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Read everything on headless CMS technology, tips, best practices, and how-tos
Navigating the headless commerce journey
E-commerce is evolving rapidly, in synch with customer expectations. Successful businesses must continuously implement new solutions to improve user experiences. Headless commerce architecture is a game-changer for businesses that want to stay ahead of the competition. In this blog, we’ll define headless commerce, explore key benefits, look at how businesses use it, and how to determine if it's right for your business.What is headless commerce?Headless commerce is an architectural approach that decouples the front-end display from the back-end e-commerce application. It differs significantly from traditional monolithic architectures, where the front and back end are tightly integrated. The back end houses application programming interfaces (APIs). These components can be developed and deployed separately from each other. This decoupling makes it easier for businesses to make changes or add new features without disrupting their e-commerce processes. Consequently, these organizations become more flexible and agile when delivering personalized customer experiences across multiple channels.3 benefits of headless commerceHere are three key benefits of transitioning to headless commerce architecture. Flexibility in front-end designHeadless commerce empowers marketers, content creators, and designers to create custom user experiences. They become empowered to tailor user experiences by brand, target audience, or specific customer segments. And they can work in the headless commerce platform without coding skills or technical expertise. These teams can experiment with layouts, visuals, and interactions on multiple channels. They aren’t limited by fear of making mistakes, back-end constraints, or developer availability.Headless commerce facilitates the development of responsive designs that seamlessly adapt to various devices and screen sizes. The result is a consistent and user-friendly shopping experience for customers on every device.Scalability and agilityHeadless commerce allows businesses to quickly add or modify features and functionality as they grow or expand into new markets. They can more quickly respond to market demands and customer feedback, staying ahead of competitors.As technology changes, headless commerce architecture has the capability to evolve in parallel. As new software and services become available that customers expect for convenience, businesses can effortlessly integrate these cutting-edge technologies, such as AI-driven personalization or virtual reality shopping.Omnichannel approachHeadless commerce enables customers to interact with your brand the way they want. Customers enjoy a consistent shopping experience across multiple channels, regardless of where or what device they use. They can even switch between channels without losing their shopping progress or data.Leveraging headless commerce, companies can unify their online and offline sales channels, inventory, and customer data. This approach streamlines operations, minimizes redundancies, and enhances the user experience.Is your business ready for headless commerce?The transition to headless commerce can be complex. However, it’s well worth it for businesses willing to take the plunge. Headless commerce is an especially good choice for businesses that have the desire to do the following.Create custom user experiences tailored to their brand and target audience.Quickly expand to new markets or channels with fast rollouts.Streamline management of multiple channels and websites with one platform.Deliver a seamless customer experience across multiple channels.Be agile and responsive to changing technology, customer feedback, and customer expectations.Here are several use cases to demonstrate how businesses are using headless commerce.Personalize customer experienceWith headless commerce, businesses can create custom user experiences for their customers with omnichannel reach by leveraging different front-end frameworks and technologies. These include analytics tools that gauge customer feedback, enabling unique and engaging experiences for each customer segment.Reach customers on new channels and in new marketsHeadless commerce makes it easy to add new channels, such as new websites, mobile apps, social media and physical stores. Integrate with existing systemsIntegrate headless commerce with systems you already use, such as CRMs, marketing automation platforms, and customer support systems. As data is shared across multiple systems, creating a more seamless customer experience is easier.Reduce technical debtHeadless commerce architecture enables the migration of new technologies with little disruption to ecommerce processes and user experiences. It’s also typically easier and less expensive to maintain.Choosing the right headless commerce platformThere are many headless commerce platforms available. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses. Some factors to consider when assessing each platform include pricing and customer support. Also, look at each platform’s:API capabilitiesIntegration capabilitiesSupport for third-party applicationsScalabilityPricingHeadless commerce implementationOnce you've chosen a headless commerce platform, you must integrate it with your existing systems and databases. This may involve integrating with your product catalog, your order management system, your payment gateway, and other systems.The integration process will vary depending on the specific platforms and systems involved. However, most headless commerce platforms provide tools and documentation to help you with the integration process.With a headless commerce platform, you can develop custom front-end experiences for your ecommerce website. This means you can create experiences that are tailored to your specific audience and business goals.There are a number of different ways to develop custom front-end experiences for a headless commerce platform. You can use a variety of frameworks and technologies.Learn moreImplementing a headless commerce platform can be a complex process in the beginning. However, making the transition can streamline, speed up, and simplify processes in the long run. As we’ve mentioned, the benefits are many. The most important one is offering customers seamless experiences that promote brand loyalty now and into the future.Learn more about the benefits of headless commerce in our guide, “The Ultimate Headless Commerce Roadmap.”Schedule a free demo to see how Contentstack’s composable content experience platform can help your organization navigate the headless commerce journey.
