Sitecore's Digital Marketing Features - Sitecore 9.0, 9.3 & 10

With each new version of Sitecore, most Sitecore users wonder whether they need to upgrade, and what new digital marketing features they'll have access to with each new release.

Previously, the only way to inspect the details was to go through a tonne of Sitecore documentation. Lucky for you, I've done the hard work for you.

In the tables below I compare Sitecore's digital marketing features across versions 9.0, 9.3 and 10.

I've only included dimensions that differ across either of these versions. For any dimensions that aren't included as a comparison, that dimension is the same across all 3.

Each activity is split into the following categories:

Marketing Automation
Sitecore Forms
Personalization
List Manager
Experience Manager
Experience Analytics
Experience Optimization

Marketing Automation

Activity	Sitecore 9.0	Sitecore 9.3	Sitecore 10
What you can start a marketing campaign based on	Completed goals, events or outcomes	-Completed goals, events or outcomes; -Scheduled enrolment; -Meeting specified rules	-Completed goals, events or outcomes; -Scheduled enrolment; -Meeting specified rules
Raise abandoned cart event	Not supported	Can trigger an abandoned cart event in marketing automation campaign	Can trigger an abandoned cart event in marketing automation campaign
Send commerce email	Not supported	Can trigger a commerce email to send with personalized shopping cart information	Can trigger a commerce email to send with personalized shopping cart information
'Update consent settings' available	-Do not market (removes contact from lists); -Consent revoked (ensures they never receive messages from you again)	-Do not market (removes contact from lists); -Consent revoked (ensures they never receive messages from you again)	Marketing messages (Consent to receive marketing messages): -Allow marketing messages; -Do not allow marketing messages General consent (consent to receive all messages): -Give consent; -Revoke consent
Customer listener: Check cart activity	Commerce marketing automation campaigns include the following custom listener: Check cart activity	Commerce marketing automation campaigns include the following custom listener: Check cart activity, which includes a rule with the condition where the contact's cart has been manipulated	Commerce marketing automation campaigns include the following custom listener: Check cart activity, which includes a rule with the condition where the contact's cart has been manipulated
Decision point: Where the contact’s cart is empty	Not supported	Commerce marketing automation campaigns include the Is cart empty decision point, which contains a rule with the condition where the contact's cart is empty	Commerce marketing automation campaigns include the Is cart empty decision point, which contains a rule with the condition where the contact's cart is empty
Create a marketing automation campaign from a template	Not supported	Pre-defined marketing automation campaign templates upon which you can base your own workflows	Pre-defined marketing automation campaign templates upon which you can base your own workflows
Marketing automation campaign to send a birthday email	Not supported	Not supported	Ability to create a scheduled marketing automation campaign that runs based on a birthday rule
Create a campaign template	Not supported	Ability to save an existing campaign as a template	Ability to save an existing campaign as a template
Create a marketing theme	Not supported	Ability to create a marketing theme (template category, i.e. Acquisition) for organizing templates based on business objective	Ability to create a marketing theme (template category, i.e. Acquisition) for organizing templates based on business objective
Enrol contacts from a list in a marketing automation campaign	Not supported	Ability to enrol contacts in a marketing campaign from a list	Ability to enrol contacts in a marketing campaign from a list
Remove contacts enrolled in a marketing automation campaign	Not supported	Ability to remove contacts enrolled in a marketing automation campaign	Ability to remove contacts enrolled in a marketing automation campaign

Sitecore Forms

Activity	Sitecore 9.0	Sitecore 9.3	Sitecore 10
Multi page conditional scenarios	Not supported	Form can display different pages based on the user’s selection, or you could show different versions of a form to different people based on their role in the organization	Form can display different pages based on the user’s selection, or you could show different versions of a form to different people based on their role in the organization
Pre-filling	Not supported	You can pre-fill fields on a form so users have fewer fields to submit	You can pre-fill fields on a form so users have fewer fields to submit
Redirect to URL submit action	Not supported - only supports redirect to page as a submit action	You can redirect to an external URL as a submit action	You can redirect to an external URL as a submit action
URL parameters for redirecting URL	Not supported	You can pass on form data to a URL as parameters	You can pass on form data to a URL as parameters
Delete form entries	Not supported	Ability to delete form data	Ability to delete form data
Publish a form	Not supported	Ability to re-publish forms directly from the Forms dashboard	Ability to re-publish forms directly from the Forms dashboard
Field conditions	Not supported	Allows you to apply conditional actions to fields in web forms	Allows you to apply conditional actions to fields in web forms
Allow save on field	Not supported	Enables or disables saving the filled-in field data upon form submission	Enables or disables saving the filled-in field data upon form submission
Performance tracking	Not supported	Records data about how a field performs	Records data about how a field performs
Value provider	Not supported	Allows you to select the source that you want to link the field to, and the pre-fill value of the form will be fetched from this source	Allows you to select the source that you want to link the field to, and the pre-fill value of the form will be fetched from this source
Value provider parameters	Not supported	Allows you to enter a key to match the field	Allows you to enter a key to match the field
File upload	Not supported	You can allow a visitor to attach a single file or multiple files to your web form	You can allow a visitor to attach a single file or multiple files to your web form
Email confirmation	Not supported	To prevent incorrect submission of the email address, you can consider using an email confirmation field	To prevent incorrect submission of the email address, you can consider using an email confirmation field
Advanced settings	Not supported	You can choose whether to enable performance tracking, AJAX, and robot detection	You can choose whether to enable performance tracking, AJAX, and robot detection

