How Does Headless Commerce Optimize the Customer Experience For DTC Businesses

The influx of online shopping might have opened new gates of opportunities for businesses to start selling without setting up a brick-and-mortar shop, but with 24 million eCommerce websites trying to bite their chunk from the global marketplace, the competition has reached a neck-wrenching level. 

To level the playing field, eCommerce businesses are using new methods and approaches to give the best experience to their customers. One such approach includes offering the best omnichannel experience to the customers. Smart eCommerce players want to reach out to the customers wherever possible, using multiple strategies.

But since a big chunk of the shopping is being done outside the website. E-commerce players struggle to keep up with all the touchpoints from mobile and more. That might be the main reason why so many businesses are turning to the headless commerce solution. 

Headless commerce solution is turning out to be the most impeccable method for eCommerce players to enhance the customer experience. It might be a new kid on the block, but eCommerce players find it the most beneficial solution. 

So, without any further ado, let’s dig deep into the headless commerce realm and explore how it turns out to be a panacea for boosting customer experience. 

What is headless commerce?

In simple language, headless commerce decouples the front end of your website from the backend application. Such architectural changes allow each end to work independently, and therefore, change on anyone’s end doesn’t require corresponding modification on the other end. 

The separation of the two also helps the user build unique front ends and storefronts that don’t miss out on even a single transaction made from any device you can think of. The working model of this approach has given it the name ‘headless’ since the backend is not connected to the head. 

How is headless commerce optimizing the customer experience?

1. No procrastination in the reflection of new designs 

If you are making some changes in the content of your website built on traditional architecture, then never expect the changes to reflect instantly, as such changes can take a couple of minutes to update. That is why brands rehashing the traditional website architecture need to be wary of procrastination in reflection of changes. 

In the case of headless commerce, all such changes are reflected instantly, and therefore, the website users can enjoy the new changes without any delay. When a brand is equipped with the unique ability to be quicker, they can offer the best experience to their customers, making the brand stand out from the crowd. 

With 1.92 billion people shopping online and with anywhere between 2-3 million eCommerce companies in the world, it all comes down to who acts as an early bird. Thus, reflecting changes can be a competitive advantage for eCommerce players. 

Improved flexibility 

Before finally adding an item to the cart, the customer goes through mobile apps, social media, websites, and so forth so on. The marketing team working on the eCommerce business shouldn’t be rigid; otherwise, they will never build and roll out a storefront that can support all the channels mentioned above. 

But the arduous task of being flexible as a marketing team can be made a breeze using headless commerce since it is an adaptable infrastructure. Without making any alterations to the backend, one can roll out many changes on the storefront and implement new integrations. 

Power of personalization 

This type of flexible architecture also equips marketers with the power of personalization. The backend is well aware of the customer history because of the available data. It can bring the same data into use by personalizing apps, social media accounts, and official websites. 

No limitations for customizations 

Another problem of legacy platforms solved by headless commerce is the little room for customization. Because of this, customers cannot have a seamless experience across all the channels. 

Headless commerce allows the developers to manage and design UI without any restrictions, and they are also supporting a long list of devices and screens. It also aids in improving the customer experience. 

2. An integrated experience that doesn’t look fragmentary 

The power of integration offered by headless commerce makes it stand out from all the other architectural approaches to the eCommerce store since it makes complicated downstream integration a breeze and that too across multiple channels, right from the 1st purchase to becoming a loyal customer. 

It is the commerce platform from where the headless architecture directs information whenever any layer of API is introduced, and then the same integration is presented to all the channels. 

Even after adding a new frontend, the backend will have little to no effect. That is why customers don’t have to suffer because of an incomplete integrated experience, regardless of the device they are using. 

The earlier design confinement doesn’t act as a caveat for headless commerce when it comes to delivering products and services to the customers in all the formats. With this approach, eCommerce businesses can target a much bigger market and boost their sales without worrying about architectural limitations. 

