The last few years have seen a wave of organisations embrace headless and composable architectures. Platforms like Contentful and Storyblok have empowered teams to break free from the constraints of monolithic CMSs, centralising content and delivering it seamlessly across web, mobile, apps, and even AR/VR experiences. But here’s the reality:
Many teams stall after migration. They’ve gone headless, but they haven’t yet unlocked the promised benefits of performance, conversion rate optimisation (CRO), and personalisation.
So, you’ve gone headless. Now what?
Why teams get stuck post‑headless
The technical migration is often the easier part. The real challenges emerge afterwards:
- Content everywhere, but impact unclear: Teams push content to multiple channels but don’t measure performance rigorously.
- Fear of complexity: There’s hesitation to embrace personalisation or CRO, due to perceived retraining overheads or added complexity.
- Workflow bottlenecks: Without preview tools or structured content models, editors struggle to manage at scale.
In other words: the architecture is in place, but the value hasn’t yet been realised.
Lessons from Contentful: From headless to optimised
Contentful itself recognises that headless alone isn’t the end goal, it’s the foundation for optimisation. Their recent launch of Contentful Personalisation (powered by the acquisition of Ninetailed) signals the next stage for headless teams:
- Segmentation & Targeting: Build audiences using CDPs, CRMs, and AI.
- Personalised Experiences: Deliver tailored content across channels without constant developer involvement.
- Experimentation & CRO: Run A/B tests, measure results, and iterate.
Brands using this approach have seen measurable results: Kraft‑Heinz reported a 78% increase in conversion rates, while Ace & Tate achieved 87% higher CTRs.
The key takeaway? Going headless is just step one. The real gains come when you layer experimentation and personalisation onto your composable stack.
Lessons from Storyblok: Empowering teams beyond the build
Storyblok tackles a different but equally critical “post-headless” challenge: editorial empowerment and workflow efficiency.
After implementation, many teams complain about the lack of visual editing in headless systems. Storyblok’s visual editor solves this by offering:
- Real-time previews for marketers.
- Component-based content for developers.
- Reusable assets and multilingual support for scaling across regions .
Storyblok also highlights the importance of collaboration best practices, aligning marketers and developers to avoid bottlenecks. Without this, teams risk slowing down after the migration high.
And looking ahead, Storyblok is already positioning for AI readiness — ensuring structured, API-first content can fuel the next generation of personalised, AI‑driven experiences.
What we’ve learned with Contentful & Storyblok
At Candyspace, we’ve seen first-hand that going headless is just the beginning. The real business value comes when organisations:
- Audit their current setup to uncover performance bottlenecks.
- Implement CRO frameworks that test, learn, and optimise content journeys.
- Integrate personalisation that’s meaningful and measurable.
- Empower both marketers and developers with the right workflows and tooling.
Whether you’re on Contentful or Storyblok, our role is to help you go from “we’ve migrated” to “we’re optimising, personalising, and scaling.”
Wrapping up…
A headless CMS isn’t the finish line, it’s the start of a more flexible, scalable, and future-proof content strategy. If you’re finding yourself stuck in the “we’ve gone composable, now what?” stage, you’re not alone. The answer lies in doubling down on performance optimisation, conversion uplift, and personalisation.
👉 Ready to unlock the full value of your headless setup?
Book a Candyspace audit or workshop today to assess your CRO and personalisation readiness and start turning composability into measurable business outcomes.