Personalization

List Manager

Activity	Sitecore 9.0	Sitecore 9.3	Sitecore 10
Use a segment as a filter in the reports you generate with Experience Analytics	Not supported	You can use a segment as a filter in the reports you generate with Experience Analytics	You can use a segment as a filter in the reports you generate with Experience Analytics
Manage contact lists and sources	Not supported	The List Manager enables you to efficiently manage contact information added or imported from different sources (including custom sources) and systems such as the Email Experience Manager or through Marketing Automation.	The List Manager enables you to efficiently manage contact information added or imported from different sources (including custom sources) and systems such as the Email Experience Manager or through Marketing Automation.

Experience Manager

Activity	Sitecore 9.0	Sitecore 9.3	Sitecore 10
How functionality differs depending on installation options of XM	To run XM, you must set the Xdb.enabled configuration setting to false in the Sitecore.Xdb.config configuration file. When xDB.enabled is set to false, you do not have any access to the reporting or collection databases. Any functionality that depends on the xDB for data collection is not available and a number of applications in the Sitecore Experience Platform cannot run	If you used the Sitecore XM Scaled topology packages to install Sitecore XM, no personalization conditions are available and you cannot implement any personalization	If you used the Sitecore XM Scaled topology packages to install Sitecore XM, a smaller set of personalization conditions are available and you can implement in-session personalization with the available conditions

Experience Analytics

Activity	Sitecore 9.0	Sitecore 9.3	Sitecore 10
Filter a report by segment	Not supported	Not supported	You can use segments from List Manager to filter reports in Experience Analytics
Personalized experience dialogue box - ‘reach’ metric	Supported Reach = (Visitors that match the condition/All visitors) x 100	Not supported - replaced by Impressions (Impressions % = (Visits that match the condition and view the page/All visits that view the page) x 100)	Not supported - replaced by Impressions (Impressions % = (Visits that match the condition and view the page/All visits that view the page) x 100)

Experience Optimization

Activity	Sitecore 9.0	Sitecore 9.3	Sitecore 10
Active personalized experiences	Not supported	Supported - The Active personalized experiences list gives you an overview of all the personalized experiences that have been created on your websites.	Supported - The Active personalized experiences list gives you an overview of all the personalized experiences that have been created on your websites.
Personalization suggestions	Not supported	You can view and apply personalization suggestions for a page	You can view and apply personalization suggestions for a page
Get an overview of personalization suggestions for all pages	Not supported	In Experience Optimization, you can get an overview of all the unapplied personalization suggestions that Sitecore CortexTM has found for your Sitecore instance.	In Experience Optimization, you can get an overview of all the unapplied personalization suggestions that Sitecore CortexTM has found for your Sitecore instance.
Test personalized components	Not supported	You can run a test on personalized components before you make the personalization active for all eligible site visitors	You can run a test on personalized components before you make the personalization active for all eligible site visitors
Analyzing the effect of personalization on a component	Not supported	In the Personalize the component dialog box, you can view Visits and Effect for each version of the component.	In the Personalize the component dialog box, you can view Visits and Effect for each version of the component.
Personalization effect tracking	Not supported	Ability to run a personalization test that gives you information about how personalized content performs compared to default content, when shown to a specific audience.	Ability to run a personalization test that gives you information about how personalized content performs compared to default content, when shown to a specific audience.

Wrap Up

I hope this content was valuable for you. If you have any questions about whether a particular activity is possible in a Sitecore version that's not addressed here, please fire the question in my Facebook group for Sitecore Marketers and Content Authors, and I can look into it for you.

Additionally you can reach me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Insights

Digital Marketing Features Across Sitecore Versions

Sitecore 9.0, 9.3 & Sitecore 10

By Natalie Mankowski

February 5, 2021