Unleashing the power of composability with Contentstack
The birth of the Composable HeroA few months away from South by Southwest® [SXSW] 2023, a Contentstack account executive had an idea to host an experience during the event that would capture the attention and imaginations of the attendees. A joint team of composable technology experts from Contentstack, Aprimo and EPAM was assembled to create an unforgettable experience around the platform.Considering the rich history of SXSW, they knew they needed something truly engaging that would showcase the endless possibilities of composable technology and the digital experience platform (DXP). This is the story of how the Composable Hero came to be."We aim to inspire companies to transcend conventional implementations and experiment with composable architecture and artificial intelligence to engage their target audience. The Composable Heroes project embodies the limitless potential of forward-thinking businesses that want to redefine routine technology applications. By pushing creative boundaries, embracing AI technologies, and leveraging MACH principles, we are able to showcase the transformative power of innovation through a fun and imaginative experience." said Zamir Thind, Sr. Solutions Architect at Contentstack. "GenerativeAI is set to completely disrupt how our clients work. As we already have one of the most advanced applications of AI for digital asset management and content operations, we wanted to continue to push the envelope of possibilities with our cutting-edge partners at Contentstack and EPAM," said Erik Huddleston, CEO, Aprimo. "We collaborated with our partners to incorporate generative AI platforms into the content creation process, illustrating how seamlessly our companies work together to address our client's content scarcity challenges and prepare for their content abundance challenges of tomorrow."“Through our partnership with Contentstack and Aprimo, we’re committed to bringing innovation to the forefront by developing this unique and interactive AI-fueled app,” said Yury Bialykh, CTO, Digital Engagement Practice at EPAM. “By investing in MACH technology, our main goal is to support our customers in their business transformation journey and help design, build and deliver engaging digital experiences at scale.”Conceptualizing an AI-powered interactive experienceThe team was faced with a few fundamental questions: How could they maximize the potential of Automation Hub?How could they harness the power of new technologies, such as AI-generated content?How could they create a unique omnichannel experience?Out of these questions, the initial concept took shape. Inspired by the idea of a photo booth, they envisioned an interactive experience where users could have their photos taken while providing additional input, such as their name, work title and job duties. This data would then be sent to Automation Hub, which would seamlessly communicate with AI generators.In a matter of minutes, the AI would work its magic, transforming the individual's photo into a personalized superhero image and generating a captivating superhero story to accompany it. Using this data-driven model, the team would create a digital superhero card for each user. Dubbed the "Composable Hero," this experience aimed to demonstrate the true power of composability. Unleashing AI: Choosing the right servicesWith a clear vision of the end product and experience in mind, they began planning the development cycle steps.For the text portion, selecting OpenAI’s ChatGPT (gpt-3.5-turbo) was an obvious choice. Its powerful API and remarkable generative capabilities made it the perfect fit for creating personalized superhero stories based on user input.The next challenge was AI image generation. Real-time transformation of images alongside text prompts required an image generator capable of consuming image files and delivering the desired results. However, building models for generative AI is a time-consuming and resource-intensive task. They explored various options and found that Midjourney (V4) produced the best results, despite not having an available API. To overcome this limitation, they took matters into their own hands and developed an API to interact with Discord, which is where Midjourney hosts its services, enabling them to generate the images seamlessly.To complete the experience, they needed a design templating engine that could effortlessly combine the generated image and story into an elegant, cool and fun trading card. The product manager for Automation Hub discovered Placid during a quick Google search. Its API-friendly nature and easy reconfigurability made it an immediate contender, swiftly earning its place on the whitelist.The components required were all ad hoc, and the need for Placid as a design templating engine only became apparent after they had selected the generative AI services and needed a way to bring everything together seamlessly. This exemplifies how, with a simple idea and the right vendors that meet your project's needs, you can move at MACH speed to create something innovative. Simplifying the user journeyThe remarkable thing about this initiative is its simplicity and adherence to the core principles of everyday web services. It all boils down to a straightforward process: collect user data, transform the data and present it back to the user in its new form.The first task was to define the user story. The team wanted to ensure that users could easily navigate through a form that provided intuitive suggestions for constructing their hero. Simultaneously, they had to ensure that the data they provided was valid for processing. One crucial aspect they initially overlooked was that users would primarily use their phones, specifically iPhones, to submit and view their heroes at the event. Consequently, they discovered an obstacle: if users captured a picture with their iPhone, the file would be in HEIC format, which Midjourney/Discord did not accept.The team devised a solution to compress these files into a more suitable format. Additionally, it became imperative that the website was mobile-first since that would be users’ primary mode of interaction.The art of prompt engineeringTo ensure an exceptional user experience, the team developed a system of prompt engineering that stores specific prompts as metadata entries in the Contentstack stack.Each character choice corresponds to a prompt designed to elicit attributes and traits that align with that particular character type. Simultaneously, these prompts provide ChatGPT with the user's input and the selected character type, allowing for seamless integration of personalized elements into the hero's story.Solving the name puzzleAnother crucial aspect the team had to address was the generation of a Composable Hero name. While they could ask ChatGPT to include a name in the story, extracting and identifying the hero's name from the text posed a challenge. One approach was to instruct ChatGPT to add a special character next to the name in the story, which worked effectively when using ChatGPT in the browser. However, this method proved less practical when using the API.As a result, the team devised an alternative solution: after generating the story, they fed it back into the service to obtain a hero name based on the story. Additionally, they requested the service to provide us with the hero's powers. This refined approach allowed them to create a