Digital Experience Index – Annual Check Up Assessment

Expanding Your Digital Review

Website assessments are nothing new, yet today, we need to take a comprehensive view that includes a look at your websites, apps, media, and social media presence. So, when you do your next check-up, instead of thinking “website assessment,” you should be thinking “digital assessment.” Given how rapidly things are changing in digital strategy and systems, you should be conducting a self-assessment at least each year. When we do this for clients, we call it a “DXI” –  Digital Experience Index. The benefits are clear.

 The [At Least] Annual Check Up – Why Do It?

• Keep up with rapidly changing practices and channels on the web
• Improve inbound, content marketing, social media marketing, blog, etc.
• Deliver a more responsive experience for mobile users
• Improve your brand impression, encouraging higher conversion rates
• Get better search visibility across social media and optimized websites
• Build higher levels of engagement with followers and visitors
• Improve conversions and call-to-action performance
• Improve user experience resulting in higher sales, and longer stays on the site
• Get better user attraction and retention, changing browsing visitors into buyers
• Lower expenses with better site manageability
• Improve reliability, performance, and security.

The DXI evaluates and scores eight interdependent dimensions.

A DXI (Digital Experience Index) assessment includes elements depicted in the spider diagram. A diagram gives you a big picture view of the competitive position, key strengths and weaknesses, but additional value comes from identifying specific opportunities at a more detailed level. Below are each of the eight elements and a picture of what you should consider as you develop your annual checkup.

1. Visibility: The degree to which your sites are optimized and visible to major search engines based on keywords.
2. Brand: The overall brand message and positioning with respect to your desired target market.
3. Design: How effective your digital presence is in delivering an engaging look and feel.
4. Content: The credibility, value-add, compliance and appropriateness of information offered and shared on your website and social media.
5. Usability: How easy the website is in navigation and user interactions and the effectiveness in the delivery of functionality.
6. Functionality: The degree to which your site and apps provide a functional capability that addresses user needs.
7. Conversion: How effective you are in placing clear calls to action in your web experience.
8. Amplification: The degree to which you take advantage of “earned media” where your content and messaging is shared and amplified across the social web.

DIY or Get Outside Help?

You can easily perform this assessment yourself, and you probably are doing this today. We suggest that you get some external input – especially in relation to the subjective elements of design and branding. A creative designer, for example, can provide a lot of valuable insight into design elements. A technical person can evaluate how well the site is performing, and marketing specialists can guide in the impact and conversion capabilities of the experiences. Some of the dimensions can be assessed with a objective data and criteria, others benefit from a more trained eye. If you do use a professional team to conduct the assessment, make sure they are taking a holistic approach across your broader digital presence.