The Contentstack Team

The Contentstack team comprises experienced professionals with expertise in product marketing, customer acquisition and retention, and digital marketing strategy. They have held senior marketing positions at prominent technology companies, spanning Fortune 500, mid-size, and startup sectors. Their diverse backgrounds in technology companies and senior positions give them a deep understanding of the industry and a track record of success. The team members have project management, data, and digital marketing certifications. Their commitment to continuous learning and improvement drives their vision for creating impactful solutions. With a strong focus on customer needs, a forward-thinking approach, and a track record of crafting impactful solutions, the team is committed to making a difference in the industry.

Posts by The Contentstack Team

Jul 26, 2024 | 5 min. read

Everything about headless CMS backup and disaster recovery

Highlights You’ll learn about headless CMS backup and disaster recovery: Automated backups: Automate the backup process to eliminate human errors Comprehensive recovery plans: Create recovery plans for data restoration Robust security measures: Create frontline defense with headless CMS security Secure your website with a reliable headless CMS backup and disaster recovery plan—opt for Contentstack’s headless CMS. Talk to us today. Keep reading to learn more! A recent IBM report states that organizations lost $4.45 million to data breaches in 2023. There is no better time to prioritize headless CMS security. A headless CMS offers advanced security features for websites. With headless CMS, the backend of your website is not directly linked to your front end, providing security if the front end comes under attack. Despite that, it is still essential to have backup plans. So, aside from having the usual preventive security protocols, organizations must plan to reduce losses and recover the system in the event of a potential breach or system failure. That is where the headless CMS backup and data restoration plan comes into play. Understanding headless CMS backup and disaster recovery Cyberattacks happen. Servers collapse. When they occur, you must ensure that your CMS can be restored to its previous state. Creating backups allows you to have copies of data tucked away in a safe location or in multiple locations. With backup and recovery, you can reduce the effect of cyberattacks and data breaches. It protects you from losing sensitive information and enhances your organization’s reputation. Headless CMS vs. traditional CMS: Backup and disaster recovery In a traditional CMS, you must back up the entire system—files, codes, databases, everything together. This is usually slow and complex. Hence, it requires considerable technical work. That is not the case with a headless CMS. You only need to store backups to the cloud and implement version control protocols to track changes and revert to the previous state. This makes backup and restoration less cumbersome and minimizes downtime. Best practices for headless CMS backup Imagine your server crashed, and the last version available in your backup is a year old - that is a serious problem! Save backed-up files and data in multiple locations. Also, save back ups in the cloud as it offers more security even if it costs more than offline backup. You also want to test your backups by simulating a system failure and attempting to restore it. {{nativeAd:5}} Effective headless CMS disaster recovery plan There are important elements that are critical to an effective disaster recovery and content restoration process in a headless CMS. They include: Data backup and storage API backups and security System logs and monitoring Redundancy and failover plan Disaster recovery team Documentation and communication Testing and maintenance These elements contribute to recovering the system in the case of data loss. Steps to restore data and functionality There are seven major steps to recovering your system in the case of a cyberattack, data breach, or system failure. Following these steps will help you prevent data loss or extensive downtime. Assess the situation: Evaluate the damage to know the areas most affected and how to fix the problem. Initiate recovery process: Next, speak with your IT team and kickstart the recovery process. Restore data: Implement CMS database recovery from the latest backup, recover all media assets and reconnect API endpoints. Verify integrity and functionality: Conduct the necessary checks and test the functionalities to ensure proper operation. Some of the tests include database integrity tests, API functionality, user authentication, and user acceptance testing (UAT). Restore front-end services: Reconnect the front end with the API to ensure content is being delivered optimally. Monitor and optimize: Continuously evaluate the performance of the system and optimize performance as needed. Review plan: Conduct a post-recovery review and update the plan based on new data to prevent a recurrence. Assigning roles and responsibilities Each person or team should have defined duties that contribute to effective backup and restoration strategy. You cannot leave that responsibility to one individual, as things could easily go wrong. However, you can assign a senior member of the IT team to oversee the disaster response and recovery process. Recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) RTO and RPO define how long your organization can afford downtime and how much data loss it can tolerate. These are essential metrics for managing data recovery in a content management system. The recovery objective (RPO) is how much data you can afford to lose. It informs how frequently you back up data. RPO is the time difference from the point of failure to the last valid backup. The recovery time objective (RTO) is the maximum downtime (in time) after a system failure, cyberattack, or data breach. It is an essential metric for quick system recovery planning. Most times, you will have different RTOs and RPOs for the various applications the CMS uses to generate data. It is essential to have clear thresholds on these metrics as that will help the team plan resource allocation for disaster recovery. {{nativeAd:7}} Automating backup and recovery processes Automation makes light work of manual and repetitive tasks, like backing up a system. Imagine your IT personnel fails to back up the system; that could spell trouble. Automating backup and recovery helps you prevent such situations, saves time, and allows you to back up the system more frequently. Training and documentation Train the team on backup and recovery procedures. Use role-based training to get them in tune with their responsibilities in the event of a real-life situation. Also, document the backup and recovery procedures and keep them up to date with cybersecurity trends. Ensuring data security in headless CMS A secure CMS means there are measures in place to protect it against unauthorized access and data breaches. Securing your CMS will also protect your organization against losses, thus ensuring business continuity. Pairing headless CMS security features with data management, as well as backup and recovery strategies, improves security and resilience. WelcomeTech Welcome Technologies chose security, resilience, and business continuity with Contentstack headless CMS. Its modular security, versioning and recovery features enabled them to secure their banking app product. Here is what William Leborgne, Director of Content, had to say. “I’ve looked at more than half a dozen CMSes, and Contentstack came to the top for all the right reasons, the product is incredibly user-friendly. The support team was excellent.” Read more about the WelcomeTech success story. Health Karma When Health Karma needed a secure, compliant and scalable headless CMS, they turned to Contentstack’s headless CMS. Its modular approach to security also offered robust backup and recovery features, giving Health Karma more control of their CMS and improving its resilience. Hear from Michael Swartz, "Contentstack allows us to execute on this infrastructure from a content standpoint; it gives us the ability to set up content and data flows in a way that lets us optimize and personalize at scale while keeping data safe. " Read more about how Health Karma scaled up content operations with a secure CMS. FAQ section What are the best practices for CMS backup? CMS backups need to be regular, encrypted, and tested. It is also recommended that backups be stored in multiple locations in the cloud or offsite. How do you create a disaster recovery plan for a CMS? Understand your potential risk exposure and set up a recovery team. Next, back up data from time to time. With a documented recovery plan that is being practiced and tested, everyone on the team will know what to do if disaster strikes. How can I ensure my backups are reliable? Test backups to be sure you have the right configuration. With occasional simulations of disaster, you will have reliable backups. It is also recommended to have multiple copies of the same backup. How does automation improve backup and recovery processes? Machines are very efficient—as long as they are programmed correctly. With the right automation, you will get faster backups, better consistency, and fewer human errors. Learn more System failures and outages are bound to happen. You may also come under cyberattacks or encounter a data breach. Having proper backup and recovery for your headless CMS allows you to weather any of those storms. Although a headless CMS is more secure than a traditional CMS, backup and security, take things to the next level. It allows you to reduce losses if something goes wrong. Set up effective backup and restoration strategies, train your team, use automation, and create a solid recovery plan for your headless CMS. Contentstack offers a best-in-class headless CMS that is secure and backed up in the cloud. Stay ahead of security threats. Talk to us today.

Jul 22, 2024 | 7 min. read

Why best-of-breed e-commerce outperforms all-in-one platforms

Highlights You’ll learn about the benefits of a best-of-breed solution: Flexibility: Integrate the latest tools that meet your business needs Scalability: Easily add or upgrade components as your online store grows Cost efficiency: Pay only for the functionalities you use User experience: Enhance customer journeys with seamless, advanced features Vendor independence: Helps you avoid vendor lock-in and allows you to switch tools If you’re looking to enhance customer experiences and future-proof your strategy, use best-of-breed e-commerce Keep reading to learn more! In 1969, NASA sent astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. They all had a unique specialty, creating a team that fulfilled the first-ever space mission. When creating your tech stack, having expertise in different technologies helps you deliver never-before experiences. That’s where the concept of best-of-breed e-commerce comes in. Instead of selecting any tool or technology, you assemble a set of different software, each with excellence in a specific function (like NASA did). Selecting the right tools increases your revenue, enhances customer experience and lowers overhead costs. But many e-commerce stores remain reserved about embracing the best-of-breed technology. Read ahead to learn what best-of-breed e-commerce is, why it's effective and how it differs from an all-in-one platform. What is best-of-breed e-commerce? The best-of-breed e-commerce entails selecting the most effective software module from various vendors to establish a highly competitive, optimal e-commerce environment. This approach allows you to create a set of tools tweaked to the specific need instead of receiving pre-packaged tools. So, if you need a payment processing system, you do not need to pay for the inventory management tool or vice-versa. You only pay for the functionalities you use. The best-of-breed ecommerce lets you pick the tools best suited to your field. But what’s the need for handpicked tools when you have all-in-one e-commerce solutions? Have you ever seen a real estate builder use a pocket-sized tool to construct new houses or an artist using a small paintbrush to paint a large wall? This is the challenge that best-of-breed solutions solve—it allows you to create a set of exact tools your business needs. When you choose the best from the lot, you create an e-commerce setup that fits your business-specific needs. {{nativeAd:4}} Benefits of best-of-breed technology Enhances flexibility and scalability Traditional e-commerce platforms snatch the flexibility from your business. While best-of-breed technology helps you mix and match different tools based on your requirements. You’re no longer limited to a pre-packaged solution. Why? You create a technology stack tailored to your business's unique workflows. Improves user experience Best-of-breed technology creates superior customer experiences, giving you a competitive edge. As a result, custom e-commerce platforms, like headless commerce platforms, create personalized and seamless shopping experiences. With these platforms, you customize the features to suit your customer's needs. Applying tech trends and integration makes the customer’s shopping journey more captivating and friendly, developing loyalty. Reduces vendor lock-in The best-of-breed approach lowers the risk of vendor lock-in. With traditional all-in-one platforms, you’re stuck with one provider. Switching to a better solution or adding new features is challenging. On the flip side, best-of-breed systems are like a set of LEGO bricks. Each piece is independent but can easily connect with others. This means you can swap out or upgrade parts of your e-commerce setup without overhauling the entire system. For example, if you find a new payment processor offering better rates, you can plug it into your existing system. When you aren't locked with a single vendor, you explore new ideas and negotiate better deals, improving business efficiency and reducing costs. Saves cost When you invest in a specific technology, you pay for only the functionalities you use. You no longer spend unnecessarily on technologies and tools you don’t use. Also, if one vendor increases the price of a tool, you can switch to another vendor hassle-free. Integration capabilities The increasing use of application programming interfaces (APIs) makes integrating different software and hardware easy. This development allows businesses to use best-of-breed technologies that work together, building a cohesive IT system. For example, a business might use Contentstack for its online store, QuickBooks for accounting and Mailchimp for email marketing. Due to APIs, these platforms can communicate with each other. Orders placed on Contentstack can automatically update inventory, while customer purchase information can deliver personalized email campaigns in Mailchimp. Best-of-breed ecommerce vs all-in-one ecommerce solutions Attribute Best-of-breed e-commerce All-in-one e-commerce Definition Specialized tools designed to excel at specific functions (e.g., payment processing, inventory management). Comprehensive platforms provide a wide range of e-commerce functionalities in one package. Flexibility High flexibility; integrates with various other specialized tools and services. Limited flexibility; built-in features may not suit all business needs. Customization Extensive customization options tailored to specific business requirements. Basic customization; may require additional plugins or extensions for advanced features. Scalability Scalable as businesses can add or upgrade individual components as needed. Potentially limited scalability; the entire platform may need upgrading as a business grows. Cost Potentially higher initial costs due to purchasing multiple specialized tools. Generally lower upfront cost; pricing typically includes a suite of tools. Implementation time Longer implementation time due to the integration of various tools and services. Faster implementation with pre-integrated functionalities. User experience Requires learning multiple interfaces; may be complex for non-technical users. Unified user experience; easier for beginners to manage. Vendor dependence Less dependence on a single vendor; flexibility to switch individual tools. Higher dependence on a single vendor for all eCommerce needs. Support and maintenance Multiple vendors provide support Single point of contact for support; generally easier maintenance. How does Contentstack’s composable commerce help with e-commerce? Contentstack's composable architecture offers a flexible and scalable solution for e-commerce. Using Contenstack, you create personalized and engaging customer experiences because you use best-of-breed tools and technologies. Its headless content management system (CMS) design allows you to manage content across multiple channels, ensuring your brand message stays consistent. For example, Contentstack's API-first approach makes it easy to integrate functions like inventory management, payment processing and CRM systems. Plus, features like real-time content updates and in-depth analytics help you make informed decisions. Case study: How did 1-800-FLOWERS use Contentstack for improved e-commerce operations? 1-800-FLOWERS switched to Contentstack’s composable commerce to make their online store scalable, add consistency and increase engagement across multiple brands. The shift to best-of-breed e-commerce addresses challenges from their previous channel-specific solution, improving business operations and ensuring faster brand launches. The key benefits of using a best-of-breed approach include improved platform stability, marketing autonomy for teams to update content independently and brand consistency. After using Contentstack, Matt McHale, Senior Vice President, Application Development at 1-800-FLOWERS, said: “By leveraging template stacks and predefined content models, the ease with which we can add new brands has become a significant factor in our scalability. Contentstack helps provide the foundation we need to scale efficiently, enabling us to manage multiple brands effectively and continue delivering high-quality experiences to our customers as we grow. It was a big shift for everyone, but we haven’t looked bac.” Read the complete case study here. {{nativeAd:9}}How to choose the best-of-breed e-commerce platforms With so many e-commerce platforms out there, choosing one best-of-breed platform is challenging. Here’s what you need to consider when selecting a vendor: Know your needs Identify the business requirements, needs and pain points you want to solve. Determine which tools are essential for your operations and what features/functions you need to shortlist potential vendors. For instance, an e-commerce store with a high volume of international sales may need advanced headless commerce with translation capabilities and multilingual support. Knowing these specifics narrow down platforms that cater to your needs. Research the vendors Once you know what you need, research vendors specializing in those areas. Read their customer reviews, functionalities, case studies and track record to understand their capabilities and reputation. Evaluate integration capabilities You waste time and effort if the selected tools don’t integrate with your chosen e-commerce platform. So, ensure the tools have strong APIs and enjoy a strong integration history with other third-party vendors. The best way to evaluate integration capabilities is by prioritizing MACH-certified vendors like Contentstack. For instance, Contentstack offers integration capabilities with Shopify, Google Analytics, Bynder, Brandfolder, Dynamic Yield and many others. You can explore Contentstack’s marketplace to learn about more such tools. Consider the future growth Ensure your tools meet your existing and future needs. Using headless commerce, you add or remove tools as necessary. Look for headless solutions to give you more control over your front-end experience. Plus, going for modular e-commerce platforms makes scaling and customizing easier, helping you stay adaptable as things change. Assess ease of use Ease of use is a critical success factor in evaluating the suitability of the best-of-breed e-commerce solutions. So, if the selected headless commerce is complicated and challenging, it is better not to include it, even when it provides the most modern features. Select solutions that are easily manageable and would not need extensive training. FAQs What is an example of best-of-breed? An example of best-of-breed is using Contentstack as your headless commerce. The tool is flexible and scalable, helping you grow your business. What is a best-of-breed platform? A best-of-breed platform consists of selected software components from multiple vendors, each excelling in its specific function. This results in an efficient and customized e-commerce ecosystem. What is the difference between best-of-breed and best-of-suite? Best-of-breed helps you select tools from various vendors. At the same time, best-of-suite (all-in-one) involves using a single vendor's suite of tools, which may not be the best in every category but offers simplicity in integration and management. Learn more Selecting appropriate technology depends on one’s preferences and the needs of customers or the business. As a result, you receive customized, adaptable and efficient technologies combined with specific vendors to build IT solutions for your needs, giving you competitive advantages. Therefore, why should you settle for an all-in-one platform? To understand why Contentstack is the perfect fit for your online store, talk to us.

