Webflow, the developer of a visual content management system that gives marketing teams control over website content without the need for coding, acquired Intellimize, an AI-powered personalization and conversion rate optimization platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to a release from Webflow, the acquisition is a step toward the company’s vision of creating a Website Experience Platform (WXP).
A WXP, as envisioned by Webflow, would make it easier for marketers and designers to create on-brand, professional websites with personalized, engaging experiences.
Webflow’s vision of a WXP is built on a collection of technologies
- Visual site building tools.
- A powerful content management system.
- Web hosting .
- Support for personalization and optimization.
A common struggle for marketing teams at large organizations is corralling the resources required to keep a modern website up-to-date and optimized for conversion. Web development resources are often scarce and report into the IT organization.
As Webflow grew its own business, it saw firsthand how marketing teams in larger organizations were struggling, according to a blog post by Webflow CEO and co-founder Vlad Magdalin.
But as we’ve started to work with larger teams like Orangetheory Fitness, IDEO, and Dropbox, we’ve realized that there are major problems with how web experiences are being created. Once a website is built, it’s extremely difficult for marketing teams to personalize it, to experiment to make it better, and to optimize it to meet the varying needs of their customers. This is because the tools that exist to optimize websites are often cumbersome to set up without significant engineering support or are too hard to use separately from where the source website content is designed and managed.
Vlad Magdalin, CEO and co-founder of Webflow
Why we care. Today’s buyers are embracing self-guided research and frictionless purchases. With much of the world’s information at their fingertips, they are taking the customer journey into their own hands. And when they arrive at a website for a vendor or retailer, they want more than a page with information and a form to fill out. They want an experience.
Developing experiences and optimizing them for conversion takes testing and some trial and error. Marketing teams hampered by lengthy waits for web development resources lack the agility to respond to the needs of their website visitors.
Webflow’s WXP concept is intriguing because it puts more control into the hands of marketers and designers, making it easier and faster to respond to their audience. Webflow’s own 2024 State of the Website report found 60% of marketing leaders feel their current web stack is missing the mark. Clearly there’s an appetite for a different approach.
