Today, WordPress is available not only for creating blogs, but also for developing complex websites and even as the basis for comprehensive digital experience platforms.
With about 474 million websites built with WordPress and almost 63% of the CMS market share WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world. And since 43% of all websites are built with WordPress and you are reading this article, we assume yours too.
Once known as one of the leading blogging platforms, WordPress has evolved into a highly effective CMS. Today, WordPress is available not only for creating blogs, but also for developing complex websites and even as the basis for comprehensive digital experience platforms. We will show how you can use WordPress for your company’s digital experience platform and how you can even enhance its capabilities and features.
What is a Digital Experience Platform?
In case you were wondering what a digital experience platform or short DXP really is, you can find a brief explanation here:
A digital experience platform is an integrated suite of technologies that enables companies to create, manage and optimize digital experiences across different channels. It typically combines functions such as content management, customer relationship management, e-commerce, data analysis and personalization, all in a single platform.
The goal of a DXP is to create a holistic and consistent experience for users across all interaction points, be it on websites, mobile apps, social media or other digital platforms. Another aim of a DXP is to make content available centrally in a company. But in the most efficient and intelligent way possible.
Sounds familiar? Maybe you are thinking about a headless CMS. But a headless CMS mainly focuses on managing and providing content for websites and other digital channels. The main difference between a DXP and a headless CMS lies in their scope and functionality.
While a headless CMS focuses on content management and is often limited to the creation of websites, a DXP offers a wider range of functions that go beyond pure content management. A DXP often integrates additional tools and systems such as CRM, e-commerce tools and data analytics to provide an even more comprehensive digital experience. There are two main categories of DXPs:
Traditional DXPs
These offer an integrated suite of features and applications provided by a single vendor. Traditional DXPs are often comprehensive and offer a wide range of pre-built features that usually are sufficient for many organizations. However, they may be less flexible and scalable as they are limited to a specific architecture and technology platform.
Composable DXPs
In contrast, composable DXPs offer a modular architecture that allows companies to expand and customize the platform as needed. Composable DXPs consist of a collection of microservice-based modules that can be deployed and scaled independently. This flexibility allows you to create a customized DXP that meets specific requirements while providing the ability to seamlessly integrate new features and technologies.
Advantages of using a DXP
Using digital experience solutions such as WordPress offers a number of benefits that help to achieve the goal of centralized content availability within the company and provide a seamless omnichannel experience:
- Efficient content management
A DXP takes content management, organization and updates to another level of efficiency. The central availability of content means that changes can be made quickly and synchronized across different channels, optimizing workflows and reducing time-to-market.
- Intelligent use of data
By integrating different systems and centralizing data storage, a DXP enables smarter use of information. This means all parties involved can access the same data to create personalized website content and tailored experiences for users. By analyzing this data, companies can also gain insights to optimize their strategies and make better decisions.
- Fully integrated user experience
A DXP also gives large companies and enterprises the opportunity to improve customer satisfaction and strengthen brand loyalty. How so? Service, support and the website can all use the same data and are directly connected. This makes it easier to ensure consistent and seamless experiences across all interaction points.
- Omnichannel experience
A DXP enables companies to offer an omnichannel experience where customers can seamlessly switch between different channels without losing continuity.
Core Features of WordPress for your DXP
As WordPress is the most popular CMS worldwide, it is only logical to think about how to use it correctly, in order to create a digital customer experience platform. But first, let’s take a look at the core features that make WordPress suitable for your DXP.
Open Source Technology
WordPress is an open source platform, which means that the source code is freely available and constantly being developed by the community. For a digital experience platform open source is a great feature. It allows you to customize and expand the platform according to your needs. Through continuous development, WordPress is regularly updated with new features and improvements.
Extensive libraries of plugins and themes
WordPress has a huge selection of plugins and themes that allow you to extend the functionality and design of your multiple websites. For example, the WooCommerce plugin can be used to add e-commerce functionality, while various themes offer a variety of design options. These libraries offer a wealth of options to design and optimize websites exactly according to each user’s needs.
Community contribution to progress
The WordPress community plays a crucial role in the further development of the platform. Developers, designers and users from all over the world contribute to the progress of WordPress by creating themes, plugins, translations, bug fixes and suggestions for improvement. This diverse and dedicated community ensures that WordPress is always up to date and meets the needs of its users.
Seamless integration with other systems
By using WordPress REST APIs, other systems such as CRM or ERP can be seamlessly integrated. This enables you to efficiently exchange and use data between different systems to optimize their business processes. The integration of WordPress with other systems expands the possibilities of the platform and makes it a central component of the digital infrastructure of many companies.
Your own WordPress DXP with Greyd
Greyd helps you build your own complex digital experience platform with WordPress as your central element. How we do that? Greyd offers a variety of features that allow you to use WordPress as both the head and body of a headless system. In contrast to pure headless CMS, Greyd doesn’t just focus on content, but also enables omnichannel use of layouts, forms and other elements.
Our headless API is a headless connection, which makes it irrelevant whether WordPress is used as a frontend or not. It acts as a database, similar to a conventional headless CMS. This means that you have the option of seamlessly connecting other tools and working with content in both directions. All Greyd.Suite functions can be combined easily and flexibly with other WordPress tools, guaranteeing maximum compatibilityBy integrating other tools into your DPX you can create a powerful system where the entire team of huge companies can all work together with the same data and all tools are linked together. A complex system consisting of a digital asset management tool, sales tool, CRM, ERP and more. This allows better results, more efficiency in workflows, easier automation and enables you to scale your business even faster.
Challenges when using WordPress for DXP
Using WordPress for your DXP poses a number of challenges that companies need to consider. One of the main aspects that is particularly important concerns security.
Security risks can come up, especially in large DXPs where a big number of plugins and themes are used. Unauthorized access to the backend or vulnerabilities in plugins can lead to data breaches and expose the company to considerable risk.
Luckily, when using Greyd for your DXP you won’t need to worry about this, since the high number of features within the Greyd.Suite make most plugins redundant.
Furthermore, performance optimization is another challenge, especially for companies whose websites have to cope with large amounts of traffic. To ensure optimal performance, the implementation of caching technologies and the use of CDNs is essential. With these measures you can improve loading times and reduce server load to ensure a smooth user experience.
Another important topic that we need to touch on is accessibility. Which unfortunately is still often neglected. Compliance with guidelines such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is crucial to provide inclusive content and avoid legal issues. Ensuring an accessible user experience is not only an ethical obligation, but also a legal requirement that companies must take seriously to avoid potential legal consequences.
The Future of WordPress for a DXP
The future of WordPress for a digital experience platform promises exciting developments that could fundamentally change the way organizations design digital experiences.
We expect an increasing use of AI which might result in the integration of intelligent features to provide more personalized content and tailored experiences for users. In addition AR and VR could also play a greater role in creating immersive experiences and increasing user engagement. Overall, WordPress will probably focus even more on interactive and engaging content that goes beyond traditional media.
If you are interested in learning more about WordPress and its usage for digital experience platforms with Greyd and actually trying the features first hand feel free to book a demo with one of our experts.
