Online commerce is taking center stage in the business world. Customers now demand seamless, convenient online transactions, ease of search and timely communication surrounding order status and delivery. For organizations that want to improve the user experience and meet these customer demands, personalized omnichannel experiences and smooth integrations are required.
Yet many e-commerce brands fall short when it comes to technologically advanced planning and personalized customer experiences. With e-commerce revenue projected to reach over $6.5 trillion by 2023 and e-commerce sites composing 22.3 percent of retail sales, it’s time to improve conversions with the right technology and the most strategic approach.
The challenge with legacy CMS
The role of a CMS has long been linked to the success of a website. After all, it’s how most companies create and maintain their design, assets, and text online.
Legacy CMS systems adopt a monolithic content delivery approach where the backend and frontend are coupled together in a single application code base.
This model comes with several drawbacks:
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Difficult to scale
Technology advancements and fluctuating customer behaviors greatly impact an e-Commerce organization’s CMS needs. In a monolithic approach, even the simplest changes become complex and take significant developer time to scale effectively. By not implementing new technology quickly, brands struggle to remain competitive in the marketplace.
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Lack of customization
Legacy CMS gives users specific types of features and functionalities, ultimately restricting creative control. Because everything is managed collectively in one platform, users can only select from the limited functions preloaded in the system. This makes it difficult to update, let alone personalize, a user experience.
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Time-consuming
When the front and backend are coupled, even the smallest change becomes a time-consuming project. To help combat this, many e-Commerce vendors will turn to third-party applications and plugins to make the CMS more functional. The result is a significant amount of extra code leading to a bloated structure and a drain on internal resources.
The role of a headless CMS
Given the many drawbacks, lengthy implementation cycles and lack of agility provided by a legacy CMS, it’s time for e-Commerce companies to adopt a modern approach to digital shopping experiences.
A headless CMS is a backend-only CMS that serves foremost as a content repository. Content is then made accessible for seamless display on any device using an API, resulting in a content-first model rather than a commerce-first model.
How headless CMS can drive lead conversion
There are numerous benefits to a headless CMS, including increased agility, efficient integration and less maintenance. Yet one of the most critical reasons for e-commerce companies to ditch their legacy CMS is that headless CMS can actually drive lead conversion.
Here’s how:
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Effective omnichannel marketing
Strong marketing teams understand the impact of customizing omnichannel customer experiences. Providing customers with a cohesive brand look and message, regardless of where they’re viewing content, can have direct impacts on your bottom line. In fact, research has shown that brand consistency in omnichannel experiences can increase revenue by up to 33 percent.
A headless CMS gives flexibility to distribute content across a variety of channels, platforms and devices. It also allows you to manage content from a single dashboard for ease of access as well as shape future content as new technologies emerge.
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Greater speed
Legacy CMS platforms directly impact website performance and speed due to the use of add-ons and plugins. Even a 1-second delay in page load time can result in a 7 percent lead conversion loss and 11 percent fewer page views. Headless CMS removes unnecessary code, allowing your site to load quickly and meet user expectations.
Additionally, headless CMS brings greater flexibility, allowing marketing teams to launch various sites across brands and divisions, tweak shopping experiences based on customer feedback, and experiment without compromising backend functionality or security. The result is a company that can pivot in the face of shifting demands and go to market quickly.
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Increased customization
Personalized customer experiences are critical for future-thinking e-Commerce brands looking to drive leads. In fact, companies who have perfected personalization generate 40 percent more revenue than their peers.
For a growing flower-shop, a legacy site with static content led to headaches and lack of testing ability to check conversion rates. On average, it took two weeks to turn around any content change. By onboarding a headless CMS platform, the company can now build multiple, dynamic home pages for promotions, partners, different locations and more. Plus, they can track conversation rates, quickly setting up A/B tests for comparison on design and word choice.
This is just one example of how a headless CMS gives teams the ability to create customizable, easily deployed customer experiences. Furthermore, integration with client information allows these experiences to be built from a data-driven vantage point.
Why e-commerce brands should ditch legacy CMS
Headless CMS platforms give e-commerce owners the ability to build effective online shops through the integration of content and commerce. Marketing teams can quickly optimize their website, adjust to market demands and target appropriate customers with specific deals and products. This level of heightened personalization, agility and flexibility ultimately leads to a better client experience.
