Episerver is becoming Optimizely — What this means for you

What's in a name? In the world of marketing technology — a lot, actually. Come August 2021, the digital experience platform provider Episerver is combining its branding and martech offerings with those of Optimizely, following its acquisition of the latter in 2020. For the combined company, this strategic rebrand is a chance to stake its claim in the rapidly evolving DXP space — considered to be the next generation of martech. 

If you currently benefit from Episerver's solutions — or hoped to in the future — you likely have questions about what these changes mean for you. Read on to learn how the all-new Optimizely aims to assist users looking to deliver more meaningful digital experiences to their own customers.
 

How will the changes affect current users?

Thousands of companies use Episerver's solutions. We're talking everybody from digital-first enterprises experimenting in scale to manufacturers transitioning from selling by fax to eCommerce. So what does the rebranding mean for all these customers?

Aside from a new logo or a few other aesthetic changes, not much is changing about the company’s current offerings. If you’re already using any of Episerver’s products, you’ll continue to receive standard communications from the company and your contract will remain the same.

Optimizely plans to maintain business as usual for clients, meaning the products you’re already using won’t go away. As Episerver notes in its FAQ page, this includes headless CMS and commerce, experimentation, AI-driven recommendations, feature flagging and rollouts. This decision was driven through customer, partner and employee research, all with one goal in mind — elevating all facets of customers’ digital ecosystem.

So, while users won’t notice a major difference in their current services, the name change does represent a new opportunity for both clients and Episerver.

This brings us to the big “why” behind the rebranding and Optimizely’s major goal: Creating the ultimate system of differentiation for clients’ current web and eCommerce sites.
 

What is a digital experience platform?

Episerver's been around since 1994. Although the company first found success in the “you've got mail” era, it's now leading the charge in DXP technology since acquiring Optimizely in October 2020.

Digital experience platforms are defined by Gartner as integrated and cohesive technologies “designed to enable the composition, management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences across multi-experience customer journeys.” 

Kind of a mouthful, right? Let’s break that definition down.

At their most basic, these platforms help marketers achieve differentiation by optimizing digital interactions between customers and brands. 

The requirements related to digital maturity and integration are the biggest challenges most companies face when adopting this technology. The path to creating an optimized digital journey isn’t exactly linear, and as CEO of Optimizely, Alex Atzberger, explains, it’s “a journey without a finish line.” 

Marketers want to innovate, and use data to create and optimize every customer experience based on actual outcomes. Unfortunately, the process is highly unique to each brand, and marketers are often in sore need of clarity and guidance.

With Optimizely, clients can start with the technology they need today and grow into what their business needs tomorrow, without worrying about integration within their current or future martech stack.
 

How does Episerver’s rebranding help customers drive results through their DXP?

Optimization as a service.

As digital transformation efforts accelerate across industries, businesses are moving away from static websites and content to provide dynamic, digital experiences. Optimization as a service is intended to provide customers with an all-encompassing tool that creates these differentiated interactions.

There are a lot of martech options out there providing a wide scope of solutions. This leads to marketers paying for services that wind up being irrelevant to their team’s needs. Other more specific point solutions only address one marketing gap, leading to a complex ecosystem of tools that ultimately feel disjointed. 

Such options can quickly snowball, and before you realize it, you've got a complex martech stack that doesn’t really integrate. Optimizely’s new offering aims to solve this issue for marketers by providing the following in a single, comprehensive package:

• Targeting. Personalized marketing is transforming communication across industries, and Optimizely plans to provide a simple way to execute these strategies. Create meaningful moments for customers through behavior targeting, one-click third-party integration and AI-based segmentation derived from real-time interactions.

• Testing. Build the optimal customer experience through simulations that allow you to experiment with new campaign elements, identify patterns and increase your desired outcomes. 

• Recommendations. Leverage AI-driven content and product recommendations to accelerate each customer's path to purchase.

Forward-thinking marketers know it takes more than just technology to stay ahead of transformation and create helpful, personal experiences for customers. You need data-driven decisions, continued experimentation and constant invention.

The goal of optimization as a service is to empower teams to unlock their digital potential, turning customers into advocates and generating the outcomes businesses desire. 
 

Introducing new tech to your marketing 

Digital transformation is accelerating — businesses are moving away from static websites and content toward dynamic, digital experiences. By rebranding as Optimizely and offering optimization as a service, Episerver aims to provide clients with the tools they need to achieve this. 

If you're already using Episerver or are interested in how optimization as a service could amplify your marketing strategy, GeekHive's ready to help. Contact us today and together, we’ll maximize your martech spend to wow your customers.