web content management benchmark reprot

ContentPart 1: Topic OverviewPart 2: Reasons to ImplementPart 3: Value DriversPart 4: ChallengesPart 5: Performance MetricsPart 6: Success StoryPart 7: Vendor Landscape

SidebarsSurvey StatsBenchmark KPIsCore TechnologiesGleanster NumbersVendor Quick Reference Guide

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Q2 2012

Gleansight

Organizations today are engaging with customers, partners and employees in more ways than ever before. This is particularly true in the online world where the explosion of social media tools and mobile applications has enabled website owners to adopt a multichannel approach to user engagement. Against this backdrop, website users have become more demanding. Not only do they expect high performance from websites, they seek an increasingly compelling and immersive user experience. Yet many Web marketers and content providers struggle to provide fresh, dynamic, and compelling experiences. The challenge lies not so much in developing new content, but, rather, in delivering relevant content in context.

Organizations must adopt a systematic approach to providing channel-appropriate content to end-users and optimizing the content for that channel. For example, mobile device users typically require simplified and streamlined tools while desktop users will more often wait a few extra seconds in exchange for a rich, immersive application. To consistently deliver content in context, organizations must understand and respond to such elements as user location, device type, and the forum type in which the user is engaging the organization. To achieve this, organizations must evolve their Web Content Management (WCM) strategy and enabling technologies. Their WCM solution must transform from a publishing tool to a multi-channel engagement tool. This Gleansight benchmark report explores the reasons to implement the next generation of WCM solutions, the ways in which WCM helps to optimize the end-user experience across multiple channels, and the challenges associated with implementing a WCM solution.

Web Content Management

http://www.gleanster.com


Gleansight: Web Content Management



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To accommodate multi-channel

strategies, today’s leading WCM

solutions provide functionality that goes

far beyond Web content publishing and

control. They now include functionality

for managing multi-lingual content

across multiple sites, aggregating

and syndicating content, leveraging

social media and user-generated

content, analyzing end-user behavior

(both on-site

and off-site), and

publishing content

to a wide variety

of device types,

such as iPads

and smartphones.

Many of the more

sophisticated

solutions have

started to add a

contextualization functionality to allow

users to deliver more personalized

experiences and engage with their

visitors on a one-to-one basis. Despite

the new standard capabilities in WCM

solutions, Gleanster survey results

suggest that Top Performers are

still utilizing a wide variety of tools

and capabilities (in fact, only 42% of

Top Performers currently use WCM

solutions). The 42% figure makes sense

given that, according to Gleanster

research, only 43% of Top Performers

rely heavily on dynamic or frequently-

changing content in their Web content

strategy. Despite

the majority of Top

Performers’ lack of

dynamic content

usage, 71% of

them indicate that

their marketing

department is

responsible

for managing

website content. As marketers in these

organizations increasingly recognize

the need to deliver content in context

to end-users, one can expect Top

Performers to incorporate an approach

that includes more dynamic content.

Survey StatsThe research findings featured in this Gleansight benchmark report are derived from the Q2 2011 Gleanster survey on Web Content Management.

• Total survey responses: 309

• Qualified survey responses: 285

• Company size: <$1M (2%); $1 - 10M (19%); $10-100M (35%); $100M - $1B (36%); >$1B (8%)

• Geography: North America (84%); Europe (12%); Other (4%)

• Industries: Consumer Goods (15%); Entertainment (9%); eCommerce (7%); Manufacturing (6%); Software (6%); Financial Services (4%); Non-Profit (4%)

• Job levels: C-level (5%); SVP/ VP (25%); Director (31%); Manager & Staff (39%)

Sample survey respondents:

Director, Hitachi

Manager, Canon

Director, Hyatt

VP of Marketing, Merrill Lynch

Manager, Tiburon, Inc.

VP of Marketing, GlaxoSmithKline

Director, Nordstrom

Director, Dell

Part 1: Topic OverviewUntil recently, Web Content Management (WCM) solutions focused almost entirely on publishing content to the Web. Content types included static text and graphics, audio, video, and simple code to incorporate customized content elements based on end-user profiles. Traditionally, WCM’s main value proposition has been enabling non-technical personnel ― particularly marketers ― to create, manage, and post content onto websites without relying on help from the IT department. Over time, WCM solutions evolved as website strategies began to focus on the end-user experience across multiple channels.

Web content management solutions must transform from publishing tools to multichannel engagement platforms.

“





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* According to Top Performers, based on 285 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q2 2012 Gleanster survey on WCM

Increase online revenue and profit. In today’s highly competitive online markets, successful sales largely depend on presenting the right information to the right people at the right point in time. WCM’s ability to customize content ― including special offers and value-added information ― helps organizations cash in on the knowledge they gain analyzing customer behavior and buying patterns. Not only does this increase revenue, but WCM’s ability to automate content customization means that each additional dollar of revenue comes with less associated expense.