Jul 19, 2024 | 7 min. read

Why your business needs a personalization engine today

Highlights You’ll learn about the benefits of personalization engines: Enhanced customer experience: Create unique profiles and deliver personalized content based on real-time data Increased engagement and ROI: Tailored marketing campaigns achieve higher engagement rates and better ROI Valuable insights: Analyze customer behavior to refine strategies and improve targeting Dynamic adaptability: Adjust to changing customer preferences for continued relevance Scalability: Handle growing data loads and user interactions efficiently Tap the full potential of your business with a personalization platform. Keep reading to learn more! How do you feel when receiving a customized and thoughtful gift created especially for your needs? Your digital customers crave the same experience. With 80% of customers likely to buy from a brand offering personalized experiences, you cannot ignore personalization. To do well in offline and online battles, use a personalization engine. This provides you with the best experience for each customer at the right time. But why do you need a personalization engine? When brands remember how long customers have been doing business with them or when they last purchased a product, they go above and beyond to enhance customer experiences and gain trust. To do this, you need to collect the right behavioral data and that’s where a personalization engine comes in. A personalization engine is a must for any brand looking to scale its marketing operations. To know why these engines are worth the effort, read ahead and explore how they work, their benefits and what they can do. What is a personalization engine? A personalization engine is software that marketers use on their websites to gather information about customers and customize their experiences. Ideally, the engine would be be built directly into the CMS. Personalization engines help marketers identify and deliver individual experiences based on their history, current context and predicted user behavior. These engines can handle loads of data from various customer interactions. As these engines use advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms, you understand: What customers like How they behave Who they are You can personalize your messages and send recommendations that match each customer’s unique interests. But how do these engines collect data? A personalization engine monitors a customer's activity and uses the data to deliver personalized experiences. Many marketers recommend such an engine to search, choose and deliver personalized messages and recommendations across multiple customer touchpoints. With knowledge of your customers’ likes, dislikes and past activities, these engines change the content, recommendations and marketing communication. As a result, you witness improved customer satisfaction, conversion rates and engagement. The higher the quality and volume of data a personalization engine collects, the more information you can use, improving customer satisfaction and engagement. Thanks to AI, these engines can process a large amount of data while generating intelligent business outcomes. {{nativeAd:5}} How a personalization engine works Data collection and analysis A personalization engine collects customer data, such as buying or browsing history, to provide insights about your customers in real time. AI and ML The engine uses AI and ML to process the data collected, forecast user preferences and identify patterns. As you collect more data, you can send accurate and personalized recommendations. Filtering techniques Most engines use various filtering techniques like: Collaborative filtering (gathers data based on customer’s interaction with a business) Content-based filtering (focuses on the keywords used to describe a service or product) For higher accuracy, many engines use a combination of these techniques. Real-time personalization As these engines adapt in real time to your customers’ interactions, you can update and change their profiles to enhance engagement. Constant learning These engines use AL and ML to learn from customer responses and customer journey data. The more data they gather and analyze, the more accurately they predict the changing customer behaviors and preferences. How a personalization engine benefits your business Personalizes customer’s shopping experience Your customers love personalized content but rarely receive it. Providing a personalized shopping experience every time they visit your website encourages them to return. These engines create a unique customer profile for each visitor depending on their real-time shopping and browsing experience. The AI model uses data to adjust and create a website that customers like, increasing their visits and engagement. Better ROI on the marketing campaign Personalized marketing campaigns usually see higher engagement rates, resulting in better ROI. Customizing messages based on the likes and behaviors of your audience helps you create more relevant messages and compelling content. This strategy increases engagement while building stronger customer relationships. Provides insights about customer behavior The personalization engine analyzes how customers use your website to understand their behavior. This helps marketers learn more about their audience and fine-tune their marketing approaches. These engines incorporate smart algorithms and machine learning to monitor customers' likes and actions. Customized communication Personalization engines collect and analyze information to create communication materials that draw visitors to your website and increase engagement. Sending personalized emails, newsletters and landing pages leads to more conversions and higher revenue. Steps to build a personalization engine into your headless CMS of choice 1. Define your personalization goals Set clear and achievable objectives for your personalization efforts. It’s important to know what you want to achieve. Your goal can be to increase customer engagement, improve conversion rates or enhance customer experience. 2. Select a headless CMS Choose a headless content management system (CMS) that integrates with personalization tools. A CMS like Contentstack offers flexibility in delivering content and provides a strong foundation for personalization strategies. How did Lessa drive personalization using Contentstack? Leesa improved their website for speed and personalized user experience by choosing Contentstack’s headless CMS over Shopify. The company saw a 30-fold increase in organic traffic and improved SEO. Content management became efficient, allowing personalized customer journeys and faster website performance. The transition reduced the development time. Moreover, Contentstack's integration capabilities, ease of use, and exceptional customer support helped Lessa with a seamless transition. After using Contentstack, Richard Bilton, Director of Technology at Leesa, said: “It wasn’t convenient. We wanted to work with Shopify, but we needed the freedom to produce our own content the way we wanted, and to speed up the website and gain flexibility.” Read the case study here. 3. Assess personalization tools Take the time to assess different personalization software. Look for one that fits well with your goals and integrates with your chosen headless CMS. Evaluating the different personalization tools helps you choose one that meets your personalization efforts. 4. Integrate personalization engine Work with your development team to integrate the selected personalization engine into your headless CMS. A smooth integration delivers personalized content without hitches. 5. Data collection and analysis Establish mechanisms to collect and analyze customer data. Understanding customer behavior and preferences helps you deliver tailored content. 6. Create personalization rules Define clear rules for delivering personalized content. Consider customer segments and behaviors to ensure the right content reaches the right audience. The better your rules, the more relevant your content will be. 7. Content tagging and taxonomy Develop a tagging system to categorize your content. Good taxonomy helps you deliver accurate, relevant and personalized content. 8. Dynamic content delivery Configure your CMS to adapt content based on customer interactions and personalization signals. This will ensure customers see content tailored to them, enhancing their experience and providing dynamic content delivery. Best personalization engines for 2024 Contentstack Contentstack is a premier headless CMS offering personalization software. The CMS facilitates smooth integration with various systems, ensuring dynamic and scalable content delivery. With Contentstack, you use data from various sources to create personalized experiences based on your customer preferences. The platform provides in-depth insights into customer behavior and preferences. Using real-time data, you can optimize customer journeys and enhance customer retention, engagement and conversion rates. {{nativeAd:7}}Dynamic Yield Dynamic Yield is a personalization engine that uses machine learning algorithms. It offers product recommendations to customers and each solution complies with your customers' activity. Dynamic Yield uses real-time personalization capabilities and analyzes the information to deliver customized experiences at each stage. But, some advanced features of Dynamic Yield are more complex and challenging for new users. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Salesforce Marketing Cloud offers tools designed to personalize your marketing efforts. The marketing cloud offers superior data capabilities and insights into your customer behavior. The AI-driven engine provides hyper-personalized content and recommendations. But, Salesforce Marketing Cloud is expensive, making it suitable only for large-sized businesses. Insider Insider is another personalization platform dedicated to delivering cross-channel personalized experiences. The platform uses predictive segmentation and real-time behavioral targeting to send messages that connect with your customers. Insider works with many marketing channels, but you may need help with less common platforms. Braze Braze offers real-time customer engagement using personalized messaging across various channels. Using the platform's segmentation capabilities, you create targeted account-based campaigns. As Braze supports multi-channel communication, you provide personalized messages using email, push notifications and in-app messages. But, the user interface of Braze is complex and challenging for new customers. Choosing the right personalization engine Easy to integrate with existing systems Integrating your personalization engine with your CMS should not be challenging. Once integrated, the engine should suggest similar products that other customers of the same profile use. Data-driven insights and analytics Find a personalization engine that helps you collect customer data from various sources. With this data, you can build customer profiles, understand demographics, track transaction history and other relevant business data. Level of personalization Pick an engine that offers the right level of personalization to achieve your business goals. Whether you need simple segmentation or advanced one-on-one experiences, your engine should meet your requirements. Ability to scale As your product catalogs grow and customer behavior changes, scalable personalization engines can help. Such engines can handle increased data loads and customer interactions. It's important to choose a solution that offers flexibility, reliability and real-time processing to meet your customer’s changing needs. Ease of use Opt for tools offering an intuitive interface for managing different personalization rules and content. The engine should offer clear instructions, simple navigation and strong support for your target audience. Supported channels Make sure the engine can handle all the channels where you want to provide personalized content, such as mobile apps, websites, email and social media. Challenges of personalization engines When using a personalization engine, you might face the following challenges: Data management Brands using personalization engines face two challenges Poor quality data Too much data Poor-quality data slows personalization efforts. Likewise, having too much data is another challenge. When you collect too much customer information, managing it becomes a unique challenge. Dynamic customer preferences Your customer preferences change with time—they like a product today and dislike it tomorrow, making it challenging to predict their requirements. You need to update your personalization strategies to stay relevant. Limited user adoption Another hurdle for personalization engines is getting users to use them. Even with all the potential perks, your customers may not use them because of privacy issues or a lack of understanding. Plus, if your recommendations aren't spot-on, they may consider personalization intrusive. FAQs What does a personalization engine do? A personalization engine analyzes data to provide customized content and experiences based on customer behavior and preferences. What is personalization software? Personalization software includes tools for creating tailored user experiences. It analyzes data and automates the delivery of personalized content. How large is the personalization engine market? The personalization engine market is expanding as more businesses understand the importance of personalized customer experiences in driving engagement and conversions. Learn more A personalization engine helps you stand out and connect with your audience. You can enhance customer experiences and drive customer engagement and loyalty using personalization. From large enterprises to e-commerce stores, these engines are a must-have. Talk to us today to see how personalization engines can transform your business.

Jul 17, 2024 | 8 min. read

Discover the impact of personalized content on customer engagement

Highlights You’ll learn about the benefits of personalized content: Delivering relevant and personalized information increases engagement and enhances customer experience Personalized CTAs improve conversion rates and enhance customer loyalty and retention Tailored content encourages organic promotion and provides better targeting and segmentation Personalized content leads to more qualified leads. Transform your marketing strategy by embracing customized content. Keep reading to learn more! How many times have you found yourself sifting through irrelevant content when looking for something specific? Maybe you were searching for headphones, but the website offered discounts on a pen drive or keyboard. Your customers face the same plight when you ignore personalization. Creating meaningful experiences through personalized content is a great place to start with. But why is content personalization so important? Generic messages lead to below-par results, wasting your marketing efforts. When done right, personalization increases the conversion rate because it delivers specific experiences to each customer. Read on to learn about personalized content, why it's important and how to implement it in your marketing campaign. What is personalized content? Personalized content is the process of delivering content tailored to customers’ preferences, behaviors and needs. Customization depends on various factors, including demographic data, browsing history, behavioral data and engagement patterns. For instance, Netflix recommends videos and Amazon recommends products based on customer history and past purchases. In content personalization, you use all the consumer data and information to deliver never-before-experiences. Strategies used in the personalization process are useful for the customer and the company as they enhance the customer’s interaction. With companies growing faster and driving 40% of their revenue from personalization, you cannot afford to overlook content personalization at every step of your customer’s journey. Presenting your audience with more relevant content is no longer a business practice; it has become more like a customer expectation. When you share personalized content, you receive better-quality leads, more signups and increased revenue. In short, content personalization means better business. Let’s understand the difference between personalized and generic content. Personalized content vs generic content Aspect Personalized content Generic content Definition Tailored to meet specific needs and preferences of individual users or audience segments. Created for a broad audience without customization. Examples Email campaigns: Product recommendations based on past purchases. Website experience: Showing content aligned with the visitor's browsing history. Social media ads: Targeted ads based on user demographics, interests and behaviors. Blog posts: Covering broad industry trends. Mass emails: Newsletters sent to an entire subscriber list. Standard ads: General advertisements without individual targeting Benefits Increased engagement, better conversion rates, enhanced customer loyalty, improved return on investment (ROI). Broader reach and simplicity. Drawbacks Resource intensive Lower engagement, Reduced relevance, Missed opportunities. {{nativeAd:5}} Benefits of personalized content for businesses Improves customer experience Personalization leads to satisfaction because customers receive the information that interests them. That is why when you tailor content, you meet your customer’s needs. Sharing content your customers love to interact with helps you build customer relationships. As you learn about your customer's patterns and preferences, you can change your strategies to make every touchpoint impactful. Acquires more leads Sharing custom content shows your customers you understand them and can solve all their problems. Customers only sign up, subscribe or schedule a demo when they trust your brand. When you deliver personalized content, you address your customers' pain points while offering solutions. For instance, you can generate targeted advertisements and web pages by examining your website activity or social media connection. With 91% of customers more likely to shop from brands providing relevant offers and recommendations, personalization is the key to your success. Builds customer loyalty and retention Providing your customers with personalized content shows them they can trust your brand, converting them into loyal customers. Most customers prefer businesses that understand their needs based on past behaviors and purchases. Satisfied and happy consumers remain loyal to your brand rather than trying products of unknown and perhaps higher-risk brands. People who like the content you produce become brand ambassadors. They share their good experience with others on social media. Organic promotion attracts new customers and improves your online brand presence. Higher conversion rates Personalized call-to-action (CTA) improves your conversion rate by 202%. Content personalization is important for creating targeted campaigns based on user behavior and preferences. By using analytics tools, you can: Provide seamless experiences Strengthen customer relationships Increase engagement and sales Personalized strategies make your customers feel valued, building confidence in your brand. Better targeting and segmentation Audience segmentation and targeting allow you to use your marketing resources. Segmenting your target audience makes producing content easier. You craft campaigns for them, leading to higher engagement and better conversion rates. When you understand your customers' unique needs, preferences and behaviors, you develop relevant marketing strategies. What’s the role of headless CMS in personalized content? A headless CMS is the key to providing personalized content. While traditional CMS platforms encompass as many functions as possible, a headless CMS only deals with content management and allows API to handle content display. You can devise ways of publishing content on the website, mobile application and IoT devices. You deliver an efficient and customer-focused solution. A headless CMS integrates CRM systems, marketing automation systems and analytics tools, helping you understand customers' likes and dislikes. The data you collect helps you offer the right content to your customers. Moreover, a headless CMS can adapt the content in real time based on actual data, users' interactions, and the surrounding environment. The system's scalable nature helps you grow your online presence. A headless CMS guarantees efficient content delivery without the constraints of a traditional system. Simplicity and the headless architecture's flexibility are other advantages that make it possible to meet the market's and customers’ needs. How GetYourGuide used Contentstack to personalize and enrich travel experiences GetYourGuide was looking to address workflow bottlenecks and expedite content delivery while offering content personalization. To overcome their issues, the company adopted Contentstack's headless CMS. This platform streamlined their content strategy, enabling faster and more efficient creation and distribution across various digital channels. As a result, the company enhanced its content strategy, decreased support staffing needs, engaged high-value audiences, and empowered both technical and non-technical users to deliver content . Additionally, the company launched exclusive experiences and improved localization efforts. After using Contentstack, Pedro Torres, Product Manager at GetYourGuide, said: "With Contentstack, we can deliver on -- and exceed -- what customers are expecting, regardless of device, and consistently deliver those experiences as soon as new travel opportunities become available." Read the full case study here. Types of personalized content GPS-based apps These GPS-based apps personalize content by targeting your customers where they are. For instance, if someone searches for a restaurant “near me” on Google, they get a suggestion based on their current location. You can use these apps to send notices of sales or discount offers based on the customer’s location. As this is a high level of personalization, large companies with businesses in multiple geographies prefer GPS-based personalized content. Landing pages When you align your landing page content with customer interactions on your store or website, you deliver consistent and personalized experiences. Landing page personalization ensures your customers see content that matches the ad that led them there. These pages track customer interactions and adapt in real time, ensuring the most relevant information and offers are presented. This enhances customer satisfaction and conversion rates. Interactive content Interactive content provides information you can use to craft valuable and customized experiences. For example, most companies use surveys and questionnaires to establish customer preferences and experiences. Using this data, you offer personalized recommendations. Polls, surveys and calculators are other types of interactive content used to collect information. Retargeting ads Retargeting ads bring back customers who had previous interactions with your brand. Past experiences could include the customer’s prior purchases, visits to the brand’s website and engaging with such things as likes, shares or comments on social media. Having analyzed your customer data, you compose marketing messages closely related to your customer’s patronage. Email marketing Personalizing your email marketing shows customers you value their presence and that they’re not just names on your subscription list. Personalization involves addressing customers by name or including their names in the subject line. Your emails can include dynamic content depending on your customers' preferences, behavior and requirements. For example, an e-commerce store sends product recommendations based on their customer’s purchase history, increasing conversion and engagement rates. Hero images The hero image is another hero section, along with your headline and CTA. Implementing image personalization is another step to ensure your customers receive images based on their past behavior and interaction with your website. Personalizing hero images drives more conversions while creating an emotional connection your customers will not find anywhere. Marketers use hero images to make customers feel the image was created especially for them. Hero images help you show different images of your product or service, depending on the customers’ gender, age group, visitor’s location and other segmentations. {{nativeAd:7}} How to implement personalized content Know your audience Understand your audience's preferences, behaviors and demographics. Use surveys, analytics tools and user feedback to learn more about them. Identify specific audience segments to target Segment your audience based on your customer’s age, location, interests and buying habits. Identifying specific audiences helps you create tailored content for each segment. Provide value Make sure the personalized content you offer is valuable. Focus on useful information, exclusive deals, or recommendations that make your customers' experience better and more engaging. Collect necessary data Gather data using tools like website analytics, customer relationship management, and social media analytics. Evaluate the obtained data to create a comprehensive picture of your customer. Create personalized content Develop content that addresses the needs and interests of each audience segment. You can send personalized emails, customized landing pages or targeted social media posts that hit the mark. Track and analyze performance Next, track your content performance to know what’s working and what’s not. You can analyze metrics like: Engagement rates Conversion rates User feedback Iterate and improve Use the insights from your performance analysis to tweak and improve your personalization strategies. Update your content and approach based on what you learn to keep things effective and relevant. FAQs What is an example of content personalization? An e-commerce store recommends products based on a customer’s past purchases and browsing history. What is personalized web content? Personalized web content offers dynamically changing content based on customer’s user data and preferences. Why is content personalization important? Content personalization improves user experience, drives engagement and increases conversion rates. Is personalized content good? Yes, personalized content is good because it connects with your customers, improving business outcomes. Learn more Without personalization, your business has no future. You can improve customer engagement and conversion rate only when customers receive information, offers or product recommendations. Sending tailored messages that connect with individual customers helps you build loyalty while staying competitive. Do you want to improve your personalization strategy? Talk to us to know how our solutions achieve excellent results.

