The highly anticipated Kentico Xperience 13 platform launched back in 2020. With its premiere came some significant changes and enhancements that may surprise even experienced Kentico users. Let's take a look at a couple of the most compelling reasons to use Kentico 13 as your content management platform. 

First of all, calling Kentico Xperience a Content Management System doesn't do this product justice anymore, so let's start with highlighting the distinction between CMS and DXP. 
 
DXP stands for Digital Experience Platform. So, as you can deduce, it's about the whole user experience across different digital platforms (websites, applications, e-mails) and not just displaying content on the page. DXPs, like Kentico Xperience, provide us with an extensive toolkit for creating immersive customer journeys. This set includes new marketing automation features, the ability to collect data and use it by generating highly personalized and contextualized content. 


In brief: Kentico Xperience brings traditional content management and online marketing together in one platform. No more need for expensive external tools, plugins, and add-ons. With DXP, you can manage everything conveniently within one interface.
 
Of course, this integration of CMS and marketing is nothing new for experienced Kentico users familiar with the last couple of versions. That's why now we will get to the nitty-gritty details of what version 13 has to offer.  

Here are our top reasons to start using (or upgrading to) Kentico 13. 

New MVC development model

The most revolutionary change is not visible outside but rather hidden "under the hood". Still, we guarantee not only developers will appreciate it. Switching to the future-proof ASP.NET Core MVC framework will increase control over the code and its reusability. We've covered this topic extensively in our earlier articles. 
 
What does the MVC development model change for you as a Kentico site owner, though? Well, this transition means Kentico CMS will no longer serve your web page directly. Instead, you'll have the Kentico Xperience interface at your disposal. The interface is your admin site. It will be entirely separate from the web application (the website your end-users see when they type in the main address). And that's a big deal regarding security and overall site performance. You can expect more stability, higher page speed, and most likely increased traffic since MVC websites are also more SEO-friendly. 

You can fully automate your email marketing campaigns and improve user's engagement

Even more marketing possibilities than with the earlier versions of Kentico EMS! A simple and intuitive drag-and-drop interface will allow your marketing team to easily create engaging customer journeys and different scenarios. Kentico marketing toolkit includes:

• Embedded email campaign builder

Build your newsletters and reminders, create templates and user segments, optimize email campaigns with A/B testing and analyze the results directly in your automation. Say goodbye to external email marketing platforms and additional payments. So handy.

Content reusability

Features like linked node and related pages tabs will save your site's editors time by allowing them to conveniently utilize pre-existing content. Easier linking between pages and the ability to create content for different sections at once, within one content tree, is something a lot of Kentico users have waited for. 

Better load time and page speed

Page speed is something often overlooked by website owners and outshined by aesthetics. However, it has critical importance to the general user experience. Previously mentioned ASP.NET Core MVC framework and the separation of live site application will allow for processing more data with fewer resources. 

Dynamic routing

The dynamic routing enhancement means automatically generating URLs according to the page type and its position in the content tree. Extremely convenient feature. 

Voice assistance integration

This one is a great bonus for people with disabilities (or tech-geeks who love voice-controlled interfaces). You can now integrate Kentico with Amazon Alexa or Google Home voice assistants and administer the site without even using the keyboard or mouse. 

Automatically set alternative text for images and other shiny new features

Since the original release in November 2020, Kentico Xperience has already had a couple of updates. The one in November 2021 included a feature that should excite every content manager and SEO specialist. Your system can now automatically set the alternative text for inserted images based on the metadata description or AI image recognition integration. 

We've been working with Kentico for over 10 years. We saw it evolve from a neat content management system into a unique digital experience platform. We know it very well and highly recommend it. So whether you are a Kentico user interested in upgrading your website or a newcomer looking to set up a new project, our team is ready to help you.