering of change-resistance will quickly be snuffed out by enhanced working experiences, a sense of autonomy, better engagement, more efficient management and accountability, smoother workflows, andーby cutting developers constant involvementーfaster delivery on projects and a reduced time to market. Not to mention super-consistent, highly relevant, and deeply engaging content reaching your customers, no matter their device, in a timely manner.
3. Actionable Insights = Customer Delights
Great marketing is born of great data. And with an all-in-one DXP solution, you get in-depth analytics from every touchpointーall stored in one placeーthat will help you make exceptional decisions.
Your resulting multichannel marketing efforts are supported by sophisticated must-have integrated features like email marketing, automated marketing, social marketing, segmentation, personas, content personalization, and A/B testing.
Don’t settle for anything less.
With smart analysis tools that help you dig deeper into your data to gain meaningful and actionable insights, you can make effective optimizations across all channels and devices that nurture your customers with personalized and life-stage-relevant content.
4. API Flexibility = Happy Future
Should you decide there is a third force you just can’t live without, then some DXPs offer stable and comprehensive APIs that allow you to seamlessly integrate effectively with third-party tools, legacy IT solutions, and even tools yet to hit the market. Yep, it’s future proof. So you can have your cake and eat it: the exact specifications you want, with all the technology you need.
5. Personalization Done Well = Money in the Bank
A study by Walker found that customer experience would overtake price and product as a key differentiator by next year. And already, 73% of buyers say customer experience is important in making purchasing decisions, with 86% of buyers willing to pay more for a great customer experience. So getting your digital experience hat on is more important than ever.
With a DXP, not only can you segment customers and assign them personas, but you can completely tailor every interaction they have with your brand according to collected data. Things like: gender, location, job title, customer life stage, preferences, browsing history, most-recent event, past interactions, lead score, and purchasing history.
Research shows that delivering personalized pages that are tailored to your customer’s specific interests increases impulse purchases, total spend, and repeat custom, and can boost brand loyalty, too!
What’s more, research by Adweek shows that personalization can cut acquisition costs by 50% and boost revenue by up to 15%, while improving marketing spend efficiency by up to 30%. It’s a no brainer.
6. Flawlessly Omnichannel = Fearlessly Omnipotent
9 out of 10 consumers want an omnichannel experience with seamless service between communication methods. And they’ll reward you. Omnichannel customers spend 10% more online (and 4% more in store) than single-channel customers. The more channels they use, the more money they spend.
Last year, mobile devices made up to 42% of total time spent online and 58% of site visits. A third of all purchases made during the holiday season last year were made on smartphones. And 79% of consumers have made a purchase using a mobile device in the last six months. This year mobile search is predicted to generate 27.8 billion more queries than desktop search.
Are the numbers working for you? And that’s just one channel.
54% of social browsers use social media to research products and 71% of those who had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend it to their entourage. Aberdeen Group claims that companies with strong omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, as compared to their weaker counterparts, with just 33%.
Okay, enough with the stats. On with the facts: you want a DXP designed to support your (and your customers’) wildest multichannel dreams.
7. Their wish = Your Command
65% of buyers find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising, so now you know where you should be putting your marketing dollars.
Whereas 80% of customers are more likely to purchase from brands that personalize the buying experience, 72% will only engage with customized marketing messages, and 63% will stop buying from companies that provide poorly executed personalization.
You can’t make magic without fairy dust, and you can’t create those exceptional customer experiences without the right software. It’s not a nice to have but a can’t-live-without essential. Because your customer expects it. Not just from Amazon, from you.
DXP: Where All Great Customer Experiences Begin
A DXP can help you rewire your brand and your brain to think holistically from your customer’s perspective. With your CMS, digital marketing, and e-commerce all in one place, all poised for action, and working toward the same end... you can’t go wrong. Wondering where to start? Schedule a 1-on-1 demo with one of our experts to learn more about how a DXP could be the way forward for you.