Why having an enterprise content strategy is important to your UX
Implementing a content strategy in a single department is a great way to get your feet wet, but doesn’t mean you solve all of your content problems. All customer-facing content needs to be findable and usable. Your clients and prospects expect a seamless user experience across all of your content. If you aren’t delivering on that expectation, it may be time to implement an enterprise content strategy by expanding your current content strategy across your entire organization.
Having an enterprise content strategy is important to your user experience because:
- In the digital age, prospective clients are using your technical content when deciding whether or not to purchase your product
- It helps foster communication between content creators and UX designers, resulting in consistent and clear content
Providing prospects the information they’re looking for
In a recent post about the Enterprise content strategy maturity model, Sarah O’Keefe wrote “Content consumers use all information available to them and do not follow the path you might prefer. Organizations must face this reality and adapt their content strategy accordingly.”
In the age of information overload, prospective clients are looking at any and all information they can find about your product before they decide to purchase it. When a prospect is doing product research, what is their user experience? Are they able to find everything they need easily? Do they get consistent messaging?
Effective content integration in an organization takes time. By implementing an enterprise content strategy, you begin recognizing each content type as a piece of the overall user experience.
Fostering communication
When departments don’t communicate, bad things happen. Often, inconsistent messaging and communication goes out to users. If you’re looking for information about a product that you have or are considering purchasing, finding contradictory information in different locations is frustrating.
An enterprise-wide content strategy means that all departments in an organization have implemented a content strategy and have a set of symbiotic standards guiding them in the content creation process. In order to get the strategy in place, departments have to communicate with each other. Content creators and UX designers are given the opportunity to sit down, talk, and look at what users really need from the company’s content. Are they currently getting that information or not? Could the delivery be improved?
If you’re considering an enterprise content strategy to improve your user experience, contact us.