Let’s start by deconstructing the term Digital Experience Management. “Digital” is the easy part. “Experience” refers to every single interaction that your business has with your customer, how your customer “experiences” your brand. Now, how do you “manage” that experience so that all those interactions between you and your customer are seamlessly integrated and convey the messages you want to convey?

This is where Digital Experience Management (DXM) and Digital Experience Platforms (DXP) come in. Digital Experience Platforms allow you to unify your many and varied departments (sales, marketing, IT, etc.) to create a consistent consumer experience. An ideal DXP also helps you integrate your content localization and content globalization plans.

You may have heard about Customer Communications Management (CCM) but, as this article explains CCM only goes in one direction: from you to your customer. The Digital Experience, however, is a two-way street.

Geoffrey Boch, in his article on DXM, uses a great analogy to explain DXM. Imagine a cook planning and preparing for a dinner party, and what DXM can do to help the party planner. This analogy shows the two-way interaction between the customer and the content.

The Importance of DXM

As soon as a potential consumer first hears your business name, she is entering a relationship with you. From your name and logo to the style and organization of your website to the content shown to them, the products, the descriptions, the clickable links, the newsletter forms, this is all part of your relationship with this customer. And, if it is not the most pleasing and exciting experience, the consumer will go somewhere else. You’ve lost them.

Research shows that even if you have the best products and the best prices, it is this consumer experience that is increasingly becoming the deciding factor in whether or not a customer buys from you or a competitor. In other words, ignore consumer experience at your peril.

Building Your DXM Platform

If you want to deliver a great digital experience, then you need a platform that can meet all your needs. You can either build it yourself or purchase a solution. Both choices have pros and cons, but one thing is certain: You can’t provide a top-notch digital experience without putting a lot of thought and work into the platform that makes it happen.

If you decide to go the DIY route, be ready to devote a considerable amount of resources to it.

Here are a couple of articles to help guide your thoughts in building your own:

If you would rather work with an established solution, there is no shortage of digital experience platforms: Adobe, IBM, Liferay, Salesforce, and Sitecore are just a few.

Here is a review of some of the biggest vendors in the DXP market.