January 2022 Summaries

This article discusses the benefits of an extensible content platform in resolving legacy CMS headaches and providing teams with tools to build robust digital experiences. A case study of Staples Canada, a large retailer in Canada, is presented, highlighting how they used Contentful's extensible content platform to replatform their website, improve customer experience, increase traffic, and deliver personalized content to customers. The article showcases the flexibility, ease of use, and scalability of Contentful, which enabled Staples Canada to achieve significant results without a personalization engine.

The Contentful Marketplace has expanded its offerings with the addition of the Frosmo Segments app, which integrates personalization software into the Contentful Content Platform. The app allows users to attach audience segments to content entries and target visitors in those segments, improving user experience and business performance metrics such as bounce rate and conversion rate. The collaboration between Frosmo and Contentful has resulted in a seamless integration that simplifies the process of adding personalization to websites, making it easier for creators and editors to work with the app without requiring extensive knowledge of the Frosmo Platform or Control Panel.

The author of the text reflects on the challenges and lessons learned during the development and release of Forma 36 v4, an open-source design system for Contentful's API. The team faced obstacles such as unexpected choices and surprises that required spontaneity and experimentation. They overcame these challenges by adopting a compound pattern approach to component design, improving accessibility, performance, and developer experience. The release process involved creating a new package with a beta tag, testing with internal users, migrating applications piece by piece, and providing codemods and migration guides for external users. The author emphasizes the importance of having a dedicated team, planning ahead, and investing time and resources in making the transition between versions as smooth as possible for users. They highlight the value of tools like jsCodeshift and encourage users to share their experiences and feedback.

Digital transformation is a complex, long-term process that involves both technological and human components, including change management. McKinsey & Company found that while digital transformation initiatives grew in recent years, successful change efforts declined. Successful change requires regular feedback processes, personalized insights and directions, breaking traditional hierarchies, sharing progress, and building empathy, community, and shared purpose. Change management should be the center of a digital transformation vision, with responsibilities starting at the C-suite level. C-level roles can work together to identify direction, share knowledge and competencies, and drive talent acquisition. Organizations can build an internal change management team, hire external digital experts, or create a hybrid team combining current employees and new hires to support digital transformation. A hybrid approach may be the most successful path, as insiders with little digital experience who are placed at the head of digital transformation initiatives succeeded about 80% of the time. Change management should encourage an organization-wide paradigm shift from siloed workstyle to a more collaborative approach, demonstrate commitment to change, put people first, employ digital technologies to manage change initiatives, and prioritize customer experience.

Forma 36 v4 has been released by Contentful, offering a range of improvements and new features including enhanced accessibility, updated component structure, and improved developer experience. The main focus was on bringing critical accessibility improvements to the React components, achieving WCAG level AAA compliance in all components. This release also includes changes to how components are built, with separate packages for individual components, reducing bundle size and improving performance. Additionally, the developer experience has been enhanced through the introduction of Emotion, making it easier to work with Forma 36 components without additional CSS files. To facilitate a smooth migration, codemods are available for most components, and detailed guides have been provided for those that cannot be migrated automatically.

The 2021 holiday shopping season revealed trends in consumer behavior and commerce that are expected to persist, including a growing reliance on online shopping and mobile devices for browsing and purchasing, as well as the blurring of lines between online and in-person shopping experiences. Despite a plateauing of ecommerce sales compared to 2020, total ecommerce spending during the Black Friday weekend increased to $8.9 billion, with consumers starting their holiday shopping earlier than usual due to supply chain concerns. The growth of mobile-generated revenue and the need for consistent content experiences across customer touchpoints are driving brands to adopt a composable approach to commerce, while also forcing them to develop digital systems that communicate in-store and ecommerce data to support hybrid shopping experiences.