Jul 15, 2024 | 6 min. read

Why is multisite CMS ideal for efficient web management?

Highlights You’ll learn about the benefits of multisite CMS: Control and manage multiple websites from a single dashboard Save money by sharing server space and resources Enable teamwork with shared platforms, allowing different teams to update content without interference Share and update content across various sites, maintaining consistency and reducing redundancy Use caching strategies and CDNs for faster load times and optimal user experience Start using a multisite CMS today to streamline web management and manage multiple sites. Keep reading to learn more! As you become tech-savvy and embrace the latest technologies, so do your customers. Digital customers prefer content consistency, ease of use, user-friendly setup and quick response. Maintaining consistency across multiple business websites is a task because delivering a consistent content experience requires a large and qualified team, painstaking efforts and a high budget. If your business is spread across multiple geographies, you may offer localized content to attract customers from different countries. While it’s great for winning local customers, it damages your brand consistency. Your team may end up wasting numerous hours performing the same task. For example, you may have to update a product description across every region where you sell the product, resulting in a waste of time and resources. Read ahead to learn about a multisite CMS and how it reduces the need for a high budget and huge team while ensuring content consistency. What is multisite CMS? A multisite CMS is a powerful platform that allows different websites within the same content ecosystem to share and distribute content from a single source. You can manage multiple sites in different languages from one central location, making updating and sharing content across various channels easier. Implementing a multisite CMS allows you to reuse the content. In other words, you have one administrative interface to manage all your websites. That way, your teams can offer content on new sites or update existing ones. While not every multisite CMS is headless, a headless CMS like Contentstack makes it easier to manage a multisite ecosystem. Because the headless CMS separates the presentation layer from the backend layer, you need to create content only once, and you can then publish content everywhere. It frees you from the manual time you spend configuring the content for individual websites. You may argue about configuring a multisite setup in a monolithic CMS. While possible, it's frustrating because any issues with one site will bring down all the connected websites—causing business loss. {{nativeAd:5}} Benefits of a multisite CMS Cost-efficiency What makes a multisite CMS good is that when you set up the sites, you do not have to buy individual licenses or hosting plans for every site. For instance, operating five sites may be expensive; however, you cut your unnecessary spending with the multisite configuration. In a multisite management CMS, you share server space and resources, lowering costs. Enhanced collaboration Your team no longer juggles between multiple platforms to provide a consistent experience. Teams can work together more effectively on a single platform. For example, your marketing team can update content across various sites without stepping into the SEO team's work. When you push content updates across multiple sites, you deliver a never-before-customer experience. Shared content and functionality You can effortlessly share blog posts, events or announcements across different sites. If you publish a new article, it will appear on all relevant websites without manual copying and pasting. Simplified user management Administrators and users only need one login to access all websites, making managing them much easier. Imagine logging into multiple sites with different credentials—one login is a significant time-saver. More scalable With a multisite CMS, you expand into new locations, creating new regional websites or using promotional microsites. Due to its flexibility, a multisite CMS addresses different requirements, making it perfect for companies with a growing network of websites. No cross-pollination When using the same CMS, it is unlikely that content will overlap or mix between departments and regions. Why is a headless CMS ideal for multisite management? API A headless CMS uses an application programming interface (API) to interact with multisite resources. As a result, you share the backend content on different platforms simultaneously instead of creating content around a central location in the application. Separates the presentation and the content layer A headless CMS separates content from the presentation layer and delivers content across various platforms. The spotlight is on your content since the CMS has no head. Developers have an opportunity to post and control content on different sites. Content first All headless CMSes are content-first, allowing your content creation, marketing campaigns and distribution team to decide on the content model. You can then design your website or application around the content instead of fitting some content in a template presentation. Higher security In a headless CMS, the backend provides long-term security. If you change the application platform or site, migrate your content using a headless architecture. Decoupling the two layers adds extra security, protecting your business and customer's data. Best multisite CMS for businesses in 2024 Contentstack Contentstack is a headless CMS that relies on the API-first approach. It offers omnichannel delivery, enabling efficient content delivery through web, mobile and other IoT devices. With content management done from a centralized management interface, consistency of information is achieved across the various managed channels. Headless APIs provide seamless integrations with various tools and systems, making them the go-to choice for enterprises looking to create highly personalized and agile digital experiences. Case study: How did Air France-KLM transform omnichannel experiences with Contentstack? Air France-KLM was struggling with content management because of a clunky architecture and multiple CMSes, which caused a lot of inefficiencies. By switching to Contentstack’s Headless CMS, they created a single, reliable source for content, streamlined their operations and modernized how they handle the content. This change means they can better reuse content, personalize experiences and boost efficiency across all touchpoints, including websites, mobile apps and in-flight screens. They expect to see benefits like lower development costs, fewer service calls and reduced translation expenses. After using Contentstack, Ralf Schipper, Product Owner CMS at Air France-KLM said: “With Contentstack, we are changing the way we distribute content and paving the way for personalization. We’re defining the solution to master content distribution and optimize content creation and management.” Read the full case study here. {{nativeAd:7}}WordPress WordPress is an open-source CMS renowned for its numerous plugins and themes. The multisite network manages multiple sites under one installation, simplifying overall management tasks. WordPress does have some challenges, such as: Potential issues with scaling Security concerns that require constant monitoring Heavy reliance on plugins Sanity Sanity is a flexible headless CMS for real-time collaborative editing and structured content. The platform's real-time collaboration features allow multiple customers to edit content, improving teamwork and productivity. Strong API support further enhances seamless integration with various platforms. While Sanity offers numerous benefits, it requires technical expertise to set up and configure initially. The CMS has fewer ready-made extensions compared to competitors and might not be as ideal for large-scale enterprise needs. Sitecore Sitecore is an enterprise-level CMS that offers a powerful digital experience platform. It provides advanced personalization features that enable you to tailor content to individual user preferences, increasing engagement. On the other hand, Sitecore is very costly in implementation and support since it requires skilled developers. It also lacks flexibility regarding third-party integrations and has a complicated setup that takes learning time. How developers can use CMS for multiple websites Managing multiple sites is daunting, but the process is more straightforward with a multisite CMS. With a shared codebase, developers reduce redundancy and ensure consistency across different sites. That way, they can implement changes across all linked websites, speeding up deployment. Tips for setting up a multi-website CMS Plan your architecture Before setting up a multisite CMS, plan your multisite structure. Decide whether you use each site's domains, sub-domains or sub-directories. Planning your architecture will affect your CMS configuration and your SEO strategy. Centralize your theme and plugins Using shared themes and plugins helps you maintain consistency and reduces maintenance work. When you customize these shared resources, the changes apply to all sites, ensuring consistency. Optimize performance To keep everything running smoothly, implement a solid caching strategy and use a content delivery network (CDN). This improves your load times and ensures an optimal user experience, regardless of your visitors' location. Automate maintenance Using various tools, regularly update, backup and security checks. Automation keeps all your sites secure and up-to-date without needing constant manual intervention. FAQs What is a multisite? A multisite setup lets you manage several websites from one central platform. It offers a single interface for updates, security checks and content sharing across all your sites. What is multisite management? Multisite management focuses on strategies, tools and processes for managing multiple digital websites. Effective management ensures consistency, enhances business efficiency and allows scalable growth. What is a multisite platform? A multisite platform is a content management system (CMS) built to facilitate the management of multiple websites from one place. These platforms can handle different web properties and offer features like centralized dashboards, unified controls, and solid security. Learn more A complete understanding of your business needs and your future requirements helps you determine whether a multisite CMS is an ideal choice. The benefits of multisite CMS extend beyond content management—helping you scale, innovate and maintain coherence across your digital footprints. Are you ready to explore the full potential of a multisite CMS for your business? Talk to us to know how Contenstack can help.

Jul 10, 2024 | 5 min. read

Implementing CORS policy: Best practices to prevent common CORS errors

Highlights You’ll learn how to prevent CORS errors with an effective CORS policy. Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) manages cross-domain requests and is essential for secure web interactions and better user experiences. Key strategies: Configure HTTP headers: Set the proper Access-Control-Allow-Origin Server settings: Define methods and headers that can access resources Security measures: Limit access to trusted domains and enforce HTTPS Optimize your web applications, save time, and build better digital products with a reliable headless CMS. Talk to us today. Keep reading to learn more! A CORS policy is a security measure that web browsers implement to manage how external domains can interact with resources on a web page in another domain. It allows servers to determine who can access stored resources and how such resources can be accessed. It controls cross-origin interactions and improves web security. When things stray outside what is allowed in the CORS policy, you get a CORS error. Every developer tries to avoid that because it inhibits resource sharing and API integrations and needs ample time to be resolved. CORS and its significance The CORS policy supports cross-origin requests and enforces the same-origin policy (SOP). It offers a protective shield for websites and is essential for web security. It eases API interaction with web applications and services. There are two main types of CORS requests: Simple requests Pre-flighted requests A simple request is a cross-origin HTTP request that uses simple HTTP methods like HEAD, GET, or POST. They also include certain specific headers and do not require preflighted approval. Pre-flighted requests are different. Think of them as a pre-cursor request. They go in first as an initial CORS options call to verify the safety of the main request. That way, the system verifies that the server supports the custom headers and requests HTTP methods before sending the main request. How does CORS work? When a browser sends a request, it includes an origin header. That header has the domain (Origin of the request), protocol, and port of the page that makes the request. The server can allow or deny the request. If allowed, the server includes the Access-control-allow-origin header in its response. The header specifies the Origins that can access its resources. If the server rejects the request, it includes the Access-control-allow-origin header with a value of "*." This shows that it does not allow any origin to access resources. {{nativeAd:5}} Common CORS issues There are some common issues that you can identify with CORS, and here are a few to note. No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present: You get this CORS error if no headers in a preflight request notify the browser of whether the origin has permission to access resources. CORS preflight request fails: An incorrect or missing CORS header in a preflight request response triggers this error. It is like a security alert that stops the browser from proceeding with the actual request. CORS request not HTTP: CORS only works with the HTTP or HTTPS URL protocols. So, you will get an error when you attempt to view a site via the local file system in your browser rather than as an HTTP(S) asset served via a web server. Impact of CORS error on web applications CORS errors prevent web applications from assessing resources and disrupt their functionality. They also prevent API integrations. Here are other impacts of CORS errors on web apps. Increased debugging time: Finding the source of a CORS error and applying the solution takes time and slows down development work. Blocked data access: CORS errors prevent you from accessing data that may be essential to building or maintaining web applications. Security risks: Wrong server or browser configurations can expose you to unauthorized access from illegal websites. Best practices to avoid CORS errors Considering the negative impact of CORS errors, here are the best practices to avoid them. Use proper HTTP headers Using proper HTTP headers allows you to comply with the CORS browser policies and avoid errors. Here are some of the headers to use. Access-control-allow-origin: This header specifies the origins of HTTP requests and access resources on a server. Access-control-allow-methods: This header outlines the allowed methods for cross-origin resource requests. The methods include GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. Access-control-allow-headers: This mechanism ensures that only specified headers are included in the main cross-origin HTTP request. Configure the API server correctly Set up API server for CORS: Configure server settings to include essential CORS headers in its responses. You may also use a middleware to do that. Enable CORS in the backend: Set up back-end logic to generate the right CORS headers based on the request’s origin. Handle preflight requests A preflight request is an automatic and extra step in the cross-origin HTTP request. By including the right CORS headers, you can configure the server to handle OPTIONS requests before the main request. Implement proxy server solutions Configure a proxy server to forward requests and modify headers appropriately. Proxy servers go between servers and clients, bypassing CORS restrictions. Choose a server to host your proxy—it could be the cloud or a local machine. Install the required software and configure proxy settings. Set up authentication and access rules. Test the proxy server to ensure it works correctly. Monitor and maintain the server for performance and security. Secure CORS implementation Consider security, and do not use the (*) wildcard. Instead, Limit access to trusted domains only, validate inputs, and audit your CORS configuration regularly. Also, enforce HTTPS and validate requests with server-side checks, such as rate limiting, origin validation and token authentication. You can also use a CORS npm package to simplify CORS implementation in Node.js applications. Troubleshooting and solving CORS problems You can follow these steps to troubleshoot and fix common CORS problems. Check server logs for errors: From the server, go to your log files, open relevant files and look for error messages. Verify CORS headers: Check the Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header and ensure it matches the request origin. Check the ‘Access-Control-Allow-Methods’ to ensure it includes the request method and validate the custom headers in "Access-Control-Allow-Headers." Use browser developer tools to diagnose issues: Inspect elements in browser development tools such as Chrome DevTools, Firefox developer tools, and cURL. You can also use a third-party tool like Postman. Also, check the console for errors. Use a serverless function: Serverless functions like AWS lambda, Azure functions, and Google Cloud functions allow you to resolve CORS errors. It is more robust than using proxy solutions. These serverless functions allow you to develop your micro-infrastructure to call web services and feed data to API endpoints. Tools and resources for resolving CORS errors You can rely on several tools to resolve CORS errors, such as: Postman AWS API gateway Browser developer tools Server logs Web security scanners {{nativeAd:7}} Case studies MoneyHero Group MoneyHero needed a secure solution to ease developer experience, and Contentstack’s headless CMS offered that with its robust security and serverless function support to manage CORS issues. It improved the developer experience for MoneyHero Group and its product rollout time by 85%. Hear from Andrew de Ridder, the Head of Application Engineering. “The technical tooling and APIs that Contentstack provides allows our engineering teams the power and flexibility to surface content wherever it's needed, from multiple websites in different regions, to email, social media, or whatever use case comes next.” Read more about how MoneyHero delivered content agility by opting for Contentstack. Sky Sky needed a more secure and resilient system as part of its rebrand. They contacted Contentstack and opted for the headless CMS. Making the switch allowed them to leverage modular blocks and a custom stack management tool, which improved code maintenance and reduced development time. Richard Mace said, "We've had complicated pages with a large range of components, and at a glance, editors can understand exactly what's happening." Read about Sky's success story since switching to a headless CMS. FAQ section What is a CORS error, and how can it be fixed? A CORS error is the response from a browser when it blocks an external web page from accessing its resources. To fix it, find the error message in the browser console to understand the cause. However, for most issues, you must configure the server "Access-Control-Allow-Origin" to allow specific methods and headers and properly handle preflight requests. Why am I getting a CORS error in my application? You may be getting a CORS error because your server does not properly handle preflight requests or it lacks the right header in its CORS response. It may also be due to localhost or browser security issues. How do I configure my server to avoid CORS errors? Set the "Access-Control-Allow-Origin," "Access-Control-Allow-Methods," and "Access-Control-Allow-Headers" headers, and handle preflight requests with proper responses. Can a browser ignore CORS rules, and how? No. By design, browsers enforce CORS rules. However, during testing, developers can use proxy servers to bypass them. Learn more CORS supports the same-origin policy to simplify resource sharing across domain boundaries. It offers essential browser-side protection, and all modern browsers and most enterprise applications support it. Creating a proper CORS policy eases developer work, supports API integration, and improves developer and user experience. A headless CMS holds content that other systems access via APIs. That is a cross-origin scenario, and CORS settings are required to handle it securely. Contentstack's headless CMS adheres to CORS policy, allowing you to avoid errors, save time, and build resilient applications. Talk to us today.

