There’s been a lot of talk about composable websites being the future of web development, and rightfully so. In fact, by 2033, the global composable applications market is projected to reach about $27.71 billion USD.
In the past, we’ve talked about the numerous benefits of switching to a headless CMS, and that’s just one building block of the overall composable platform experience.
A composable website is composed (pun intended) of numerous blocks — think LEGO — working together in tandem to create an engaging web experience. Blocks can easily be swapped in and out to make changes, or upgrades, or to simply try something new.
This modularity is in stark contrast to the traditional monolithic web development approach, where everything is housed in one system and built using plug-ins or custom code.
It truly is a plug-and-play experience: the modular functionality makes a composable framework faster, more dynamic, and far easier to change than a traditional monolithic website.
So what exactly goes into building a composable frontend? In this blog, we’ll explore 7 technical factors that drive composable websites and how they empower brands to create dynamic, customizable, and efficient digital ecosystems.
We’ve touched on the importance of personalization and one-to-one marketing in the past, but creating highly personalized can be challenging… is what we used to think! Composable platforms have made this easier than ever.
According to Google, the number of leading marketers that believe personalization contributes significantly to profitability is now 90%.
More than ever, customers are expecting products, content, and personalized offers that are unique to them — a composable frontend allows you to deliver this. You can achieve deeper personalization using modular components such as:
A great example of personalization via composable architecture is Miko, an ecommerce business selling AI-powered robots. According to Klizer, Miko leverages composable architecture to personalize the experience for customers by:
Analytics delivered in real-time to support inventory management and provide data on customer shopping patterns
Providing AI-driven product recommendations
A UI that adapts based on user behavior
Below are a few more examples of great (and sometimes subtle) personalization:
Working with Claritas, Kroger used AI-based personalization based on customer data to deliver content and messaging to customers uniquely tailored to drive conversions.
Working with Contentful, Ruggable used personalization in a number of ways, including hero banners personalized to customers who came to the site via an ad as well as personalized homepage products for customers who visited via an email campaign.
Essentially, the flexibility of a composable platform lets you scale personalized experiences without overhauling your entire website or planning for endless variables.
While it may sound like we’re just making up terms at this point, one of the most crucial elements of composable platforms is micro frontends.
This is the architecture that breaks the frontend down into individual, small pieces — each of which is responsible for a specific feature or functionality. Remember the LEGO example? Here’s where it comes into play — think of each piece as an individual brick within the LEGO set that is your frontend.
Like LEGO, this brick-based approach allows you to swap pieces in and out and try different things to figure out what works best for your business and your customers. The components of a micro frontend are developed and launched independently, often by different teams, but come together to create one singular experience.
One of the biggest advantages of the micro frontend approach is the ability to use different technologies for different parts of your website, allowing you to pick what works best for specific functions and making your website entirely unique to your business.
It also means the architecture is language-agnostic and future-proof — each micro frontend can grow and evolve without rebuilding your entire site.
Some popular JavaScript frameworks include:
Everyone loves Oreos — both for their taste and their ability to act as a great analogy! If the frontend and backend are two separate chocolate cookies, APIs are the cream that both holds them together and connects them into one cohesive unit.
Because composable architecture decouples the frontend and the backend, all communication between the two is managed by Application Programming Interfaces (APIs for short).
Essentially, it allows the frontend to be completely headless, meaning it doesn’t depend on any backend technology. This structure allows for more structured and flexible user interfaces while providing developers with the freedom to utilize the JavaScript frameworks we mentioned earlier.
Developers can now easily build experiences that fetch data from multiple services like:
These days customers are browsing on more devices than ever before. While mobile traffic now accounts for 63% of all web traffic, personal computers still have a higher conversion rate than mobile devices.
With this in mind, having a consistent experience across all channels is essential. The same customer is likely to visit your site on multiple devices throughout the purchase process and they’ll want to have the same experience regardless of where or how they’re interacting with you. A composable frontend makes this possible.
The modular functionality of composable platforms lets developers build frontend components that function and scale across all platforms. This ensures everything from mobile-first designs to desktop experiences to in-store screens provides a synchronized and consistent experience for your customers without sacrificing functionality.
All-star games in sports are cool because you get to see best-in-class athletes play together and do incredible things. With composable architecture, you, too can build an all-star team of the best tools and services available on the market.
A composable frontend lets you select best-of-breed solutions for CMS, analytics, payment processing, or any other component that your business requires. This allows you to build a tech stack uniquely tailored to your needs instead of being stuck with a selection of plugins that never quite do what you want.
Plus, it lets you quickly swap out or add components easily as they emerge in the market, keeping you at the forefront of innovation.
Looking back at our all-star analogy, the downside of all-star teams is that, well, they’re not a team. They’re just a group of people who are really good at what they do.
With composable architecture, you can assemble a team of all-star components that not only are best-in-class but perform perfectly together for your specific needs.
Did you know that a composable frontend platform and Sonic the Hedgehog share a key defining trait? No, it’s not a love of chili dogs — it’s speed!
A composable framework’s modular nature means teams can work faster, and change can happen quicker because individual components can be updated or replaced without touching the entire system.
In composable architecture, modern rendering techniques like edge rendering and static site generation (SSG) are leveraged to optimize load times and improve user experience. Confused? We’ll explain:
This is important in fast-moving industries where change is constant. With a composable frontend, you can test and deploy new experiences and features at lightning speed, keeping your business agile and responsive to changes in the marketplace.
In short, the speed benefits provided by composable architecture are two-pronged: a faster website for your customers and a faster response time for your business.
At this point, it would be understandable if you were wondering how all of these individual modules are managed and can successfully work together without turning servers into jet engines.
In a composable frontend, efficient data management is crucial. GraphQL, a query language for APIs, is commonly used to fetch only the specific data that each component needs. While traditional REST APIs usually over (or under)-fetch data, GraphQL offers laser-like precision, allowing developers to specify the exact data they want to receive.
This again circles back to site speed and performance: your website won’t be bogged down by unnecessary data lurking in the background. The more API building blocks you use in your composable frontend, the more useful GraphQL becomes, as it provides a streamlined way to handle complex data interactions.
With a composable framework and GraphQL, your website will maintain a consistent speed while providing customers quick access to what they’re trying to reach.
By leveraging the modularity and flexibility composable architecture provides you can create a faster, more exciting, and more personalized experience for your customers across all devices, while simultaneously allowing your site to stay at the forefront of innovation.
In short, composable architecture is an essential tool in delivering the impactful and engaging experience that both you and your customers deserve.
Sound appealing? We can help you get started. Reach out to us today and we’ll help you build the perfect composable frontend for you.