Item: Optimizely Content Management System
Rating: 10
Author: Stephen Mann

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We implement Optimizely Content Management System for the whole spectrum of websites, from eCommerce to SPAs to internal to informational.

Pros and Cons

It adheres to Microsoft's best practices and stays up to date with recommendations.
It has an intuitive interface for content editors -- complex enough for nuanced use cases, but simple enough that it often doesn't require formal training.
Optimizely Find allows opens up the door to creative solutions for building highly dynamic and targeted websites.

Folders containing many blocks can cause significant performance issues.
Updating the underlying technology for Find could open up doors to more modern search solutions.

Return on Investment

It provides our customers with common, state-of-the-art website functionality with minimal effort.

We make extensive use of Find to provide targeted content to our end users. The LINQ-based queries allow for some clever ways to display content via constructing document vectors for end users. Those can then be used to filter and rank content within the CMS to improve conversion rates.

We get better conversion rates, primarily in our eCommerce sites.

Time to Value

We've been using Optimizely Content Management System for over ten years, so it's a bit difficult to say. We can spin up a basic site in a matter of hours.

Alternatives Considered

Sitecore Experience Platform, WordPress and Drupal

Optimizely Content Management System doesn't invent complexity. It just sticks to common patterns and recommendations from Microsoft. This makes it extremely easy to learn and onboard new developers, and it makes it easier to upgrade and maintain.

Key Insights

Do you think Optimizely Content Management System delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Optimizely Content Management System's feature set?

Yes

Did Optimizely Content Management System live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Optimizely Content Management System go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Optimizely Content Management System again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Brandwatch, inriver PIM, HubSpot CRM

Likelihood to Recommend

It's difficult to pick just one or two cases, since Optimizely Content Management System has tools for building quite a wide variety of sites. Perhaps the most fundamental use case is a good place to start: Optimizely Content Management System works well for any website requiring multiple users to create content collaboratively. Most end-users would require barely any training for this type of site, and it's very easy to set up and maintain.

It's also well suited for eCommerce. The integration points provided by the CMS are far simpler than alternatives, yet provide the same level of customization and extension.

A good balance of simple and useful.

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Optimizely Content Management System