Jul 09, 2024 | 5 min. read

What is a valid URL: Your gateway to better SEO and user experience

Highlights You’ll learn about: Improved search rankings: A valid uniform resource locator (URL) with relevant keywords boosts visibility on search engine result pages (SERPs) Better link management: Makes it easier to maintain and update website content Seamless browsing: Facilitates smooth navigation and reduces 404 errors Increased trust: Clear, descriptive URLs build credibility and trust among users Prevent phishing attacks: Identify legitimate websites, reducing the risk of malicious activities Efficient resource management: Organizes and manages web resources effectively Do you want to create valid URLs for better performance and security? Keep reading to learn more! When your customers hit a non-existent webpage, they encounter frustration that can result in decreased user experience, search engine rankings and loss to your business—your customers move to your competitors. Each web page has a legitimate URL. A structured URL is an instrument for search engines to direct customers to the right web page, enhancing user interaction and SEO efficiency. In this blog, we’ll discuss what makes a valid URL, from its definition to examples, its structure and its best practices. What is a valid URL? A valid URL is a reference or address used for accessing resources on the internet. It defines the location of resources like a video, image, animation or web page. A valid URL is the address your customers type in the browser to access online information or data online. However, never use the domain name and URL interchangeably, as they are two different terms. The domain name is the subset of your URL. For instance, a URL is: https://www.contentstack.com/blog/all-about-headless/headless-api-your-key-to-seamless-content-delivery While the domain name is: www.contentstack.com A URL incorporates the domain name and other details to make a complete web address that directs a browser to a specific domain called a web page. Every web page has a unique URL. Valid URLs ensure that your customers can easily access your web pages. A headless content management system (CMS) like Contentstack can help you autogenerate valid URLs. {{nativeAd:3}} Components of a valid URL The structure of a valid URL breaks down into the following five parts: Scheme Indicates the protocol used to access the resource. Common schemes include: Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) HTTPS FTP Prefer HTTPS for secure communication. But, unlike HTTP and HTTPS, FTP focuses on file transfers. Hostname A hostname is the server's domain name or IP address that hosts your resource. For example, in https://www.contentstack.com, www.contentstack.com is the hostname. Path The path specifies the exact location of your web page or resource on the server. It follows the hostname and starts with a forward slash. For example, in https://www.contentstack.com/blog/all-about-headless, /blog/all-about-headless is the path. Query string Query strings contain additional parameters for accessing specific data or performing certain actions, often used in dynamic web pages. The string starts with a question mark (`?`) and includes key-value pairs separated by ampersands (`&`). Here's an example of a query string: ?id=123&category=blogs Fragment Refers to a specific section within the resource. A fragment uses a hash symbol (`#`). For example, https://www.example.com/page#section points to ‘section’ within the page. Example of a valid URL http://www.bank.com/login?php?param1=value1 While not all the components are required beyond a domain name, following the URL format to ensure it’s valid and directs the customer to the desired page is essential. Correctly structured URLs are functionally robust, aiding user experience and search engine optimization. Case study: How did MongoDB modernize with Contentstack's headless CMS? MongoDB was looking to modernize and localize its tech stack, so it chose Contentstack’s headless CMS for its design freedom and composable model. MongoDB migrated over 250 pages to Contentstack, with more planned and achieved faster development and publishing speeds. The company leveraged Contentstack’s integrations for language translation, digital asset management (DAM) and digital experimentation. MongoDB's adoption of a modern tech stack resulted in streamlined content migration, improved translation/localization and enhanced website/main URL speed. After using Contentstack, Bill Mitchell, Senior Director, Web Strategy and Technology, MongoDB, said: “Our team was excited to find a solution that better supported the business's needs today and into the future.” Read the full case study here. Importance of valid URLs Web functionality A valid URL provides your customers with a seamless user and browsing experience. Invalid URLs result in 404 errors, damaging the trust of those who land on them. Besides reducing website credibility, your customers are more likely to jump to competitors. With nearly three-quarters of your customers hitting a 404 error on your website and never returning, ensuring a valid URL is the key to conversion success. SEO Search engines crawl and index your web pages using a URL. URL containing relevant keywords rank higher on the SERPs. Valid URLs contribute to better link management and SEO, making maintaining and updating your website content easier. Web development and maintenance Valid URLs ensure internal and external links within your website redirect to the pages they’re supposed to. Broken links frustrate your customers, decrease business credibility and make your web content harder to maintain. On the other hand, a valid URL helps you organize and manage your web resources, simplifying the maintenance task. Security Valid URLs prevent phishing attacks. These URLs enhance your website’s security by helping customers reach legitimate websites. Valid URLs are clear and descriptive, making it easier for customers to identify suspicious links. For example, https://www.bank.com/login is trustworthy compared to http://www.bank.com/login Also, phishers use URL shorteners to mask malicious links. URL validation techniques Unsafe characters You cannot use several characters in a URL because they cause issues in how web browsers and servers interpret them. Certain cases of unsafe characters allow cyber attackers to launch malicious attacks on your web servers. Unsafe characters include: Space Angle brackets: < and > Quotation marks: “ and “ Pipe: | Backslash: \ Curly braces: { and } Square brackets [ and ] Reserved characters Reserved URL characters have special meanings and cannot be used directly without encoding. These characters include: Colon (:) Slash (/) Question Mark (?) Hash (#) Ampersand (&) Equals Sign (=) At symbol (@) Basic URL syntax A valid URL follows certain syntax rules, like using allowed characters and proper formatting. You cannot use unsafe or reserved characters because you need to encode them to fit URL standards. Online URL validators Several online tools are available for quick and easy URL validation. These tools check the URL structure, availability and sometimes even security. You can use tools like: W3C Link Checker URLVoid {{nativeAd:9}} SEO Best Practices for URLs Keep URLs short and simple Short, straightforward URLs perform better in search rankings. Focus on URLs that are easy to read and free of unnecessary words or complex structures. Avoid special characters Always use only alphabetical, numeric, hyphen and underscore characters in the URL. Avoid using a dash, period, slash or any other characters that may distort the URL structure and require encoding. Use secure protocols Serve your URLs over HTTPS rather than HTTP to enhance your security. A secure site benefits your web ranking. Minimize dynamic parameters While dynamic URLs with query strings are sometimes necessary, static URLs are generally more SEO-friendly. Whenever possible, convert dynamic URLs into static formats to make them cleaner and more relevant for search engines. Design a logical URL structure Create a logical, hierarchical URL structure that mirrors your content organization. A well-structured hierarchy helps search engines understand the relationships between different pages, aiding in efficient indexing. FAQs What is a valid URL example? A valid URL example is https://www.contentstack.com/platforms/headless-cms. What's the difference between URLs and URIs? A uniform resource identifier (URI) is a broader term that identifies a resource by location, name or both and includes URLs and URNs (Uniform Resource Names). On the other hand, a URL specifies how to access a resource through its location. How do I find a valid URL? You can find a valid URL using online validation tools or ensuring it adheres to basic syntax rules. What makes a URL invalid? A URL becomes invalid if it contains unsafe or reserved characters, incorrect syntax or is improper formatting. Learn more Valid URLs improve your web functionality, SEO performance and user experience. Optimize your website URLs for better performance and visibility to ensure business growth. Talk to us to learn how we can help you create and manage valid URLs.

Jul 08, 2024 | 8 min. read

Discover how to give photo credit and enhance your credibility

Highlights You’ll learn why giving proper credit is essential. Benefits: Ethical responsibility to acknowledge the creator's hard work Builds respect in the industry Avoids fines and lawsuits by adhering to copyright laws How to give credit: Identify the source and ask for permission Develop a photo credit line Know your photo line placement Keep reading to learn more! Creating digital assets like photos and videos is time-consuming and expensive. You either need a graphic designer with a creative eye or costly design software. Because of this, many businesses put photo creation on the back burner and end up sourcing images from the internet. While it sounds like an easy process, you may face copyright issues. That’s why giving credit to the creator of images is essential. But will writing the name of the creator or designer alone suffice? Or do photo credits require something else, like a link to the source? In this blog, we explore how to give photo credit and why it’s so important. What is a photo credit? Photo credit acknowledges the original image owner or creator. It includes the creator’s name or source and sometimes even a link to the creator’s portfolio or licensing details. Giving credit where it’s due shows that you value others' work. Just as you spend time performing your work, so does the person who created the image. How would you feel when someone presents your work under their name? Appreciate the creator's original work, and one way to achieve this is to have other people explore their work. Properly using credit on the photos upholds your ethical standards and positively impacts creativity. Plus, it’s a legal mandate. Legal requirements for image credits Copyright laws protect the image owner's rights over the original images they create or click. These laws ensure everyone who uses their work seeks permission beforehand. Using photos without giving image owners due credit causes serious legal trouble, like fines or lawsuits. So, always double-check that you have the right permissions when using an image, whether for personal projects or commercial use. Respecting licensing terms is key—it honors the creator’s rights and keeps content usage ethical. Plus, getting familiar with license types like Creative Commons (CC), royalty-free or rights-managed, can help you navigate the legal side of using images from the internet. {{nativeAd:3}} Why giving proper credit is important? It’s your ethical responsibility Proper attribution shows respect for the creator's work and encourages them to continue sharing it. Also, creating or clicking photos involves skill, time and resources. Crediting gives due recognition to the creator's hard work. Accreditation builds your respect and rapport in the creative industry since you recognize the efforts of others. It enhances your credibility When you credit sources, you bring credibility to your work, letting your audience know that you are honest and give credit where credit is due. Crediting helps you achieve success in your business. It builds a community You build a community of like-minded professionals when you credit the original owner. Crediting builds a culture that values and encourages high-quality content and digital asset creation. How to give photo credit Using someone else’s content without permission can get you into serious legal trouble. To avoid such issues, use these steps to give proper photo credit: Identify the source and seek permission Knowing the source before using any photo on social media or website is important. Tools like Google Reverse Image Search can help you trace back to the image’s source. If the source of the picture is unavailable, check whether the metadata contains details about the person who created the picture. After identifying the source, ask the owner's permission to use the image on your website or social media. Create a proper photo credit line A photo credit includes the creator’s name, licensing information and the source. The general format is: Photo by [Creator’s Name]/[Source or License] Include details about the license under which you’re using the image. For example: Personal or professional attribution: Photo by Harry Brook Website or agency source: Photo by Harry Brook on Contentstack Licensing information: Photo by Harry Brook, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 Know your photo line placement Knowing the photo line placement is equally important besides the details to include in the photo credit. Where you place photo credits can influence visibility, aesthetics and user experience. Here are some tips: Blogs and websites Place the photo credit below the image for online articles and blog posts. This way, it's clear which image the credit is for and the creator gets immediate recognition. Use a smaller font so it doesn't distract but is still easy to read. Use HTML tags to link back to the creator or source. Here's a quick example: *html <img src="image.jpg" alt="Description"> <p>Photo by <a href="creator-portfolio.com">Henry Klassen</a></p> When you do this, you appreciate the creator's hard work while keeping things ethical. Always check the licensing agreements and give proper credit. Social media Giving proper credit to the original photo creator on Instagram, Facebook page or Twitter is essential. Tag them in the caption or description of your post. While there’s no standardized format for giving photo credits, these examples are good sources: “Photo credit: @Profile_name” “PC: @Profile_name” “Shot by @Profile_name” or “Photographed by @Profile_name” “Credit to @Profile_name” “Thanks @Profile_name for the photo” Check out this stunning scenery! #NatureBestPhotography Photo by @HarryBrookPhotography As YouTube doesn’t allow you to tag another account, give credit in the description section. You can ask the original creator how they want to receive credit for their work. They may ask for a link to their website or social media account. Print media In magazines, newspapers or brochures, print photo credits next to the image or in the margins. Make sure they're noticeable but don't interfere with the overall layout of your content. Presentations Add the image credit at the bottom of the slide or next to the image for slideshows or presentations. This keeps the credit visible without taking away from the main content. Tip on how to add a photo credit For online use and to add more credibility, include hyperlinks to the creator’s name or the image source. Make your photo credit visible and easy to read. Maintain a consistent crediting format across all your platforms and publications. How does Contentstack help with photo credits? Contentstack’s headless content management system (CMS) helps content creators embed accurate and consistent photo credits. The headless CMS integrates with many digital asset management systems (DAM) like Bynder. DAM offers a centralized asset repository. You can store, categorize and retrieve your photos. With built-in metadata fields, you can include detailed credit information like the creator’s name, source URL and licensing terms, providing all necessary details that are handy. How does Extu streamline multilingual content and digital assets with Contentstack? Extu, a company specializing in through-channel marketing, teamed up with Contentstack to tackle challenges related to managing multi-language content and integrating it with its proprietary technology. Using Contentstack's DAM from the marketplace, they improved the workflow and ensured faster campaign delivery. The adoption of Contentstack simplified the entire process of content creation, translation and distribution. With all digital assets consolidated into a single, easy-to-access interface, Extu has boosted efficiency, cutting workflow steps by 21% and reducing campaign launch times. Tara Yukawa, VP of Marketing Solutions at Extu, commented on the transformation: "Simply put, Contentstack met all of our requirements. As a headless CMS system, it integrates well with our full stack of technology and services, including a DAM, a translation provider, as well as our through-channel marketing platform that’s our proprietary technology. We also loved the fact that we could manage user workflows across multiple teams in Contentstack itself without having to have a separate project management tool. And I have to tell you, we made the right choice." Read the case study here. {{nativeAd:9}} Types of photo credit licenses Creative Commons Creative Commons licenses were created by a US non-profit organization with the same name. These licenses allow creators to set rules for how others can use their photos. Attribution (CC BY) Anyone can share, use, change or build upon the image. You can use the image commercially if you credit the original creator. Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) Similar to CC BY, you can share the new photo provided it’s licensed under identical terms. Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND) Anyone can share a photo with credits for commercial or non-commercial use. However, you cannot modify or change the image. Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) You can share and use others' work, but not for commercial purposes. Giving credits is mandatory. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) This CC license is the same as CC BY-NC, but you can use it for non-commercial use. You must use the same Creative Commons license. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) Most restrictive; only allows downloading and sharing with credit, no changes and non-commercial use. Copyright The image owner has all rights to use the photo. You need explicit permission to use the photo. You cannot use, change or share without the copyright holder's permission, as it results in legal action. Public domain Public domain is a type of photo credit in which the image owners upload photos so that anyone can download and use them without their permission or giving proper credit. These images are free to use. Rights-managed licenses Rights-managed licenses provide specific rights for image use, such as duration, location and purpose. They are more expensive and restrictive than royalty-free images because you must agree to every term. Royalty free-licenses In a royalty-free license, you buy the right to use the photo. You can use the photo for commercial and non-commercial purposes without worrying about intellectual property. Common challenges faced with photo credits Copyright infringement Copyright infringement happens when someone uses the owner’s exclusive photo rights without seeking their permission. Those who violate copyright notice and the licensing requirements might face fines and lawsuits. Credit disputes Credit disputes happen when there's a disagreement over who receives the image credit. Such an issue crops up when multiple people claim ownership or if you misspell the creator's name. To overcome credit disputes, communicate clearly with the creator to prevent misunderstandings and resolve issues. Formatting and placement inconsistencies Inconsistencies in how and where others place photo credits can affect the look of your content and make it harder for viewers to recognize and appreciate the creator’s work. Establish a standardized format and placement practice for photo credits across all your platforms. Compliance with licensing terms Compliance with licensing terms is another area that requires attention. Misinterpreting or overlooking the specific requirements of Creative Common images can lead to violations and subsequent legal repercussions, even if unintentional. Language barriers Language barriers and international copyright laws can complicate photo attribution. As image repositories and audiences are global, adhering to different legal requirements and crediting norms across various regions becomes challenging, especially if you operate in multiple countries. FAQs How do you properly credit a photo? Include the creator’s name, a link to the photo, the source and any licensing information. How to give a picture credit to someone? Mention the creator’s name and tag their profile if possible. How do you credit a caption on a photo? Add the credit line in the caption text or immediately below the image. How do I tag someone for photo credit? Use the "@" symbol followed by their username on social media sites. Learn more When using, changing or sharing someone else’s photo, give credit where it’s due. Giving proper credit makes you less likely to face legal and copyright infringement issues. Are you ready to streamline your content while providing proper photo credits? Talk to us to know why giving photo credit is essential.

