From Slow to Scalable: The Power of a Strategic Replatform
Country
United Kingdom
Industry
Financial ServicesTechnologies
Framer Motion
Bitbucket
Vitest
React Testing Library
Goals
Ever feel like your website's holding you back? Our client, Capitalise, certainly knew that feeling. Their website, once a strong performer, had become a source of friction.
Updating content was a struggle, the site's speed was impacting user experience, and the vital ability to understand customer behavior through testing remained out of reach. They understood that to truly scale and succeed, they needed a bold evolution.
That's where we stepped in. Recognizing the need for a significant change, Capitalise partnered with Naturaily. We understood their frustration and embraced the challenge. Our mission was to not just replace their old system, but to build a streamlined, powerful platform laser-focused on facilitating growth. Our game plan? A smart move to a headless setup powered by the super user-friendly Storyblok CMS. We chose Next.js for the frontend because it's just plain fast and great for SEO.
01
Intuitive content management
Capitalise needed a CMS that would give their content editors the freedom to create and manage website content without relying on developers. The goal was a visual, composable, and easy-to-learn editorial experience.
02
Peak performance
Speed was a key priority. Capitalise aimed to achieve faster page load times by reducing First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and hitting impressive Lighthouse scores on both desktop and mobile.
03
Data-driven growth
To significantly increase conversions, Capitalise planned to integrate powerful A/B and multivariate testing tools. This would facilitate effortless experimentation with various content and layouts, enabling them to understand and leverage user behavior.
Challenge
Naturaily tackled a complex replatform, navigating a tricky migration, the need for a CMS overhaul, and ambitious performance targets, all while ensuring a smooth transition for Capitalise.
Ollie Maitland
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Capitalise
Naturaily's expertise was key to our smooth transition to a modern platform. Their collaborative, needs-focused approach simplified the complex replatforming.
Capitalise's existing website, built on an outdated version of Pimcore, was holding them back. The system was difficult to use for content editors and didn't provide the performance or flexibility they needed for future growth. Naturaily faced several key challenges:
Migrating from a legacy system
Moving away from the old Pimcore setup presented a significant hurdle, with uncertainties around data migration.ÂImproving content editor experience
The existing Pimcore system was difficult for content editors, making a user-friendly CMS essential. The need for features like a visual and flexible page builder with reusable blocks and multivariate testing highlighted the limitations of the current system.Achieving performance and SEO goals
The project had ambitious targets for page load speed (FCP/LCP) and Lighthouse scores (90+), requiring careful technical implementation and optimization. The goal of a "sub 200ms response time on page load" added to the challenge.Implementing A/B testing
Because Pimcore lacked proper A/B testing, integrating this capability was a key challenge and requirement for Capitalise's new platform.Maintaining feature parity
The new platform needed to match the functionality of the old site, ensuring a seamless transition. Replicating all existing functionalities and blocks (approximately 30 usable blocks across 6-page templates and 340 published pages) on the new technology stack was a substantial undertaking.Ensuring design consistency
Aligning the new site with Capitalise's design system required addressing inconsistencies and standardizing components.ÂManaging the go-live process
A key challenge during the phased launch, despite its aim to mitigate risks, was preventing negative impacts on SEO and conversion rates. The initial setup, rendering pages from two CMS systems, introduced significant technical complexity.
Approach
For us, every successful project starts with truly hearing our client. So, we rolled up our sleeves and dove deep into Capitalise's existing setup. We explored their design ideas, listened intently to their team's frustrations and desires, and essentially aimed to understand their business inside and out – what drove them and what was tripping them up.
Ollie Maitland
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Capitalise
Naturaily's recommended technology stack and agile development process were a perfect fit for our needs. Their team was proactive, communicative, and demonstrated a strong commitment to delivering a high-quality solution.
Naturaily's strategy centered on a headless architecture with Storyblok CMS, providing Capitalise with a powerful, flexible, and future-proof platform optimized for content management, performance, and scalability.
Enhanced performance
Headless architecture is inherently faster, as it separates content delivery from presentation, crucial for achieving Capitalise's performance goals. Next.js was chosen for its performance and SEO capabilities, including server-side rendering.Content editor empowerment
Storyblok CMS provides an intuitive and visual interface with a live preview, drag-and-drop functionality, and reusable blocks, simplifying content creation and management for Capitalise's team.Flexibility and scalability
The headless setup allows for seamless integration with other tools and services (like Salesforce Pardot, Google Analytics, Auth0) and enables the platform to scale efficiently as Capitalise's business grows.Improved SEO
The modern architecture and Next.js framework contribute to better SEO by enabling clean URLs, fast loading times, and efficient rendering of content. On top of that, we implemented a significant amount of structured data (JSON-LD schema) that was missing in their old Pimcore setup. This included things like breadcrumbs, article markup, organization information, and FAQs, which helps search engines understand their content more effectively.