more precise flow diagram, outlining the interactions between various services and Automation Hub.The revised flow diagram served as the blueprint, guiding the interactions between the different components to deliver an exceptional result.Automation Hub: Streamlining the experienceAt the core of the unified experience lies Automation Hub, a vital component that optimizes various tasks, including API interactions, content publishing and email notifications. The main automation includes a Lambda function that plays a pivotal role in orchestrating the entire workflow.Here's a concise breakdown of its key steps: Creation of hero imageThe Lambda function sends a customized prompt to generative AI services in order to create a hero image specific to the user.Image handlingOnce the image is ready, the image is retrieved and securely stored in an S3 bucket.Text content processingThe automation sends the text content to ChatGPT.The hero's story is retrieved, incorporating personalized elements based on user input.Card creationThe generated image and story are seamlessly integrated into a visually appealing trading card using Placid.Storage and managementThe final card is securely stored in Aprimo.The card's URL is stored within the initial Contentstack entry.Real-time displayTo enhance the user experience, the team leveraged Pusher to display the generated images in real-time on the front end.The magic of Composable Heroes with MACH and generative AIWith the individual experience in place, the team aimed to make the event interactive and enjoyable. They set up a dedicated photo station equipped with a blank canvas and professional lighting to achieve this. Users had the option to have their photos taken (with their own phone) on the spot or upload their own pictures, including images of themselves or their pets.The live event proved to be a resounding success, showcasing the immense potential that can be achieved by adopting a MACH approach to generative AI. Central to this success was Automation Hub, which played a pivotal role in executing complex tasks, such as interacting with APIs, publishing content, and sending emails. With a sophisticated automation workflow in place, triggered by user actions, the team was able to harness the capabilities of generative AI to deliver personalized hero images and stories.To learn more, click here to book a demo and learn how EPAM, Aprimo and Contentstack:Maximized the potential of Contentstack’s Automation HubHarnessed the power of new technologies, such as AI-generated contentCreated a unique and immersive omnichannel experienceAs well as create your own personal Composable Hero trading card!
Headless commerce vs. composable: What you need to know
The online world is constantly evolving, so companies must change how they work and develop new ideas to meet customers' changing needs. The e-commerce sector has witnessed the rise of two unique models: headless commerce and composable commerce. While they might appear similar at the outset, a deeper examination reveals critical distinctions.In this article, we'll demystify the two approaches, spotlight their respective pros and cons. And provide insights for organizations pondering a transition to a composable architecture.How headless commerce beganIn the early days of online shopping, businesses had two ways to sell their products: physical stores and online platforms. But as technology advanced, many companies didn't keep up with the changes. This made it hard for them to stay up with what customers wanted and take advantage of new trends. The problem was that their technology wasn't flexible enough to adapt to new ideas.To serve customers better, stores began separating their online behind-the-scenes system from what the public sees on their websites. They did this by using APIs to access the back end, which made their operations more flexible.Headless commerce is a way for brands to keep their complicated commerce systems while making the front end more flexible to changes in the market.Composable architecture means that each part of the system works independently and can be customized to fit a brand's specific needs. This gives businesses the power to choose which parts of their digital services to use to meet their unique business requirements best.Examining headless commerce architectureHeadless is a new way of handling e-commerce that separates the parts that users see (the interface) from the parts that do the work behind the scenes (data, operations, applications). Most e-commerce systems combine these two parts, making it hard to keep up with the constantly changing digital market. Headless, by contrast, allows the front- and back-end systems to function independently. Benefits of headless architectureAdopting a headless system introduces several advantages:It delivers a flexible and customizable front end. With the visual layer decoupled, developers are no longer tied to the constraints of the back end, allowing for the creation of custom user experiences. It enables seamless integration with other systems. The back end operates independently, communicating simultaneously with multiple front ends. This allows businesses to provide a consistent omnichannel experience across various platforms like websites, mobile apps, smartwatches, and IoT devices. For instance, should a brand face difficulties in producing content for new products due to the constraints of its content model, the headless commerce system allows the integration of a different content management system with adjustable content models. This flexibility ensures a smoother operation by effectively mitigating the identified issue.It accelerates the speed of innovation. Changes to the front end won't impact the back end, and vice versa. This promotes quicker updates, experiments and iterations, all critical components in today's fast-paced digital landscape.Drawbacks of headless architectureWhile headless offers clear benefits, it also carries some drawbacks:This way of setting up a system can be challenging to handle. It needs someone with technical knowledge to take care of the different parts and keep them working.While the freedom to customize front-end interfaces is a benefit, it also means that businesses are responsible for designing and developing these interfaces, which can be time-consuming and costly.Depending on the chosen system, limited support or functionalities may be available.Understanding composable architectureComposable is an approach to building digital services that allows each component to exist independently. This includes things like managing product information, content and customer relationships. Businesses can choose which parts they need to create a custom digital platform.Advantages of composable architectureComposable e-commerce offers significant advantages.It provides extreme flexibility. Since all components are separate, they can be independently updated, replaced or reconfigured, enabling a truly agile e-commerce platform. This architecture allows for continuous optimization without fear of disrupting the entire system.Composable future-proofs your DXP stack by implementing task-oriented packaged business capabilities (PBCs), which are essential for faster time to market and better adoption of a digital experience. With the ability to add or replace components as needed, businesses can keep pace with technological advancements, customer demands or changes in business