List of Digital Platforms

Digital platforms are powerful tools that can increase sales, build brand loyalty, and improve your marketing ROI. Understanding what they are, how they work, and how to pick the right one can empower your business to reach its goals faster and more easily than would otherwise be possible.

What Is a Digital Platform?

A digital platform, or digital experience platform (DXP) as it's also known, is a software program designed for creating and improving digital experiences with a brand. It can build websites, landing pages, and microsites. It can create and automatically update online product catalogs. It can update e-commerce platforms when you add new products, create digital materials to accompany existing products. Other uses of digital platforms include creating personalized product recommendations, uploading product images and videos directly to social media sites, and generating digital experiences to support offline marketing materials such as flyers, print catalogs, and banners.

What Is the Purpose of a DXP?

The digital platforms meaning isn't just about saving you time and work, although using a digital platform can certainly streamline your business operations. Rather, the main reason for using a DXP is to improve digital experiences with your brand. A DXP is designed to create a streamlined, personalized brand experience that increases sales and leaves people with a positive impression of your company even if they don't buy anything from you right away.

What Are 3 Benefits of Platform Technology?

The first digital platform benefit, and arguably the most important one, is the ability to personalize a user's experience with your brand. If someone clicks on a PPC ad for one of your products, the ad will take them to the product page your DXP platform built to promote the product in question. What's more, the DXP will ensure that product visuals such as high-quality images, product walkthroughs, how-to videos, warranty information, and assembly instructions are included on the product page, so consumers who are deciding between two or three products can make informed shopping decisions. If someone has viewed your site and/or bought goods from you in the past, the digital experience platform will offer custom product recommendations based on past interactions with the site.

Another benefit of using a digital experience platform is that it will help you maintain uniform branding across multiple platforms. Do you have a particularly great set of images of a product you're putting on sale? If so, you can use your DXP to send those images to product pages, social media sites, your email marketing list, and the program you use to create online or printed catalogs. Your DXP can also send text product descriptions to your website and other e-commerce platforms to ensure that your tone of voice, brand colors, and style remain the same as you engage users on multiple online venues.

Finally, a DXP can not only create digital product experiences but also monitor consumer interactions with your brand. Do you want to find out which product pages get the most views, and which product recommendations get the most clicks? Would you like to see which visuals grab user attention the best, or find out which landing pages drive the most sales? One of the benefits of digital platforms is that they offer built-in or integrations with analytics tools to gauge user interactions with your brand. These tools will help you see if you're targeting the right audience. They'll make it easy for you to see what consumers are looking for when they interact with your brand. They can also help you see which marketing strategies work best, so you can build on these to improve your business.

DXP Functionality: What to Expect from the Best Digital Platforms for Marketing

Digital platforms certainly have a lot to offer. Moreover, there are plenty of DXP companies to pick from, which enables you to find the one that best meets your needs and budget. However, it's important to understand what a DXP company is and what to expect in your dealings with one so that you can choose the right platform and get it set up right away.

What Is a Digital Platform Company?

A digital platform company is a company that creates digital experience platforms specifically designed to improve digital experiences with your brand. These companies should not be confused with software companies such as Microsoft, Google, or Dropbox. While these corporations create tools that you can use to improve digital experiences, the tools don't have the full set of capabilities offered by dedicated DXP platforms. Google Drive, for instance, may be able to integrate with e-commerce platforms such as Selldone, but it can't analyze user interactions with your brand or provide custom product recommendations.

What Are Examples of Digital Platforms?

If you're considering investing in a digital experience platform, you'll find that there are plenty to pick from. Some of the top 10 digital marketing platforms are Acquia, Adobe Experience Cloud, Bloomreach, Magnolia, Plerdy, Glassbox, Sanity, and Lumavate.

However, not all digital experience platforms are created equal. The advantages and disadvantages of digital platforms vary depending on the one you pick and the features you need to improve digital experiences with your brand.

Digital Platforms for Marketing Examples

DXP platforms typically fall under three categories. The first platform type is an all-in-one solution that offers users all the functionality needed to manage, use, and share product information. Buying a comprehensive package is ideal if you want to save money, time, and hassle. Unfortunately, it's not always the best option for all business owners. A company that makes an ideal DXP for your business may not provide the product information or digital management tools you need to keep track of all your product information. Alternatively, it may not offer design tools such as form builders and templates, which would make it hard for you to create a top-tier digital catalog.

The second type of DXP offers only core functionality. It does not come with other tools you need to keep your product information organized, but it does integrate with a range of tools to enable you to pick the platforms that will best suit your company's needs. Such a setup can be ideal as you can choose the digital platforms you need to complement your DXP system. However, such an arrangement can be costly as you have to pay for multiple platforms.

The third type of DXP on the list of digital platforms for marketing offers the best of both worlds. It has the full functionality you need to organize and manage your product information. It has digital asset management functionality to make it easy for you to store all information related to a single product in the same place. It also has digital experience tools to enable you to build good digital experiences for each person who comes in contact with your brand. At the same time, the platform integrates with other third-party software programs to make it easy for you to use the tools that best suit your company's needs. Lumavate is one of the few DXP platforms that falls under this category, and it stands out from other, similar digital experience platforms because it's not only comprehensive but also very reasonably priced.

