What Does a PXM Do?

Having control over your data in any industry is an essential part of managing your assets and organizing your important information. In manufacturing, your products all have files of data regarding their materials, components, pricing, usage, and more. Being able to access that information quickly and easily helps your business become more efficient. But how do you keep those product experiences organized and managed? Product experience management (PXM) software takes your product data out of spreadsheets and into a robust digital experience.

What Is the Meaning of PXM?

First, let’s dive into the product experience meaning. Product experience management, also known as PXM, is the process of delivering a compelling and accurate product experience for your internal teams and to your customers. This means that in all product experiences, the product-related content is always accurate and relevant for the applicable use case.

For example, a product experience for showcasing all of your product offerings, such as a product catalog, should provide vastly different information from other digital product experiences. A product experience aimed at a customer who is looking for education about a product while in-aisle won’t need a broad overview of all of your products, they want detailed information on one product. By customizing these product experiences to be unique to each situation, you provide more value to your customers and get the most use out of your product information.

The product experience has to take into account why the information is going to be accessed, who will be accessing the information, what their goals are at that particular moment, and how they will access it. In addition, you also need to be focused on how you can make that product experience the most delightful one possible. Mapping your product experiences to the customer journey helps you answer all of these considerations and plan out better product experiences for your customers.

At the end of the day, manufacturers need to think about product experience management as an extension of the customer experience. A majority of the interactions that customers will have with a manufacturer come through product experiences and are brand-related. That means product experience is helping to build your brand and improve your reputation and levels of customer satisfaction. The goal should be to provide every customer with a personalized product experience throughout their entire customer journey and lifecycle with your business.

What Does a PXM Do?

Now that you know what product experience is, let’s learn more about what a PXM platform does and why it is so valuable to manufacturers. A PXM software solution is a third-party platform that is composed of different components or software features. Typically, a PXM will include a Product Information Management (PIM) solution and a Digital Asset Management (DAM) functionality. In some cases, as with Lumavate, a PXM will also include a Digital Experience Platform (DXP).

A PIM solution gives the ability to centralize and manage your product data in a single location. It’s a virtual library and sorting system that places all of your important product data and information in a single place and provides organizational features to make it easy to sort through and find what you need when you need it. It also provides access to your entire team.

A DAM allows you to manage and store all of your digital assets in one place. These assets are the files that are associated with your products but aren’t product data themselves. That might include assets like videos, how-to manuals, documents, images, brochures, and more. The DAM allows you to organize and manage these assets and attach them to your products for easy location and usage purposes.

Some PXM platforms, such as Lumavate, will also include a Digital Experience Platform, or DXP. The DXP allows you to create any type of digital experience. Most DXP solutions are low-code or no-code, meaning anyone on the marketing team can easily create digital experiences. This is an extremely important functionality, because most product-related experiences are digital, and it’s where customers expect to find their product information.

Marketers need an easy way to create digital product experiences for specific use cases, such as product catalogs or events. The DXP will automatically pull data from your PIM, applicable product content, and assets from the DAM into the digital experiences. That ensures that all your data is centralized, up-to-date, and accurate, no matter what format or for what purpose it is being used.

What Does a Product Experience Manager Do?

A product experience manager is the person who is responsible for the overall product experience for one or more products. They are ultimately the sole individual in the organization who is accountable for the product experience and the way customers interact with the product information. On top of having detailed knowledge of the product, they also need to know the best way to turn that information into experiences that guide customers through their journey.

While the actual product experience strategy and implementation plan are likely going to be cross-functional, the product experience manager holds the final responsibility for the project. It will often take different stakeholders, departments, and teams to create a product experience strategy, but the product experience manager is responsible for making sure that the project remains on time.

Some companies may have a full-time individual who is dedicated to this role. Other businesses may have the product experience manager role tied into the title of project manager, in which product experience would be part of their responsibilities, not their only responsibility. In either case, the person who is in this role is seen as an expert on the product experience and the customer’s expectations for the product experience.

What Is the Difference between PXM and PIM?

The terms PXM and PIM are often confused with each other. However, there is a clear difference in the comparison of PXM vs PIM. A PIM is a tool that allows you to centralize and manage your product data. It takes product data out of spreadsheets and individual hard drives and instead puts it into a centralized location that is accessible to everyone.

A PXM platform, on the other hand, has much more robust overall functionality. It is the term used to describe a software solution that includes PIM, DAM, and sometimes a DXP. It’s a broader type of platform that does more than just centralize information. The PIM is just one component of a PXM. While PIM functionality is critical for every manufacturer, it’s a better idea to invest in a solution that has broader PXM capabilities.

Request a demo of Lumavate to see a robust PXM in action.