strategy.It promotes the best-of-breed approach. Businesses are no longer confined to the capabilities of a single vendor. They can select the best software for each component, maximizing functionality, efficiency and performance.Pivoting toward composable architecture: Points to ponderEmbracing composable commerce vs. headless architecture is a significant decision you should not take lightly. Businesses should thoroughly analyze their current and future needs, evaluating whether the flexibility and adaptability of composable commerce align with their strategic goals.The appeal of composable architecture lies in its flexibility and potential for success. However, it's important to remember that just because something is possible doesn't mean it's a good idea. Composable architecture can be compared to Lego blocks, as it allows for the creation of many different structures. But the challenge lies in deciding what to build and how to make it happen.The challenge is twofold. First, there's the job of putting together all the components. Second, it's essential to ensure that each element chosen is not just a fun extra but helps create the desired digital experience is essential. It's crucial to tell the difference between the "must-have" and "nice-to-have" features. Focusing too much on the latter can take away your IT team's attention and resources from the essential functions.It's important to think about how much technical knowledge is needed. Composable gives you a lot of choices for customization. Still, it takes a skilled technical team to handle everything and ensure it works well. If you're thinking about using composable, you should ensure you have the right resources or get help from experts to make it easier.Additionally, companies must evaluate their current system's limitations. Are you finding it challenging to innovate due to a rigid, tightly coupled e-commerce platform? Does your business plan to expand into new channels or markets that your current platform cannot support? These pivotal questions can help determine if the transition to composable is warranted.When picking technology partners, it's crucial for organizations to choose carefully. The best partners will offer a variety of components that can be easily swapped out and will provide support and updates over time. The goal is to create an e-commerce platform that can grow and change as the business and customers do.Learn moreLearn more about transitioning to composable in this episode of "Contentstack LIVE!" featuring Contentstack Vice President of Technical Services Pete Larsen.Schedule a free demo to see how Contentstack's composable digital experience platform can help your organization achieve its e-commerce goals.
What’s new: the latest on platform enhancements, roadmap and FAQs
Better Together: Leveraging Automation Hub with other Contentstack products
Since its release, Contentstack's Automation Hub has been helping digital experience teams introduce automation into their daily operations and workflows. This powerful tool is doing more than just simplifying complex workflows — it's also driving huge value for our customers. It's enabling them to create, manage, and deploy content more efficiently than ever before, transforming how they engage with their audiences.But the magic happens when Automation Hub is combined with other Contentstack products. In this post, we’ll explore how to unlock new levels of efficiency and innovation by pairing Automation Hub with AI Assistant, Marketplace, and Launch to create richer, more impactful digital experiences.Automation Hub + AI AssistantAlthough Automation Hub and AI Assistant usually live at separate ends of the content creation process (AI Assistant helps craft and edit content during the creation process, whereas Automation Hub typically enhances content after it has been created), they can enhance each other extremely well. During the content creation process, AI Assistant brings the power of Artificial Intelligence into the editing process to help writers and editors be more efficient and creative. But, once a clear set of rules and processes are defined (for example, if you’re using AI Assistant to create SEO keyword tags on every entry), and you are asking AI to perform these tasks without any human follow-up (you never change the tags once they’ve been added), you should look at Automation Hub as a way to automation this process. Once you trust AI to perform a task - automate it!With Automation Hub, our AI Connectors (currently available: OpenAI ChatGPT and Azure OpenAI ChatGPT) can re-create a similar process but asynchronously. So, if you were using AI Assistant to do SEO enhancement, you could use Automation Hub to do the same thing. For example, when an entry reaches a specific workflow stage, run an automation that performs the AI enhancement and then push it into another stage for possible review.It’s a great way that the two products can work together and make you more efficient.Automation Hub + MarketplaceThe Contentstack Marketplace is a one-stop destination for enterprises to maximize the efficiency of their marketing technologies and solutions. It offers a range of apps, ready-made extensions, and one-click third-party integrations that can enhance your content management process. Notably, the Marketplace lists and provides installation access to:Automation Hub ConnectorsYou can use These third-party applications with Automation Hub to automate certain tasks. For example, the Smartling Connector helps streamline the translation process by allowing for automatic localization of entries in any selected locale whenever a new entry is created.Automation Hub RecipesThese are pre-packaged automation with pre-built action and trigger steps that users can easily install and configure as needed in their stack. An example of an available recipe simplifying data management leverages the AWS S3 action connector, which can automatically backup entries to your AWS S3 account whenever a new entry is created in Contentstack.These tools offer solutions to various use cases, but one connector pairs particularly well, and teams are using it to automate their front-end deployment and hosting.Automation Hub + LaunchContentstack Launch is a product that allows seamless automated deployment and hosting of Jamstack projects. It fills the gap in the content lifecycle where the presentation layer needs to be hosted and made available to consume on the web.You can automate the deployment process with the Launch Connector for Automation Hub. Here's how:Install the Launch Connector from the Contentstack Marketplace.Set up a trigger in Automation Hub based on a specific event, such as a content update.Configure the Launch Connector to deploy your project whenever the trigger event occurs.This process automates deployment and ensures your content is always up-to-date and available to your audience.ConclusionThe combination of Automation Hub with other Contentstack products provides flexible, powerful, and innovative solutions for content management. Whether using the AI Assistant to generate brand voice prompts, leveraging the Marketplace to streamline your content management process, or automating deployment with Launch, Automation Hub makes it all possible.Ready to explore further? Dive into our Automation Hub documentation and discover how you can unlock the full potential of your digital experience stack with Contentstack's Automation Hub.
