Why composability matters for content editors

In digital transformation, your ability to offer a seamless customer experience is the cornerstone of success. A digital experience platform (DXP) plays a pivotal role, providing the tools you need to manage and refine content across channels.

However, balancing technical demands with intuitive experience design can be challenging. You might have encountered a scenario where IT focuses heavily on technical features, sidelining the functionality crucial for marketers.

Your editors require tools that let them visualize changes as they will appear live, without getting bogged down by code. By prioritizing these elements in your content management system, you enhance the overall productivity and align your omnichannel experiences with the evolving expectations of your customers and internal teams.

Technical features are important for a digital experience platform, but not in the way you may think

When you consider a composable DXP, it’s easy to get caught up in the technical specifications. However, the real value lies in how your digital asset management and marketing automation drive agility and long-term success.

Key features of a DXP, such as API capabilities and plugins, ensure your platform can connect seamlessly with other systems, which is essential for delivering a personalized experience. But the importance of these features lies in how they empower your business to adapt to market changes and improve the overall experience for your editors and users.

A DXP with robust features for customer service or even artificial intelligence can help tailor personalized content, but it’s the strategic use of those features that will create exceptional digital experiences. Efficient personalization relies on understanding your customer data and leveraging every digital channel to meet their expectations.

With that in mind, you must embrace a cultural and mental shift. The true cost of a composable DXP doesn’t just tally up to your initial investment; choosing a platform that lacks the ability to grow with you can incur unpredictable long-term costs. These are not always quantifiable in the short-term perspective, but they’re very real. Your focus should be on finding a platform that aligns with your business’s growth and scales accordingly while maintaining high standards of security and reliability.

Building blocks of a seamless DXP editor experience

You’ll notice the way different vendors advocate for their DXP whether they’ve put the editor experience front and center. The ease with which you manage each digital touchpoint directly impacts the usability and effectiveness of the platform, so it should be natural to do so. However, many traditional DXP vendors put the promise of having everything in one place before actual workflows.

For us at Magnolia, a user-friendly interface is crucial for content editors. It should feature visual drag-and-drop capabilities, allowing you to organize page elements for multiple channels with ease. The UI’s consistency becomes even more important when incorporating content from various third-party tools, which is why we always ponder the effect of future updates and different APIs on a unified experience.

Pre-designed templates streamline content creation, providing a solid starting point while retaining the ability to customize layouts. Access to a suite of marketing instruments within the DXP is beneficial, as these tools help with analytics and personalization to optimize customer engagement. At the same time, determining which features to include is a fine balancing act, as the DXP that tries to do it all will ultimately fail to keep up with the market’s speed.

Workflows should guide you through content creation, approval, and publication states systematically, with clear roles and responsibilities defined to keep production consistent and on schedule.

Why ignoring content editors’ needs translates to a disjointed customer journey

When DXPs overlook the pivotal role of content editors, the efficiency of the entire content management process is compromised. Ignoring the tools editors need leads to a range of negative consequences:

- Decreased Productivity: Without appropriate editing tools, the effort needed to publish content increases, resulting in slower response times to market demands.

- Increased IT Dependency: Content editors may require continual IT support for tasks that could be autonomous, distracting IT from their primary projects.

- Compromised Content Quality: Under-supported editors are less able to personalize content, potentially leading to a less engaging customer experience.

When selecting DXP tools, it’s key to acknowledge the specific requirements for content management. If the selection is purely based on tech features rather than catering to the content editors, the result can be a weakened digital presence.

A flexible solution will reduce the need for IT intervention and uphold content quality. In the long term, this approach is more cost-effective, as it prevents developers from diverting their focus from their main projects to address editorial tool deficits. This foresight can prevent a disjointed customer journey — one where every piece of content is crafted seamlessly, thereby enhancing customer retention.

Finding the right balance in a flexible digital experience

When you're striving for a digital experience that keeps both your editorial team happy and meshes well with technical requirements, thorough requirements gathering is a key starting point. That’s even more true if you’re managing a portfolio of sites across brands and markets.

However, flexible content management systems let you streamline this process, keeping the customer journey seamless — whether you're coordinating multiple brands or rolling out a Black Friday campaign.

By involving all relevant stakeholders in the selection process, you can find a balance that respects the goals and workflows of everyone, ensuring a powerful digital experience that doesn't forsake editor control for technical prowess, or vice versa.

See how Magnolia can help you provide a personalized customer experience

In your quest for a seamless digital experience, it’s vital not to overlook your content editors’ needs. A disjointed business culture, fixated on technical features, can hamper your ability to deliver a cohesive customer journey. At Magnolia, we prioritize aligning functionality with editor usability. We offer the security tech teams love while committing to the flexibility that gives content editors access to the tools they need and enjoy. No matter your industry, or preferences, we’ll let you tailor your tools within one unified user interface.

Empower your team with Magnolia’s intuitive interface and robust workflows. For deeper insights, you can check out more in-depth analyses of common content strategy mistakes in our webinar and on our blog.

Book a demo a dtoday to discover how we can help you deliver a seamless, personalized customer experience.