Personalization. Omnichannel. Headless. What's behind these buzzwords and how can you use them to your advantage? We lay out some some practical insights to guide your e-commerce projects, explain why these buzzwords matter, and use concrete examples to show what you can achieve with them.

1. Buzzword Bingo
the real deal behind omnichannel,
personalization and headless

2. Hello!
Industry Analyst and Content Writer at commercetools
@rzenner
Dr. Roman Zenner
Product manager at Magnolia
@topherzee
Christopher Zimmermann

3. Personalization
1

4. Personalization
Exact same
website for
every visitor?

5. Personalization
What it is
Personalization is a digital experience that is
customized for you based on some information.

6. Personalization
Content
Experience &
Delivery
Same content for everyone
Visitor (Stan)
Visitor (Jan)
C
Content
Experience &
Delivery
Different content for everyone
Visitor (Stan)
Visitor (Jan)
A
B
A,C
B,C

7. Personalization
IN
EUROPE

8. Personalization
IN
USA

9. Personalization
Benefits
Visitors get more relevant content.
Website owners get more
conversions.

10. ◎ Data for the personalization,
and Segmentation
◎ Personalized content
Aspects of
personalization
Personalization

11. Data for personalization:
◎ Explicit
◎ Implicit
Personalization

12. Personalization
Explicit - User told me so.
◎ Registered with your website (CRM)
◎ Interests and content preferences
◎ “Business” vs “Personal”
◎ Facebook data
◎ Loyalty program signup

13. Personalization
Implicit - I figured it out. (Behaviour and context)
Anonymous
GeoLocation and time
New vs. returning visitors
Browsing history or Cart
Referer or Campaign
Registered Member
CRM
Loyalty card program
Customer status

14. Personalization

15. Personalization

16. Personalization
State of retail
◎ Some are very advanced
◎ Most are just getting started

17. Personalization
Challenges

18. Personalization
Tips
◎ Just start!
◎ Start simple
◎ Split your audience into the most
important segments
◎ Tag your content to match those
segments

19. Headless
2

20. Headless
Headless:
Best marketing
term ever.

21. Headless (AKA: API-first, decoupled)
What it is
“Head” refers to the frontend of a digital
experience. (ie webpage)
A headless CMS manages content, but doesn’t
generate and deliver the experience to the user.
A headless ecommerce system manages
products and transactions for any frontend.
A headless system
typically delivers its
content via a REST
API.
- a set of URL’s that
deliver raw content
instead of HTML web
pages.

22. Headless
Content
Experience &
Delivery
Full CMS
Visitor
Content
Headless CMS
Experience &
Delivery
VisitorAPI’s

23. Headless
Benefits
Easy to connect to other systems
Use any frontend technologies and delivery channels
Start projects faster
Content is future-proof
(Note: Headless is not a customer-facing feature)

24. Headless
Examples
◎ Native mobile app
◎ Javascript web app (SPA)
◎ In-store kiosk
◎ Chatbots
◎ Smart speakers (Alexa etc.)

25. Headless
Headless Demo:
Alexa

30. NORMAL
WEBPAGE

31. REST
API

32. REST
API

33. Headless
Challenges
◎ No content preview
◎ Marketers dependent on developers again
◎ Experience management - with forms?

34. Headless
Typical headless editor (Form) Magnolia stories editor (Experience)

35. Headless
Content
Experience &
Delivery
Full CMS
Visitor
Content
Headless CMS
Experience &
Delivery
VisitorAPI’s

36. Headless

37. Hybrid Headless

38. Hybrid Headless
Hybrid Headless

39. Headless enabling seamless user experience & team cooperation
Marketers control experience
(pages, layouts, content, campaigns etc)
IT controls infrastructure,
builds reusable commerce modules
and inject them into the CMS
CMS

40. Omnichannnel
3

41. Omnichannel

42. Omnichannel
A website, a
mobile app, and
a facebook
account, right?

43. Omnichannel
What it is
"Omni-channel experience is a multi-channel approach to marketing...
that creates an integrated and cohesive customer experience no
matter how or where a customer reaches out." - Hubspot

44. Omnichannel
Channels
http://storm81.com/all-marketing-channel-database

45. Omnichannel
Web
Content
Web
Visitor
Experience &
Delivery
In Store
In Store
Social
Social
Mutlichannel
One
Story
Content
Web
Visitor
Experience &
Delivery
In Store
Social
Omnichannel
Feedback for
360 customer view

46. Omnichannel
Benefits
Visitors get integrated, seamless
experience.
Website owners get more conversions
and an integrated view of their customers.

47. Omnichannel

48. Omnichannel
Examples
● Start purchase on phone - complete on desktop - pickup in store.
● Location (GPS/beacons) for relevant offers
● In-store kiosks
● Airport displays (Checkin and gate)
● Credit approvals
● Integrate other services and mobile apps

49. Omnichannel
Tips
● Multichannel is a necessary foundation
● Choose one project or customer journey
● Omnichannel is a corporate level decision
● Align departments on goals
Create a “story that lives across channels”

50. Conclusion

51. Conclusion
They work together
◎ Omnichannel touchpoints must be personalized
◎ Headless supports omnichannel
◎ Headless can be personalized
Personal-
ization
Headless
Omni-
channel

52. Conclusion
Content
Web
Stan
Experience &
Delivery
In Store
Mobile
Personalization,
Headless &
Omnichannel
Feedback for
360 customer view
Jan
C
A
B
A,B
A,C
Stan’s
Story
Jan’s
Story

53. Ecommerce
Content
Management
Conclusion
Personal-
ization
Headless
Omni-
channel

56. Thanks!
Product manager at Magnolia
@topherzee
Christopher
Zimmermann
Any Questions?
Industry Analyst and Content Writer at
commercetools
@rzenner
Dr. Roman
Zenner