Top headless CMS trends you can’t afford to miss in 2023

As technology and artificial intelligence become increasingly intertwined with our lives and economy, businesses need to stay on top of the most recent trends and advances in the industry. Keep reading to discover what 2023 has in store for the headless world.

Tereza Bruzkova

Published on Jan 11, 2023

The use of artificial intelligence for faster content creation, heightened security measures, and personalized omnichannel experiences are just some of the key headless CMS trends we can expect in 2023.

But how can businesses leverage the power of AI? What obstacles will marketers and developers face? And what will be the top channels and touchpoints for reaching customers?

To help you stay ahead of the curve, we reached out to our solution partners and asked for their predictions for 2023. Here are their thoughts on the key trends and challenges that are likely to shape the market in the upcoming months.

The top trends shaping the future of Headless CMS

Navigating the intersection of economic hardship, AI advancements, and heightened security measures

“Three forces will drive content trends in 2023: global economic situation, growing competencies of AI, and more focus on security and regulation. The slowdown of the economy will make people and companies more careful. They will both do more research and rely more on trusted sources before making a major decision. AI will help to create content faster, so there will be more of it, and it will be more difficult to tell a personal email from a marketing message. People will become sharper in selecting relevant content. Security and regulation are being promoted by the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act by the EU, which are planned to come into force in 2024.”

Unlocking the power of omnichannel strategy, data security, and personalization

“Since customers don’t interact with brands through a single channel or device anymore, organizations with a focus on customer value, an omnichannel strategy, and the ability to publish content across multiple channels have a head start. Businesses will need to invest in data security and ensure their users’ data privacy. Headless CMSs will likely offer more personalized content that is better tailored to specific audiences. Chances are they will incorporate AI, which is now widely available and more advanced than ever. It simply implies that a machine will help teams to create more content in a short amount of time, leaving room for content personalization for consumers.”

  • Anke Van den Heede, Digital Marketing Consultant, The Reference

Increased use of video and audio (with the help of AI)

“Video and audio open great opportunities for customers to create value across the content continuum. But are most CMSs, headless or otherwise, positioned to leverage the considerable opportunities posed by these non-text or image-based mediums? Video has long been recommended as a strategic benefit for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but is its value able to be extracted, repurposed, modularized, or decoupled within a CMS? Podcasts and audio have become a tremendous asset for organizations, but are they being best integrated into enterprise content operations? With the oncoming wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its ability to quickly transcribe, repurpose, and optimize audio and video content, this could very well be the technology that connects the CMS with the preferred content delivery options of the future.”

  • Matthew McQueeny, Relationships Lead, Konabos

Content management in 2023: Key trends and strategies for success

Exploring the use of artificial intelligence for faster content delivery

“One content management trend for 2023 to watch out for is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver content faster. With the recent leap forward in automation, we can generate content, images, and videos based on a simple phrase. Marketing teams need to figure out how to use these new tools and services to get a jump start on their content. Instead of taking hours to start an article, do keyword research, or choose an image, it could take seconds. Fight the urge to be lazy, though, be sure it is still unique and quality content.”

  • Brian McKeiver, Solution Architect/Co-Owner, BizStream

AI will revolutionize the way we create content

“Continued growth in headless content management systems will continue in 2023. The secret to the success of these projects will come down to content modeling—and those who do it well will see substantial business efficiency improvements in how they create, manage and display their content across all digital touchpoints. There will be no excuse for not serving your customers with a personalized experience due to the advancements in AI technology and machine learning. The AI evolution will also mean that your content creation will fundamentally change. Those who do it best will significantly increase their conversion rates and organic search ranking.”

  • Joe Peschardt, Client Business Director, Devotion

Personalized omnichannel experiences, a focus on customer value, and improved UX will be key

“Today’s consumers value authenticity, transparency, and privacy. Businesses, rather, need the flexibility to respond more easily to market changes and agile content strategies to deal with omnichannel demands. Headless systems are great for offering both more flexibility for organizations and creating omnichannel digital experiences with personalized content for consumers. In 2023, organizations will need to focus on customer value and improved UX. Additionally, they will need to tackle their digital efficiency because of the constant need to launch and switch between separate tools. They also may look to make more data-driven decisions while ensuring customers feel secure when providing personal information.”

  • Anke Van den Heede, Digital Marketing Consultant, The Reference

Content management challenges marketers and developers need to watch out for this year

Moving from legacy systems to modern solutions

“Content migration from legacy systems / traditional DXPs will still be an issue with marketers and developers in 2023. The move from WYSIWYG content that was meant to be displayed on a web page to highly reusable structured content is hard. The challenge will still be there for many organizations as there is currently no silver bullet for this migration work. Organizations should not miss this requirement as a simple implementation detail.” 

  • Brian McKeiver, Solution Architect/Co-Owner, BizStream

Marketers must keep up with the latest trends in SEO, AI, and AR to deliver content effectively

“The content management challenges that marketers and developers face this year are not new; they are essentially the same challenges that we’ve seen in the past few years. However, the expectations of marketers and developers have increased, meaning that they must do more with less budget. Marketers must stay ahead of the latest trends in SEO, AI, and AR technologies to ensure their content is delivered to the user in an appropriate manner. Developers must stay up-to-date with programming languages and frameworks to ensure quickly and accurately delivered content. It is clear that marketers and developers must be agile, pro-active, and vigilant in their approach to content management in order to meet the increased expectations.” 

  • Giannina Chiavetta, Marketing Manager, Bound

AI and machine learning will introduce new challenges in maintaining the quality of content

“To deliver a personalized customer experience, marketers are required to create tailored content that resonates with individuals at each touchpoint. However, this requires a deep understanding of customer behavior and the ability to use data and analytics to create personalized content. AI and machine learning can now support this extended need for content creation and distribution, but it also raises challenges around managing and controlling the quality and accuracy of the content generated. In 2023, marketers and developers need to be adaptable, innovative, and data-driven in order to stay ahead and deliver engaging and effective content to their customers.”

  • Brian Robinson - Managing Director UK & Partner, DEPT®

Content creation in the age of AI: What’s on the horizon for 2023

 AI will help marketers, not replace them (yet!)

“In 2023, we’re going to see wide-scale democratization and proliferation of AI-driven technology for marketers. By now, just about everyone has seen services such as GPT-3 (and ChatGPT). On the back of a strong push in digital toward cloud-native, API-first micro-services and headless CMS (MACH), these services will be integrated tightly into people’s digital toolkits. These tools won’t replace human marketers - spammy, click-bait articles have been generated by tools for some time already! For the savvy marketer, they will automate repetitive or low-value processes and empower us to do more, at higher quality, with our limited time. Basically, I think AI is going to help marketers, and not replace them (yet!).”

Harnessing the potential of AI for faster and more efficient content creation

“AI has the potential to revolutionize content creation. With the emergence of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, we’ve seen how AI tools can be used to generate text, images, and videos, allowing creators to produce high-quality content quickly and efficiently. Additionally, AI can be used to automate many other time-consuming tasks involved in content publishing, such as moderation, personalization, and optimization. AI is likely to significantly impact content creation in the coming years, making it faster and easier to produce high-quality content than ever before.”

  • Tom Marshall, Head of Technology, Kyan

AI-powered tools will make websites more user-friendly, leading to increased engagement

“In 2023, AI technology is expected to significantly shape content creation. Marketers will make more use of AI-powered tools that are now able to generate high-quality content quickly and efficiently, allowing for more regular content and a reduction in overhead. As a result, websites will become more user-friendly and effective at driving engagement and conversions.”

  • Brian Robinson, Managing Director UK & Partner, DEPT®

Content editors will do more with less

“AI will surely influence and shape the Headless CMS in the next few years. It will allow content editors to work more efficiently and allow them to do more with less. I’m excited to see how it will evolve as a part of the CMS and not just outside of the CMS. I also believe that the idea of composability will continue. More integrations will happen between API-First technologies that combine CMS with Commerce, combine CMS with Marketing Tools, and combine CMS with Cloud hosting providers. The solutions that are powered by Headless and composed of best-of-breed tools will benefit from these tighter integrations greatly.” 

  • Brian McKeiver, Solution Architect/Co-Owner, BizStream

The top channels and touchpoints for reaching customers 

There is no one-size-fits-all solution

“I can’t say which channels or touchpoints will be most important in reaching your customers in 2023. To do so, I need to know what your business is and what kind of customers you have. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Luckily, Kontent.ai, being a headless CMS, can be used for all kinds of channels and touchpoints. Let’s find out together what the most effective ones are for you. No matter what they are, I’m sure we can make it work with Kontent.ai.”

  • Els Van Zegbroeck, Consultant, Delaware

Web channels are the way to go

“I believe the web channel will still be the most effective way of reaching customers in 2023. To do business and reflect a modern brand, most customers expect an excellent, mobile-first experience on your main site. Without that, customers may easily churn, and other channels, even if heavily invested in, may not be as successful.”  

  • Brian McKeiver, Solution Architect/Co-Owner, BizStream

Summing up 

If you want to stay one step ahead of the competition, you will need to adopt a number of new tools and strategies. Here are six significant headless CMS trends that you should be aware of in 2023:

  • Greater focus on security, privacy, and regulation 
  • Personalized content tailored to specific audiences 
  • The rising importance of video and audio content 
  • Use of AI and machine learning to deliver content faster 
  • Content modeling in headless content management systems 
  • (Even more) emphasis on customer experience and content quality 

We hope these insights will help you get ready for what is coming in the headless CMS market. Are there any trends you anticipate? Tweet us at @kontent_ai!

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