Jul 08, 2024 | 7 min. read

Why your business needs a packaged business capability now

Highlights You’ll learn about the benefits of PBCs: Simplifies business operations: Create pre-configured, plug-and-play solutions through standardized integration and APIs Enhances efficiency: PBCs streamline your workflows across departments, helping you automate your repetitive tasks Promotes innovation: With PBCs, you test new ideas without disrupting your core systems Scales with your business: PBCs manage varying loads on your website, allowing you to scale your operations Improves user experience: PBCs ensure consistent interactions across platforms, increasing your user experience Start using PBCs today! Keep reading to learn more! What happens when your e-commerce store witnesses an unprecedented traffic surge because of a new product you added? If your website cannot handle the influx of traffic, you will face downtime, reducing customer experience while frustrating them. Scalability and agility aren’t just nice to have—they're essential. Companies must adapt, pick up on trends, test different innovations and bring them to market. And, you can do it using packaged business capabilities (PBCs). Gartner Research recognizes PBCs as crucial and every business leader must give importance to PBCs for success. But what is PBC, what are its benefits and role in composable commerce and how do you implement them? What is a packaged business capability? A packaged business capability is an integral part of composable commerce, helping you create best-of-breed solutions for your business. PBCs are a group of software components representing your data schema, a set of services and application programming interfaces (APIs). A PBC typically serves a specific, well-defined business capability. In other words, PBCs are independent and autonomous business services that can be used in parts or as a whole. These modules are the building blocks for creating customized business user experiences and product suites. For example, an e-commerce store integrates PBCs such as customer relationship management (CRM), inventory management and personalized marketing tools. Combining these PBCs offers business users a seamless shopping experience with tailored product recommendations, efficient stock availability updates and customer support—all accessible through a single user interface. It encourages companies to customize their technology setup by choosing software based on their business goals and requirements. Microservices vs packaged business capability Feature Microservices PBCs Definition Microservices are independent, small services that work together Pre-built, modular capabilities that can be integrated into applications Deployment Independent deployment of each service Integrated as a complete package Flexibility Highly flexible, allowing for custom development Flexible within the scope of provided capabilities Integration Requires orchestration and communication between services Designed to be integrated with minimal custom development Customization High potential for customization Limited to the provided configuration options Scalability You can scale each service Scales as per the package's design and limitations Benefits of packaged business capabilities Flexible The PBCs can be as small or large as needed. You may group just two modules or 15 for more complicated operations. You build something you need and make changes along the way. In addition, you can customize everything as opposed to strict cookie-cutter templates. Ultimately, it depends on what makes the most sense for you and your team. Better user experience With PBCs, you design an interface and align it with your audience's requirements. PBCs help you deliver seamless, intuitive interactions across various touchpoints. By standardizing functionalities across different modules, PBCs provide a consistent user experience, whether users browse your website on a mobile device, desktop, or other platform. Scalable Business needs and customer habits evolve quickly and PBCs allow you to meet these dynamic demands. Each PBC module can handle varying loads without affecting the performance of other components. For example, an inventory management PBC can scale up during peak shopping season. Case study: How did Contentstack make LADbibe Group scalable? LADbible Group switched from their in-house content system to Contentstack's flexible headless content management system (CMS) to meet their evolving content needs. The company emphasizes the importance of scalability. Contentstack’s extensibility allowed the team to easily integrate with existing infrastructure and experiment with new content types, including live articles developed during an internal hackathon. The developer tools streamlined feature requests and enabled quick changes, while the integrated UI improved efficiency for over 100 content writers. Overall, Contentstack has halved the editorial process time and strengthened collaboration with exceptional support from the Contentstack team. After using Contentstack, Tom McGiveron, Lead Software Engineer at LADibible Group, said: “Contentstack gives us a solid base that’s easily extensible. We’re now able to turn out new features quickly and implement them in an elegant way.” Read the complete case study here. {{nativeAd:4}} Reduces business complexity Packaged business capabilities make your life a lot easier by offering pre-configured, plug-and-play solutions that reduce your customization need, reducing complexity in your business operations. For instance, with standardized integration, built-in unified APIs and integration tools, PBCs connect different systems, ensuring smooth data flow and communication. Because of the modular nature of PBCs. you can update or change individual modules without affecting the entire system. Streamline business processes Well-designed PBCs offer more efficient workflows across different departments, removing any instance of software function overlap. These pre-configured modules simplify complex workflows by automating repetitive tasks and integrating with existing systems. With PBC, you speed up critical processes, improve collaboration across departments and maintain high accuracy in your operations. Higher return on investment As PBCs ensure a higher return on investment (ROI) by: Optimizing your operations Improving the time to market Reducing the total cost of ownership of the software Their modular nature allows for selective adoption, allowing you to invest and scale capabilities as needed, reducing overhead costs. Ensures innovation Complex and monolithic technology often slows down business innovations—experiments are impossible. As you develop PBCs, your business teams can test new ideas and develop new products without jeopardizing their basic IT infrastructure or system. The role of packaged business capability in composable commerce Packaged business capabilities ensure a modular, flexible, composable business architecture to build powerful e-commerce stores. The role of PBC in composable enterprise is as follows: Modularization PBCs break down complex business functionalities into smaller modules. Each module represents an independent capability, customizing your customers' commerce experience. Reusability PBCs are essential in composable commerce because they’re reusable. You can reuse them across multiple channels because they provide pre-built and standardized functionalities. Flexibility Using PBC, companies can mix and match different functionalities to create never-before-come commerce experiences. PBC's flexible nature allows for faster time to market and helps companies respond to market changes. Integration PBCs offer standardized APIs, event channels and integration frameworks, making it easy to connect with existing systems. For instance, you can integrate a payment processing PBC with your e-commerce platform. Integration helps you add new features, increase overall business effectiveness and reduce your time to market. Scalability and performance PBCs are built to scale, ensuring they perform irrespective of the situation. For example, a customer support PBC can ramp up during peak shopping seasons to handle the extra traffic. The scalable nature means each part manages increased demand without impacting others, providing a smooth and efficient user experience. How to implement packaged business capabilities Identify business needs Look at your current business processes and determine where PBCs make a real difference. For instance, you might need a PBC offering data analytics capabilities if you're struggling with data management. Evaluate different PBC solutions Choose a PBC compatible with your existing system, scalable nature, cost and functionality. For example, if you’re a small business, you might prioritize cost-effective, scalable options. Plan the integration Put together a plan detailing how you will integrate PBCs into your IT setup. Map out every step, set clear timelines and establish milestones to monitor your progress. Test the PBC Test the PBC to see how well it works with your existing equipment. Simulate a busy sales day to check whether the PBC is reliable and functioning properly. Train your team Ensure your team knows the new PBC system's ins and outs. Offer comprehensive training sessions and ensure they have ongoing support for troubleshooting and optimization. Monitor and optimize Post-implementation, monitor your PBC to track its performance. Gather feedback from users and make changes to increase its effectiveness. {{nativeAd:9}}Example of packaged business capabilities PBCs provide you with valuable information about various industries. Here are some examples of packaged business capability: Customer relationship management (CRM) Automate customer interactions using CRM systems. These systems record your customers' preferences, information and purchases. A CRM manages your sales processes and marketing campaigns, improving customer engagement. Supply chain management (SCM) A supply chain management (SCM) PBC offers the following benefits: Tracks and manages your inventory Fulfills orders Forecasts demands Provides logistic coordination Deliver customers’ orders on time It also ensures you don’t run out of inventory during peak season. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) An ERP system is software that integrates various business functions, such as supply chain management, human resources, manufacturing and finance, in a single system. Every industry can integrate an ERP, as there’s no need for every team member or team to use separate apps on their apps and websites. Teams can access everything from a single interface. Human capital management (HCM) HCM manages your human resources, which involves people working for your company, recruitment, employee training and staff motivation. Using this PBC helps you with: Talent management Payroll Workforce planning Improving employee relations Efficient use of the workforce] Business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools BI can perform business analytics. These business intelligence and analytics tools help you with: Data analysis Predictive analytics Data aggregation Reporting These solutions help you make the right decisions because they turn large amounts of data into useful insights. FAQs What is a packaged business capability? A packaged business capability (PBC) is a pre-packaged software module offering specific business functions. It allows easy integration into your existing systems. What is the difference between microservices and packaged business capabilities? Microservice architecture focuses on specific tasks within an application, while PBCs are broader functional modules that consist of multiple microservices and deliver the desired business functionalities. What are examples of business capabilities? Some core business capabilities are PIM, CRM, SCM, ERP and HCM. Learn more If your business is scaling to meet consumers’ needs, pay attention to the tools and technologies used on your website. PBCs bring architecture to your website without compromising its characteristics or neglecting your customers' needs. To learn how packaged business capabilities can change your business processes, talk to us.

Jul 05, 2024 | 5 min. read

Understanding CORS errors: Key causes and effective solutions

Highlights You’ll learn about the causes of CORS error and its solutions. Common Causes: Misconfigured CORS headers: Incorrect headers lead to denied access Preflight request failures: The server denies preflight requests due to misconfiguration Different origins: Mismatched client-server origins also trigger CORS errors Invalid or missing API keys: The server denies access without API keys, leading to a CORS error Solutions: Adjust server-side settings to include correct CORS headers Use simple requests or match preflight requirements Verify API documentation for proper configuration Fix your CORS errors to enjoy seamless web development. Switch to a compliant CMS. Talk to us today. Keep reading to learn more! Developers have asked over 14,600 questions relating to CORS errors on StackOverflow, which shows their importance in web development. CORS errors are an ever-present reality for web developers. When you start building a web application, you may make link spelling mistakes or try to retrieve data from another server. That will throw up a CORS error since you are attempting to access resources from a different domain. CORS are essential for security. They prevent unauthorized access to resources from another domain without permission. Developers must understand CORS errors, why they happen and how they work to enable them to apply the right fix. What is a CORS error? A CORS error is a security feature that occurs when a web application tries to access data in another domain without the right permissions. Here is how it works: If a website makes an API request to another website, the browser will get a CORS error, provided it has no permission. Before CORS adoption, developers could only make API requests within their domain. However, they created CORS to enable websites to access resources in external domains without compromising on web security. Common causes of CORS errors So, what causes CORS error? Here are the most common causes of CORS errors: Misconfigured CORS headers Preflight request failures Different origins between client and server Invalid or missing API keys Misconfigured CORS headers Cross-origin request headers are like permission notes that show who can access resources and under what conditions. When these headers are not properly configured, the system spits out a CORS error. To developers, a header is like a search warrant in the hands of law enforcement trying to access a property. Without it, there is no way to get in legally. Here are some important headers. Access-control-allow-origin headers: This header states that websites have the right permission to access resources. Access-control-allow-headers: These headers specify the headers you can include in the request as a security measure to confirm users. Access-control-allow-methods headers: These headers outline how you can access data, whether by PUT, GET, POST, or PUT. Preflight request failures If a preflight request fails, there will be a CORS error. But what is a preflight request? A preflight request comes right before a website tries to access data from another online server. It asks the server for permission, and if it is declined, the preflight request fails. Incorrect server setup or configuration issues can cause preflight request failure. Different origins between client and server The “Access-control-allow-origin” header specifies the origins with permission to access APIs. If the requesting domain does not match the specified origin (port, scheme, or host), the browser turns down the request and gives a CORS error. Invalid or missing API keys API keys are secret codes used to authorize websites. Websites include them in headers when accessing another server. If the API key is wrong or missing, the server denies the request, and you will get a CORS error. {{nativeAd:5}} How to fix CORS errors Developers must be proactive in dealing with CORS errors. Here are practical ways they can do it. Adjust server-side settings Wrongly set headers will trigger a CORS error. So, include relevant CORS headers in your server responses to avoid that. These headers are: Access-control-allow-origin: Include the Access-control-allow-origin in server-side response headers. Access-control-allow-methods: Access-control-allow-methods include GET, POST, and PUT. It specifies allowed HTTP methods for cross-origin requests. Access-control-allow-headers: Use content-type or authorization. This header specifies allowed custom headers, ensuring only authorized headers are accepted for security Access-control-allow-credentials: The Access-control-allow-credentials response header tells web browsers whether the server allows cross-origin HTTP requests to include credentials. To give permission, set the withCredentials property on the XMLHttpRequest to true. Client-side solutions Not every request requires preflight requests. For instance, simple GET requests with no custom headers do not. However, if you cannot avoid preflight requests, ensure that the requests of your Fetch API conform with the server rules for headers and authorization tokens. Fixing CORS errors in a web application Imagine you want to fix CORS errors in a weather dashboard web application that shows real-time weather data. This kind of app will get real-time data from a weather API. Debugging Process: Check the error: To start, check your developer console to know what CORS error you are dealing with. That lets you know what needs fixing, be it a missing header or unauthorized access. Review API documentation: Check the documentation for the weather API, which is usually available online. The API will indicate if CORS is enabled and any requirements for accessing data, such as allowed origins and required headers. Review request methods: Avoid custom headers unless necessary. Check that your Fetch API request uses a standard method like GET. Some APIs may not require preflight checks for these methods. Inspect preflight request, if applicable: If the API requires a preflight request, check the error message for details on missing or incorrect headers. Depending on the API configuration, there are two methods to fix this error, as follows: Simple requests—no preflight: Check API documentation to confirm CORS is enabled for simple requests, such as GET and POST without custom headers. Focus on using standard methods in your Fetch API calls. Requests with preflight: If the API requires preflight checks, you must ensure your Fetch API request has the headers listed in the API documentation. Here is an example using Fetch API with an Authorization header required by the server: JavaScript fetch('https://weatherapi.example.com/data/current', { method: 'GET', headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' } }) .then(response => response.json()) .then(data => { // Use the weather data here }) .catch(error => { console.error('Error fetching weather data:', error); }); Always note that client-side solutions can help avoid CORS errors, but they cannot force a server to allow access if its CORS configuration is restrictive. Troubleshooting CORS configuration problems The most logical approach to solving any problem is understanding its root cause. This is a practical step-by-step approach to debugging CORS errors: Check your browser console: Open the developer console and look for CORS error messages. That will point you to the source of the problem, be it server or client. Check server response headers: If the error message points to server issues, take another look at the failed request's response headers. Look for the Access-control-allow-origin header. It should match your website's origin or be * for public access. Verify client-side request: If the error points to a client-side problem, verify that your Fetch API request code is correct. Use standard methods, like GET and POST and avoid unnecessary custom headers unless the API requires them. Match preflight requirements: If the source of the error is a preflight request, include server-specified headers like authorization tokens in your request. Tools and techniques for diagnosing CORS Issues You can diagnose CORS errors using several tools, such as Chrome’s DevTools, Postman and browser extensions like CORS helper. These tools allow you to inspect network requests and identify errors. You can also check server headers to ensure they have the right configuration for Access-control-allow-origin. These tools allow you to streamline troubleshooting, ensuring safe cross-origin resource sharing. Resolving CORS issues in web development Troubleshooting CORS errors will resolve the issue, but taking a more proactive approach and preventing them is even better. A good CORS policy helps you achieve that. It allows you to prevent errors by specifying domains that can access your APIs. Using proxy servers, You can adjust the web browser’s settings during development or route requests. These measures allow you to secure cross-origin resource sharing while maintaining the functions of your web app. {{nativeAd:7}} Case studies Taxfix Taxfix experienced issues with scalability and security and reached out to Contentstack. Contentstack’s headless CMS allowed them to upgrade their security and power over 300 content variables. Teuber said. “We can use the same logic, we have all the components, the structure, the headers, it’s all way more scalable. I remember the designers were a little skeptical at the beginning, but now they are huge fans!” Read more to see how Taxfix improved security with Contentstack’s headless CMS. Health Karma Health Karma needed a modular approach to manage security and chose Contentstack to deliver it. The Contentstack headless CMS allowed them to control data access and improve security for their developers and web applications. Michael Swartz had this to say.“The more we build in Contentstack, the more personalization we can offer, and the more scalable deployments we can do.” Read more about Health Karma’s content scale-up after opting for a secure CMS. FAQ section How do you fix a CORS error? To apply the right fix, you must first understand the cause of the error. Start by debugging the system. You may need to configure the server or use a browser extension or proxy to fix a CORS error. What causes the CORS issue? A CORS issue occurs when a web app requests resources from other systems without the right permissions. This triggers browser security policies. What does CORS stand for? CORS stands for cross-origin resource sharing (CORS). It allows browsers to restrict access to resources on its domain when a website tries to access sensitive data from another server. What is the full form of a CORS error? CORS is the short form for cross-origin resource sharing error. Learn more CORS is an essential security feature for modern web applications. It allows developers to access resources hosted on an external domain using APIs. Configure your server settings to specify allowed origins. Also, it should ensure that access is granted to specific methods and headers. Contentstack allows you to manage CORS errors via a serverless function via custom extensions using UI extension SDK. Switch to a headless CMS with a robust CORS policy. Talk to us today!

