Elevating Digital Experiences: A Deep Dive into Open DXPs

If you’ve ever seen an ad for a product you searched for appear in your browser minutes later, it isn’t Big Brother watching. Rather, it was likely the result of an open digital experience platform (DXP). Open DXPs detect what customers want, assess customer intent and deliver relevant content across multiple touchpoints at a time when customers are ready to make a purchase.

Evolving from content management and web experience management platforms, open DXPs provide the architecture to overcome the friction of untargeted advertising. This architecture enhances multichannel customer experiences and enables organizations to design and improve web pages and other digital experiences and, in the big picture, execute necessary business pivots.

In the broader context of DXPs, the journey begins with a profound understanding of the audience’s pain points. As businesses strive for seamless and personalized customer experiences, identifying and addressing these pain points becomes a cornerstone for success in digital engagement.

Poor personalization is one such pain point. Research shows that 71% of consumers expect personalized marketing from brands, and 76% grow frustrated when they don’t receive it (McKinsey). Delivering effective personalization requires segmenting the audience based on data analysis, considering behavior, location and demographics for a customized approach that boosts customer retention.

An unoptimized website that is inaccessible on multiple devices is another source of audience frustration that a DXP can resolve, by enabling a business to create a device-optimized site facilitated by low-code technologies. Even organizations on a tight budget can use a DXP to offer an optimized app that can boost retention rates.

By addressing the above and other pain points, DXPs are emerging as a go-to solution, fully integrated and unified solution for many businesses.

Charting the Future: Key Trends Shaping DXPs

As open DXPs continue to evolve, we can expect them to shape user interactions and steer innovative solutions including personalization, integration with emerging technologies, advanced analytics and heightened privacy measures. Below are the most notable trends.

• AI-driven personalization. Imagine a world where every online interaction is tailored for each specific customer. That’s the promise of AI-driven personalization in DXPs. AI leverages preconfigured recommendation models to build a unique digital experience by analyzing a customer’s clicks, website visits and browsing patterns. This approach enables businesses to recommend content and products personalized to individual preferences, creating journeys that resonate deeply with customers.

• Integration of AR/VR technologies. Do your customers enjoy trying on clothes and sharing their looks with friends? DXPs enable this type of enhanced customer journey with multichannel delivery of digital interactions across all touch points, including IoT, AR/VR, digital assistants and kiosks, through APIs. DXPs transcend the boundaries of traditional web and mobile channels to create truly immersive and engaging shopping experiences.

• Advanced analytics and customer insights. Tracking customer metrics is essential for gaining valuable insights. DXPs heighten an organization’s capability to monitor crucial KPIs by gathering data from multiple customer channels. With this and the added benefit of assessing the ROI of each digital touch point, businesses can make informed, data-driven decisions about their most valuable channels, products and customers.

• Increased focus on privacy and security. Safeguarding your customers’ data and privacy is vital for gaining their trust. DXPs are built on robust security principles and lead the way in protecting these critical factors. Through consistent security audits, strict adherence to compliance standards and strong authentication processes, DXPs provide a secure space for businesses and customers to connect.

• Omnichannel content delivery. Sending an email promoting a product a customer has recently bought reflects negatively on your brand, highlighting a disconnect between your sales and marketing departments. DXPs correct this disjointed communication by streamlining customer experiences across all platforms. They improve the overall quality of interactions between customers and a brand, transcending specific exchanges on individual channels. As a result, buyers get communication that is relevant to them, both online and in-person.

• Integration with CDP/CRM and other technologies. Is your current CRM or tech stack riddled with disorganized customer data, inefficient communication and limited visibility into customer interactions? Enter DXPs. When a DXP is integrated with CDP/CRM and other technologies, it offers a 360-degree view of each customer, intuitive dashboards and machine learning-powered insights that reveal a single source of truth. This approach delivers digital experiences that are not only engaging but also tailored to individual buyer preferences while ensuring that organizations are not tethered to outdated software.

• Low-code/no-code development. With no-code and low-code business intelligence solutions, organizations can rapidly build and optimize applications and craft exceptional digital experiences with minimal manual coding. By facilitating these solutions, DXPs are helping businesses prioritize rapid application development and offering a strategic edge for digital transformation initiatives.

Where to Begin: Integrating an Open DXP into Your Existing Stack

Because an open DXP is constructed with an API-first approach and embraces seamless integration with third-party tools, integration is significantly easier than with a closed model.

If you’ve yet to discover the transformative potential of an open DXP, enhance your digital experiences by following the steps below.

1. Start the DXP integration by pinpointing target applications — content management, CRM, e-commerce, analytics and marketing automation — within your current stack. Clearly define use cases and objectives for each integration to optimize data and functionalities within the DXP.

2. Check if your current tools support integration by verifying the availability of APIs. Review the API documentation to identify endpoints, data formats and authentication methods for a well-informed integration process.

3. Prioritize security with authentication mechanisms, secure communication (e.g., HTTPS) and robust access controls. Ensure data security and privacy across integrated systems.

4. Choose the optimal integration method, such as API-based integrations, webhooks or data synchronization, for smooth communication. Evaluate data update frequency and real-time needs to select the most suitable approach.

5. Achieve a successful integration through thorough testing across diverse scenarios. Create a robust test plan encompassing load testing, regression testing and user acceptance testing to reveal performance bottlenecks and evaluate integration performance in various conditions.

Start Your Open-Source DXP Journey with Material

For enterprises to adapt to changing customer expectations and emerging technologies, marketers need user-friendly capabilities and developers need to be able to leverage modern frameworks that help them do their jobs better and faster. An open-source DXP provides this flexibility, allowing companies to customize their DXP, integrate new technologies and launch experiences and campaigns seamlessly.

Ready to optimize your digital experience platform or explore new technologies? Get in touch with Material today for an expert consultation.