6 Steps to Enable Targeted Content Automation in a DXP

In this article we shine the spotlight on how marketing professionals must first lay the foundations by streamlining and automating processes and workflows to target prospects with relevant content through each stage of the buyer journey.  

Discover how to harness the power of content automation at scale using a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) in six steps. 

1. Select modern, scalable software

B2B buyers are no longer satisfied with fully offline, or one-size fits all sales processes. Demand for personalized digital experiences has reached new heights!  

Delivering tailored experiences at scale has prompted businesses to migrate from limited and ageing Content Management Systems (CMSs) to DXPs. New, powerful DXP technologies are empowering B2B companies to create dynamic, personalized experiences at each stage of the buyer’s journey.  

By using customer data, behavioral insights, and of course content automation capabilities, organizations can deliver relevant content, recommendations, and interactions to individual buyers or segmented groups. 

Modern DXPs and addons have allowed B2B organizations to work smarter as they scale up, speeding up processes, strengthening relationships and building trust with prospects and customers, and driving conversion rates. 

Before diving headfirst into choosing a DXP, B2B organizations should take a moment to understand the different DXP architecture. You can do so in our exclusive article: Exploring DXP Architecture to Enhance Digital Experiences.  

When you are ready to begin researching the most suitable software for you, we have the perfect eBook to guide you through the process of requesting the right information for your specific needs with a range of useful templates and information to kick start and accelerate your digital transformation strategy: Digital Experience Platforms (DXP) Requests for Information (RFI). 

2. Establish a central content repository

Once you have contracted the perfect software, it’s time to migrate exiting content. Set up a central content repository within the DXP where content can be stored and managed. This central content source offers numerous benefits for B2B organizations looking to automate content journeys, here are our top five: 

• Greater organization – a structured environment where categorization and tagging makes it easier to group, locate, and retrieve specific content to drive your content automation strategy. 
• Improved collaboration – a central repository gives content creators, editors, and stakeholders access to the same content pool which eases project collaboration, and allows contributors to make real-time changes, and share feedback.  
• Cross channel – this setup encourages businesses to use and automate content across different channels and touchpoints. It promotes unified messaging and brand consistency throughout various platforms (websites, apps, social channels etc.) and campaigns. 
• Scalable – the infrastructure supports expanding content archives without compromising performance as businesses scale up. 
• Secure – define permissions and user roles to ensure that only authorized users may access and modify content. This protects sensitive information, reduces the risk of data breaches, and supports content integrity for automated journeys and campaigns.  

3. Integrate existing customer data and gather new insights

This is an essential step for organizations looking to reap the benefits of content automation. 

Data fragmentation is a common issue, with historical information often spread across Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, marketing automation tools, ecommerce platforms, and held by third-party data providers.  

For businesses that are migrating to a DXP and plan to deliver personalized, automated journeys, bringing all their customer data under one roof to create a holistic customer view can be a daunting, costly, and resource-intensive task. Fortunately, some modern DXPs have it covered, allowing businesses to migrate data via an Application Programming Interface (API) with a simple drag and drop functionality.

Once the DXP is up and running businesses can capture and analyze a range of additional customer data: 

• Behavioral data in real-time across digital touchpoints such as website visits, page views, Click Through Rates (CTRs), interactions, content preferences, and browsing patters to help marketers to better understand interests, intent, and engagement levels.  
• Conversion data can also be tracked by DXPs, including form submissions, sign ups, downloads and purchases which can be used to measure the effectiveness of marketing activities in driving conversions at each stage of the sales funnel. 
• Cross-channel interactions, collecting data from various touchpoints throughout websites, mobile apps, social networks, email marketing, and live chat businesses can create comprehensive customer profiles. 

This information can be used to fine-tune marketing and sales strategies. This holistic customer view also allows marketers to deliver truly unique, automated, multi-touchpoint journeys, to the right person/audience, in the right place, at the right time.  

Want to know how to implement a successful personalization content strategy using a DXP? Download our free and exclusive eBook: The Basics of Personalization. 

4. Automate content workflows

It’s likely that a detailed content strategy already exists which is aligned to your organization’s goals, target audience(s), and of course the various stages of the buyer journey. If you do not already have a clear content marketing strategy in place, why not check out our 10 Step Guide to Create an Effective B2B Content Marketing Strategy? 

This strategy should include a content plan, and here we will explain how a DXP can help you to streamline the content creation, review, and publishing workflows. Businesses can benefit by automating repetitive tasks, reducing the need for manual intervention, and ensuring an efficient content management process.  