Summer platform recap: What’s new and what’s coming for Contentstack
Time certainly does fly and it's exciting to share our summer updates! First off, have you heard the news? Contentstack's Headless CMS has been recognized as a leader for 2023 by IDC MarketScape. This recognition is based on a rigorous evaluation of product and service offerings from various headless CMS vendors.This achievement highlights our commitment to providing top-notch solutions and gives our users and potential clients assurance that they're using a product that's considered a leader in its field.Now, let's dive into those Q2 accomplishments:Contentstack Headless CMSNew ChatGPT featuresYou can now instantly transform your content creation experience with these new ChatGPT features. We've broadened the capabilities of our AI Assistant to offer an even more tailored content creation experience for your unique needs like: Configure custom actions: Create custom commands for your organization to increase team productivity and enable content editors to complete more stuff. Streamlining and personalize your content creation process with a tailored voice and tone that adheres to your brand guidelines.Starter actions and icons: To help you get started, we've included starter actions and icons you can import. Upload the SVG icons to your assets and import the sample action pack to use the starter actions. Then, add the icons of your choice and save. Next, upload the JSON configuration file using the “Import” button.Export/Import functionality: We've added the ability to export and import sets of custom actions. This feature is handy for users supporting multiple stacks as it allows for the easy transfer of actions from one stack to another.Effortless navigation with PaginationAnd also, experience effortless navigation with our new Pagination feature for our core CMS platform. This feature allows users to efficiently manage large content lists by organizing them into easily navigable pages. Instead of scrolling through extensive lists, you can now conveniently navigate through a specific number of rows per page. Pagination significantly enhances tasks like managing a vast library of articles or products.Contentstack MarketplaceDirect integrationsWe're thrilled to share some exciting updates from our Marketplace too! We now offer direct integrations with distinguished partners like Akeneo, Brightcove and Trados.Akeneo's integration is a game-changer, allowing content managers to seamlessly push their product catalog to their eCommerce platform. This offers a major boost in managing and optimizing digital assets.Our Brightcove integration allows customers to efficiently organize and measure their video assets and add them directly to their stack.The new Trados app allows you to translate your Release content and provide localized versions in multiple languages. Productivity enhancementsAdditionally, we've taken productivity to new heights by introducing our Content Calendar and Workflow Kanban app, now available in our Marketplace.Contentstack Automation HubRefine AutomationsWhat about the latest enhancements to Automation Hub? Now, you can refine your automation workflows with Contentstack's Action and Trigger events, which now include support for branches and releases.You can specify the branch and release to be used as part of a trigger or action, offering more precise control and flexibility in your automation processes. This is especially useful when managing extensive development workflows with multiple branches or coordinating the deployment of a set of entries and assets with Contentstack's releases.So, are you as excited about these advancements in our Automation Hub as we are? We can't wait to see how they will streamline your content operations!Contentstack LaunchExpand globally and efficientlyAnd last and of course not least - Contentstack Launch. Get ready to expand your business globally. Contentstack’s availability on Microsoft Azure EU infrastructure means organizations now have the opportunity to leverage powerful content management capabilities directly within the European Union. Contentstack Launch also has updated environments lists and environments settings screens for easy and efficient administration.Phew, that was a lot and we're not done! Let’s look ahead.In the Fall, be on the lookout for:Teams & TaxonomyUsers can effortlessly build streamlined content using powerful tools designed for grouping and categorizing content, enabling efficient organization and easy access to relevant information.Refreshed Help CenterLooking for documentation in a hurry? Our AI-integrated Help Center delivers how-to guides directly within the platform, eliminating the need to search externally and allowing you to focus on the task at hand.Basic Auth Password ProtectionExperience enhanced security with Basic Auth password protection for your Environments on Contentstack Launch, and enjoy the convenience of On-Demand Revalidation (ODR) for your NextJS sites.Composable digital experience platform (DXP)Contentstack's composable digital experience platform (DXP) offers a powerful, streamlined solution to achieve your digital goals. We look forward each month to highlighting our latest enhancements designed to help you get the most out of our platform and the digital experiences you are building.If you're an existing Contentstack user wanting to learn more about these new releases, please contact your Care Without Compromise™ team.Contact our team here if you're curious about how Contentstack can help your brand streamline content to deliver better digital experiences everywhere.Chalo!
