Ideally, a content management system (CMS) should be user-friendly and simple enough for non-technical people to add content without help. However, if you want custom features, security measures, or branding you’ll need technical skills to do so. Additionally, if you lack the know-how to host, patch, integrate, or maintain your site, pairing up with an experienced CMS partner is a good solution. A CMS partner can be the difference between a good CMS and a great one. So, how do you know when you’ve found the right one?
1. They get your business objectives and focus on long-term success
Firstly, a good sign you’ve found a reliable CMS partner is when they take an interest in both your short-term and long-term business objectives. They should take the time to learn and understand your business needs without rushing the decision-making process. Part of this process involves identifying what sort of hosting is in line with your business goals and how complex integrations will be taken care of. The solution should be formed around your business-critical systems, setting you up for long-term success. Asking questions to comprehend your business goals is a positive sign they’re understanding your needs. This thorough approach ensures decisions are well-informed therefore, they should be able to anticipate future challenges and technological advances to develop a robust, scalable solution.
It's important to understand this is an ongoing process to consistently align with your overall business strategy.
A quick example to bring this to life
Let’s say your organisation has a call centre and a long-term business goal to answer emails within two hours. However, currently, the wait times for an email response are three to five business days – a deterrent for customers needing quick resolution. Consequently, your agents are stuck in long calls with questions about the same thing. But, if you can enable your customers to find the relevant answers themselves via your website, the number of calls will drop. Not only does this provide the customer with a more enjoyable experience, but it also means your staff can respond to emails faster and complete other tasks. That means, your website needs to be intuitive and user-friendly, so customers can easily find the answers to their questions.
To build a solution for you and your users, your CMS partner needs to understand your users and will work with you to do so. For example, how do your users search? What are common topics they need help with? How do they like to access information? User research can influence how information is presented on the page and what customisations need to be included as part of the design for your CMS. For example:
- A predictive website search factoring in spelling mistakes.
- The ability to highlight trending searches.
- The option to filter by main topics.
A great CMS partner will dedicate time to understanding you and your user’s goals and needs for now and anticipate what they’ll be in the future. Ultimately, the time to research and define results upfront, and in line with your business goals, means you will have a more robust solution – not one where elements need to be fixed retrospectively.
2. They design and build a great CMS in line with your strategy
Now your CMS partner has worked through the discovery phase, you’ve moved into the design and build phase. By now, you should know the timeline for your new website: the cost, the proposed delivery methodology, and the communication approach.
Let’s go back to our call centre example. Suppose your existing website doesn’t match your new branding, and user feedback shows when they visited your website they assumed they were in the wrong place. Essentially, even if your website has improved search functionality and all the bells and whistles for finding information, are your users going to search your site if it doesn’t look like yours? Probably not. If your users know they’re in the right place, they’ll likely spend time on your site. Therefore, establishing a strong brand resemblance within the new CMS ensures branding is consistent across the board. In line with branding, and an easy-to-use website, considerations could include:
- a familiar hierarchy of content,
- content hierarchy and customer journey aligned with your conversion goals,
- the same experience across devices,
- easy navigation for those who use a screen reader.
Ideally, the design and build process should be iterative to provide you time to review, refine, and improve every step of the way. Additionally, each time you review, there should be a clear correlation back to your business goals.
3. They offer great ongoing support
Once your CMS is built, you may choose to use your in-house team for ongoing maintenance. But, if you’d like to continue working with your CMS partner instead, clarify what ongoing maintenance such as patching, bug fixes, and hosting support they offer. You’ll want a CMS partner to provide great support, assistance, guidance, and solutions both meeting and exceeding your expectations. At its core, great support goes beyond basic assistance and aims to create a strong and trusting relationship that proactively identifies opportunities and risks. This alleviates the burden on your in-house team whilst enabling continual evolution. Ultimately, your CMS partner should be responsive to your needs, offer clear communication, and deliver effective solutions promptly. Plus, they should understand and address concerns, provide relevant information, and ensure a positive overall experience.
Let’s go back to our call centre example
So, now your CMS partner has built you a new CMS for your call centre, but has the number of phone calls you’re receiving gone down? You should be able to see what pages users are visiting the most and where they’re dropping off. If your staff is still getting calls about certain topics, your CMS partner should be analysing the information and considering how things can be improved. Everything they do should be future-proofing your CMS, and ensure each decision is tied back to your business goals and long-term strategy.
Now you know what content needs to be updated, does your team know how to use the CMS? You may have just one person who needs to be trained, and then they train the rest of your team and that’s all the support you need. Or maybe you’re after onboarding, ongoing training, and availability for questions, or self-directed study, such as tutorials and guides, your CMS partner should provide a support package option that works for you.
Essentially, your CMS partner should ensure your business goals are always being met.
Choosing your new CMS partner
From working through our checklist, you’ll know if you’ve found the best CMS partner to enable your business goals. At Catalyst, we’re proud to be able to offer this insight from our work in government, enterprise, and non-profits, for over 25 years. Our full-service wrapper enables you to make the most of your content management system, future-proofing your CMS. So, if you have any questions about building a new CMS in Silverstripe or Drupal contact us.