What Are the Benefits of an Online Platform?

It's important to note that many of the top 10 digital marketing tools are custom-built rather than cloud-based. What does this mean for your business? What is a digital platform example? Consider the following two scenarios:

Company One decides to build a custom-built digital experience platform. It finds and hires developers that can create such a platform and starts communicating the business needs and requirements. The developers create a custom-built solution, but it comes with a hefty price tag that includes not just the cost of the platform but also the cost of having an IT technician set up and maintain the platform. It takes months to get the platform up and running, and there is no guarantee that the custom platform will suit the company's long-term needs. If Company One opens new branch offices or enters new markets, the custom platform may become obsolete. In such an instance, the firm would either have to have a new custom platform built or have the developers that created the original platform update the existing DXP. What's more, since the DXP is hosted on the company's IT system, it's vulnerable to breaches or hacks.
Company Two decides to purchase a digital experience platform from a company that offers DXP services as part of a SaaS solution. The firm finds a good company to work with, chooses the price plan that best meets its needs, pays for the solution, and then starts using it. The solution is cloud-based, making it easy for employees in different branches to access tools and features as needed. The cloud storage site is fully secure, so the company does not have to worry about cybercriminals gaining access to the DXP system. What's more, the DXP company is continually updating its system by adding new features, tools, and integrations. While there is a monthly or yearly subscription fee that must be paid to keep using the platform, it works out to be far cheaper than having a custom platform built from scratch. What's more, if the DXP no longer suits the company's needs, it can upgrade or downgrade its price plan. Alternatively, it can export the data and start using a new SaaS platform.

The Benefits of Online Platforms

Here's what you can expect from a good digital experience platform:

A user-friendly experience. The best DXPs enable you to create and build on digital experiences without using code. The "what you see is what you get" platform allows you to build your brand without hiring a full-time IT expert to help you manage your system.
Built-in content and asset management. A good DXP will have a built-in content management system (CMS) and digital asset management (DAM) functionality. It will be able to build a website for you, which means that you won't have to pay extra to use a content management system. The DAM functionality allows you to store product images and information and make these available to sales partners and potential customers with ease.
Personalization capabilities. A 2021 report has found that over 70 percent of consumers expect businesses to deliver a personalized experience, and more than three-quarters of consumers are frustrated when they don't receive the personalized experience they expected. That's why the best digital platform companies offer a range of personalization capabilities to meet the needs of consumers of all ages and walks of life.
Analytics. Every single DXP needs a powerful built-in analytics solution or an integration with a good analytics platform to help you keep tabs on how people are interacting with your brand. With analytics, you can see the types of products/services that generate the most interest and sales. You can track user interactions on your site to discover the path people take to becoming a one-time or repeat customer. Analytics enable you to not only improve your digital experiences but also reach out to new audiences that are starting to show an interest in your brand.

Why Lumavate?

Lumavate stands out from the digital platform company list because it includes all the benefits listed above and offers many other features and benefits you won't get from most DXP platforms.

Fast implementation. Many online digital platforms don't list their prices up front. Rather, you have to contact the platform, present your business information, and ask for a custom price quote. Once you get the quote and agree to it, the company will start setting up your digital experience platform; however, it will take time for the DXP company's IT experts to get the platform up and running for you. Lumavate, on the other hand, lists three price plans upfront on its website. You simply pick one, pay for it, and start using it. The fast implementation time enables you to start improving customer experiences with your brand right away. What's more, if you need more (or fewer) services in the future, you can change your price plan with a few clicks of a mouse.
Expansive Functionality. Lumavate is a comprehensive package that offers DXP, DAM, and PIM solutions. It comes with a form builder, free templates, text messaging, and more. It has more than forty integrations to make it easy for you to use Lumavate with other programs. What's more, Lumavate releases new product functionality every two weeks.
Cost-effective. Lumavate costs between $499 and $4,999 per month, depending on the price plan you pick. This is up to 75 percent cheaper than many other PXM platforms.
No tech resources are required. You don't need an IT expert to get Lumavate's PXM platform up and running for your business. Furthermore, you don't need to know how to code in order to use the platform's tools and features.
Purpose-built for Manufacturing. Many PXM platforms are designed to meet the needs of B2C companies. While Lumavate is very effective when used by companies selling goods directly to the public, it also includes the tools that manufacturing companies need to centralize product data, manage digital assets, and create digital product experiences for sales partners.

Most companies have an average of nearly 30 competitors. This means that you have to give potential customers a compelling reason to work with your business. Creating top-tier products is a good start, but it's not enough. Consumers and even sales partners expect a personalized experience when they do business with you, and you need a powerful DXP platform to meet their needs and expectations. A DXP can save you hours of work and hassle by providing the tools needed to automatically personalize interactions with your brand. It can also give you insight into how consumers interact with your company online so that you can understand how people view your products, improve your online interactions, and reach new audiences.

While there are plenty of digital platforms to pick from, few offer the wide range of services, features, and integrations that Lumavate provides. What's more, Lumavate is fast to implement, user-friendly, and continually updated to meet the needs of any growing business. Get in touch with us to find out more about how the platform works or schedule a free demo at your convenience.