• Make use of predefined templates, structures, and models when creating content within the DXP to ensure speed, consistency and efficiency.  
• Streamline review process, ensuring that the relevant stakeholders or teams are automatically notified and sent reminders when an action is required, preventing bottlenecks. The status of which can be tracked within the DXP. 
• Enjoy seamless collaboration and feedback (mentioned in step two), is fantastic for content creators, editors, and stakeholders. Allowing multiple individuals to give input, make suggestions, and share comments within the platform to ensure effective communication and reduce the need for alternative tools such as email, or instant messaging platforms.  
• Apply conditional routing, for example, content that requires review and approval from a legal perspective can be automatically directed to the legal team or an individual for their feedback and approval before going live. 
• Publish content automatically once signed off, or schedule at a date and time that suits your requirements across relevant channels. 
• Track the progress of each content piece to monitor workflow efficiency and identify any bottlenecks within the process. Added reporting features found within the DXP offer data on content performance and user engagement. 

These automated content workflows, as we have explained, drive efficiency, teamwork, and consistency throughout the various stages of the content management process. They allow content teams to work more productively, serve up content faster, and retain high standards. This results in enhanced customer experiences and helps businesses to stay ahead in today’s fast-paced digital environment. 

5. Define automation triggers

Now you have migrated to a DXP, set up a central repository for both new and existing content, integrated existing content and customer data, setup tracking to gather new insights, and automated your content workflows, it’s time to define your automation triggers. 

These triggers dynamically guide customers through their cross-channel journey based on their behavior, preferences, and journey stage. These can include: 

• Behavior based – inactivity can trigger a reengagement campaign, whilst customer browsing can activate an upsell or cross-sell communication flow.  
• Email engagement – automate follow up emails or enroll in a campaign if a specific prospect or customer interacts through an open or click. 
• Website behavior – activate a chatbot message if a customer spends too long on a page or deliver a pop-up banner for those that abandon their shopping cart or show interest in a certain product or service. 
• Form submission – send an automatic response when a prospect, or a customer completes a webform or direct the information directly to your CRM to trigger an immediate follow-up from your sales team. 
• Event-based – automate an onboarding campaign for new customers, or nurturing campaigns for new leads. 
• Purchase triggers – send recommendations to customers based on the purchase history, prompt them to make a recurring purchase, or deliver a renewal message when a subscription or license is due to expire.  

Automated, triggered communications help organizations to increase customer engagement, improve conversion rates, grow revenue, drive customer loyalty, and reduce churn, helping marketing and sales teams to achieve their targets.  

6. Set and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

It’s important to measure how successful various automated journeys and campaigns are so that they can be tracked, reported on, tested, and optimized. Some of the metrics that can be useful to keep track of include: 

• Engagement metrics – report on open rates, click through rates, page views, time spent on page, and interactions with specific elements or modules. 
• Conversion rate – the percentage of your audience that completes a specific action such as submitting a form, downloading content, or signing up for an event, or subscribing to your monthly newsletter. 
• Return on investment – measure and analyze the financial effect of your automated journeys. Calculate the cost of the campaign or automated journey with the revenue it generated. Take the campaign or journey goals into account based on where the audience sits within the sales funnel. 
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) – assess how the long-term value of customers that have interacted with your journeys and campaigns differs from those that were not exposed to these automated communications. Has there been an increase in upselling or cross-selling, are recipients more likely to renew and remain a customer for longer? Has it reduced churn rates? 
• Sales cycle length – track the average length of your first interaction with a client, to when they make a purchase and become a customer. How have your nurturing campaigns affected the duration?  
• Funnel drop off rates – monitor the impact that your automated journeys have on the percentage of potential customers who drop out at the various stages of the sales funnel or customer journey. This analysis will help you to identify if your journeys and campaigns are having a positive effect and highlight areas for improvement within the conversion process.

Only by setting KPIs for your various campaigns and keeping records of these metrics can marketing and sales teams run tests, make data-led changes, and optimize communication flows to achieve greater results.

Conclusion 

Implementing targeted automation in a DXP is crucial for B2B organizations looking to deliver personalized experiences throughout the buyer journey. By streamlining processes, integrating customer data, automating workflows, and defining triggers, businesses can enhance efficiency, improve collaboration, and deliver relevant content to drive engagement and conversions. 

Monitoring key metrics and KPIs allows for continuous optimization and ensures the success of automated journeys. With these six steps, marketing professionals can harness the power of content automation within a DXP to drive growth, build customer loyalty, and achieve marketing objectives.