The world of WordPress development is constantly evolving. What was cutting-edge yesterday might be outdated today. If you want to strengthen your position in the online market, you must keep a close eye on the trends of custom WordPress development while creating a custom WordPress website.
As you know, now is the time of custom WordPress development; everyone wants to have a unique customized theme on their website that perfectly aligns with their brand identity. Everyone wants their website to be highly functional so that their users have a good experience, their conversion rates increase, and they have a solid online presence.
If you are also going for a custom WordPress website development, then knowing the custom WordPress development trends mentioned in this blog will benefit you in the long run.
Here they are:
Custom WordPress Development Trends
1. Headless WordPress: The Future is Decoupled
Headless WordPress is going to be a hot topic this year. This approach separates the front-end presentation layer (what users see) from the back-end content management system (where content is created and managed). This decoupled architecture offers numerous benefits:
Flexibility: Developing a flexible website is one of the topmost custom WordPress development trends that you can see in 2024 and beyond. Select a front-end technology (such as React or Vue.js) most suitable for your project.
Based on a recent study conducted by Stack Overflow, React has emerged as the leader among front-end JavaScript frameworks, capturing an impressive market share of 40.58%. This dominance opens up many opportunities for creating dynamic and visually captivating user experiences.
Future-Proofing: The back end is built on the widely used and reliable WordPress platform, which currently powers over 43% of all websites, according to w3techs.com. This ensures that content management is seamless and efficient. On the other hand, the front end is designed to be flexible and adaptable to keep up with the latest technologies.
Scalability: As your business expands, the headless architecture simplifies content management across various platforms, such as websites and mobile apps.
Future marketing insights predict significant growth in the headless CMS software market. It is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 22.1% from 2022 to 2032. The market size is estimated to be US$ 751.6 Million in 2022 and is projected to reach US$ 5,528.5 Million by 2032. This indicates a growing demand for the flexible nature of this approach.
2. AI Integration: Intelligence Meets Content
The most talked about custom WordPress development trend these days. You can’t call artificial intelligence (AI) science fiction anymore. The WordPress user base is quickly adopting it and with some good reasons:
Personalized Content Recommendations: To keep visitors engaged and boost conversions, AI can study their behavior and browsing history to propose relevant content.
Data from Accenture indicates that 91% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that sends them suggestions and offers relevant to them, highlighting the usefulness of AI-powered recommendations.
Enhanced Customer Service with Chatbots: Chatbots powered by AI can offer round-the-clock customer help, addressing common inquiries and pointing users toward relevant resources.
Gartner highlights the increasing significance of artificial intelligence chatbots or generative AI. According to Gartner, generative AI will be used by 80% of customer service and support firms by 2025. This will help enhance agent efficiency and the customer experience (CX).
Data-Driven Decision Making: AI may evaluate website data to find trends in user behavior and the efficiency of the content. You can utilize these insights to improve the performance of your website.
3. WooCommerce Expansion: Powering the Future of E-commerce
With the growing E-Commerce landscape, WooCommerce, the powerful WordPress E-Commerce plugin, is poised for even more significant expansion. Here’s what you can expect from this custom WordPress development trend.
Headless Commerce Integration: As discussed earlier, the trend in WordPress development for headless architecture is gaining traction. Integrating WooCommerce with a headless approach allows for a highly scalable and flexible E-Commerce solution.
According to Magenest, the market value of headless commerce is expected to reach an impressive $32.1 billion. Showcasing the rise of this integrated approach.
Enhanced Payment Gateways: Expect to see even more secure and diverse payment gateway options integrated with WooCommerce, catering to a global audience.
A Statista report indicates that The Digital Payments market worldwide is projected to grow by 9.52% (2024-2028), resulting in a market volume of US$16.62tn in 2028, highlighting the need for diverse payment options.
AI-Powered Product Recommendations: The use of artificial intelligence allows WooCommerce to tailor product suggestions to each visitor, enhancing the possibility of a transaction.
Research by McKinsey suggests that AI-powered product recommendations can lead to a 10%-20% uplift in sales, making this a compelling feature for online stores.
4. Prioritizing Performance and Accessibility
In today’s fast-paced world, website performance is the topmost priority. To keep up with this custom WordPress development trend, Here’s what custom WordPress developers will be focusing on:
Lightning-Fast Loading Speeds: Optimizing code, using high-quality images, and leveraging caching mechanisms will be crucial for ensuring a smooth user experience.
According to the studies, a 1-second delay in page load time can lead to a 7% conversion rate drop. This emphasizes the importance of prioritizing website performance.
Focus on Accessibility: developing custom WordPress websites accessible to everyone, regardless of ability, is not just a social responsibility but also improves SEO ranking. Riding on this custom WordPress development trend, Developers will be ensuring websites adhere to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards.
According to the W3C, over 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability. By making websites accessible, businesses can tap into this vast potential audience.
5. Mobile-First Design: A Must-Have, Not a Maybe
There is no denying the dominance of mobile browsing. This is why it’s necessary to design for mobile first:
Responsive Design: Websites should seamlessly adapt to any screen size, ensuring an optimal user experience across desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Statista reveals that mobile browsing now accounts for over 58% of all web traffic globally. Responsive design is no longer an option but a necessity.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs): Using bespoke WordPress development, these mobile experiences resemble apps and feel native, engaging consumers even when they are not online.
According to Gartner, 80 percent of service organizations will stop using their native mobile applications by 2025. Progressive web applications (PWAs) are on the increase, making them a serious contender alongside native mobile apps., demonstrating the increasing popularity of this technology.
6. Beyond the Horizon: Other Interesting WordPress Development Trends
The WordPress development landscape is constantly evolving. Keep an eye on these emerging custom WordPress development trends if you want to stay on the top:
Drag-and-Drop Page Builders: These user-friendly tools empower users or clients to easily customize WordPress website layouts without needing to code. It will be in demand for user-friendly website creation tools.
Voice Search Integration: As voice search becomes more common, this custom WordPress development trend will continue in 2024 and beyond. websites will need to be optimized for voice queries to stay ahead in the competition..
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): For specific industries, AR and VR experiences integrated with custom WordPress solutions can create a truly immersive user experience. According to Statista, by 2028, the global market for augmented and virtual reality is projected to have 3,674.0 million users., showcasing the vast potential of these technologies.
Dark Mode UI: This visually appealing and user-friendly interface is gaining popularity and will be in the hit list of custom WordPress development trends. As it can be easily implemented with custom WordPress website development. It is suggested that dark mode interfaces can reduce eye strain and improve battery life on mobile devices, making it a user-preferred option.
Thoughts
WordPress has a lot of potential in the future. With the help of these custom WordPress development trends—such as AI’s immense power, the adaptability of headless architecture, and the increasing significance of mobile-first design—your website may become an engaging and powerful online presence.
Here at SunArc Technologies, we love nothing more than assisting companies in implementing these WordPress development trends.
Visit us today and craft a custom WordPress website that not only looks stunning but fuels your business growth. Don’t just survive online; thrive with SunArc Technologies.