Naturaily's approach included:
Discovery workshops: Conducting thorough workshops to analyze the existing design system, evaluate the current website architecture, and gather detailed requirements from Capitalise's team. Â
UX/UI design: Updating components to align with Capitalise's design system, optimizing styles, and creating component variants to support A/B testing. Â
Web development: Setting up project environments (Azure Front Door, StoryblokCMS, Bitbucket), developing UI components (shadcn-ui), implementing business logic and integrations, and focusing on performance optimization (Lighthouse, Core Web Vitals). Â
CMS implementation: Configuring Storyblok CMS with user permissions, workflows, content types, and providing training and documentation to Capitalise's team. Â
Agile development: Employing a Scrumban framework with bi-weekly sprints, JIRA for issue tracking, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) to ensure transparency and iterative progress. Â
Phased go-iive: Implementing an incremental launch strategy, starting with testing on a few landing pages, to minimize risks and ensure a smooth transition.
Results
Naturaily successfully delivered a modern, high-performing platform, empowering Capitalise with improved content management, a strong foundation for growth, and a collaborative partnership.
Ollie Maitland
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Capitalise
We're thrilled with the results of the replatform. The new Storyblok CMS has made content management so much easier for our team, and the improved website performance is already making a difference in user engagement.
Naturaily successfully delivered a modern, high-performing platform, empowering Capitalise with improved content management, a strong foundation for growth, and a collaborative partnership.
The replatform project yielded significant results for Capitalise:
Successful partial go-live
A phased launch allowed for early testing and validation of the new platform, with some pages initially rendered from the new Storyblok CMS and others from the old Pimcore CMS.  Â
Positive CMS feedback
Capitalise's team expressed high satisfaction with the user-friendly Storyblok CMS, citing its ease of use and intuitive interface.Â
Improved performance
The new technology stack delivered a faster website, contributing to improved page load times and user experience.Â
A/B testing infrastructure
We implemented a robust A/B testing solution (PostHog), enabling data-driven website experiments and optimization.
Modern technology stack
The project successfully implemented a modern technology stack, including Next.js 15+, Turborepo, TailwindCSS + shadcn-ui, TanStack Query, Storyblok CMS, and Azure Front Door.Â
Design standardizations
The website's design was standardized and aligned with Capitalise's design system, creating a more cohesive and professional brand experience.Â
Agile development in progress
The project was executed using an agile approach with weekly sprints and a Scrumban framework, ensuring continuous progress and adaptability.
Outcome
Naturaily successfully transformed Capitalise's online presence. We provided a modern, efficient, and scalable platform that empowers their team and sets the stage for future growth and data-driven optimization
Before
An outdated Pimcore system slowed Capitalise's website, complicated content management, and limited optimization, hindering user engagement, SEO, and conversions.
After
Capitalise's new headless platform is fast, flexible, and user-friendly. It simplifies content management, allows for A/B testing, and delivers a seamless user experience, built on a modern stack for future growth.
Improvements
Our work resulted in:
Streamlined content
Storyblok CMS empowers Capitalise's editors to easily create, edit, and publish content with a visual interface and drag-and-drop functionality.
Consistent design
Alignment with the Capitalise design system ensures a cohesive and professional brand experience across all touchpoints.
Enhanced speed
The headless architecture and optimized frontend deliver a significantly faster browsing experience, improving user satisfaction and SEO performance.
Data-driven optimization
A/B testing capabilities enable Capitalise to test different variations of content and design, allowing for data-driven decisions to maximize conversions.
Scalable platform
The modern technology stack provides a scalable and flexible foundation for future growth and expansion of Capitalise's online presence.
Seamless Integrations
The new architecture allows for easy integration with third-party tools and services, streamlining workflows and enhancing functionality.
Most Interesting Features
Flexible and powerful
Headless architecture with Storyblok CMS
The headless setup provides Capitalise with a best-of-both-worlds solution: a fast, modern frontend built with Next.js and a user-friendly CMS (Storyblok) that empowers content editors. This combination offers flexibility, scalability, and improved performance.
Data-driven decisions
Robust A/B testing
By prioritizing A/B testing, Naturaily enabled Capitalise to make informed decisions based on data. The implemented solution allows for easy experimentation with different website elements, ensuring continuous optimization and improved conversion rates.
Minimizing risk, maximizing learning
Phased and iterative launch
The incremental launch enabled continuous testing and refinement, minimizing risks, gathering early feedback, and ensuring a smooth transition to the new platform with ongoing learning and optimization.
The Team
Naturaily's dedicated team collaborated closely with Capitalise to deliver a successful replatform, combining technical expertise with a client-focused approach and a commitment to exceeding expectations.
Ollie Maitland
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Capitalise
The Naturaily team was fantastic to work with. Their expertise and dedication were evident throughout the project, and they consistently went above and beyond to ensure our success.
Meet the team that worked on this project
Tomasz
Head of Delivery
Mateusz
Lead Developer
Artur
Frontend Developer
Justyna
Frontend Developer
Filip
Frontend Developer
Adrian
QA / Software Tester
About The Client
Capitalise is a leading online platform that empowers small businesses by providing access to finance and tools to manage their financial health.
Project
Website Replatform
Industry
Financial Services
Web
CapitaliseCapitalise.com empowers small businesses with a comprehensive platform simplifying access to financial options and funding via connections to financial institutions. They also offer SaaS solutions for accountants supporting SMEs.
Partnering with Naturaily felt like having a real teammate on our side. They built us a solid, modern platform while truly getting what our business needed and staying committed to helping us succeed.
Ollie Maitland
Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Capitalise
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