Best practices with Branches
Content creation and management can be a complex process, especially for enterprises with large-scale content operations involving multiple teams. To streamline workflows and enhance collaboration, the Contentstack Headless CMS offers independent workspaces—known as Branches—for developers to work on content models, facilitating the safe development of new features or significant changes and enabling content editors to continue to work in production without any interruptions.Branches are independent copies of your content repository that allow team members to work on different content models simultaneously. Branches allow you to create multiple copies of your stack content. Every stack has a main branch by default. To create a new branch, you can fork a branch off of the main branch. When you create a branch for the first time, the main branch becomes your source branch. For all subsequent branches you create, you need to specify a source branch from which it will inherit data. These branches provide a secure and isolated environment where changes can be made, reviewed, and merged back into the main content model seamlessly.Real-world use casesAgile developmentBranches aligns perfectly with the Agile development methodology. Developers can create separate branches for a new set of related changes, enabling development to happen without disrupting content efforts. This approach enables continuous integration and seamless merging, ensuring a steady flow of updates and enhancements while maintaining stability.Isolated content developmentWith Branches, developers can work on specific features, campaigns, or updates in parallel, without the fear of conflicting with editor's production changes. Developers and content managers can work concurrently on different copies of the same content without data loss. This isolation fosters efficient development and minimizes the risk of errors or content discrepancies.Compare & MergeWith the Compare Branches feature, you can compare the differences between two branches. If you make changes to your content model in a branch and want to see what’s different, you can use this to do so. Once you are satisfied with your changes, you can integrate the changes in the current branch into another branch using the Merge Branches feature. You can merge two branches with the following strategies:Prefer base: This enables you to add changes from the compare branch to the base branch, and when conflicts arise, it keeps the changes in the base branch and ignores the changes in the compare branch. Anything present in the base branch but not in the compare branch will be kept.Prefer compare: This enables you to add changes from the compare branch to the base branch, and when conflicts arise, it keeps the changes in the compare branch and discards the changes in the base branch.Overwrite with compare: This allows you to completely replace the base branch with the changes from the compare branch. Anything in the base branch that is not present in the compare branch will be lost.Merge new only: This allows you to merge only the new changes from the compare branch to the base branch and ignores any modified changes in the compare branch.Merge modified with prefer base: This allows you to add only the modified changes from the compare branch to the base branch. When conflicts arise, it keeps the modified changes of the base branch and ignores the modified changes of the compare branch. Any new items in the compare branch are ignored.Merge modified with prefer compare: This allows you to add only the modified changes from the compare branch to the base branch. When conflicts arise, it keeps the modified changes of the compare branch and ignores the modified changes of the base branch. Any new items in the compare branch are ignored.Ignore: This allows you to ignore all changes from the compare branch, keeping the base branch as it is. This can be used to ignore a specific change or to ignore all changes and merge only specific changes.Key benefitsCollaborative workflowBranches promotes a collaborative content development process by enabling multiple contributors to work simultaneously on different aspects of a project. Teams can experiment, iterate, and refine their content models and test automated content updates without disrupting the main content repository.Efficient content reviewBranches provides a controlled environment for content model review and testing big scripted changes. Team members can review and provide feedback on the proposed changes before merging them into the main content repository. This ensures content quality and consistency while facilitating effective collaboration and knowledge sharing.Easy rollbacksIn case an issue arises or an experiment doesn't yield the desired results, Branches and Aliases allows for easy rollbacks without affecting the main content repository. Developers can maintain production content across different branches without affecting live website data. Aliases can always point back to the previously referenced content branch in case of unintentional content deployment. This feature provides a safety net, allowing developers to experiment and explore innovative ideas without fear of irreversible changes.Branches is a valuable feature that empowers developers and business users to work efficiently, collaborate seamlessly, and deploy changes confidently. By embracing best practices and leveraging Branches effectively, teams can unlock new levels of productivity, accelerate development cycles, and deliver exceptional digital experiences. Branches serves as a catalyst for engineering innovation, ensuring that businesses stay ahead of the curve in an ever-evolving digital landscape without disrupting editors in production.If you’re fascinated by the possibilities around streamlined development and innovation flexibility, we invite you to dive into our Branches documentation.
Simplify Your Composable Stack: Connect Contentstack's CMS to Cloud Tools and Platforms with Clicks, Not Code
The digital landscape is rapidly evolving, and businesses must adapt to stay ahead. One key aspect of this composable transformation is the shift toward cloud-based infrastructure. Companies are leveraging platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure to develop applications, store data, and provide a range of online services. In this blog post, we'll explore how to harness the potential of AWS Marketplace and the expansion of Microsoft Azure EU while simplifying integration using a composable Digital Experience Platform (DXP) like Contentstack. What is AWS Marketplace? AWS Marketplace is a digital catalog that offers a curated selection of software, data, and services from third-party providers. It is designed to help users of Amazon Web Services (AWS) discover, purchase, and deploy various solutions that can enhance their cloud computing environment. The marketplace features a wide range of offerings, including software infrastructure, developer tools, data analytics, and more, all of which are compatible with AWS services and can be easily integrated into existing workflows. How does this help my enterprise business? AWS Marketplace is essential because it simplifies the process of discovering, purchasing, and deploying third-party software that can enhance your digital experience. By integrating Contentstack with AWS Marketplace, users can leverage the benefits of both platforms to create a powerful and efficient content management solution. Here are some advantages of combining Contentstack with AWS Marketplace: Seamless Integration: Contentstack's compatibility with AWS services ensures easy integration into your existing AWS infrastructure, reducing setup time and complexity. Access to Additional Services: AWS Marketplace offers a wide range of third-party tools and services that can be used to extend the functionality of Contentstack, such as data analytics, machine learning, security, and more. Streamlined Procurement: Purchasing Contentstack through AWS Marketplace enables you to manage billing and costs through your AWS account, simplifying the procurement process. Scalability and Performance: Running Contentstack on AWS provides the advantage of robust scalability and high performance, ensuring that your content management system meets your organization's growing needs. How does it work? To find Contentstack on AWS Marketplace, follow these easy steps: Access the AWS Marketplace and search for "Contentstack." Select the Contentstack listing. Complete the subscription process. By integrating Contentstack with your AWS account, you can leverage AWS services such as Amazon S3, Amazon CloudFront, and AWS Lambda to enhance your digital experiences. Now, let's talk about Microsoft Azure EU. Many businesses standing up digital experience solutions on Microsoft cloud infrastructure would like to offer services in Europe but are concerned about data protection under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, Microsoft Azure provides a solution by enabling European businesses to store their data within the Azure Europe regions. By storing your data in Azure Europe, you can ensure your business remains GDPR compliant. Azure Europe also offers additional benefits such as enhanced security, access controls, and networking among others. Contentstack Microsoft Azure EU Support - Why is this important? Contentstack's availability on Microsoft Azure EU infrastructure means organizations now have the opportunity to leverage powerful content management capabilities directly within the European Union. This development brings several benefits to customers: Data Residency and Compliance: With Contentstack hosted on Microsoft Azure EU, organizations can ensure that their data is stored and processed within the European Union, adhering to local data privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Improved Performance and Latency: Hosting Contentstack on Microsoft Azure EU data centers allows for reduced latency and faster response times for regional users, providing a better overall user experience. Seamless Integration: Contentstack's compatibility with Microsoft Azure ensures easy integration with other Azure services, allowing organizations to create a comprehensive and efficient cloud-based infrastructure. Scalability and Flexibility: By leveraging Azure's robust scalability features, Contentstack can easily accommodate an organization's growing content management needs, adapting to increased traffic and storage requirements. To close out, if you're running AWS infrastructure, be sure to check out our new listing in the AWS Marketplace. It just might be what you're looking for to improve cost structures and integrations. And if you're running on Microsoft Azure infrastructure and are eyeing a presence in the EU, know that you now have options. Ready to learn more? Click here to get started!
