State of Enterprise Wordpress 2023  ## Metadata - Author: [[State of Enterprise WordPress 2023 Survey]] - Full Title: State of Enterprise Wordpress 2023 - Category: #articles - Document Note: # Title: Survey on Enterprise WordPress Usage - - - tags: #WordPress #Enterprise #Survey #CMS Author: Courtney Robertson Source: WordPress Enterprise Survey 2023 Reference: [Survey Report Link] date created: 2023-12-14T15:30 - - - ## Table of Contents: - Index Creation - 📝 Summary - 📖 Main Content - 🗒️ Notes - 📖 References - 🗣️ Paraphrase - 🧪 Hypotheses - 📊 Methodology - 💡 Implications - 🔮 Future Research - ❓ Implications - ✅ Logical validity - Conclusion ## Index Creation: - Enterprise organizations - WordPress usage - Geographic distribution - Industry sectors - Respondent department - Unique site visitors - CMS/DXP stack - Headless WordPress - Duration of WordPress usage - Frequency of WordPress usage - WordPress editors - WordPress block editor - Number of WordPress users - Integration with other software - Contribution to open source WordPress - Key decision maker - Factors in choosing WordPress - Set up/design and build cost - Ongoing maintenance - In-house engineering team - Hosting providers - Monthly hosting costs - Monetization of WordPress site - ROI of WordPress site ## 📝 Summary: This survey conducted in 2023 delves into how enterprise-level organizations utilize WordPress for their business needs. It provides insights into the geographic distribution of respondents, industry sectors, WordPress usage patterns, cost-related information, and more. Notably, it reveals the reasons enterprises choose WordPress, the role of different departments in decision-making, and the importance of factors like functionality and extensibility in selecting WordPress. ## 📖 Main Content: The survey covers various aspects of enterprise WordPress usage: ### 🗒️ Notes: - Geographic Distribution: - 53% of organizations are primarily based in EMEA, followed by 36% in NORAM, 7% in APAC, and 4% in LATAM. - Industry Sectors: - Publishing/Media (32%), Technology (24%), and Marketing/Advertising (12%) are the top sectors among surveyed organizations. - Respondent Department: - Leadership (40%) and Engineering/Product Development (35%) are the most substantial respondent departments. - Unique WordPress Site Visitors: - 40% of organizations have fewer than 500,000 unique site visitors per month. - CMS/DXP Stack: - 38% use only WordPress, while 17% have a bespoke solution, and 9% use Drupal alongside WordPress. ### 📖 References: [Survey Report Link] ### 🗣️ Paraphrase: - "Despite being originally developed as a simple blogging system, only 14% of enterprises continue to use it for that function, highlighting its significant evolution as a CMS." - "Unsurprisingly, 80% of those surveyed had the opinion that the Gutenberg block editor made the publishing experience easier for their organization." ### 🧪 Hypotheses: - Organizations that contribute to open source WordPress projects may have a more robust WordPress ecosystem. - The initial build cost of a WordPress solution may correlate with its complexity and customization. - The choice of hosting provider may affect the performance and scalability of WordPress websites. #### 📊 Methodology: - Conduct a follow-up survey with organizations contributing to open source WordPress projects to explore their experiences. - Analyze the relationship between initial build cost and the level of customization in WordPress solutions. - Conduct performance and scalability tests on websites hosted by different providers to assess their impact. #### 💡 Implications: - Contributing to open source WordPress projects can enhance the overall WordPress ecosystem. - Organizations should consider customization needs when budgeting for WordPress development. - Careful selection of hosting providers is crucial for optimal website performance and scalability. #### 🔮 Future Research: - Explore the factors that influence organizations to contribute or not contribute to open source WordPress projects. - Investigate the reasons behind the increasing use of WordPress as a CMS rather than a blogging platform. - Conduct a comparative study of hosting providers' performance and scalability for WordPress websites. ### ❓ Implications: - Organizations that contribute to open source WordPress projects may experience improved WordPress functionality and support. - The evolution of WordPress from a blogging platform to a versatile CMS reflects changing business needs and technological advancements. - Hosting choices can impact website performance and, consequently, user experience and ROI. ### ✅ Logical validity: The survey presents comprehensive data on enterprise WordPress usage without apparent logical fallacies. However, it's essential to consider potential biases in the responses, such as self-reporting bias or selection bias among survey participants. Courtney Robertson maintains a neutral and informative tone throughout the survey. ## Conclusion: This survey offers valuable insights into how enterprises use WordPress for their business