“We want to personalize the user experience.” – said every digital marketer this year, last year and several years prior. For good reason too – personalization can lead to better content, increased conversion, and lifetime customers. So, I am here to say to you, “well done!” You are ready to stay relevant in a world where Amazon and Netflix and many other CX-forward companies are leading the way to increase their bottom line, and changing what we as consumers expect as an acceptable experience.
Whether you are in the C-suite making big-shot decisions, leading the I.T. organization, or the Marketing Director responsible for driving Personalization and are now holding a fresh new bag of money to drive your company forward - the mantra you need to get comfortable with is: “This is a journey.”
Even after you make it through re-platforming or upgrading, have your governance in order, content loaded, marketing workshops under your belt, and analytics flowing in to drive decisions…you will always be testing, improving, upgrading, connecting, building, rewriting, and finding ways to improve CX to drive ROI. Repeat it now: This is a journey…
Now exhale, you’ve got this!
Let’s suppose you have made the wise decision to go all in with Sitecore DXP. Good on you! You picked a Gartner-leading Digital Experience Platform, recognized for leading the way to success for organizations like yours and many other verticals. With the right partner, you have the tools available to deliver CX success. You will now be able to get a 360-degree view of your customers, drive user journeys, test content, track campaigns, measure results and continue to cycle through the journey to complete customer loyalty and ultimately lead to world domination! Well…for now, let’s just shoot for customer loyalty, please.
You will note that I did say tools for success. That is key here. You need to know how to use these digital marketing tools, not just from a technological standpoint but from a theoretical one. Even if you are completely comfortable with the functionality of Sitecore, you also need to look at your high-level Strategy. You may know how to apply goals and build personalization rules, but what are your goals, what are they worth and why are you personalizing?
The platform is the toolset in a broader strategy discussion.
When working with Sitecore (for example), you need to take a holistic approach in this journey of yours. You need more than development and system integration support. You need strategists, analysts, marketing technologists and content experts (to name a few). Success will be a shorter road when you adopt this approach.
To help guide you through this journey, I give you the Sitecore Strategy video series.
This series will help you clearly see the necessary strategic disciplines to consider in and around your DXP and specific to Sitecore, how they integrate with the toolset. In each on-demand episode, I will be joined by a subject matter expert and together we will provide valuable insights and strategies on topics including:
- Personalization
- Conversion Rate Optimization and Testing
- Content Strategy
- Goals and Engagement Value Scoring (EVS)
- Site Search
Click on the image below to view all episodes to date: 
Please reach out to me with any comments, questions or ideas around global domination on twitter @Sitecordial.
