Choosing a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) is one of the most critical technology decisions a business can make.

A DXP powers your content and digital interactions, provides context for any commerce, and impacts everything from customer experience (CX) to operational efficiency.

However, many organisations struggle with picking the right DXP — paralysed by procurement constraints or driven by misplaced technical ideology. Combined with unclear requirements, overpromised vendor features, and a failure to truly align the platform with business needs, it’s no wonder that many DXP selection processes end in failure or are quickly revisited. 

This guide will help you understand what to look for in a DXP, the key pitfalls to avoid, and how to select a platform that will grow with your business. 

Why Choosing the Right DXP Matters  

A DXP is more than just a platform for managing your content. It integrates multiple technologies to deliver, manage, and optimize digital experiences across multiple channels, including websites, mobile apps, portals, and other touchpoints like voice assistants and search result AI overviews.

A poor DXP choice can lead to: 

  • High costs and wasted investment in an overcomplicated or underperforming system. 
  • Poor Editor Experience (EX), leading to slow or compromised publishing and inefficient content workflows. 
  • Lack of flexibility and scalability, forcing a costly replatforming exercise within a few years. 
  • Integration nightmares, where legacy systems and new tools don’t communicate properly and so key features stall or the customer experience is jarring. 
The right DXP, on the other hand, enables your business to scale efficiently, personalise experiences, and optimize content workflows while improving team productivity.
 
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Key Features to Look for in a DXP 

Every business has unique requirements, but a robust DXP should offer the following core capabilities: 

1. User-Friendly Content Management 

  • Intuitive editing experience for content teams. 
  • Real-time previewing to streamline approvals. 
  • Automated workflows to reduce manual content processes. 
2. Personalisation & AI-Driven Insights 
  • Rule-based personalisation for targeted content delivery. 
  • A-B testing to drive up engagement and conversions. 
  • Intelligent recommendations to improve and optimise user engagement. 
  • Advanced segmentation for dynamic, audience-driven content. 
3. Omnichannel Capabilities 
  • Seamless content delivery across web, mobile, social, email, and other devices. 
  • Headless or hybrid architecture to maximise flexibility for your current and future business ambition. 
  • Support for multiple brands, languages, and regions. 
4. Scalability & Performance 
  • Scalable cloud architecture to provide automatic scaling and high availability to varying traffic demands. 
  • Performance monitoring & diagnostics to track and improve site performance. 
  • Microservices support allowing for modular capabilities and a ‘swap in, swap out’ approach to scaling. 
5. Seamless additions or Integrations to Existing Systems 
 
  • Customer Data Platform or CRM, and ERP 
  • Analytics platforms and behavioural insight tooling 
  • Product or commerce catalogues 
  • Digital Asset Management (DAM)

Opal AI: Intelligence That Actually Impacts Revenue

Opal AI isn't just another analytics add-on. It's the intelligence layer you've likely been searching for to provide:

  • Predictive content recommendations improving engagement without guesswork
  • Dynamic audience segmentation adapting in real-time
  • Testing strategies that self-optimise based on behavioural signals

I've watched marketing teams operate like data scientists without needing the technical background. This translates to quicker launches, more intelligent campaigns, and scalable results.

john-schnobrich-FlPc9_VocJ4-unsplashCommon Pitfalls to Avoid When Choosing a DXP 

Even with a strong feature list, businesses often make mistakes when selecting a DXP. Here’s what to watch out for: 

❌ Overlooking the overall Editor Experience (EX) 
 
A DXP may offer advanced features but still have poor usability for content teams. If your editors struggle with slow workflows, complex interfaces, or rigid templates, your investment in a DXP will not yield its full value. Your team will consistently find themselves fighting against the platform rather than working with it, ultimately leading to workarounds and ‘shadow’ solutions being used to make up for the limitations and creating a sprawling estate that’s almost impossible to fully control. 
 
✅ Solution: Choose a platform that prioritizes an intuitive, streamlined EX. Request a live demo for your content team to test usability and get them to really dig into real-life usage before committing. You may need to re-engineer aspects of your business processes to get maximum value from an enterprise DXP but if you’re finding that the platform is forcing editors to perform pointless actions or they have to use the platform in ways it was never designed for, then chances are it’s not going to be fit for purpose over the long-term. For this to be viable, it’s helpful to ensure that your content delivery process has been documented so you can work this through with the platform vendor or implementation partner. 
 
 
❌ Ignoring Scalability Needs 
 
Many businesses choose a DXP based on current needs, not future growth. This can result in outgrowing the platform too quickly. No-one does this intentionally of course, but even with good business planning and a clear digital roadmap it’s hard to predict what impact market changes and wider technology evolution can have. 
 
✅ Solution: Ensure platforms you’re considering are not designed as a ‘monolith’ where everything is tightly integrated and therefore hard to scale or upgrade without significant implications. A more modern approach is either to adopt a suite of more loosely coupled services within a common ecosystem – such as Optimizely – or have completely independent elements more aligned to a MACH principle (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless), although a fully MACH approach can lead to increased technical complexity, the needed for more specialist skills, and higher costs and governance demands. 
 
 
❌ Vendor Lock-In Risks 
 
Many DXPs require heavy custom development, which can make it difficult and expensive to make changes and upgrade later. 
 
✅ Solution: To mitigate this, look for platforms that simplify the amount of bespoke development needed to deliver your key content and feature delivery needs. Over the years we’ve benchmarked DXPs and found that one typically required >20% more development effort than others for the same feature, so this can quickly become material. Also important is the upgrade cycle and process, which can require major redevelopment if the underlying platform has changed significantly or if the developed code hasn’t been implemented with best practice in mind. Another key mitigation when selecting a platform is to choose a platform with a thriving developer community that is growing and not diminishing (a good indicator here is analyst recommendations for Digital Experience Platforms, such as Gartner Magic Quadrant and Forrester Wave). This community is a good proxy for how easy you will find it to deliver additional features, and keep the solution up-to-date and free from technical debt. 
 
 
❌ Underestimating Integration Complexity 
 
Your existing tech stack must work seamlessly with the new DXP. Many businesses overlook integration challenges, leading to hidden costs. 
 
✅ Solution: Conduct a technical audit before choosing a DXP to assess compatibility with your CRM, ERP, and existing digital tools. These flagship elements are likely to be high on your priority list for any platform, but not all DXPs are the same in the quality and maturity of connectors, marketplaces of APIs etc… so it’s worth digging beneath the headlines with your vendor or vendor partner to understand how well supported the integrations are and also if there are license implications. 
 

It’s easy to forget hidden corners of your current digital estate and legacy features that your business now relies on and which may not easily port across to a new platform. In this scenario it’s worth conducting a simple evaluation of whether the right outcome is to cull, integrate ‘as is’, or redevelop in a more modern structure.

Future-Proof Your DXP Investment 

Choosing the right DXP is about more than just features - it’s about finding the right balance between platform usability, performance, and opportunity for future growth.

By avoiding common pitfalls and following best practices, businesses can ensure their DXP delivers maximum value. 

At Mando Group, we specialize in helping businesses select, implement, and optimize DXPs for long-term success.

If you’re considering a new platform, book a DXP strategy consultation today to ensure you make the right choice.

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