Staff marketplace app picks for 2023

As 2023 draws to a close, we’re excited to take a moment and spotlight a few apps handpicked by members of the Contentstack team and identified as exceptionally noteworthy. These apps, curated from the Contentstack Marketplace, extend platform functionality and enable composable connections—helping you get the most out of your digital experience platform. Dive into each of our picks across various digital experience categories.

Search

A robust search solution is pivotal in the digital experience ecosystem, ensuring that your content doesn't just exist but is easily discoverable and accessible. The effectiveness of a search tool directly impacts user engagement, as the inability to locate relevant content can lead to frustration and lost opportunities. Optimizing search capabilities is thus crucial in delivering a seamless and satisfying user experience.

The Algolia app brings enhanced search functionality to Contentstack. Automatically updating search indices in Algolia whenever content in Contentstack is modified ensures that search results are always fresh and relevant. This can be particularly beneficial for e-commerce platforms where up-to-date product information is crucial for customer discovery and satisfaction.

Discover how to bring Algolia’s search capabilities to Contentstack by visiting the Algolia Marketplace page or diving into the developer docs for the technical details.

Translation

Efficient translation tools have become a cornerstone for businesses looking to expand their digital footprint globally. The ability to break language barriers and connect with diverse audiences is critical in crafting an inclusive and global digital presence. Effective translation extends reach and builds cultural bridges, enhancing global user engagement.

The GlobalLink Connect app automates the translation process, directly pulling content from your CMS and pushing back translated versions. This seamless workflow eliminates the need for manual translation efforts, significantly reducing time and resource investment. Imagine effortlessly managing a multilingual website where content updates and translations occur in unison, all within Contentstack.

Begin automating translation by installing the GlobalLink Connect app from the Marketplace today.

Digital Asset Management (DAM)

DAM systems are crucial for organizing, storing, and retrieving vast digital media. In composable digital experiences, DAM ensures that digital assets are easily accessible and manageable across any channel or platform.

The Bynder app stands out in this category by allowing users to access and manage Bynder's vast digital asset library directly within Contentstack. It also means that when you update an asset in Bynder, it's automatically updated in your Contentstack entries, ensuring consistent and up-to-date content across all platforms.

To begin using Bynder in Contentstack, install the Bynder app from the Marketplace or learn more about this integration in our documentation.

Personalization

Personalization is at the core of composable digital experiences, transforming how content resonates with each individual user. Having an effective strategy is essential for crafting engaging and relevant user journeys. The Contentstack Marketplace extends beyond partner integrations, featuring many of our own native apps designed to extend platform functionality.

The Audience app is a prime example, allowing content creators to segment users and deliver content tailored to diverse user profiles and preferences. This app makes it possible to customize user experiences based on specific audience characteristics, ensuring content is relevant and engaging.

Another personalization tool available in the Marketplace is the Ninetailed app, specifically designed to fine tune content personalization. Ninetailed integrates seamlessly with Contentstack, providing advanced capabilities for creating dynamic, context-aware user experiences. With Ninetailed, you can leverage real-time personalization strategies, making each user interaction with your content uniquely engaging.

See how these apps can help up your personalization game. Install the Audience app from the Marketplace or dive into its documentation. Discover how Ninetailed can help you create more tailored experiences by visiting its Marketplace listing or exploring the Ninetailed documentation.

Excitingly, we're also gearing up to release the Dynamic Yield app, a new addition that will further advance content personalization in Contentstack. Stay tuned for more details about this tool and how it helps with audience engagement through dynamic and tailored content experiences.

Commerce

E-commerce thrives on the accuracy and timeliness of product information, as these elements are fundamental in shaping a customer's buying experience. Accurate listings not only build trust but also streamline the decision-making process for buyers, enhancing the overall effectiveness of online shopping platforms.

The Commercetools app brings this essential aspect of e-commerce into sharper focus by allowing you to fetch and manage Commercetools’ product details directly in Contentstack. This allows for real-time product updates that ensure a seamless customer buying experience and content as dynamic and agile as your market demands.

To begin use, install the Commercetools app from the Marketplace or check the documentation page for more details.

Analytics

The essence of a composable digital experience lies in seamlessly integrating powerful tools like Google Analytics to enhance and personalize the user journey. In an ecosystem where composability is key, embedding analytics directly into a CMS like Contentstack offers a nuanced understanding of user engagement. This integration facilitates a modular approach to content strategy, allowing businesses to adapt and evolve their digital presence in real-time based on concrete data insights.

The Google Analytics app allows a deep dive into website analytics without leaving your CMS. Embedding Google Analytics data into Contentstack entries offers a comprehensive view of user interactions and website performance, enabling data-driven decisions and content strategies.

Integrate the Google Analytics app by installing the Marketplace app today, or visit our documentation page for more details.

AI

The ability for generative AI to produce rich and diverse content, along with valuable answers to development problems, has made it into a tool that most digital content creators and developers can't live without. But, with its rise comes a familiar challenge for many: the ever-present issue of context switching. Moving between various tools, even those powered by AI, often feels like an endless juggling act, distracting from the core creative or development process.

The AI Assistant app brings the power of AI right where you need it most - at the point of content creation. Available for use right within the Contentstack entry editor (and additionally as an Automation Hub connector), this app brings all new efficiency to the content generation process. Offering a variety of language models to choose from, it can create concise summaries, develop structured outlines, craft engaging headlines, write SEO-focused metatags, or even produce full-length, keyword-optimized articles—plus, it offers quick translation capabilities for your content, and so much more—all within your existing workflow. This means less time switching between tools and more time crafting compelling content.

To begin using, install the AI Assistant App from the Marketplace, or learn more in our documentation guide.

Development

For developers on digital experience teams, streamlining development while ensuring accuracy and consistency across diverse channels is invaluable. Developers often need help maintaining efficiency and precision, particularly when adapting content for various platforms. This is where tools that simplify the development workflow and provide immediate clarity on content rendering become essential. They expedite the development process and ensure that content is accurately and consistently delivered, irrespective of the channel.

Another one of our own, the Developer Tools app, provides developers with real-time code samples and entry previews, enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of their development work. This app bridges the gap between content creation and final implementation by allowing developers to see immediate previews of how content will appear, thereby reducing the likelihood of errors and the need for repeated revisions.

To begin using it in your stack, install the Developer Tools app from the Marketplace today. For more details, visit the documentation page.

Conclusion

Many of the apps you see in the Marketplace are developed using either our generic app boilerplate or one of our category-specific ones like e-commerce or DAM. These boilerplates come pre-equipped with essential files, methods, and configurations, helping to eliminate barriers and speed up development time.

As we move into 2024, we've got big plans for the Marketplace. The efficiency and speed of development our app boilerplates offer make that possible. While we’re focused on delivering new apps, we encourage you, our users, to leverage these boilerplates to discover how your platform experience can be customized and extended. Through Developer Hub, launching to GA shortly after the new year, you can create, manage, and share your custom apps for private use within your organization or even submit them for public listing in the Marketplace.

Developer Hub will open up a world of possibilities for custom app development within the Contentstack ecosystem. To stay informed about all these exciting developments and more, keep an eye on the Contentstack Pulse page. Here, you'll find the latest updates and insights into what’s coming next at Contentstack.