The beauty of a composable digital experience platform: It can be whatever you need
Have you ever tried designing a website from a template? It can be challenging. First, there are so many options to scroll through (that all somehow look the same) your head will spin. When you do pick a template, you have to build it the way you want, meaning a lot of customization. When that doesn’t work — because inevitably, you always hit the end of what the template can offer — you have to puzzle your way through custom code. That can become a tangled web very quickly.Imagine that process for an established enterprise like Sephora or even a fast-growing start-up. Think about the manual process of integrating each tool needed for e-commerce or inventory management. You think you are “done” building, but wait — the market is evolving and you need to start selling on a new-ish platform like TikTok or BeReal.A traditional legacy CMS environment is tricky: Change one thing and you risk the entire machine stalling. The beauty of composable architecture is that your website can become whatever you want, whenever you need it — easily. Jurre van Ruth, digital strategy consultant at PostNL, came on our podcast, “People Changing Enterprises,” to discuss how the company took that concept to heart and made their composable DXP work for them. But to make it work for your company like PostNL did, we need to level-set definitions and expectations. There’s a lot of confusion in the market about composable architectures — like what is a “composable DXP” in the first place — that I want to clear up. What is a composable DXP?I like how van Ruth said it in the podcast: “We see [composable] as an ecosystem of technologies that aim to create and offer a consistent digital experience for all our customer segments across all digital touchpoints.” I specifically love the word "ecosystem" he uses. CMSWire describes a composable DXP as providing “integrated, consistent solutions that are modular and tailored to microservices and yet connect the gaps of digital experience. This is a unified and seamless approach that eliminates siloed user experiences and all-in-one solutions.”To further flesh out that picture, I often describe composable architecture as a Lego tower: Each block is a tech tool and they each function together to make up one, larger tower, aka the customer’s digital experience. However, unlike a sculpture — or legacy enterprise suites — you can more easily change the look and function of the entire tower by swapping out each block within. For example, if your next marketing goal is to target potential consumers with more personalized advertising and content, those tools are easier to plug into a composable environment than traditional suites. Creative teams get to pursue the digital experience platform of their dreams, and there is much less frustration, less custom code and fewer heavy integration requirements for IT to handle on the back end.Then where does headless — AKA a headless CMS like Contentstack — come in? It’s simply a cornerstone block in your Lego tower. For a marketing environment, the headless CMS acts as a foundation. Every tool — like e-commerce, automated translation, or SEO tools — can integrate into it to make content the central hub of your ecosystem.Moving beyond one-size-fits-allEvery enterprise is different, which means that the capabilities they need will also be different. However, when it comes to traditional legacy martech systems, it tends to be one-size-fits-all. The problem is that one size actually doesn’t fit all, and those environments are slow and difficult to change. It takes extreme customization via code, contacting multiple vendors for help, and a lot of inter-dependencies that aren’t always caught until something breaks. One of the best benefits of composable is that integration is much easier and more natural with APIs inherent to a composable environment. Like clicking a Lego into place, that tool is now part of the environment. For PostNL, they invested in tools for headless content and digital experience analytics, which were easily plugged into their composable environment.An e-commerce enterprise can integrate all the tools they require, whether it’s an online storefront platform, a product catalog with elements like descriptions or visual assets, or any personalization tools it might need. But, for example, a hospitality service will need a different set of tools, and they can have them inside a composable environment.Enterprises are no longer satisfied with a one-size-fits-all approach. The beauty of composable architectures is that, in a market that changes like the wind, organizations’ digital experiences can also evolve just as easily.
