Case Study: The Spectator achieves a 25% increase in site conversions with Contentstack

The Vision of The Spectator and Contentstack

The Spectator, the long‑running British weekly on politics and culture, faced a slow, unreliable WordPress setup that hampered publishing and development. Seeking a microservices‑based, API‑first, cloud‑native headless (MACH) CMS, The Spectator chose Contentstack’s headless CMS because it met their technical requirements and provided hands‑on customer success during proof‑of‑concept and onboarding.

Contentstack implemented a headless platform with granular webhooks and flexible content relations, integrating with The Spectator’s frontend and other services to speed delivery and enable editorial experimentation. The move delivered measurable gains: publishing times improved ~20%, developer time was cut (reported up to 50%), site conversion rose 25%, readership grew from ~70,000 to over 100,000, and daily publishes increased from 3–4 to 10–12 pieces—boosting speed, productivity, and conversions.

The Spectator

Tom Morgan

Director of Digital