July 8, 2025

How Contentstack's Data Activation Layer Changes the Personalization Game

‍An insider's perspective from Contentstack's 2025 Partner Day

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When Contentstack announced their acquisition of Lytics in January 2025, many existing users wondered: "Does this matter for my content strategy?" Having attended Contentstack's recent partner conference, I can share insights into not just what's changing, but how forward-thinking brands are already capitalizing on this combination.

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The Real Problem This Acquisition Solves

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Contentstack's leadership was refreshingly candid about why they made this move. As their Chief Product Officer Connor Egan explained, "At some point, you just hit a wall in the value that you can deliver to your customers... that wall requires really good access to really good customer data."

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The reality? Personalization has been broken for most brands. Not because the concept is flawed, but because of two fundamental blockers:

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The Content Problem: True personalization requires hundreds of content variations. If you want to personalize just your homepage across all audience segments, you need n different versions.‍
The Data Problem: Even when brands solve content at scale, their customer data is either fragmented across systems or impossible to activate in real-time.

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What's Actually Changing (Beyond the Press Release)

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1. Native Data Insights in Every CMS License

This is bigger than it sounds. Contentstack is including their new "Content Stack Data and Insights" capability with every CMS license—no additional cost. This isn't a basic analytics dashboard; it's powered by Lytics' 12+ years of CDP technology.

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What you get immediately:

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Opportunity Explorer: Maps all your content against audience behavior and affinities
Content Scoring: Shows which content resonates with specific audience segments
ML-driven Audiences: Built-in behavioral segments you can use right away
Goal Tracking: Assign dollar values to user behaviors and track ROI

2. From "CMS Plus" to "DXP" Strategy

Contentstack is positioning three distinct entry points:

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CMS Modernization: Replace legacy systems while gaining data insights
CMS + Web Personalization: Real-time behavioral personalization on your site
Full DXP: Omnichannel personalization across email, paid media, and all touchpoints

The smart play? You don't have to "eat the elephant" all at once. Start with one data source and one channel, then expand.

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3. Journey Orchestration with Contentstack Flows

The second major announcement was Contentstack Flows—their journey orchestration product that extends personalized experiences beyond your website into your entire marketing stack.

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Strategic Implications for Your Organization

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The most revealing insight from the partner sessions was how this acquisition solves different data maturity challenges that brands face today. Some organizations struggle with fragmented data across multiple systems. They can't get a unified view of their customers. Others have invested heavily in data infrastructure but find themselves in what one executive called the "data rich, activation poor" trap.

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What makes the Contentstack + Lytics combination compelling is that it meets brands where they are. Whether you're a growing company looking to implement your first real personalization strategy, or an enterprise with sophisticated data systems that just aren't talking to each other, the platform provides a clear activation path without requiring you to rebuild your entire martech stack.

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As Contentstack's CRO Todd Rathje noted, their sweet spot is working with "companies that are small that want to be big." But the reality is that even large organizations often feel small when it comes to effectively using their customer data. The integrated approach removes the traditional complexity and cost barriers that have made CDP implementations notoriously difficult to execute successfully.

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What This Means for Your Implementation Strategy

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Start with Content Scoring

Before diving into complex personalization, use the new data insights to understand which content actually drives engagement with your key audiences. This alone can reshape your content strategy.

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Leverage the "Data Activation Layer"

One of the most interesting technical aspects is Contentstack's new data activation architecture. It normalizes data from multiple sources (Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, BigQuery) so you can build once and plug into different customer data sources.

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Plan for Agents, But Don't Wait

Contentstack's leadership was measured about AI agents—acknowledging the hype while focusing on practical applications. Their approach: agents need access to your brand (Brand Kit), your content (CMS), and customer context (Lytics data). Smart positioning for when agent capabilities mature.

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The Competitive Landscape Shift

This acquisition fundamentally changes how Contentstack competes. They're no longer just replacing legacy CMS, rather they're going after the full digital experience platform category.

As their CEO Neha Sampat put it: "We want to put the flag on top of the whole category."

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For brands evaluating solutions, this means:

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More C- level access: DXP decisions involve CMOs and CDOs, not just IT
ROI focused on growth: Beyond cost reduction to revenue generation
Complete platform approach: One vendor for content, data, and personalization

Practical Next Steps

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If you're an existing Contentstack customer:

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Enable the Lytics tag immediately (it's free)
Let it crawl your content for 1-2 weeks to build audience insights
Start with simple web personalization based on behavioral data
Plan your data source integration strategy

If you're evaluating Contentstack:

Understand which "motion" fits your needs (CMS, CMS+, or full DXP)
Audit your current data sources and activation gaps
Consider the total cost of ownership vs. point solutions

For both groups: Consider working with partners who understand both platforms. The integration is powerful, but maximizing its value requires expertise in content strategy, data architecture, and personalization best practices.

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What This Means Going Forward

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Contentstack's acquisition of Lytics represents a fundamental shift toward integrated content and data experiences. The brands that figure out how to leverage both content at scale and real-time data activation will have a significant competitive advantage over those still struggling with fragmented systems.

Most organizations are still treating content and customer data as separate challenges. The companies that get ahead of this integration will be the ones setting the pace in their markets.

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