Jul 05, 2024 | 6 min. read

How brand association shapes consumer behavior

Highlights You’ll learn how to create powerful brand associations that resonate with your audience and drive business success: Definition: Brand association is consumers' connection with your brand's attributes, values and experiences Importance: Positive associations enhance brand recognition, loyalty and equity, influencing consumer behavior Types: Founder-based Celebrity-based Character-based Customer-based Tagline-based Activity-based Luxury-based Value-based Keep reading to learn more! Ask any coffee lover about their go-to brand, and you might get the answer: “Starbucks.” While your product matters, the most memorable brands, like Telsa, Dove, Starbucks and many others, foster memorable connections with their audience. Whether it’s a mere tagline, a brand jingle, an emotional connection, a seamless experience or a shared value, these brands know how to nail consumer experience. For this to happen, you must create a positive brand association to encourage your consumers to buy. Read ahead to understand how brand association psychologically influences your customers’ behavior. What is a brand association? A brand association is a mental and psychological connection between your consumers and your brand’s attributes, values, experiences, concepts and experiences. It’s a thought in your consumer’s minds when they think about your brand or company. Positive emotional associations connected to a brand define a positive brand association. To create strong consumer relationships, you need to entrench positive traits in your consumer’s mind. For example, when you think of smartphones, Apple comes to mind. Streaming services? Netflix. Fast Food restaurants? McDonald’s. Fashionable? ZARA. These associations influence consumer behavior, brand loyalty and brand integrity. {{nativeAd:3}} Importance of brand association Positive brand association connects people to your company or brand. Negative brand associations dilute your brand’s reputation, lowering sales and business growth. Some reasons why brand association is important are: Enhanced brand recognition People tend to remember and recognize brands that evoke positive feelings or attributes. For instance, Apple is linked with innovation and quality, making it a favorite among tech enthusiasts. Increased customer loyalty Positive brand associations build trust and reliability, which keeps your consumers returning. Take Amazon, for example; its reputation for convenience and fast delivery has earned it a loyal consumer base. Higher brand equity Higher brand equity means you can charge a premium price for your products. For instance, Rolex and its products have that glamorous feel and can sell products at much higher prices than others. Influences the buying decisions Brand associations can influence consumers' buying choices by aligning with their values, desires or needs. Nike, emphasizing athleticism and high performance, attracts consumers looking for quality sportswear. Elements of brand association Brand attributes These defining features focus on quality, innovation or customer service. For instance, Apple’s innovation and top-tier design are core attributes that define its brand identity. Brand personality Brand personality is the specific values, traits, and qualities that show how you present your brand to your audience. For example, JEEP is a tough car brand. Brand experiences Personal interactions and experiences with a brand shape your consumer’s associations. Starbucks’ commitment to creating a consistent, inviting coffeehouse atmosphere has helped it cultivate a distinct and favorable brand image. Brand values Brand values are foundational principles for which your brand strives. These values influence the messages your company sends and your company’s culture and activities. For example, Patagonia advocates sustainable solutions to draw in people with the same passion. Brand benefits The advantages or positive outcomes consumers associate with a brand's products or services can be functional, emotional or societal. For example, the peace of mind and safety linked to Volvo vehicles drive their brand perception. Brand symbols Brand symbols are visual elements that represent your brand, such as logos, slogans or mascots. For example, Nike's swoosh and the slogan "Just Do It" show athleticism. How does Contenstack help in brand association? Contentstack strengthens your brand association through its unified platform for managing content consistently across various channels. With Contentstack, you can personalize content delivery and create relevant and engaging user experiences. Its scalability, integration capabilities and detailed analytics help you maintain a cohesive image, build trust and foster deeper connections with your audience. Case study: How did Contentstack improve Cartier’s brand integrity? Cartier adopted a headless content management system (CMS) using Contentstack to streamline content reuse, maintain brand consistency and embrace innovative omnichannel technologies. This approach allowed Cartier to reduce website development time from months to days, ensuring brand integrity across multiple digital platforms. Key benefits included faster deployment of new sites, improved digital experience quality and greater return on content investment. After using Contentstack, Anastasia Goglova, International Digital Lead at Cartier, said: “The websites that are such a critical part of our digital portfolio are now more aligned and more performant. As a result, the customer digital experience of Cartier improves, reflecting our commitment to becoming a reference for luxury in all aspects.” Read the full case study here. Types of brand association Founder-based association Association with a brand’s founder creates a positive image and a personal connection with your consumers. Example: Apple’s association with Steve Jobs evokes emotions and builds trust. Celebrity-based association Celebrities and brands are two sides of the same coin called marketing. Consumers are likely to buy your products when their favorite celebrities promote them. Character-based association Fictional characters or mascots can create memorable and engaging brand associations. Example: The Geico gecko and the Michelin Man Customer-based association Using customer reviews can build trust. Positive customer experiences shared on social media and review platforms can improve your brand credibility. Tagline-based association A simple and memorable tagline shows your brand's identity and beliefs to consumers. Example: Nike's "Just Do It" tagline Activity-based association Associating your brand with specific activities or events increases its relevance and appeal. Example: Red Bull’s association with sports shows energy, action and excitement. Luxury-based association Positioning your brand as luxury or premium can attract consumers who want exclusive, high-quality products. Example: Rolex and ZARA Value-based association Brands that deliver value and uphold strong ethics create positive associations with consumers. Many consumers like brands that align with their values and principles. Strategies for building brand association Building trust and credibility Building trust with your audience starts with a commitment to quality. You build trust only when you ensure excellence in what you offer, from the thoughtful design of your products to the professional consumer care in your after-sales service. With 81% of consumers needing to trust a brand before buying, build trust by showing your brand's expertise and authority within your field and industry. Your content showcases your knowledge: Insightful blogs that answer pressing questions, Informative webinars for showing your industry expertise In-depth white papers that tackle industry challenges. Associating with other brands Collaborating with other brands that share similar values introduces you to new audiences and ensures positive associations. When you work with another brand on products or services, you create a stronger image for both brands. Partnerships like this increase your brand equity and improve your reputation. Customer touchpoints Think about how you want to interact with your potential customers. You may want to connect with them on social media, email, chat, website or review sites. How you nurture your customers' digital and offline touchpoints decides how they view and perceive your brand. Brand storytelling Brand storytelling is another key factor in showcasing your brand's values, mission and products. When your stories focus on personal experiences, you connect with your audience. This approach makes your brand stand out, helping you stay close to your consumers' hearts. {{nativeAd:9}}What is a brand association map? Like a pyramid, a brand association map visually represents all associations around your brand. They help you understand how consumers perceive your brand in your market. A brand association map shows how people perceive your brand because it connects emotions, positive traits, experiences and beliefs. By mapping these connections, you can see what makes your brand strong and what needs work. To create a map, you must collect consumer feedback, analyze market trends and identify direct and indirect associations. FAQs What is a brand association? Give an example. The brand association includes the attributes, qualities and experiences customers associate with a particular brand. These associations happen because of consistent exposure to the brand’s messaging, products and interactions. For instance, when people think of Apple, they associate it with innovative technology and sleek design. What are core brand associations? Core brand associations are the primary attributes, benefits and values that define a brand. They are central to the brand's identity and impact consumer perception. What are the 8 categories of brand associations? The 8 categories of brand associations include Founder-based Celebrity-based Character-based Customer-based Tagline-based Activity-based Luxury-based Value-based Learn more A brand’s value depends much more on its products than its consumers. The values you offer and the vision you share play a vital role in building great brand associations. Building a long-lasting and positive association is a never-ending process as your company grows and evolves. But it cann make or break your brand. Talk to us to learn how we can help you maintain positive associations throughout.

Jul 05, 2024 | 6 min. read

How to fix CORS errors: A comprehensive guide for web developers

Highlights You’ll learn how to diagnose and fix CORS errors CORS error causes: Misconfigured headers, wrong tokens, or protocol mismatches Diagnosis steps: Check browser console: Identify error messages to know the cause of the error Use debugging tools: Use Postman, Fiddler, or browser extensions to debug CORS errors fixing methods: Adjust server configuration: Set the right CORS header content Configure frontend requests: Ensure proper request methods and headers Use proxy servers: Proxy servers allow you to bypass CORS restrictions Cut through the process with a compliant headless CMS that offers serverless functions to solve CORS errors. Talk to us today! Keep reading to learn more! Most developers are familiar with CORS errors as they have had to face them at least once. It is a security rule that prevents unauthorized access to data from requests made from a different domain. You get a CORS error in the browser when this rule is broken. Considering that CORS errors are disruptive and take time to resolve, developers must plan for them, understand them and define clear policies to deal with them. What is a CORS error? If a web page tries to make an unauthorized API request to another website, the browser will get a CORS error because these are two different domains. A CORS error happens when a web application attempts to access resources in another server without having the right permissions. When a front-end code running on a local server tries to make requests to an online server, wrongly set CORS headers on a server or incorrect authorization tokens can also lead to these errors. Also, using different protocols, such as HTTP versus HTTPS, between the server and client can trigger CORS issues. CORS errors will seriously affect the website users' experience because important resources that depend on access will be blocked, leading to broken features on the website. Developers must understand CORS and configure the system correctly to handle it. {{nativeAd:5}} Understanding CORS headers CORS headers control how web apps handle requests from other domains. They establish the rules for what kind of access is allowed and what is not. This is why it is important to know these headers- as some CORS errors come from misconfigured headers. Here are the main CORS headers and what they do: Access-Control-Allow-Origin: This header tells the web browser which domains can access the resources. It specifies the ‘allowed origins’. Access-Control-Allow-Methods: This specifies valid methods for accessing resources. They include GET, POST, PUT, etc. Access-Control-Allow-Headers: This response header indicates all headers allowed in a request. It specifies headers that can be used when making a cross-origin request. Access-Control-Allow-Credentials: The server sets this header to indicate that credentials can be included in requests. Credentials include client-side SSL certificates, cookies, or HTTP authentication. Access-Control-Max-Age: This header states how long the browser can cache the results of a preflight request. It gives the maximum age in seconds. How to diagnose CORS errors CORS errors are at the web browser level and require developer tools to debug them. To deal with them, you must understand the error message. Here are a few ways to do it. Debugging from your browser console When a CORS error happens, the console tab displays the specific error messages. These messages contain information about what went wrong and the location of the error. That allows you to identify and troubleshoot the error at the source. Common CORS error messages When you get a CORS error, check the browser console for any of these messages. No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present: This error indicates that the server response does not contain an Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. The CORS policy does not allow access from this origin: This error message indicates that the server's CORS policy restricts access to resources from specific origins. Preflight request failed: A preflight request is like a test request before the main request. It fails when the browser does not receive a valid response from the server. Extra debugging tools for CORS errors Aside from the native methods explained, you can use several tools to debug CORS errors. Here are a few. Postman: You can use Postman to send requests to your server to see the response. This helps you check if the CORS headers are present and configured correctly. Fiddler: This web debugging tool allows you to monitor and change HTTP requests and responses. It also allows you to check headers to identify the source of CORS issues. Browser extensions: Browser extensions, like CORS Unblock, Moesif Origin, and CORS Changer, simulate CORS requests and can help you quickly identify problems. How to fix CORS errors CORS errors can be fixed, depending on the cause, by adjusting the server-side configuration, configuring frontend requests, and using proxy servers. Adjusting server-side configuration The most straightforward way to resolve CORS errors is to set the server to send the right CORS headers in its responses. Set your server to allow access to resources by permitting origins that have the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. You can also use the “*” to permit all origins. However, that could leave you open to security issues. Access-Control-Allow-Credentials is also useful because of cookies. For each HTTP request to a domain, the browser will attach the cookies associated with that domain. The cookies are for authentication purposes. By ensuring this header is set correctly, the server will realize that your website has the authentication for access. Configuring frontend requests When CORS errors happen on the front end, you can adjust how your application sends requests to the server. For example, using simple requests like GET and POST is good practice. But if you send a complex request—like PUT to a cross-origin site, your browser will send a preflight request to the server, asking if it is allowed to make this request. This preflight request will have Access-Control-Request-Method and Access-Control-Request-Headers headers. These headers contain the methods and headers needed for the request on the client side. The allowed methods and headers must match the requested methods and headers to get a valid response from the server. Resolving CORS errors with proxy servers You may not be able to change server settings when using third-party APIs. In such cases, you can defer to a proxy server. The proxy server requests the resource on behalf of the web application and adds the important headers to the response. The proxy server will stay between your request and the target server. Therefore, because the request comes from an unknown source, the CORS proxy can be tricked into thinking it is from an allowed location. Troubleshooting CORS errors Here is a list of the most common CORS configuration mistakes and simple ways to troubleshoot them. Missing or incorrect Access-Control-Allow-Origin header: The server did not specify which origins are allowed to access its resources. Check the server-side code for this header and include the origin of your application. Incorrect Access-Control-Allow-Methods: You will need to verify that the methods used by your application are listed in this header. Missing Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Verify your server configuration and include necessary CORS headers. That ensures your server sends the Access-Control-Allow-Headers response with the headers list. Wildcard problem: The wildcard "*" creates potential security issues. So, replace it with specific origins in Access-Control-Allow-Origin. Only allow trusted and set proper CORS headers for each request. Misconfigured preflight request settings: Preflight requests are sent before actual requests. They determine if the server accepts the method and headers. Misconfiguring these can cause CORS errors. Ensure Access-Control-Request-Method and Access-Control-Request-Headers are correctly set on the server. Server-side function errors: A server-side function error indicates the issue is from your end. Check your logs, debug code, validate inputs, and update dependencies. {{nativeAd:7}} Best practices for preventing CORS errors With the right configurations on the server and client sides, the chances of you having errors will be minimal. Use proper server and client-side configurations Only allow specific websites like your own by setting the "Access-Control-Allow-Origin" header. For the client side, use standard requests like GET or POST if you can. Consider security in CORS Policies Implement fine-grained control over allowed methods and headers. Be clear about who can access your server instead of using a wildcard (`*`) origin. Use HTTPS for communication to keep things encrypted and safe. Implement a robust CORS policy setting Allow the exact methods (like GET or POST requests) and any special instructions (headers) that are truly needed. Use serverless functions for complex setups. Case studies Welcome Tech WelcomeTech wanted a future-proof technology for good security, and Contentstack’s headless CMS offered that, including SOC 3-compliant and serverless functions for handling CORS issues. By switching to Contentstack, WelcomeTech improved security and publishing speed, and their productivity improved by 50%. Hear from William Leborgne, the Director of Content. “I’ve looked at more than half a dozen CMSes, and Contentstack came to the top for all the right reasons. The product is incredibly user-friendly. The support team was excellent. The integration with our system was seamless. The engineering team is delighted. Integrations for personalization, AB testing, and all the other bells and whistles are there in spades, so it’s a no-brainer.” Read more about how Welcome Technologies boosted productivity with Contentstack’s enterprise CMS. MoneyHero Group MoneyHero needed a secure solution to manage content and ease developer experience. Contentstack offered that with its secure headless CMS that also provided serverless functions to manage CORS errors, easing developer experience. The changes improved product rollout time by 85%. Hear from Andrew de Ridder, the Head of Application Engineering. “The technical tooling and APIs that Contentstack provides allows our engineering teams the power and flexibility to surface content wherever it's needed, from multiple websites in different regions, to email, social media, or whatever use case comes next.” Read more about how MoneyHero delivered content agility by opting for Contentstack. FAQ section How do you resolve a CORS error in a web application? The most logical way to resolve CORS issues is to find the root cause. You can do so by checking the browser log for the error message. Once you know the cause of the error, you can apply the right fix. Can CORS errors be fixed at the browser level? No, the server decides what can access its resources by setting CORS headers. Making changes at the browser level will not force a server to allow requests from unauthorized origins. How to resolve the CORS error Resolving the CORS error involves understanding the reason for the error and implementing a solution, usually on the server. How do I enable CORS in a web application? Set your web application's allowed origins, methods, and headers to enable CORS. That way, you outline the rules for who can access your server and cross-origin resources. Can we fix a CORS error from the front end? It is generally not possible as CORS is a browser-level policy. However, you can use CORS proxy services, proxy servers, and JSONP to find your way around it. Learn more Every developer knows about CORS errors and must have dealt with them at one point. They inhibit cross-origin resource sharing, API integration and web application functionalities. They also take time to fix, which increases the time spent on development work. Working with a compliant headless CMS takes care of these issues. Contentstack gives you the extra option of using serverless functions to deal with CORS issues. That way, you can maintain business stability, integrate third-party services, and save time on web development. Contentstack’s headless CMS offers that and more. Talk to us today.

