Akeneo Named Value Index Leader in All Categories of Ventana Research PXM Value Index 2023

This quantified, research-based index evaluated sixteen technology providers and products on seven key categories: five were related to product experience, including Adaptability, Capability, Manageability, Reliability, and Usability. The final two categories were customer experience related: Validation and TCO/ROI.

Essentially, the PXM Value Index is an assessment of how well a vendor can address a buyer’s PXM requirements through their software offering. Ventana Research factors customer expectations and needs into their analysis, providing a holistic report that enables organizations to achieve the levels of organizational efficiency and effectiveness needed for engaging digital experiences through PXM best practices.

Why is this important? Well, for starters, two-thirds of consumers say they would stop buying from a brand due to a bad product experience, and over half of all consumers say they are willing to pay a higher price for a more informative and compelling product experience. But delivering these sort of compelling and consistent product experiences across a continually expanding array of channels and touchpoints is nearly impossible without first establishing a solid foundation of product information, and that is where the art and science of PXM comes into play.

Our innovative software offering placed the highest in the “Validation” category, which analyzed the vendor’s ability to support a customer through their PXM journey across sales, onboarding, support, services, and partners, and how the vendor utilizes customer interactions and feedback to improve their product. The close-knit PXM community we’ve managed to curate allows us to use customer behavior and needs to inform our roadmap and improve our product offerings.

Akeneo was ranked second place in several categories as well, including the “Usability” category, which analyzed the technological intelligence of the vendor’s software across the user’s experience, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Ventana Research also factored in the usability of the software by employees of varying skill levels and expertise. With the constantly shifting job market and economic conditions, this is a factor that organizations need to heavily consider when evaluating vendors as quick tool adoption can reduce cost and save time.

Often, when an organization looks to improve its customer experience, they take a “customer-first” approach, which is fair; however, focusing on the customer experience before the product experience is like building the house without pouring the foundation first.

The product experience is the key to exceeding customers’ expectations. It’s what unifies an organization’s efforts to scale and grow, and a well-implemented PX strategy brings more value to the business by enabling efficient expansion to new channels and an experience that your buyers can trust. 

You can learn more about the 2023 PXM Value Index here, or check out a summary of Akeneo’s results in the Ventana Market Perspective. If you’re curious as to how far along your organization is to providing world-class product experiences, you can take our self-assessment for an analysis of your current PXM maturity level and personalized tips and tricks for improving your PXM practice.