So You’re Moving to a New CMS: Change Management & Replatforming

Moving your website into a new CMS can be a daunting process. From getting staff up to speed to migrating content, there are a lot of potential challenges and opportunities for change. To help your team have the smoothest possible transition keep the following principles in mind. 

New Site, New Processes 

One of the most common pitfalls to run into during a move to a new technology is getting used to trying to recreate existing processes in a system that likely functions differently. As a part of your move, make sure your design system is well documented so users who are creating content in the new platform have clearly defined rules for how the new site will look and feel. This can help your back office users reach for the new components available and move away from a tendency to reproduce the specific templates previously created. Along with reducing unneeded HTML tinkering in rich text editors, this will help make sure your site has a visual glow up with content matching where your brand is today. 

Work Smarter, Not Harder 

As your new page templates and components are rolled out, try them out with the real content you plan to use on your live site. Not only will this help you find any feature gaps with plenty of time to spare, it will also help keep you on track for your launch timeline by ensuring high value content is both present and agreed upon by all stakeholders who may need to review it inside your new system. 

As you progress through your content population, you will see content patterns emerge. If you’ve got a page that everyone loves, make that into a page content template that can be followed for similar pages throughout the site. This will help increase the feeling of cohesion across your site and eliminate guesswork on the right tools for the job. 

Be an SME 

Designating the appropriate people to the appropriate content areas of your site will go a long way towards making the process feel both manageable and increase buy in. Each area of your website has designated stakeholders, if you are unable to pull them directly into the content creation process, get a designated reviewer who can provide specific feedback on where the content is meeting needs or needs retooling. When you have a format that is working, leverage that Subject Matter Expert to share their findings and process with the rest of your team. Write it down so you can check yourself as your site grows. 

Maximize Your Value at Launch 

When making a large change, it’s easy to get bogged down focusing on the overall scale of the process. Fortunately, you can leverage your data to prioritize the most essential areas of your site to have ready for your changeover, while you continue to roll out other content behind the scenes. You can leverage page view data to help you understand what most users are interacting with on your existing site and make sure that information is covered. You’ll also want to make sure any legal compliance requirements such as your privacy policy are created. Lastly, you will want to be sure that all ecommerce pathways that will be open to users at the time of launch are fully supported.  

Making the change can be a large undertaking, but it presents you with a great opportunity to refresh your web presence. Most importantly, remember that this doesn’t have to be a process you engage in alone. 

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