How to create a roadmap for digital marketing
Having a digital-first marketing strategy is a must for companies today. Customers expect an excellent experience every time they interact with you online. If your digital experience isn't up to par, your customers might go to a provider who's got their digital marketing game on point. If you want to excel in digital marketing, it’s crucial to have a clear marketing strategy. In this blog post, we'll discuss: How to plan for using digital-first marketing technologyHow to determine what your customers want and match your technology to meet their needsHow to set up your tech tools using a digital experience platform (DXP) Define your marketing technology strategyDefining a winning digital marketing strategy is more complex than just picking cool tech stuff. It's about purposefully building around tech tools that can help you better connect with your audience or customers, not just now but in the future. Remember, what works best might be different for everyone. Your strategy should be tailor-made, fitting perfectly to your unique business situation. This may take more time and effort, but it's ultimately worth it. To define your marketing technology strategy, begin by analyzing your customer’s needs and assessing your ability to meet those needs. Analyze customer needsDetermine what the ideal customer experience looks like for your audience. Customer trends are constantly changing, as is the technology available to marketing teams. It's essential to look at consumer behavior and determine which digital marketing channels your customers rely on the most and how they prefer to be engaged. For instance, do they respond better to your marketing messages via text, social media posts, or email marketing? Honing in on which technology they leverage at each step of the buyer journey and where you lose them can reveal gaps you need to fill.Assess current capabilitiesThink about what technology you already have in place for marketing automation, web analytics, search engine optimization, content creation and management and other services. Then determine what technology you need to add now and potentially later. Evaluate your people to decide whether or not they have the right mindset and skill sets for any new technology you are considering. If not, what training will they require to get up to speed? Or will you need to hire new staff with expertise in the technology? Be sure to consider your leadership and organizational structure. Will leadership grasp the necessity of transitioning to the new digital-first marketing approach? If not, you must prove to them the investment will pay off.Understanding the needs of your stakeholdersWhen planning to use digital-first marketing technology, you need to think about what everyone involved needs. This includes the people who work in your business, the tech folks who make everything run smoothly, and your customers. Internal business usersYour internal business users are often the people who interact directly with your digital marketing tools. They could be in your marketing department, sales team or customer service. You need to find out what problems they're having and what tools they need to do their jobs better. Try having regular chats, sending out surveys or running workshops to find out. This can help you spot what's missing in your current tech tools and what you need to add or change. DevelopersYour developers are the ones who implement and maintain your digital marketing technology. Hence, it's crucial to consider their needs and feedback. Finding out what they need and listening to their ideas is essential. They need tools that work well, are flexible and they can integrate easily. Talking to them can give you valuable insights about which technology to pick and how to keep everything running smoothly.End-user customersFinally, your end-user customers are the most critical stakeholder. After all, your digital marketing strategy's whole point is to improve their experience. You need to understand what they like and don't like and how they behave. You can do this by looking at data, listening to their feedback, sending surveys and testing how they use your service. Maybe they love easy-to-use websites, personalized content, or quick customer service. Once you know, you can ensure your marketing technology delivers what they value most.Creating a successful digital-first marketing roadmap is an inclusive process. It involves considering the needs of all stakeholders, ensuring they're equipped with the right tools, and fostering an environment that embraces continuous improvement and adaptation. Focusing on these critical aspects ensures your digital marketing strategy is robust, versatile and customer-centric.Align technology capabilitiesOnce you better understand your current technology capabilities and customer needs, it’s time to identify any gaps between the two. For instance, if your buyers are young and make most of their online purchases after seeing a Facebook ad, it may not make sense to inundate them with marketing emails. Instead, devote more technology and resources to delivering relevant social media content and ads.The overarching goal is to deliver quality customer experiences that pay off in the end, whether that means a potential buyer converts by making a purchase or an existing customer renews their subscription to your service.One of the biggest challenges of creating an effective digital marketing strategy is ensuring that it’s future-proof. No one knows what the future holds, and technology changes rapidly. That’s why composable DXPs are at the forefront of most successful digital marketing strategies today.Matching your tech to your strategyIt's important to ensure your marketing tech tools match your digital marketing plan. They need to be able to support the excellent online experience you want to give your customers.Imagine your tech tools are like building blocks. Each block needs to fit together perfectly to build the thing you want. In the same way, your tech tools need to work together to create your digital marketing strategy. This is where composable architecture comes in.Composable architecture is like a set of Lego blocks. You can mix and match different pieces as you need, adding or removing blocks to fit your unique situation. This flexibility makes creating the perfect tech stack for your business easier. It allows you to pick and choose the tools that best fit your strategy and change things as your needs change.So, whether it's email marketing, social media, customer relationship management, or data analysis, make sure your tech tools are up to the task. Remember, the goal is to make the digital experience awesome for your customers. The right tech tools, put together in the right way, can help you do just that.Making your digital plan happenSo, you've made your digital marketing plan. Now it's time to put it into action. Start by breaking your plan into smaller tasks. Then, set a timeline to decide when each task needs to be done. Be realistic — you want to get things done, but not so fast that you make mistakes. Next, decide who will do each task. Make sure everyone knows their jobs and deadlines. This will help everything go smoothly and ensure you remember everything. By planning your tasks, time, and teamwork, you'll turn your digital marketing plan from a dream into reality. Learn moreGet expert insights on digital marketing strategy from Contentstack CMO Susan Beermann in this episode of "Contentstack LIVE.”Schedule a free demo to see how Contentstack's composable digital experience platform and headless CMS can help make your digital marketing plan a winner.