Opening Up: How Would You Describe a "Digital Experience?"

Welcome back to “Opening Up,” our series on sharing ideas and insights into the endlessly shifting world of digital transformation. At Acquia, we define ourselves as the open digital experience company, and we were just recently named a Leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs). Our focus is on building the digital transformation technology that facilitates interactions between companies and customers everywhere and anywhere. So what do these interactions look like, and where do they fit within the complex relationship between people and technology? In other words (or acronyms), how do you define the “DX” within the DXP?

We asked our community for their own digital experience definitions, and now we’re sharing their answers. So, “How would you describe a “digital experience?” 

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“Digital experience is everything your customer interacts with on all digital channels, and the sum of the total cohesive experience they (should) get.”

— Rose Iorillo, User Experience Researcher

“A digital experience is an interaction between a consumer and a digital platform. A good digital experience is one that engages the customer, is memorable, personalized and effortless.”

— Nick Maffeo, Business Development Representative

 “A digital experience is the act of encountering things beyond physical limits. Digital experiences are free, not dependent on distance, time or locked into any one device or location.”

— Yuri Fukuoka, Field Marketing Manager (Japan) 

“A digital experience is only a digital experience when it is memorable. It's a website or an app that keeps you coming back.” 

— Maggie Schroeder, Product Marketing Manager

“I think digital experience is a total understanding of how people interact with your brand online and then optimizing that ‘experience’ to best suit your customers.”

— Caroline Smart, Accounts Payable Specialist 

“It’s the all-encompassing interaction online with a community. Digital experiences involve all aspects of what someone sees and interacts with within an online community, company or network.”  

— Samuel Holt, Staff Accountant

“It’s how I interact and feel connected to others during a transaction without direct human interaction.”

—  Genevieve Flynn, Account Manager

“It’s like getting a haircut. There are so many big fancy barbershops everywhere, but most times, you find yourself going to the little barbershop, not only because they give you that dope fade but because they know your name. There is a conversation; there is a memorable experience. A digital experience is pretty much a conversation, a dance, an interaction which can make or mar one's relationship with digital brands.”

— Olu Onanuga, Marketing Ops Specialist 

“A digital experience carries a user across multiple digital platforms. For example, it’s when you can know the same user on mobile and desktop. Digital experiences mean users can have a seamless experience when interacting with a brand.”

— Shane Jordan, Technical Architect

“Good digital experiences offer something that is so personal to me that I forget I'm using technology.”

— Beverly Lanning, Technical Architect

“Great digital experiences are both expansive and intimate. I'm freed from the constraints of the "physical" world and able to build relationships and accomplish tasks in a new way. It's like having superpowers.”

— Dan Katz, Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering