What Is Optimizely Opal? Exploring AI in the Optimizely Ecosystem

Optimizely Opal is the AI tool embedded throughout the Optimizely One digital experience platform (DXP). Aiming to be more than just an AI assistant, Opal supports marketing teams across the entire marketing lifecycle. It helps enterprises improve decision-making, streamline workflows, and enhance efficiency and productivity.

Opal helps marketers through several capabilities, including task automation, brand-perfect content creation, and end-to-end experimentation analysis.

In this post, we’ll explore what artificial intelligence means in the Optimizely ecosystem, explain how Opal works, and what marketers can do today versus what promises may still be a few quarters away.

AI in the Optimizely Ecosystem

AI has grown exponentially, with 78% of organizations using AI for at least one business function. Most people are familiar with large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini that answer questions, but the next step is agents and agentic AI.

Using LLMs and other advanced algorithms trained on massive datasets, AI can spot patterns, generate content, and deliver actionable insights. AI is embedded into the Optimizely platform via Opal, allowing teams to move fast, automate repetitive tasks, and make more data-driven decisions.

AI Agents

AI agents are autonomous software systems that operate on your behalf. You can think of them as digital assistants that don’t just wait for instructions but take initiative instead. Unlike conventional software that only reacts to direct commands, agents can set objectives, plan steps, and execute tasks to achieve those goals. Optimizely classifies AI agents into three broad types:

• Simple Assistants: These assist with straightforward tasks, including content generation, formatting, or offering ideas based on a prompt.

• Specialized Agents: These provide expert-level context (usually with one domain or tool focus) to analyze data, predict an outcome, or recommend next steps. These include pre-defined instruction agents available with Opal.

• Workflow & Autonomous Agents: These perform multi-step processes and integrate other tools, handling tasks across systems with the ability to adapt workflows as needed. These autonomous agents would be classified as agentic AI.

Specialized Agents

Opal has a library of pre-built agents ready to tackle common marketing and content tasks, allowing teams to move faster and focus on strategy. These agents handle a range of tasks, including content creation/scheduling, compliance checks, competitive research, and Google Analytics insights. They also operate seamlessly across Optimizely CMS, CMP, and Experimentation.

• Keyword Researcher: Get keyword recommendations based on your target terms.

• Campaign Manager: Build a brief and launch coordinated campaign activities.

• Personalization Advisor: Identify and design high-value audience segments.

• Video Transcriber: Transcribe videos into text, subtitles, and translations.

• Market Researcher: Gather market insights to guide strategy.

• Industry Marketer: Add relevant industry trends and insights to content.⠀

Instruction Agents

Instruction agents are predefined rules and steps that guide Opal in completing a task when prompted by a user or triggered by a process. They specify what to do, how, and when to do it. These repeatable frameworks make it easy to build reusable workflows and automate routine tasks. For example, an instruction agent could store your company’s brand guidelines so any content Opal generates stays on brand. Additionally, Opal users can combine multiple instruction agents to create advanced workflows.

Workflow Agents

Teams can orchestrate processes with Opal’s embedded, no-code drag-and-drop builder. This allows them to launch quickly with Optimizely’s pre-built workflows, then tailor steps, logic, approvals, and branding to fit business needs.

Extensible Integrations

Opal also connects to existing data sources and third-party tools so agents can operate with live, relevant context. This includes native access in Slack, so that teams can trigger and collaborate with agents right inside the conversations where work already happens.

How Opal Works

Opal responds to natural language questions through interactions in Opal Chat and requires the use of Opal credits. Credits are consumed whenever an Optimizely Opal feature sends an API request to the LLM.

Opal credits are pooled across products, meaning they can be used interchangeably in any eligible Optimizely solution. Additional credits must be purchased via an Account Administrator or Optimizely account representative.

When a user interacts with Opal, the system follows a structured, behind-the-scenes workflow:

1. Prompt: The user submits a request in natural language.

2. Enrichment: Opal enhances the request with relevant platform data, content, and workspace context.

3. Agent & Tool Selection: The system chooses the most suitable agent and supporting tools for the task.

4. LLM Interaction: The selected agent generates a response using a large language model. Opal uses Google Gemini via a business account, ensuring data is never used to train the model or shared with other customers.

5. Action Execution: If required, Opal performs actions within Optimizely using its built-in tools.

6. Response: The user receives a tailored reply directly in chat.

Benefits of Optimizely Opal

As an AI solution embedded within the Optimizely setup, Opal offers several benefits typical of artificial intelligence.

Improved Productivity

Opal automates repetitive steps and reduces manual load, enabling teams to move faster and focus on higher-value initiatives.

Increased Output

Teams can deliver more content and insights as Opal streamlines production, reduces handoffs, and eliminates bottlenecks. This allows teams to scale production without needing to add extra headcount.

Enhanced Personalization

Opal applies the relevant brand voice and draws on audience signals for every output, so content remains consistently relevant, engaging, and on brand.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Opal provides real-time, data-backed recommendations so teams can act quickly without combing through dashboards or building manual reports.

Brand Consistency

Opal enforces brand and compliance guidelines automatically across channels to prevent off-brand content and reduce the time spent in review cycles.

Opal Free vs. Opal Paid

Opal is enabled by default for eligible Optimizely customers, but not every user will have access until an administrator enables it. Once enabled, companies can use the free version or purchase Opal credits for the paid version. Below is a table showing how the free and paid options differ.

How Opal Impacts Marketer Workflows

While Optimizely has made tremendous strides in integrating AI and Opal throughout the product suite, customers should be aware of how using Opal could impact existing workflows and some of the potential drawbacks.

Existing AI Tool Overlap

Organizations already using a paid LLM service such as ChatGPT Enterprise or custom GPTs might find some of Opal’s core capabilities redundant, like generating content, summarizing data, or answering questions. However, Opal’s AI is tightly integrated into the Optimizely ecosystem, so its efficacy will depend on the makeup of the rest of the tech stack. Additionally, Optimizely offers a “bring your own AI” option so that companies can plug their own LLMs into Opal.

Credit Consumption and Limits

Since Opal’s paid features rely on credits for AI calls, high-volume use can drain credits faster than expected, especially if multiple teams or functions tap into the same pool.

Dependency on the Optimizely Ecosystem

Opal’s most significant benefit comes from the data, content, and tools available in Optimizely products. If an organization uses a mixed stack where Optimizely is only one part of the workflow, they won't get the most out of some of the paid features.

Should Your Business Adopt Optimizely Opal?

Optimizely customers who already use multiple Optimizely products and have built a robust ecosystem will derive the most value from Opal. This includes setting up new workflows that leverage Opal agents and other advanced features. Those considering Opal should also opt for a paid version to test its value thoroughly.

Those without these requirements are unlikely to realize much value from Opal in its current state. However, for those who meet the requirements, Opal isn’t the one addition that will suddenly transform your technology stack. Adopting any AI solution, such as Opal, requires a clear vision and executive buy-in, along with a discovery and readiness assessment that ensures your organization has the right quality of data available. This assessment ensures you can run a pilot program, determine the best use cases, conduct training, and eventually scale.

To properly execute these requirements, you need to have the support of a partner who understands your business, industry, and the technology you are trying to implement.

Wrapping Up

Optimizely Opal is a powerful AI assistant (and more) designed to help marketing teams work smarter, improve productivity, and make data-driven decisions with greater precision. But, realizing its full potential often requires rethinking processes, integrating existing workflows, and aligning teams on best practices.

Oshyn is an Optimizely partner with deep expertise across the entire Optimizely ecosystem. Whether you’re exploring how Opal fits into your marketing operations, need support integrating it with other products, or want to customize Opal to match your team’s unique goals, Oshyn can help you maximize your investment.

Contact us to find out what we can do for you.