What is Kentico Xperience?
Kentico Xperience 13 is a web content management system and digital experience platform developed by Kentico Software. It provides a range of tools and features for building and managing websites, online stores, and other digital experiences. The platform includes modules for content management, e-commerce, marketing automation, and other digital marketing and customer engagement tasks.
What is new in Kentico Xperience 13?
Moving to .NET Core Framework
For Kentico, the release of Kentico Xperience 13 was all about futureproofing the product; giving clients a platform on which they can accelerate their digital transformation. The way that they have done this is by adding support for .NET Core, Microsoft’s latest version of .NET which is set to replace the older version in the not-too-distant future.
Amongst its many benefits, users will experience faster load times, increased control over code, and simplified deployment with the ASP.NET MVC Framework. It’s a big step for Kentico, one that shows intent and should instil trust in anyone looking to make a substantial investment in Kentico Xperience as the Digital Experience Platform to drive their digital transformation.
New marketing automation interface
If you’re spending lots of your time creating complex automation flows in the back end, then you’ll be delighted to see that the marketing automation platform has been given a full facelift. The ability to create new emails directly in the marketing automation platform itself is new, removing the older process which was sometimes a hefty lift for marketers. Also new are automation templates in Kentico Xperience 13. Instead of having to create a new workflow every single time, you can choose from one of the predefined templates which includes processes such as sending birthday emails, abandoned cart sequences and re-engagement campaigns.
Phoenix came true
If you were following it at the time, Kentico used the hashtag #kenticophoenix back in 2019 to symbolise that they would be burning all of the unused features that have accumulated in the CMS, and well, they were true to their word. In Kentico Xperience 13 polls, banners, events, chat, message boards, forums and transformations are gone, removing features that were not required or not heavily used. This doesn’t of course mean they can’t be included in a build, however they need to be coded in by your Kentico development agency if your project asks for them.
Small content changes have a big ripple effect in the cyber world
Kentico Xperience 13 provides an enhanced feature set based around how pages are created, the use of sections and relationship to widgets. They also address the reuse and dynamic functionality when presenting the same content in many places on your website. The changes are good for those who need quick control of content presentation or looking to optimise search engine performance.
Custom dynamic URL routing has changed
Kentico Xperience 13 has a new content tree-based URL routing system. This individual system can automatically generate URLs for pages based on their positions in the content tree along with their page types. The pages display in the MVC without needing the technical step of knotting routes to controllers. Content tree-based routing lets content admins move pages around freely to, you will also notice that the areas previously used to manage Alias and Canonical URLs has moved in line with this, but you can still:
- Change page URLs
- Automatically redirect old URLs to new ones
- Provide alternate alias URLs for landing pages
Support is available for configuring the format of URLs on multilingual sites in the content tree-based routing mode. You can activate content tree-based routing with a setting. Your existing custom implementations of routing will continue to work.
Smarter page indexing for search
In earlier versions of Kentico Xperience not all pages indexed automatically in search results (as there was a delineation between page templates, types and widget-based page building). Developers still needed to check and ensure pages were visible and they would be crawled. That meant custom development for custom indexing. Xperience 13 now indexes pages more autonomously than ever regardless of how they were built and where they sit in the backend.
Content is king, reusing content is an art form
Kentico 13 has a feature devoted to creating pages, sections, and elements by reusing existing content. This feature saves time by eliminating duplicated content. Editors don’t need to update content in multiple places. They can update content in one location and the system will distribute it across the website. They can create a content item in multiple places in the content tree. Editors can reuse content by:
- Linking a page or object through the new Linked Node interface
- Using related pages through the related pages tab
- Using ad-hoc related documents through a page type field
Canonical links give the main URL of the original page. This meets SEO requirements for not duplicating content. You can safely keep information updated throughout the website.
Integrations are only getting easier and easier
Zapier, Bynder, and Recombee are even more supported, support autonomous and connected digital ecosystems.
Zapier integration
Kentico Xperience 13 has native integration with Zapier. You can install the Zapier module with a NuGet package. You can synchronize Kentico pages and objects with any third-party systems that already have an integration with Zapier. Synchronization works with third-party REST API and Integration Bus integrations too. Triggering Zaps with custom workflows and marketing actions is also possible.
Bynder integration
The Bynder connector lets your team manage assets in the Bynder digital asset management system. They can use them across Kentico Xperience. Users can search, browse, and filter using the Bynder interface. Content updates automatically when an asset is set with a new version in Bynder. Keeping Bynder as the single source of truth for digital assets avoids content silos. Your teams save time. Using approved assets from Bynder directly in Xperience streamlines processes.
Recombee Integration
The Recombee integration gives marketers the power of artificial intelligence (AI). Recombee is a powerful AI recommendations engine. It helps personalise websites. Each site visitor sees the most relevant content. Recombee automatically defines relevant content based on users’ interests and behavior. AI is incredibly accurate and is becoming highly effective for personalisation through personas.
Voice assistant integration
KEVIN is the code name for the Xperience 13 integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Users can control the Kentico admin interface without using a keyboard or mouse. This makes the Kentico upgrade more accessible. Users who need or prefer to control the interface without typing can do so. They can define commands in any language.
How could your business benefit from Kentico Xperience 13?
Your business might consider using Kentico Xperience 13 for efficient content management via a streamlined and intuitive way to manage your website content, thus reducing the time and effort
required to keep your website up-to-date. The platform also provides improved digital marketing with a range of tools, from lead nurturing and email marketing to analytics and A/B testing, allowing you to reach and engage your target audience more effectively.
Perhaps robust e-commerce capabilities appeal, including a shopping cart, product catalogue and order management, making it easier to sell products and services online.The platform offers tools for creating customer portals, forums, blogs, and more, providing new opportunities to engage and retain your customers. It also utilises flexible architecture and open API, making it easier to scale your digital experiences as your business grows and evolves. Finally, the platform implements secure development practices and offers user authentication and role-based access control, helping to protect your data and online assets.
Newpath — Kentico developers you can trust
While the platform is user friendly, Kentico web development is a complex task best left to the professionals. Newpath is a Kentico Development Gold Partner, meaning that we offer the highest quality web development solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes. As an industry leader in the field of Kentico development, we understand the possibilities and how best the technology can be used to serve the needs of our clients.
Our team of expert Kentico developers have worked on Kentico projects from the ground up, and also have experience stepping in and rescuing development projects that have hit a few hurdles along the way. If you are looking to future-proof your website and are interested in the many possibilities that Kentico can offer, contact the team at Newpath today to learn more.