Increase the relevance of marketing messages. Customers today have more power and influence than at any other time in history. They also have more channels for sharing their brand experiences and related sentiments. This makes relevance and personalization critical to capturing mindshare and share of wallet. Top Performers are looking for ways to make marketing messages timely and personalized for local audiences while simultaneously maintaining brand consistency at a corporate level. They’re also looking to adapt the online experience to each individual customer or visitor’s needs and situation.

Part 2: Reasons to ImplementWhat would happen if your marketing department discovered a great new social media tool or that two-thirds of your target market relied on consumer recommendations to make a purchase decision? Would you want to await IT’s approval to adjust your Web marketing and site content strategy, or would you want your front-line marketing people to seize the moment? Top performing organizations would choose the latter option every time. Web Content Management solutions enable organizations to seize such moments quickly and easily. WCM combines the necessary hooks and integrations into back-office systems and company-wide data that enable marketers to respond quickly to evolving market demands. At the same time, WCM solutions provide content management capabilities so the organization can adhere to the strictest standards of content control and consistency. As such, organizations implementing WCM today can drive online revenue and ensure online campaigns that present the most relevant marketing messages to various audiences accessing a website across multiple channels.

Benchmark KPIs Gleanster uses 2-3 key performance indicators (KPIs) to distinguish “Top Performers” from all other companies (“Everyone Else”) within a given data set, thereby establishing a basis for benchmarking best practices. By definition, Top Performers are comprised of the top quartile of qualified survey respondents (QSRs).

The KPIs used for distinguishing Top Performers focus on performance metrics that speak to year-over-year improvement in relevant, measurable areas. Not all KPIs are weighted equally.

The KPIs used for this Gleansight are:

• Revenue Growth

• Increase in Conversion Rates on Website

• Increase in Unique Visitors to Website

To learn more about Gleanster’s research methodology, please click here or email [email protected].

http://www.gleanster.com/about-us/research-methodology

mailto:research%40gleanster.com?subject=Research%20Metholology%20Question




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Core WCM Capabilities

Following are core capabilities to look for when selecting a WCM technology:

Intuitive User Interface. While the system look and feel remains one of the most subjective elements of any technology purchase, it’s important to consider the organizational culture and technical acumen of the users who will actually be utilizing the tool. In many cases, these are non-technical business users, including marketers and product managers. Every organization will value different features and functions, but the value of WCM is ultimately empowering non-technical users, so it’s important to review demos from 3-5 different tools with the participation of prospective users to take stock of usability and the general look and feel of the interface with which they’ll potentially be spending a lot of time.

SaaS vs. On-Premise. The decision to implement a SaaS or on-premise delivery model is unique for every organization. Depending on the size of the organization, security and IT standards may preclude an investment in cloud-based WCM tools. From a feature and function standpoint, these tools typically have scaled-back features when compared to on-premise. The tradeoff is that cloud-based WCM systems often tend to be a bit easier to use and they also tend to be far more scalable for a distributed organization. At the same time, emerging technologies like HTML5 are opening up a whole new level of usability and functionality. Some SaaS vendors can now deliver drag-and-drop functionality and true WYSIWYG website design.

Manage global communications. Organizations serving worldwide audiences must present a consistent company image. At the same time, they must deliver market-appropriate messages. To strike such a balance, they need a system that provides flexible self-service among dispersed marketing teams along with centralized rules for controlling content themes and messages.

Optimize the end-user experience. The end-user experience can make or break any online campaign. Not only do speed and performance matter, but consumers now seek an immersive experience that facilitates a relationship with their favorite brands and websites. Optimizing the end-user experience requires organizations to think about several critical factors: how users are accessing their websites; the location of users; the on-site tools they are using; and the external influences that brought them to the site. Marketers can obtain such insights from WCM and automate rules and workflows to respond to users according to each factor.

Reduce marketing dependence on IT. Today’s market landscapes shift incredibly fast. New technology capabilities, new government regulations, and fast-spreading venues for the voice of the customer mean organizations must track and respond to consumer trends faster than ever. Marketing teams simply cannot afford to get bogged down by slow

processes caused by IT approval and workflow. This is especially true within organizations that have reduced IT to the point where it can focus only on a few key initiatives at a time. To remain effective, marketing must tackle the long tail of content management projects on its own. The latest solutions for WCM are designed to make it easy for organizations to manage content without the help of IT while also providing more sophisticated tools for developers.

Improve brand consistency. As organizations globalize their operations and pursue new markets around the world, they frequently struggle to bring in local marketing managers who customize messages to suit their unique market needs. Using WCM, centralized marketing executives can set standards and rules around content and messages so regional teams can adhere to branding while adding their own nuanced version of messaging.

Increase website traffic. Organizations constantly seek new methods for increasing visitor volume to their websites. More traffic very often means more revenue. Analysis and reporting tools within WCM provide insights into the origins of customers. More importantly, they also provide analysis of the origins of the most profitable customers. Furthermore, the adherence to search engine-optimized key words within all website content ensures that Web search engines favor those websites that have incorporated the

* According to Top Performers, based on 285 Qualified Survey Responses to the Q2 2012 Gleanster survey on WCM

web content management benchmark reprot

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