needs. It highlights the geographic distribution of users, their industry sectors, and WordPress usage patterns. It also sheds light on the factors influencing organizations' decisions to choose WordPress, their associated costs, and the return on investment. The findings provide a current snapshot of WordPress's role in the enterprise world and offer directions for future research and exploration. - Summary: In the "State of Enterprise WordPress 2023" survey, over 100 enterprise brands were surveyed to understand how they are using WordPress for their business needs. The majority of organizations surveyed were based in Europe, followed by North America and Asia. The publishing and media industry provided the highest volume of survey responses, followed by the technology industry. The most common use of WordPress among respondents was to produce on-site content and publish news. The majority of organizations surveyed have been using WordPress for at least two years and use it on a daily basis. The functionality and extensibility of WordPress were cited as important factors in choosing the platform. The hosting services most commonly used by respondents were WordPress VIP and WP Engine. - URL: https://soewp.com/   Throughout 2023, we’ve surveyed over 100 enterprise brands across the world to find out how large-scale businesses are currently leveraging WordPress for their business needs. With responses from organisations such as Macy’s, the V&A and The Times, the results give an up-to-date snapshot of why household names and major publishers depend on the platform, and how it could be strengthened in the future to offer an even wider range of advantages. #### 1. Enterprise profile The definition of enterprise often varies between countries and sectors, so for the purposes of this survey we’ve determined enterprise organisations to be or more of the following: a high profile brand, a publisher with a national and/or global audience, a corporate conglomerate. For a clearer overview of the type of organisations that have taken part, we’ve highlighted aggregated and anonymised profile data below. ##### GEOGRAPHY Over half of the survey respondents (53%) indicated that their organisation was primarily based in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). In addition, 36% of respondents indicated that their company was headquartered in North America and Latin America (NORAM), 7% located in Asia Pacific region (APAC) and a further 4% in Latin America (LATAM). | | | | --- | --- | | EMEA | 53% | | NORAM | 36% | | APAC | 7% | | LATAM | 4% | The bar chart indicates that the majority of organizations are primarily based in Europe, followed by North America and Asia ##### INDUSTRY SECTORS Publishing and media provided the highest volume of survey responses, with 32% choosing this response, followed by 24% from the technology industry, and 12% from marketing/advertising. | | | | --- | --- | | Publishing / Media | 32% | | Technology | 24% | | Marketing / Advertising | 12% | | Non-profit | 10% | | Education | 9% | | Finance | 6% | | Lifestyle | 3% | | Government | 2% | | Manufacturing | 1% | The bar chart displays the distribution of sectors in which the surveyed organizations operate, with each sector represented by its own percentage of the total responses ##### RESPONDENT DEPARTMENT People in leadership positions proved to be the most substantial group of responders (40%) with engineering/product development closely behind with 35%. Marketing and publishing/editorial teams also responded, with a combined response of 26%. | | | | --- | --- | | Leadership | 40% | | Engineering / Product Development | 35% | | Marketing | 20% | | Publishing / Editorial | 6% | The bar chart depicts the distribution of respondents across various teams/departments ##### Unique WordPress site visitors per month We collected traffic data to help us understand the effectiveness of the website at attracting an audience. 15% of respondents recorded over 10 million unique site visitors per month to their WordPress website, however the most popular response was fewer than 500,000 (40%). | | | | --- | --- | | Fewer than 500,000 | 40% | | Between 500,000 – 1 million | 20% | | Between 1 – 5 million | 20% | | Between 5 – 10 million | 6% | | Over 10 million | 15% | The bar chart indicates the monthly unique visitor count to the organisations main WordPress site. ##### CMS / DXP STACK When asked ‘Does your organisation use any other CMS / DXP in addition to WordPress?’ the majority of respondents (38%) indicated that WordPress was the only CMS used at their organisation. A further 17% of respondents indicated that the organisation also had a bespoke solution in use, and a further 9% had a Drupal install in addition to WordPress. | | | | --- | --- | | No – we only use WordPress | 38% | | Bespoke solution | 17% | | Drupal | 9% | | Optimizely | 4% | | Adobe Experience Manager | 4% | | Contentful | 4% | | Methode | 3% | | Sitecore | 3% | | Glide | 2% | | Acquia | 2% | The chart illustrates the proportion of organizations that utilize additional CMS/DXP platforms alongside WordPress #### 2. Using WordPress WordPress can be utilised in a number of ways to help enterprises more effectively and efficiently create, collaborate and publish. Within this section of questions, we collected data to understand how enterprise organisations have integrated, maintained, and scaled the WordPress CMS over the years. ##### How does your organisation use WordPress? Unsurprisingly, over 40% of respondents primarily use the platform to produce on-site content and publish news, while 33% use it to self-build pages and update existing content. Despite being originally developed as a simple blogging system, only 14% of enterprises continue to use it for that function, highlighting its significant evolution as a CMS. | | | | --- | --- | | To create new on-site content | 22% | | To publish news | 20% | | To self-build web pages / sites | 17% | | To maintain / periodically update existing online content | 16% | | To publish blogs | 14% | | To directly sell a product / service online | 12% | The bar graph illustrates the various ways in which organizations utilize WordPress, ranging from blogging to e-commerce platforms ##### Is your organisation using WordPress as a headless CMS? Despite the focus on the benefits of headless WordPress over the last few years, over half of respondents (56%) favour traditional WordPress over a headless solution. 28% of respondents indicated that they do host a headless solution, and 16% were unsure. The pie graph depicts the usage of WordPress as a headless CMS within organizations, with varying percentages for each response category ##### How long has your organisation used WordPress? 87% of those surveyed have relied on the platform for at least two years, with the majority (59%) of respondents stating that they have used WordPress for five years or more. | | | | --- | --- | | Less than a year | 6% | | Between 1 – 2 years | 6% | | Between 2 – 5 years | 28% | | Over 5 years | 59% | The bar graph indicates the various durations for which organizations have been using WordPress, ranging from less than a year to over 10 years ##### How frequently does your organisation use WordPress? Almost three quarters of respondents indicated that the WordPress CMS was used every single day at their organisation, and just 2% using it ‘less often’. | | | | --- | --- | | Daily | 73% | | Weekly | 17% | | Monthly | 7% | | Less often | 2% | The bar chart illustrates the frequency at which organizations use WordPress, ranging from daily usage to never ##### Which WordPress editor do you use? Just 19% of the organisations taking part have continued to solely use the platform’s classic editor, while the remaining respondents have embraced its intuitive block editor solely, or alongside the classic editor. The pie chart illustrates respondents preferences among different WordPress editors ##### Does the WordPress block editor make it easier than the classic editor for you to create and publish content? Unsurprisingly, 80% of those surveyed had the opinion that the Gutenberg block editor made the publishing experience easier for their organisation, with the remaining 11% having seen no difference from the classic editor workflow. | | | | --- | --- | | N/A – I have only ever used the block editor | 9% | | No difference to the classic editor | 11% | | Yes – a little easier | 24% | | Yes – much easier | 56% | The bar chart depicts respondents opinions on whether the WordPress block editor facilitates easier content creation and publishing compared to the classic editor ##### Approximately how many people in your organisation use the WordPress CMS to create/edit content? 38% of respondents signalled that 50 people or more in each organisation use the WordPress CMS to publish content, compared to 16% which had five or less users. | | | | --- | --- | | Fewer than 5 | 16% | | Between 5 and 19 | 32% | | Between 20 and 49 | 14% | | 50 or more | 38% | The bar graph indicates that the majority of individuals in the organization use WordPress CMS, with the highest number falling within the 50 or more range ##### IS YOUR WORDPRESS SYSTEM INTEGRATED WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING? The ability to extend core WordPress functionality with plugins and integrations is one of the biggest opportunities available to brands, and this was reinforced with only 5% of respondents stating that they did not integrate with any other software. | | | | --- | --- | | Marketing tech | 27% | | CRM | 19% | | Payment gateway | 16% | | SSO | 13% | | A/B testing software | 12% | | Translation tools | 10% | | None | 5% | The bar graph indicates the percentage of respondents who have integrated their WordPress system with plugins, external APIs, custom code, third-party services, or not integrated at all ##### Does your organisation contribute to open source WordPress projects? 62% of participants stated that they did not contribute to open source WordPress projects, with 38% of respondents indicating that they did, either frequently or infrequently. The bar chart indicates the proportion of organizations that contribute to open source WordPress projects #### 3. Choosing WordPress Within the competitive CMS landscape, there can be a multitude of reasons why brands choose a specific solution, however our findings in this survey show a clear commonality when it comes to the most important factors including cost, functionality and usability. ##### Which department was the key decision maker when it came to working with WordPress? Our survey highlighted that for 38% of enterprise organisations, IT and engineering departments have ultimately made the decision to work with WordPress, signalling major technical confidence in the platform. | | | | --- | --- | | IT / Engineering | 38% | | Board / C-Suite | 20% | | Marketing | 18% | | Editorial | 15% | | Don't know | 6% | | Finance | 3% | The graph indicates that the IT department was the primary decision maker in choosing WordPress ##### How important were the following factors in choosing WordPress over THE other solutions? With 70% of respondents citing it as very important, functionality is the number one priority for the enterprises we surveyed, alongside extensibility, usability, performance and scalability. Multilingual capabilities were not perceived as a priority, with 57% of respondents choosing ‘not important’ for this functionality. | | | | --- | --- | | Cost | 17%43%40% | | Functionality | 5%25%70% | | Open source | 37%41%22% | | Scalability | 10%38%52% | | Extensibility | 11%35%54% | | Usability | 6%40%54% | | Performance | 11%41%48% | | Multilingual capabilities | 57%27%16% | | Multisite capabilities | 44%30%26% | The stacked bar chart illustrates the primary reasons why organizations chose WordPress, with factors like cost, functionality, open source nature, scalability, extensibility, usability, performance, multilingual capabilities, multisite capabilities, and other considerations #### 4. Costs & Maintenance Our findings around costs and maintenance are mixed, and largely illustrate that initial build charges vary significantly depending on size, infrastructure, and custom capabilities. ##### What was the approximate set up/design and build cost of your current WordPress solution? Initial build charges vary significantly depending on size, infrastructure, and custom capabilities, with respondents noting that costs have been from anywhere under $50,000, to $1million plus. 20% of respondents were unsure on the initial build cost of their WordPress website. | | | | --- | --- | | Less than $50,000 | 22% | | Between $50,000 – $100,000 | 11% | | Between $100,000 – $250,000 | 20% | | Between $250,000 – $500,000 | 12% | | Between $500,000 – $1m | 7% | | $1m+ | 7% | | Don't know | 20% | The bar chart illustrates the distribution of costs incurred by respondents for the setup, design, and build of their current WordPress solutions ##### Does that cost cover ongoing maintenance? 56% of respondents recorded that these costs were not inclusive of ongoing maintenance, and 44% stated that the initial cost included all updates and maintenance. | | | | --- | --- | | Yes | 44% | | No | 56% | The bar graph indicates that a majority of respondents believe the cost does cover ongoing maintenance ##### Do you have an in-house engineering team that manages WORDPRESS? Almost three quarters of those surveyed indicated that they manage the maintenance of their WordPress solutions via internal development resources, with the remaining 26% relying on external agencies. Smaller teams make up half of the data, with 1-5 developers. | | | | --- | --- | | Yes (1 – 5 developers) | 49% | | Yes (6 – 12 developers) | 14% | | Yes (13+ developers) | 11% | | No – we rely entirely on an external agency | 26% | The bar chart indicates that a majority of respondents have an in-house engineering team to manage their WordPress system, with a smaller percentage relying on external resources or having no dedicated team at all ##### Where do you host your WordPress sites? A combined majority of 39% respondents indicated that they utilise the hosting services of industry leaders – WordPressVIP and WP Engine. | | | | --- | --- | | WordPress VIP | 21% | | WP Engine | 18% | | Own servers | 16% | | AWS | 15% | | Pantheon | 10% | | Cloudways | 4% | | Kinsta | 3% | | WordPress.com | 2% | The bar chart illustrates the various hosting platforms chosen by respondents for their WordPress site(s) ##### Please indicate which price range your monthly hosting costs falls into Costs are fairly evenly split across three price bands of under $2,000 (41%), between $2,000 – $5,000 (30%), and over $5,000 (30%), stipulating a range of website traffic. The pie chart illustrates the monthly hosting costs of survey respondents ##### Do you monetise your WordPress site? The majority of enterprise brands reported that they are monetising their sites via advertising (21%), affiliate marketing (16%) and subscriptions and paywalls (22%). | | | | --- | --- | | Yes – affiliate marketing | 16% | | Yes – advertising | 21% | | Yes – subscriptions/content paywalls | 22% | | No | 41% | The bar chart illustrates that more respondents are monetizing their site in some way ##### Do you feel that your WordPress site is delivering return on investment, either in terms of revenue generation or time and resource savings? Arguably the most important factor, almost three quarters of the brands surveyed feel that their WordPress website delivers good or excellent return on investment. | | | | --- | --- | | Poor return on investment | 9% | | Good return on investment | 41% | | Excellent return on investment | 33% | | Don't know | 17% | The bar chart indicates that the majority of respondents believe their WordPress site is delivering a return on investment, primarily through revenue generation and efficiency in time and resource management #### 5. Looking ahead Our survey unearthed a wide range of suggestions for new features and platform improvements, unsurprisingly, with a notable number of participants in favour of AI integrations. Additionally, the demand for real-time collaborative editing is evident throughout our survey responses, which is a key focus for the next phase of WordPress platform roadmap. *\*Free form text responses were also used in this section to allow us to compare future survey responses, but are not included in the published results.* ##### Do you foresee that your organisation will continue to use WordPress? An overwhelming majority of 91% of the brands surveyed confirmed that they’re happy with the platform, and will continue to utilise WordPress in the future, indicating a robust vote of confidence in WordPress among the organisations polled. The pie chart indicates that a majority of respondents anticipate their organizations will continue to use WordPress ##### How likely is it that you would recommend WordPress to other enterprise organisations? (scored out of 10) Overall, the satisfaction among enterprise users is incredibly high. 72% of respondents said that they would be very likely to recommend WordPress to other enterprise organisations, responding with an eight, nine or 10 on the scale. | | | | --- | --- | | 0 | 2% | | 5 | 4% | | 6 | 4% | | 7 | 17% | | 8 | 33% | | 9 | 12% | | 10 | 27% | The bar chart indicates the likelihood of respondents recommending WordPress to other enterprise organizations, with most indicating a high probability of endorsement #### 6. Conclusion As well as capturing a moment in time, the findings shared in this report encapsulate the evolution of the WordPress platform, which today is not only the world’s most popular CMS, but also a leading choice for major brands and publishers. Examining participant departments, leadership positions constitute the largest group of respondents at 40%, emphasising the strategic importance of WordPress within enterprise level organisations. Engineering/product development closely follows at 35%, showcasing the platform’s relevance in technical domains, and marketing and publishing/editorial teams collectively comprise 26%, reflecting the cross-functional impact of WordPress across teams and departments. The number of unique WordPress site visitors per month reveals a varied audience reach, with 40% recording fewer than 500,000 visitors and 15% exceeding 10 million, illustrating WordPress’s adaptability to organisations of different sizes and audience engagement strategies. Highlighting that it’s primarily chosen for its functionality, extensibility, and usability, the data also shows that WordPress delivers an exceptionally high level of satisfaction, with more than 9 in 10 enterprises confirming that they’ll continue to use WordPress in the future. This not only suggests a very favourable outlook for enterprise WordPress, but coupled with the number of brands who are likely to recommend it to others, suggests that we’ll see enterprise adoption increase over the coming months and years. In essence, the State of Enterprise WordPress 2023 findings not only confirm WordPress’s widespread adoption for enterprise brands, but also highlight its adaptability, versatility, and significance across geographical, industrial, departmental, and technical dimensions within a range of organisations. The platform continues to be an excellent choice for enterprise brands, and we look forward to comparing these results with the 2024 survey. ##### THE STATE OF ENTERPRISE WORDPRESS SURVEY The State of Enterprise WordPress survey is a collaborative effort from key brands in the enterprise WordPress community, spearheaded by [Big Bite](https://bigbite.net/). The survey reflects the community’s commitment to a shared journey of advancing the enterprise WordPress space. ##### SUPPORTED BY Thank you to all of the enterprises that participated in the State of Enterprise WordPress 2023 survey – if you would like to take part in the 2024 survey, please submit the form below. First name Last name Company name Email\* For press enquiries, please contact [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) For all other enquiries, please contact [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), State of Enterprise Wordpress 2023, State of Enterprise WordPress 2023 Survey, 01hhjq08q2tp59sp5vhv0n12v3.