SOS Children's Villages e.V. successful website relaunch

SOS-Kinderdorf e.V. is part of the international aid organization SOS Children's Villages, and has been continuously committed to the welfare of children and young people in need since its foundation in 1955. In Germany, SOS Children's Villages operates numerous facilities and programs that offer disadvantaged children and their families support and a safe home. 

The website www.sos-kinderdorf.de serves as a central platform to inform the public, attract donors and applicants, and communicate with specialists in the field. However, the aging technology of the website struggled to meet these demands—a challenge that the SOS Children's Villages e.V. team addressed.

The website needed to be updated to the latest technical standards to meet users' current requirements and expectations. Additionally, it should not only offer an optimized online experience but also reduce development and maintenance costs.

With this clear goal in mind, the redesign of the online presence began, supported by creatision as an experienced partner and CoreMedia as a DXP provider.

For SOS Children's Villages e.V., the decision for a headless setup was a strategic choice to future-proof their digital presence. By separating the backend and frontend, the organization gains flexibility and scalability, allowing it to use advanced frontend technologies independently. A headless CMS facilitates consistent and inspiring content delivery across various channels and devices, significantly improving user experience and strengthening engagements with philanthropists. The parallel work of developers and content creators accelerates the launch of new content, enabling SOS Children's Villages e.V. to quickly respond to market changes, centralize various donation processes, and rapidly initiate fundraising campaigns in case of disasters.

The website's relaunch was centered around optimizing the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). In collaboration with a specialized UI/UX agency, the UI underwent modernization with a strong emphasis on accessibility. This step was crucial for creating an appealing and user-friendly design.  

By implementing React and MUI (Material Design), a modular and therefore efficient front-end structure was created. Transferring logic from the CoreMedia backend to the React head significantly enhanced server performance, leading to more efficient use of CoreMedia licenses and accelerated processing speeds. Migration from CoreMedia 10 to 11 with CAE was streamlined through the headless approach, requiring only minimal adjustments to the studio and content servers. 

The implementation of serverside rendering with Next.js not only optimized the performance of the website, but also preserved the existing search engine ranking. This approach ensured swift content loading, thereby enhancing the overall user experience. 

The relaunch provides a solid foundation for the future. By implementing sustainable technologies such as CoreMedia's Headless CMS, React, and next.js, SOS-Kinderdorf e.V. can react quickly to market changes or urgent donation needs in case of a disaster. In addition, the efficiency gains and improved user experience help the SOS-Kinderdorf.de website to make the best possible contribution to using donations effectively to improve the living conditions of socially disadvantaged children, young people, and their families.