Webflow arrived on the scene to speed up the web and app development process and make the end product (fully developed digital products) more accessible and manageable for non-developers. 

But what happens when the accelerator gets accelerated?

In this article, I want to explore a question (and some answers): How can you execute a programmatic approach to no-code to grow your agency?

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First, what is programmatic no-code?

You’ve probably heard of no-code: an approach to software development that replaces code with things like drag-and-drop interfaces so that non-technical users can build and manage tools more easily. 

Programmatic no-code relies on artificial intelligence to automate the initial no-code build. 

In other words, we now have the technology to develop tools with code that can more efficiently take advantage of no-code tools like Webflow. (Wrap your head around that.) As a result, programmatic no-code has the potential to spin up a first draft of a website fairly quickly with little effort from developers.

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How can programmatic no-code benefit website development?

Often, developers spend anywhere from three to eighteen months creating a website without actually knowing if it’s the right thing to be building in the first place. Then, once the budget is maxed out and everyone’s patience has thinned, the team starts paying attention to how the site or app is performing. At that point, the tweaking begins.

In other words, the lift is 90% initial effort and 10% optimization.

With programmatic no-code, we can flip this so that teams spend 10% of their time doing initial development and 90% of their time optimizing what they’ve built and learning alongside customers.

So, how do we flip the script on web development? Instead of crafting individual components one by one, the idea is to build a set of tools that will allow us to move quickly from a design direction, components, and wireframes with content to an automated build. 

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Accelerate the test-and-learn approach

By automating and accelerating the creation of the site, we can focus more of our time on finding the best solution in an iterative process. If you build a site traditionally, for example, you would do multi-variant tests, making slight changes along the way based on ad campaign traffic. But what if you could render the site multiple ways using, say, three different design directions to see which performs better, weighing a modernist take against a softer style and a more classic one? 

The fun doesn’t stop there. On an e-commerce site, for example, you might want to make seasonal changes to the UI to match the mood of the moment. On an informational site, you may want iterations that speak to an emerging program or offer. 

The point is that the less time we spend creating one immutable end product, the more space and flexibility we have to imagine — and execute — new directions that best meet customer needs as they shift and evolve.

Programmatic no-code with Webflow

Here’s a prediction: With tools that shorten the upfront build process, agencies will be less burdened with page and variable-level decisions. That’s where the no-code element comes into play. Once you’ve built tools that increase speed and agility,  you can use Webflow to manage the site long-term. 

An automated approach supported by an accessible, no-code platform ensures that all the necessary variables are actively addressed rather than needlessly abstracted. Overall, programmatic no-code will help agencies reduce the time from idea to execution for a variety of web-based projects.

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Did you enjoy this article? Read more like it on the Edgar Allan blog.

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More articles from Edgar Allan on AI:

AI: Friend or Foe?

Introduction to Branded Large Language Models

Four Timely Tips: How to Prep Your Marketing Org for Branded Large Language Models

Asteroid or Dinosaur - Pick One (Exploring the Implications of AI to Agencies)

The Creative Destruction of the Information Age and the Rise of the Knowledge Age

It's the End of Knowledge Work; Long Live Wisdom Work

Creating digital artwork using custom code and AI with Slater 

Slater early-release: An open letter to the community

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