Content Chaos Grows As Marketers Struggle With Omnichannel Demands

New report reveals 27% of organisations are using 4-5 CMSs to manage their marketing – a sharp uplift from 11% in 2023
Only 19% are using one CMS – in contrast to 24% last year, and 43% in 2023
67% claim they need multiple CMSs to enable omnichannel campaigns, 52% say it’s due to limitations of their tech stack
Yet 43% say they still lack easier/improved content scaling from their CMS
Migration to headless CMS continues – one in four companies now use headless solutions versus monolithic and custom solutions

Hyper personalization and localization may be the end goal for most brands, but an increasing number of marketers are scrambling to manage the complex content requirements needed to deliver a truly omnichannel marketing approach. This is one of the key findings from The State of CMS 2024 report, which has been released today from content management system (CMS) leader, Storyblok.

The report details the results of a survey commissioned by Storyblok of 1,719 businesses across the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden.

According to the study, an increasing number of organizations are facing challenges with their content marketing strategies. This is seen as half of respondents (47%) state they are still using 2-3 CMSs in their organization. A further third (27%) say they are now using 4 to 5 CMSs, representing a significant leap on the 11% stated in 2023’s report.

Interestingly, the survey also reveals that only one in five (19%) organizations are currently using just one CMS. In comparison, this figure stood at 24% in 2023 and 43% 2022. The inference of this insight is that organizations are turning to multiple CMSs to address modern content requirements rather than centralizing with one system that can handle it all.

Clearly, customers’ omnichannel expectations and demands remain a particular pressure point in this. When asked the reason for using more than one CMS, the overwhelming majority of (67%) state the need for omnichannel capabilities. A further half (53%) say omnichannel is the most important CMS feature.

Indicative of further content complexity to come, the report looks to a shift towards IoT CMS platforms as respondents predict a 16% decrease in website use. In contrast, respondents forecast marked increases in AR/VR (20%), voice-activated speakers (13%) and smartwatches (12%), further compounding the need for a future-ready content approach.

The report also reveals much more data about the CMS industry, including:

Over half of respondents (53%) report serving content in 2-3 languages, while an impressive 31% serve content in 4 or more languages
90% of respondents have more than one team using their CMS. The largest group (50%) work with 2-3 CMSs
52% of users report that visual editing was an essential feature for their CMS, regardless of whether they were technical or non-technical teams
38% state working across multiple independent platforms and migrating final content to the CMS as the top collaboration issue
Easier/improved content scaling is the most sought-after missing CMS feature, cited by 43% of the sample

On a positive front, the report found that 74% of non-headless users say they are likely to switch to a headless CMS in the next two years. Of those who had already switched to headless 99% reported improvements. The most common were increased ROI (experienced by 61%) and productivity improvements (experienced by 58%).

Dominik Angerer, CEO and Co-Founder of Storyblok, said: “A large CMS migration has been underway for years now, and our latest data confirms that it’s only going to accelerate. Companies are tired of being locked in to CMSs that don’t offer the flexibility, productivity, and performance they need. The rise of AI is also pushing businesses to review their entire content strategy so they can be prepared for what’s next. Using a future-proof CMS is the best thing companies can do to deliver better content experiences.”

Download The State of CMS 2024 report to see all of the results.

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