People have countless digital experiences every day. Reading an eBook on their phone or tablet. Checking their stocks’ performance via a trading platform. Ordering that new pair of shoes that just dropped. In fact, a customer’s entire sales journey with your company or brand can occur within a single and continuous digital experience. That’s why the digital experience platforms (DXPs) behind these interactions are crucial.
Consider this customer journey: A person might first learn of your brand through carefully targeted social media ads. Clicking on an ad takes them directly to your online store or app, where they can browse similar products.
Finally, they complete the sales process by clicking “Buy.” An email immediately confirms the purchase and gives them details for tracking their item.
This digital experience is smooth and seamless. And as customers continue to expect more from brands, this type of streamlined, personalized, intuitive interaction will be more important than ever. DXPs can help you get there.
But to truly deliver the digital experiences consumers crave, you’ll want the added flexibility of a digital experience composition (DXC) framework.
Understanding the Power of Digital Experience Platforms
Getting your brand in front of your target market means reaching them wherever they are. So, companies must utilize the many digital channels that exist—website, app, email, affiliate marketing, and various social media channels. But this could leave your team toggling among multiple software, sites, and apps.
Digital experience platforms provide the tools that enable companies to develop and broadcast their messages throughout these various channels. Simply put, they’re all-in-one solutions that combine content management, email marketing, eCommerce, and data collection in a single software.
DXPs encompass the entire communication system between buyers and sellers. As a result, your team can easily and efficiently promote and sell products and get valuable customer feedback in one place.
Digital experience platforms are ideal if you don’t anticipate much change in your company or industry. However, that’s unlikely in today’s fast-paced economy, where businesses might need to scale up or down or pivot to meet changing customer demands. This is where the agility of DXC can help.
Unpacking the Principles of DXC
For customers, a DXC approach delivers a faster and more personalized response from brands. Brands can immediately provide the requested information no matter which channels customers use.
Moreover, as customers move across channels, the conversation and its information follow. With DXC providing the instantaneous and personalized response customers want, getting a conversion becomes much easier.
Where digital experience platforms bring multiple functions into a single software, DXC is its modular and customizable evolution. Introducing a digital experience composition strategy has given brands the agility to respond to changing market conditions on the fly. Basically, you choose the products and functions you need and swap them out for others as those needs change—a build-your-own DXP.
DXC operates under several guiding principles:
- The use of microservices, lean apps that can be deployed independently or as a larger suite to help you meet business goals.
- An application programming interface (API) that connects all the microservices within a composable ecosystem.
- Cloud-native software that provides affordable yet limitless scalability.
- A headless architecture to enable seamless integrations and service delivery.
Together, these DXC tenets empower users to deliver an omnichannel digital experience that is personal and relevant to a consumers’ previous interactions. As a result, you see greater customer loyalty and increased sales.
How the Right Digital Experience Platforms Use These Principles
The continued evolution of digital experience platforms into composable systems that utilize mix-and-match components means a more flexible eCommerce architecture that benefits sellers and buyers alike. Furthermore, DXC represents the next step in enhancing the digital customer experience.
Using headless architecture—in which the front end of your website is separated from the back end—companies can now create their own personalized digital experience platforms that suit their target market’s needs. As a result, producing unified content across channels is easier than ever.
Because 95% of customers use at least three different channels to interact with a brand, most online companies are now adopting a headless commerce strategy. With less friction during the entire customer experience, completing the sales journey in one sitting is a snap.
What’s more, business owners are finding freedom in creating and publishing content thanks to DXC’s low- or no-code environment. Update web content, launch marketing campaigns, and manage inventory with minimal developer assistance. This frees your IT team to focus on running the back end of your site.
Building Flexibility Through DXC
Applying DXC principles to your digital experience platforms lets you be nimbler in addressing market needs. In addition, DXC can future-proof your eCommerce systems, enabling you to add or upgrade components as needed.
More importantly, DXC’s modular approach keeps your options open. You’re no longer limited to the services in a static DXP. So, you can more easily follow shifts in market trends and consumer behavior—simply retrofit the relevant component of your system and keep the rest.
This flexibility can yield significant cost savings since you won’t have to replace your entire DXP.
Enhance Your Digital Experience Platforms with Zobrist’s Tools
Consumer behaviors and buying patterns can change quickly. So, as you evaluate the right digital experience platforms for your business, remember to look for an option that leverages the principles of DXC. This will position you to adapt as needed and deliver a personalized customer experience across all touchpoints.
Managing the eCommerce side of your company and its many moving parts can be a headache. Smart Merchandiser offers a number of catalog management services that can be integrated with your DXP and elevate the online shopping experience for your customers. Its drag-and-drop ease is a dream for your merchandising team. What’s more, built-in analytics and inventory management mean you’ll always know what’s trending and in stock.
Focusing on mobile sales? Zobrist is revolutionizing mobile shopping through its unmatched user experience. Contact us today to learn how these solutions can improve your digital customer experience.