Jul 04, 2024 | 6 min. read

Why your business needs a comprehensive branding library

Highlights You’ll learn about the importance of brand libraries: Consistent branding Centralized assets ensure uniformity Enhances brand recognition Streamlined workflows Ready-to-use assets save time Encourages creative focus Secure collaboration: A single source of truth prevents version conflicts Scalable operations: Quick onboarding and efficient campaign deployment Version control: Track and update asset versions Invest in a DAM system to build your branding library and elevate your brand's impact. Keep reading to learn more! In the current ecosystem of startups, small and medium businesses and enterprise companies— everyone seems to prioritize brand guidelines and messaging standards—often overlooking one the most important guardrails called branding library or asset library or digital asset library. With a brand library, your design and marketing teams can ensure all your brand assets are accessible, organized and used across all communication channels—eliminating the need to share ZIP files of fonts or the latest marketing templates and assets via Slack or Zoom. Branding libraries ensure the right brand assets are where your teams need them the most. Invest in DAM systems to build a digital asset library. A DAM is a central repository that allows everyone in your organization to access assets like videos, images, logos, or font files. But before understanding how DAM helps build a library, let’s explore what a branding library is and why it’s crucial for every business handling digital assets. What is a branding library? A branding library is a digital storehouse where you store content or assets that you or other teams reuse. These include brand images, logos, PDFs, legal disclaimers, videos and other marketing collaterals. Your brand library enables your users to access these assets from anywhere securely. By using brand libraries, busy marketers create unified communication across multiple channels, giving a competitive advantage. A brand library is not a place where you store your brand assets. It’s a tool for managing your digital assets efficiently and securely. When you provide teams with a digital library, all your marketing efforts align with your brand guidelines, and you ensure every step in your customer journey is consistent. This builds brand awareness and trust. Bynder and Brandfolder, a part of Contentstack’s marketplace, offer advanced features to create, share and organize the complete digital content lifecycle in the cloud. These features help streamline sharing and managing digital assets across multiple platforms. As DAM offers version control features, a brand library built with DAM helps you make changes across all the connected web properties. For instance, if you have a brand image and want to change it, you need to edit or update it once in the brand library and your new version will be reflected on all your marketing channels or wherever the image is used. How Extu used Contentstack to streamline multilingual content and digital assets? Extu, specializing in through-channel marketing, partnered with Contentstack to overcome challenges related to multi-language content management and integration with proprietary technology. The company uses DAM from Contentstack's marketplace to streamline workflows and integrate with their technology for quicker campaign delivery. The adoption of Contentstack has simplified the entire process of content creation, translation and distribution. By consolidating all digital assets in a single, accessible interface, Extu has improved efficiency and reduced workflow steps by 21% and campaign launch time. After using Contentstack, Tara Yukawa, VP of Marketing Solutions at Extu said: “Simply put, Contentstack met all of our requirements. As a headless CMS system, it integrates well with our full stack of technology and services, including a DAM, a translation provider, as well as our through-channel marketing platform that’s our proprietary technology. We also loved the fact that we could manage user workflows across multiple teams in Contentstack itself without having to have a separate project management tool. And I have to tell you, we made the right choice.” Read the complete case study here. {{nativeAd:3}} What are the benefits of a brand library? Ensures consistency Imagine seeing a brand's ad on Instagram, visiting their website and getting an email from them, all of which look completely different. Confusing, right? Consistency in marketing ensures all materials are uniform and aligned with the brand's identity. This creates a cohesive and recognizable brand presence across all platforms, building trust with the audience. Streamlines your workflows Marketing efficiency comes from having ready-to-use assets and guidelines. Streamlining your workflows encourages your team to use their creativity rather than getting bogged down by administrative tasks. Makes secure collaboration With remote teams across different continents, your team may work collaboratively on a single digital asset. But what happens when everyone is working on a different version of the same document? You may end up reworking the asset from scratch—making a brand library a must. As a single source of truth for all brand-related materials, a library ensures everyone is on the same page. Helps you scale As your business grows, so does the need to produce more brand assets in a shorter time frame. Comprehensive branding libraries allow for scalable operations. They ensure that new team members from multiple departments can quickly get up to speed, marketing campaigns can be rapidly deployed, and brand consistency is maintained irrespective of the team size or geographic location. Empowers you to publish brand-approved assets With a brand library, you can keep track of every version change—ensuring your teams always use the most updated version. Maintaining a branding library means you update your assets once and publish them everywhere. Steps to build and manage a branding library You cannot build a branding library in a day—it requires proper planning and these steps: Know your brand guidelines The primary purpose of any branding library is to store digital assets to ensure consistency in messages and marketing materials. Establishing brand guidelines is the starting step. Before creating a library, have guidelines that cover every aspect of your brand, including color schemes, logos, image styles, fonts, typography and usage rules. For instance, you can create a style guide on how and where to use your logo and colors to ensure your brand sends consistent messages. Define the file naming convention and use metadata File names should be such that your team can infer the file’s content without opening it. Encourage using standard naming conventions to ensure consistency and easy understanding of the digital assets. You can even use metadata to identify your digital assets. Suppose you want to add a digital image to an HR presentation or social media; you would use keywords like employees, HR or human resources to get a relevant picture. You can discover the image much faster if your metadata has these keywords. Centralize your assets Keep all your branding assets in one central spot for your team to access. Use tools like digital asset management systems like Brandfolder to make this happen. For example, create folders for different types of assets like logos, images and templates and update them regularly. DAM systems categorize and store your digital assets in a centralized storehouse. While there are numerous DAM systems, choose one that serves your requirements and is compatible or easily integrates with your content management system (CMS). If you’re using Contentstack as your CMS, select a DAM from their marketplace to streamline your publishing while maintaining consistency in branding assets. {{nativeAd:9}}Educate your team Only when your team knows how to access and use your brand’s library can you maintain consistency in communication. Educate your team by running engaging workshops, creating user-friendly training materials and keeping everyone updated. Host a webinar to review the brand guidelines and show how to access and use the DAM and brand library. Best practices for maintaining and updating the branding library Regular audits and reviews Keeping your branding library relevant and accurate is a must. Conduct regular audits, ideally every quarter, to assess your current assets and guidelines. Identify outdated elements and refresh them to match your current branding strategies and market trends. Version control A solid version control system helps you manage, update and avoid inconsistencies. Track every change to ensure your team knows about the latest versions of assets and guidelines. Documentation Keep thorough documentation of all branding guidelines, procedures and updates. Your documentation comes in handy when queries arise. Using the document, you can transition during team changes or scaling operations. Security measures Protect your assets with strong security measures. Use secure login systems, regular backups and data encryption to prevent unauthorized access or changes. FAQs Why is library branding important? Library branding is important because it ensures consistency in all marketing communications, creating a familiar, identifiable brand. It also helps your team members work together. What is a brand asset library? A brand asset library is a centralized storehouse that stores all your brand's visual and digital assets. It includes logos, color palettes, typography, imagery and other elements that define your brand's visual identity. How to do a branding book? A branding book or a brand guide details the rules and standards for using your brand assets. To create one, compile all brand assets, develop guidelines and organize the information into a document. Learn more Build your brand library to give your teams easy access to digital assets from anywhere. Creating a branding library is necessary for every company that wants to maintain consistent and effective brand management. By using the right tools, following established strategies and adhering to best practices, you can ensure your brand remains strong and recognizable. Talk to us today to see how Contentstack builds and maintains a successful branding library.

Jul 03, 2024 | 7 min. read

Enhance success with strategic product management and marketing

Highlights You’ll learn about the importance of: Early involvement: Engage product marketers and managers early for deeper product insight Cross-department collaboration: Work with engineering, sales and support teams for innovative solutions Clear roles: Define roles based on strengths, not titles Transparency: Maintain open communication with regular updates and feedback loops KPI monitoring: Measure and adjust strategies for optimal performance Contentstack solution: Use Contentstack's CMS for consistent channel content, efficient collaboration and improved product data management Transform your approach to product management and marketing today. Keep reading to learn more! Like Rome, creating successful products in a single day is impossible—it takes time and effort. Many teams and stakeholders work together to create a product that everyone envies and two such roles are product management and marketing. These two might seem similar but are worlds apart even though both are after the same things—a great product, satisfied customers and a profitable company. The product management and marketing departments work closely to ensure smoother interactions between the product and its users. But did you know that where product management ends, product marketing begins? To clarify the confusion, this article covers the difference between product management vs product marketing, how they work together and where they find common ground. What is product management? Product management guides every step of your product’s journey, helping you deliver within budget and on time while hitting business goals. Product managers combine engineering, marketing, user experience and design to bring products to life. From brainstorming and market research to development, launch and even post-launch tweaks and improvements—product management takes care of everything. Most product managers understand their business plan, market and audience to deliver high-quality products. Depending on the company, product managers may need IT skills and technical expertise to manage their product strategy. What is product marketing? Product marketing is the process of bringing products to the marketplace to drive demand. It’s all about getting the word out about a new product or service. Using various marketing programs and tactics, a product marketer builds awareness, grows revenue and increases sales. Product marketing creates your product’s images and builds a position in the market before launching the product. {{nativeAd:6}} Product management vs product marketing Aspect Product management Product marketing Primary focus Product development and lifecycle management. Go-to-market strategies and driving product adoption. Responsibilities Delivers new product information and updates to the product marketing team. Receives product information and updates from the product management team. Goals Ensure the product meets customer needs and business objectives. Maximize product awareness, demand and sales. Stakeholder interaction Engineering, design, marketing and user experience teams. Sales, customer support and sometimes directly with customers Metrics of success Product performance, customer satisfaction and ROI. Market penetration, product positioning, brand recognition and revenue growth. Skills set Technical expertise, analytical and strategic thinking, project management Market analysis, communications, competitive analysis and strategic planning. Roles and responsibilities of a product marketing manager and product manager Roles and responsibilities of a product marketing manager A product marketing marketer (PMM) ensures a product's successful launch and reception to the market. Their primary responsibilities include: Driving product awareness Creating and building the product’s image and branding Developing and executing go-to-market plans Creating sales enablement material Planning and managing product launches Managing the product’s online community and presence Analyzing market trends Developing a deep understanding of the competitor and market Creating blogs, guides and case studies to educate customers Roles and responsibilities of a product manager A product manager (PM) shapes your product’s vision to match the company’s strategic goals and meet customer needs. Their primary responsibilities include: Researching the market to understand customer needs, requirements and market trends Bringing together what the company wants and what customers say and choosing features to add to the product Coordinating and communicating about a product or service with management and stakeholders Making sure the product and its features fit the customer's requirements Gathering and analyzing feedback from customers Creating multi-year roadmaps for products Common causes of the friction between product management and marketing Recognizing and addressing the common cause of the friction between product management and marketing helps your product succeed: Misaligned goals and objectives The roles and responsibilities of product managers and product marketing managers differ. PMs work on product features and help you solve product problems, while PMMs work on market readiness and user engagement. Lack of clear communication channels When PMs and PMMs don’t interact with each other, misconceptions and misinterpretations seep into your teams, drifting you away from your objectives. Without set protocols, several bottlenecks and hitches occur in the product’s life cycle and marketing processes. Discrepancies in timing and approaches Product launch timelines set by PMs might not always sync with the marketing schedules planned by PMMs. This misalignment creates friction due to conflicting approaches in product release cycles, leading to rushed or delayed marketing campaigns. Unclear role definitions Lack of clear roles and responsibilities causes the duties of two or more people to overlap. When there are no well-defined roles, there is likely to be a conflict, and the two teams will pull the wrong strings, which lowers productivity. Resource constraints Limited resources can strain both teams as they struggle to meet their goals. Whether it’s budget limitations or personnel shortages, insufficient resources can heighten tensions, especially when both teams compete for the same resources to achieve their objectives. How does Contentstack help product management and marketing? Contentstack solves many problems for product marketers and managers. It provides an easy-to-use headless content management system (CMS) that allows quick updates and keeps content consistent across all channels. Product marketers can deliver tailored content with personalization features for increased user engagement and conversion rates. Plus, it integrates with marketing automation tools for smooth and efficient campaign management, ensuring relevant content at every customer journey stage. With Contentstack, you create localized content, helping you adapt to market changes. It enhances efficiency and scalability, making it perfect for large-scale marketing efforts and product launches. Case study: How MoneyHero Group transformed product data management with Contentstack's headless CMS Over the past year, MoneyHero Group streamlined how it manages product data by improving its game with Contentstack’s headless CMS. Now, their product data is more organized, consistent and reliable across different markets, which means they can roll out new content faster. The content teams love the bulk and scheduled publishing features because they make updating products quick and easy. Thanks to this smoother process, they've cut their tech stacks from 97 to 20, slashed product release times from six weeks to under a week and improved the customer experience by hitting Web Vitals targets on over 90% of their web pages. After using Contentstack, Andrew de Ridder, Head of Application Engineering, said: “Having accurate and up-to-date product data and page content is absolutely critical to a product aggregator and Contentstack is a key tool that helps MoneyHero Group and its various brands manage this mission-critical data. Contentstack also provides many tools and APIs that let the engineers at MoneyHero Group build out exciting and fast user experiences across all our websites.” Read the full case study here. {{nativeAd:8}}How do product marketers and product managers work together? Make your product marketers and managers work as early as possible One reason conflict occurs is that the product marketing team feels they don’t have all the information they need about the product’s strategy, making them ineffective in their work. Only when product marketers know the product details in depth do they encourage their team to pitch the products to prospects. This helps them create collateral pieces that resonate with your target audience. Product managers must ensure that the product marketers are included as early as possible— from the product planning stage. When this happens, your marketing team delivers superior marketing messages. Focus on cross-departmental collaboration Working with different departments, such as engineering, sales, and customer support, adds fresh ideas and strategies and helps you build innovative products. Focusing on teamwork taps into different expertise and viewpoints, propelling your business ahead. Cross-departmental collaboration allows you to spot potential issues early, share key insights and develop well-rounded solutions to meet your stakeholders’ needs. Define the roles and responsibilities Remove the notion that product managers and marketers feel constrained or restricted because they have to follow a set of responsibilities. Such an approach is unproductive. Why? Your product’s success is at stake, and defining boundaries does more harm than good. While defining roles and responsibilities matter, base these responsibilities on which team and people can perform an outstanding job for a desired set of actions. For example, if a product management team member is excellent at creating marketing collaterals that drive conversion—it shouldn’t matter whether creating marketing collateral is a product marketing task. Use this strategy early on in the product planning process to ensure the success of your product. Did you know that 80% of product managers are involved in go-to-market decisions and half of them are involved in marketing decisions related to pricing, so, never define responsibilities based on someone’s title or your existing notion of the department they belong to. Maintain transparency and communication Open and consistent communication is key to building trust and keeping everyone on the same page. This means not sharing updates but listening and inviting everyone to contribute. Product teams can create product roadmaps that are accessible to the marketing team and vice-versa. Regular updates, team meetings and feedback loops keep misunderstandings at bay, address concerns and build a collaborative spirit. Plus, transparent communication lets you spot potential issues early on, allowing you to tackle them head-on and keep things running. The more your product management and marketing team communicates, the less confusion there will be and the more successful your products will be. Monitor your KPIs Measuring key performance indicators helps you gain insights into performance. Different teams can adjust strategies to increase performance. For instance, by often checking different KPIs, marketers can identify potential challenges they need to address, spot potential areas of improvement and make decisions to ensure higher productivity. FAQs What is product management in marketing? Product management in marketing oversees a product’s journey from conception to market delivery, ensuring it meets customer needs and aligns with business objectives. Does a product manager do marketing? While product managers focus on product development, they collaborate with product marketing teams to ensure the product's market fit and successful launch. Are product management and marketing related? Yes, both functions are interdependent. Product management develops the product, while marketing ensures it reaches and resonates with the target audience. Learn more Product marketing and product managers are related job titles because they often contribute to customer success. The key ingredients to customer success are a quality product, a sales strategy and the right messages at the right time. Talk to us today to learn how to link product management and marketing to ensure the products meet the required standards.

