eCommerce Personalization: Importance of Headless in a Composable Era

Customers value personalization more than anything else, and this is especially the time of online stores. When it comes to personalization, it is the brand’s responsibility to make good use of its customers' information and deliver what the consumer actually wants.   

Brands can increase customer loyalty and satisfaction by thinking ahead to meet their customers' needs before they even know they have them.  

Using their real-time behavior, inferred intent, and comprehensive insights, eCommerce personalization creates a unique and satisfying shopping experience for each of your consumers. 

Even though businesses that focus on a specific market segment may not think eCommerce personalization is relevant to them, it is becoming increasingly important even if you are a seasoned brand. Therefore, these businesses must be just as receptive to implementing a headless Content Management System (CMS) for B2B eCommerce. 

Why eCommerce Personalization?

Offering relevant deals to your customers is much easier when you personalize the experience for them. Epsilon data shows that when brands provide customers with personalized experiences, 80% of customers are more likely to buy something.  

This supports the repeated claims of consumers that personalization is very important to them. Furthermore, the inverse is also correct. Customers are more likely to switch brands to one that better caters to their individual needs if that brand fails to provide a personalized experience. 

This creates journeys that can be measured and take customers from knowing about your brand to learning about your products to buying them again. 

 

What is Headless Commerce? 

A "headless" eCommerce platformis one in which the frontend (the "head"), typically a template or theme, has been decoupled and removed, leaving only the backend. When it comes to online sales, "headless commerce" refers to a system that eliminates the need for a graphical user interface by storing, managing, and delivering data directly. 

Simply put, a headless platform is one in which the back-end CMS storage and management of content is kept completely independent from the front-end presentation of that content to users. 

Because it is compatible with cutting-edge innovations, a headless content management system (CMS) is the best choice for eCommerce businesses concerned with their long-term viability. In a pinch, it enables teams to make adjustments to marketing campaigns and customer experiences as needed. 

Advantages of headless:  

• Create flexible and reusable content 
• Front-end management delivery  
• Product access via mobile app, Siri  

Sitecore has its own unique Sitecore Experience Database  (xDB) and Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA) 

• Sitecore Experience Database (xDB):
  A visitor chooses to engage with a website. Based on the visitor's IP address, the xDB directs them to the nearest cluster (data center). Contacts are routed to the most competent Sitecore content delivery server by load balancing software. 


• Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA) 
  
  The Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA) is a plug-in that can be used with either the XM or XP editions of the platform.
  
  It allows users to build and maintain multiple websites on a single platform, with all of their settings and content kept in one place, and without needing to learn any specialized coding languages. 

Sitecore Experience Platform offers much more than most headless CMSs: 

• Discover from the journeys of your customers 
• Allows you to give each visitor a truly personalized experience 
• Making it easy for you to try out different things and find out what works best 
• Giving you the tools to give customers relevant content as they browse and shop 
• Letting you connect marketing campaigns and follow-up actions, like adding a product to the cart, to things like someone going to your homepage 

Benefits of eCommerce Personalization in a Composable Era

1. You get a highly customized experience. 

The heart of personalization is catering to the specific requirements of each individual customer. When it comes to online shopping, this is significant because it is more important than ever to pay attention to the needs of your customers and give them the individualized and tailored experiences, they are anticipating than ever before.

To meet that demand, you need access to the right technology as well as the expertise to effectively implement it. 

You can learn a lot about your visitors, both new and old, by analyzing the paths they took to reach your site.  

In order to improve the customer experience and reduce the complexity of their journey, it is important to recognize that intent as soon as possible. 

2. Your time to value is improved with headless commerce. 

The amount of time and resources required to develop comprehensive business logic and back-end services is the most important factor to take into account when designing and developing bespoke software. 

In point of fact, up to 85 percent of a process for software development is typically dedicated to the creation of back-end application logic, functionality, and capabilities.  

With a headless commerce platform like Sitecore OrderCloud, you are able to start from the point of completion, which enables you to concentrate on the customer experience and deliver a final solution at a significantly lower cost, in significantly less time, and with significantly fewer efforts. 

3. Personalized search based on semantic understanding. 

Since search visitors convert at a rate that is 1.8 times higher than average, the underutilization of personalized search represents a massive missed opportunity. 

However, search functions may harm as much as they help your customer experience, despite the fact that the search bar is arguably the most important real estate on any website. This is due to the fact that many search engines only care about individual keywords, rather than their context and meaning. 

Searches are often clumsy. It can be difficult to get precise search results due to typos, vague wording, and divergent product descriptions. 

4. Increases customer loyalty. 

Customers will appreciate your business more if they feel like you've taken the time to tailor their experience to their unique needs. Based on their research, 84% of marketers agree that "personalization positively impacts customer retention and loyalty," as reported by Exact Target and Forrester Consulting. 

Customers who have shown loyalty to a company can be easily enticed to make additional purchases, and these repeat buyers are often the most influential and vocal advocates for a brand, encouraging their friends and family to do the same. 

5. Headless commerce makes your integration faster. 

The headless nature of eCommerce has significant improved for the user experience. Businesses are able to rapidly adopt new technology touchpoints, mold the customer's path to purchase, and become more interactive with the assistance of innovative digital experiences and personalization. In addition to that, there is a huge amount of room for testing and experimentation for brands to curate memorable eCommerce experiences. 

Businesses with a headless commerce architecture are able to offer their users a better customer experience. Sitecore Platinum partner Altudo can assist you in realizing business value! 

For more insights into eCommerce personalization in the composable era, attend this webinar

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