Harness the power of geolocation 

If you are using headless commerce while setting up a new website for a new geographical area, you won’t have to wait for a couple of months for the complete setup, as you can go live in just a couple of days. The headless commerce will take care of all the publishing once you have set the theme for the CMS. 

Different regions have different product values, and this is why companies need to personalize the product information and services according to the region. Headless commerce can act as a savior since it allows personalization based on region. 

Subdue the hurdle of language 

While many eCommerce players rely on Google Translator for overcoming the language barrier as it translates their website content into other languages, it is not a professional approach from any angle. 

We might be living in the era of AI. However, automated translation can still translate complex languages like English into another language that looks like something out of the mind of a kindergarten student.  

Headless commerce allows the developers to maintain 100% accuracy with content translation even before they reach the stage of content distribution. Moreover, developers can even encode content with specific alphabets and characters. 

3. Improved security and data protection 

The traditional systems lack the most critical aspect of customer experience; security. In the old architectural system, both functions and components are kept together. It means that even a minor alteration in one of the components can compromise the entire system’s security. 

The CMS system in the traditional architecture is constantly exposed, making the entire system a sitting duck for evil-minded people. But all these confinements in terms of security can be subdued with the help of headless commerce. 

Use of different servers and domains

In the case of headless commerce, the administrative is never held on a single domain and server. It allows the developers to camouflage the functionality of the CMS by using multiple layers of codes. 

That reduces the chances of any direct attack from hackers as they cannot locate the CMS functionality quickly. Therefore, the perpetrator will never thwart the customers from shopping from your website in security issues. 

Rendering happens in an isolated environment. 

Another security advantage of headless commerce is the entire rendering happens in an isolated environment. Headless commerce apps run full stacks while the user interface occurs within an independent frontend web browser environment. It prevents the backend from accessing the OS or the space on the disk running the eCommerce website.

It also acts as an additional layer of security for your eCommerce presence. Therefore, customers can shop more freely since two-thirds of the customers are worried about security while shopping online. 

4. Reduced incidents of outages 

More than 50% of the customers on the online platform will avoid visiting a brand’s website if they have to wait for more than 5 minutes, which is the main reason brands should be wary of regular outages. 

But since traditional architecture is prone to outages when traffic spikes, eCommerce platforms must move to headless commerce to avoid such outages that might harm the customer experience. 

All the eCommerce platforms have to deal with PR crises and a situation that catapults chaos whenever they cannot handle a spike in traffic. When traditional websites cannot handle the increase in traffic, they crash. But that is not the issue in headless commerce. 

Instant scalation 

Headless commerce comes with the power of instant escalation, and therefore, it can prevent traffic spikes acting as a springboard for website crashes. Because of the dynamic ability to scale, eCommerce won’t deal with increased bounce rates because of website downtime. 

Amazon, the pioneer of headless commerce, introduces changes on its website every 12 seconds on average. That is how they reduce the instances of outrages while offering a seamless customer experience.

Ability to tackle constantly evolving technological landscape 

We live in a world where new technologies are introduced daily, and therefore, you can’t keep rehashing the old architecture and format of your website. It is where the ability to make agile changes comes in handy. 

With the power of headless commerce, you can use APIs to get connected with any latest or new technology to your current system without much hassle. That is another way of improving the customer experience. 

The bottom line 

With the power of headless commerce, retailers and brands can provide the best possible customer experience. Users aren’t confined to predefined templates; they don’t have to rely on Google Translate for awkward translations, and marketers can create a unique experience for every touchpoint. All this allows the brand to stand out from the crowd. 

Nowadays, businesses are tackling the pressure of making online shopping extra convenient for the customers by flocking to headless commerce as the benefits offered by this flexible architectural model is numerous. 

So, if you are a decision-maker in your eCommerce business, you must not thwart your brand from unlocking the power of headless commerce and allow your digital presence to fulfill the most prominent demand of the online shoppers; improved shopping experience.