Jun 28, 2024 | 6 min. read

Top strategies for managing headless CMS security in 2024

Highlights You’ll learn how to manage headless CMS security: Data encryption: Use SSL certificates and standards like TLS and AES Authentication and permissions: Use measures like role-based access controls API security: Secure your APIs with OAuth and tokens and audit API access logs Regular updates: Update the system to ensure up-to-date security certificates Advanced measures: Restrict IP access through whitelisting and geo-based controls Follow the outlined strategies to secure your CMS. Are you looking for a watertight, secure CMS? Talk to us today. Keep reading to learn more! The cost of global cybercrime may reach $10.5 trillion yearly by 2025, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. Business leaders must prioritize CMS security. It is not just cyberattacks. It is all the other things that come with them, such as breaches of trust, financial losses, and potential lawsuits. Yet, managing headless CMS security is not a walk in the park. It requires serious commitment, and we go into them in detail. What is headless CMS security? Think of headless CMS security like a gold reserve. If an intruder comes through the entrance, you could lose everything. This happens more with traditional CMS, where the front end and back end are tightly coupled. With headless CMS security, you have a highly secured vault concealed behind a castle. The front door of your castle (website) only displays information from the vault through a secret passage (API). Even if an intruder gains entry through the front door, they cannot access your assets unless they also decode the security measures of the passage. Headless CMS vs. traditional CMS security Unlike a traditional CMS, a headless CMS is flexible and highly scalable. It integrates with multiple digital devices, including mobile apps, IoT devices, and AR/VR—It also supports voice content management. But how do they compare in terms of security? Feature Headless CMS Traditional CMS Design Isolates content, separate from the front end Content is tied to the website as one system. Data exposure Minimal data exposure with secured APIs Higher risk of higher data exposure due to direct access to CMS Systems security More focused on API security More focus on website security Attack surface Smaller because content delivery is via APIs Larger because content and delivery are exposed User permissions Granular control over access levels May have limited user role options Importance of security in headless CMS Securing your headless CMS is not just about ticking important tech boxes—it is a strategic move that safeguards your data and reputation. A headless CMS separates the content management back end from the front end, enabling seamless content delivery across multiple platforms. However, that design comes with some challenges. Securing a headless CMS helps prevent data breaches, revenue losses, potential lawsuits, and system downtime. {{nativeAd:5}} Common security vulnerabilities Here are common security issues that may affect headless CMS security: Data leakage: A malicious attack like SQL injections could expose your data to the public, and sensitive data in the hands of bad-faith actors could spell trouble for your organization. API exploits: An API exploit is a way to steal data from a system due to unsecured APIs. Attackers exploit that weakness through malicious code injection or intercepting the data in traffic. Weak authentication: Lack of or poor authentication protocols leave the door open for intruders to sneak in and wreak havoc. Third-party integration: Third-party solutions may lack adequate security, opening the door for malicious attacks. Lack of access controls: Nobody can access and modify data in the CMS without role-based access controls. Outdated software: Outdated software and patches also pose a security risk and must not be ignored. Organizations must be aware of security breaches as the consequences may be dire. For instance, Meta suffered the same in the 2021 data breach when attackers gained access to the personal data of over 533 million users. Then came litigation and an eventual fine of $276 million. Such incidents highlight the need to manage headless CMS security. So, what can you do? Best practices for managing headless CMS security Here are the best practices to secure your headless CMS and maintain your organization’s reputation. Data encryption This is a staple in data security. Use SSL certificates and industry standards like TLS and AES to secure data in transit and at rest. Authentication and permissions These are simple but effective measures to ensure only validated users can access or modify specific data. Basic strategies are: Strong passwords Multi-factor authentication Role-based access controls API security Securing APIs is crucial as they are central to headless CMS operations. You can use OAuth or tokens or audit API access logs to detect suspicious activities and act if you find any. Regular security updates Update the system to keep up with the latest security threats. You may also consider automating this process to avoid neglect. Advanced headless CMS security measures Beyond the basic security practices discussed, there are some advanced security measures to consider, such as: Web application firewall (WAF) Web application firewalls (WAFs) offer real-time protection by filtering HTTP traffic between a web app and the internet, protecting the headless CMS from attacks. DDoS protection Distributed denial of service (DDoS) is a common attack method that disrupts services. So, preventing it helps you operate without disruptions. Here are strategies to protect against DDoS attacks. Rate limiting and traffic shaping Bot mitigation solutions to block malicious traffic CDNs to manage traffic surges Load balancing to distribute traffic and enhance system resilience IP access restriction Restricting access to your IP address limits traffic requests to only authorized users. Here are techniques to do it: Adaptive control: Adaptive control allows you to adjust the system to respond to threats in real time. Whitelisting and blacklisting: Using this method, you put safe IP addresses in the whitelist and blacklist unsafe or suspicious ones. Geo-restrictions: Geo-restrictions control access to the CMS based on location. Restricting access to your headless CMS based on IP addresses prevents unauthorized access and reduces the risk of attacks from identified high-risk locations. Securing third-party integrations To avoid security issues with third-party services, vet service providers review source codes and track their regulatory compliance. These steps can ensure that third-party integrations do not provide a pathway for cyber attacks. {{nativeAd:7}} Case studies Taxfix Taxfix experienced a very familiar problem with traditional CMSes—scalability. As their business grew, their WordPress CMS got slower and unable to handle modern security requirements. Contentstack’s headless CMS enabled them to scale and upgrade their security, powering their two locales and over 300 content variables. Teuber said. “We can use the same logic, we have all the components, the structure, the headers, it’s all way more scalable. I remember the designers were a little skeptical at the beginning, but now they are huge fans!” Read more to see how Taxfix streamlined content management with Contentstack’s headless CMS. Health Karma Health Karma aimed to design a modular approach to manage security and chose Contentstack to do it. The Contentstack headless CMS allowed them to control data access. It also allowed them to turn off unused features without disrupting the whole system. Michael Swartz had this to say about Contentstack.“The more we build in Contentstack, the more personalization we can offer, and the more scalable deployments we can do.” Read more about Health Karma’s content scale-up after opting for a secure CMS. FAQ section What is the security of headless CMS? The headless architecture treats the front end and the back end as separate entities. Hence, an attack on the front end does not affect the back end. What does a headless CMS do? A headless CMS allows you to manage content in one place, the back end. From there, you can deliver the content to any digital device using APIs. Are headless CMS the future? Yes. A headless CMS offers flexibility. It works with APIs, allowing them to connect with multiple devices, including emerging technologies. Why is headless more secure? Several reasons. It has a smaller attack surface compared to traditional CMSes. Its design also ensures that when the front end comes under attack, the CMS remains safe. Learn more Managing headless CMS security involves many basic and advanced strategies. Putting these strategies in place allows you to secure sensitive information, build trust, and enhance your organization’s reputation. Contentstack uses the HTTPS protocol and stores data in a secure virtual private cloud. It also offers the industry standard AES-256 algorithm and secure API for CDN content delivery. Choose Contentstack for headless CMS security that guarantees your peace of mind. Talk to us today.

Jun 28, 2024 | 6 min. read

The comprehensive guide to headless CMS technical support

Highlights You’ll learn everything about technical support in headless CMS: Definition: Technical support assists you with the installation, configuration, and integration of a headless CMS Benefits: Easy transition to headless CMS, faster troubleshooting, better onboarding Real-world example: Contentstack delivered technical support that allowed Leesa and Pella to achieve a seamless headless CMS transition, resulting in organic traffic and faster content delivery Enjoy a seamless transition to a headless CMS with the right technical support. Contentstack offers multichannel, customized, and responsive support, leading to 98% customer satisfaction. Talk to us today. Keep reading to learn more! Recent reports state that 57% of businesses already use a headless approach, while another 31% plan to consider a headless CMS by the next year. The reasons are not far-fetched. A headless CMS allows you to deliver content and digital experiences to multiple digital channels, and it has cloud-native features, allowing it to grow with your business. Unlike a traditional CMS, it only focuses on the back-end content repository and relies on APIs to connect with any front-end framework. That decoupled design offers some complexity. Hence, you need robust technical support during and after implementation. Understanding headless CMS technical support Headless CMS technical support is crucial as organizations bed into a new headless CMS setup. Migrating to a headless CMS can throw up technical issues like integration problems, performance bottlenecks, and security vulnerabilities. Hence, vendors must provide assistance on security, API troubleshooting, developer assistance, and proactive monitoring. For instance, Extu enjoyed Contentstack’s comprehensive customer support with API integration, documentation, and customer service throughout the pilot stage until they went live. Key considerations for technical support in headless CMS Several aspects of customer support help usher in the transition to a headless CMS, and here are the most important ones to consider. Vendor support: Find out how fast the vendor resolves issues and their level of support. Review their service level agreements (SLAs) to understand how they work. Community forums are also essential to vendor support, as they are good platforms to ask questions and get help. API integration: Ensure that the CMS you choose can smoothly transfer data between different platforms using application programming interfaces (APIs). Also, check that the APIs are secure and functional. Scalability: Find out if the headless CMS solution can also grow with your business as you expand. Such CMS must have a horizontal scaling architecture to manage extra storage and traffic spikes as you grow. Security: Ensure the headless CMS vendor complies with regulatory and industry standards, such as GDPR and ISO/IEC 27001:2022. Also, ensure that the vendor offers security management protocols. For instance, Contentstack offers a reliable virtual private cloud and industry-standard AES-256 algorithm for encryption. Disaster recovery and data backup: As data security is a critical issue, also consider what plans headless CMS vendors have in the case of a security breach. A resilient system must have data recovery plans that reduce any loss should the system come under attack. Multichannel support: Check that technical support mechanisms are available on multiple channels, such as phone, web chatbots, social media, and others. Content delivery optimization: To improve headless CMS efficiency, use a powerful content delivery network (CDN) and hosting provider. Contentstack offers robust CDNs and a front-end framework to automate deployment. {{nativeAd:5}} Best practices for effective headless CMS technical support Consider below best practices for effective technical support. Comprehensive documentation: Documentations are a point of reference and help troubleshoot. It should highlight the APIs, integration processes, and troubleshooting steps. Proactive monitoring and alerts: Monitoring tools allow you to detect and deal with issues early. Automate the process by setting up alerts. Regular software updates: Software updates ensure you are not behind on the latest trends, whether in terms of security or tech shifts. Ongoing maintenance and support strategies Ongoing monitoring helps detect problems early, allowing you to address them before they develop into something more serious. Your CMS will be secure and efficient with regular updates and monitoring. Technical support also involves training your team to understand how the system works so they can troubleshoot problems. Headless CMS implementation roadmap This roadmap shows the steps, milestones, and collaborative approach needed to successfully transition into a headless CMS configuration. Define your goals: Speak with your It team and developers to understand your technical maturity and what you would require going forward. That allows you to develop the right business case for a headless CMS. Choose the right platform: The right platform is secure, flexible, and scalable. Contentstack is MACH-enabled and offers responsive customer support and a vibrant community. Set up the backend: The backend is the system's backbone. Set up secure APIs for data integration and microservices interaction. Also, ensure your back end can work with your front end. Develop the front end: Headless CMS allows you to build user interfaces in the front end using any tech stack that works for you, be it Angular, React, Vue.Js, Etc. Ensure the front end is fast, intuitive and user-friendly. Contentstack offers fully automated and simplified front-end hosting. Test the system: Run functional, stress, and other performance tests to ensure all features work well. Run load tests to ensure the system can handle high traffic and usability tests to ensure you can deliver a seamless user experience. Challenges and solutions Here are common challenges in headless CMS implementation and strategies to deal with them. Challenges Solutions Connecting with existing systems Use REST APIs or GraphQL to ensure smooth data exchange. Make sure the different systems can communicate via middleware Content migration Create a clear plan before you start the migration from traditional to headless CMS Key milestones and benchmarks A successful headless CMS implementation requires the input of all stakeholders and a defined goal. For example, you may want to deliver omnichannel experiences, faster publishing, a better user experience, localization, or all of that. Create the right business case, get stakeholders' input, and opt for a MACH-enabled headless CMS. Next, set up the content repository, secure APIs, and a user-friendly frontend interface. Conduct thorough testing and monitor performance. Implement logging and automated alerts to track performance. Create a regular review mechanism to track metrics and user feedback to improve system performance. Collaborating with IT and marketing teams Migrating to a headless CMS is a complete business strategy that requires marketing and IT alignment. Ensure that both teams collaborate and share information. Regular meetings keep everyone aligned and ensure a smooth implementation. {{nativeAd:7}} Future trends in headless CMS technical support AI and automation With increasing AI adoption, headless CMS will automate many aspects of tech support, leveraging predictive analytics. Although they already do that with web chatbots, they may extend it to monitoring and troubleshooting, programming the system to automatically deal with performance issues as they come up. Integrated DevOps practices Integrated DevOps practices in headless CMS technical support will become more mainstream. Vendors will automate deployment pipelines, continuous integration (CI), and continuous delivery (CD) and deliver rapid updates. For instance, they can deploy automated testing frameworks to catch bugs early. Case studies Leesa Leesa struggled with low organic traffic as developers were dealing with too many content requests. They lacked the freedom and speed required to deliver high-impact content. Switching to Contentstack allowed them to fix the problems. Along with its headless CMS, Contentstack provided the right support to ease into the new headless architecture. Hear from Richard Bilton, the Director of Technology. "Contentstack has been fantastic. I don’t know of any other customer support team willing to jump on a video call and code with us and help us fix a challenge. In my world, it’s never happened before.” Read more about Leesa’s organic traffic success after switching to Contentstack. Pella Pella faced the usual issues with a monolithic CMS, such as slow content delivery, the inability to customize layouts, and predefined templates that were not flexible. With Contentstack’s headless CMS and technical support, they could decouple content management from presentation. That allowed them to reduce development time by 50% and increase publishing by 230%. Tod Hilton, the Front-End Web Developer, summarized their feelings. "Contentstack is the best decision we ever made." Read more about how Pella opened new doors with a headless CMS. FAQ section What is headless CMS support? It means the technical assistance and resources given to the users and developers to troubleshoot or manage the headless content management system, like installing, configuring, and integrating the headless CMS with other systems and various front-end technologies. Is a headless CMS just an API? No. A headless CMS is not an API in itself. It is a content management system that separates the back end from the front end and connects both systems via APIs. Is a headless CMS just a backend? No. It is more than a back end. It is a complete CMS that is concerned with content storage and provides the facilities to deliver content in any form to all kinds of digital devices. Is headless CMS just a database? No, Headless CMS is not just a database. A headless CMS consists of a CMS interface and backend that stores and delivers content via APIs Learn more Traditional CMSes struggle to scale content delivery, and they do not offer the kind of customization and personalization that makes a difference for businesses. Hence, many organizations are switching to a headless CMS.However, that comes with some technical challenges that require the right support. Contentstack offers unmatched customer support to support your digital transformation. It includes documentation, web chat, and specialized technical support for your headless CMS. Enjoy a seamless transition to a headless CMS with Contentstack. Talk to us today.

Drive growth: Strategies for a data driven operating model

Elevate engagement with customer journey orchestration

Essential DXP components for robust composable architectures

Why digital needs to get flexible

What is a Headless CMS?

Elevate your brand success with a content supply chain

Contentstack basics

Quickstart in 5 mins

Starter apps

Content Delivery APIs

Content Management APIs

How-to guides