The Comprehensive Guide to Gated Content: Strategies, Best Practices, and Examples

In the world of digital marketing, content reigns supreme. But not all content is created equal. Marketers must carefully consider their goals and target audience when developing a content strategy. One key consideration is whether to "gate" certain high-value content pieces behind a form to capture lead information, or leave content freely accessible to all.

In this ultimate guide, we‘ll dive deep into the world of gated content – what it is, how it works, best practices for success, and examples of gated content done right. By the end, you‘ll have a solid grasp on how to leverage gated content in your own marketing efforts to generate qualified leads and nurture prospects through the buyer journey.

What is Gated Content?

Gated content refers to any content asset that requires a user to provide some information, usually their name and email address, in order to access it. This is typically done through a form on a landing page promoting the content. Once the user fills out the form, they are able to view, download, or access the full content piece.

Types of content commonly used for gating include:

• Ebooks
• White papers
• Research reports
• Webinar recordings
• Video series
• Email courses
• Template libraries

The content offered is usually more in-depth, actionable, and valuable than the free blog posts or social media content a company publishes. The perceived value makes the user feel that providing their personal details is a fair exchange for being able to access it.

Gated vs. Ungated Content

So what‘s the difference between gated and ungated content? Ungated content is simply any content that is freely accessible to anyone, with no form fills or sign-up required. This includes things like:

• Blog posts
• Infographics
• Social media posts
• Product pages
• Case studies
• Podcasts

The goal of ungated content is to attract visitors to your website, build brand awareness and trust, improve your search engine rankings, and establish your company as a knowledgeable resource. It‘s the top of the funnel content meant to get people interested and excited to learn more.

Gated content, in contrast, serves as a way to convert those visitors into leads by getting their contact information. It‘s the logical next step for someone who found your ungated content valuable and wants to go deeper with your expertise. Putting the content behind a "gate" qualifies the lead as being more interested and engaged with your brand.

Both gated and ungated content are important parts of a content marketing strategy. You need the freely accessible content to attract an audience in the first place, then the gated content to convert them. A good rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule – aim for 80% of your content to be ungated and 20% gated.

Benefits of Gating Content

So why put your content behind a gate at all? Why not just keep everything open and freely available? There are a few key benefits to gating some of your content:

1. Lead Generation – The most obvious benefit is building your email list and generating new leads to nurture into customers. Every person who fills out your form is a new lead in your database to market to.

2. Lead Qualification – Putting content behind a form is a way to qualify leads as being more interested and likely to convert. If someone is willing to give you their contact info, it indicates they are more serious about the topic and your brand. The content piece can also relate to where they are in the buyer journey.

3. Audience Insights – The information you collect in your forms gives you valuable data about the people interested in your content. You can collect information on their job title, company size, industry, and more to better understand your audience and create more relevant content.

4. Perceived Value – Gating content can actually increase its perceived value. If people see you are asking for information to access it, they assume it must be more valuable and in-depth than the free content. This can work to your advantage, as long as the content delivers on that promise.

5. Content Upgrades – Gating allows you to create "content upgrade" offers related to your ungated blog posts or videos. For example, you could offer a free checklist or template download that complements the information in the post. People who want the additional resource will happily give their email to get it.

Of course, there are some drawbacks to consider as well. Gated content won‘t get the same reach and traffic as ungated since fewer people are willing to fill out a form. It can also create a barrier for people just discovering your brand if all your best content is locked away.

That‘s why balance is key. Gate your most valuable content that will convert qualified leads, but still provide plenty of useful ungated content to attract people to your site in the first place. Over time you can experiment with gating different types of content to see what performs best.

Best Practices for Gated Content

If you do decide to gate some of your content, there are some best practices to keep in mind:

1. Provide Unique Value – The content you gate should be your absolute best, most valuable and unique content. It needs to provide information people can‘t easily find elsewhere and be highly useful for your target audience.

2. Keep Forms Short – People are wary of long forms asking for too much info. Keep your forms as short as possible and only collect the information you really need to qualify and contact the lead. Usually name, email, and maybe company name is enough.

3. Deliver on the Promise – Make sure your content piece fully delivers on what was promised on the landing page. Don‘t make exaggerated claims just to get form fills. The content needs to satisfy the user and be worthy of them handing over their personal info.

4. Create a Compelling Landing Page – The landing page promoting your gated content should be engaging, clearly explain the value of the content piece, and make the form easy to find and fill out. Include preview copy from the content and engaging visuals.

5. Remove Navigation – Remove the main site navigation and any other distractions from your landing page. The only action you want people to take is filling out the form.

6. Optimize for Search – Even though the content itself is gated, you can still optimize the landing page for relevant keywords. Use the keywords in the page title, meta description, and header tags to help the page rank in search results and drive organic traffic.

7. Promote Everywhere – Promote your gated content everywhere you can – on social media, in email newsletters, in related blog posts, in online communities, in digital ads, etc. You can never have too many roads leading back to your landing page.

8. Test and Iterate – As with all parts of marketing, testing is key to optimizing your gated content. A/B test different titles, landing page designs, form fields, CTAs, and promotion channels to see what drives the most conversions. Use the insights to iterate and continually improve your approach.

Examples of Successful Gated Content

To spark some inspiration, here are a few examples of companies that have created highly effective gated content:

• HubSpot‘s "State of Inbound Marketing" Annual Report – Each year HubSpot releases a comprehensive report full of original data and insights on the latest marketing trends and benchmarks. The gated report is heavily promoted and highly anticipated, driving a huge number of leads for the company. They create a dedicated microsite for it with preview data and highlights to entice downloads.

• Unbounce‘s "Conversion Benchmark Report" – Unbounce created an in-depth gated report analyzing conversion benchmarks and landing page performance across several industries. The report is beautifully designed and full of valuable insights their target audience of marketers can‘t find anywhere else. It positions Unbounce as the go-to authority on conversions.

• Zendesk‘s "Zendesk Customer Service Benchmark" – Zendesk used their own customer data to create a gated report on customer service benchmarks and best practices. The report helps their target audience see how their own customer service stacks up and what they can do to improve. It‘s a great example of using your own unique data to create original gated content.

• Sprout Social‘s "Always Up-to-Date" Social Media Sizes Cheat Sheet – Sprout Social created a simple cheat sheet of the optimal image sizes for each social network that is constantly kept up-to-date. It‘s a super useful reference their target audience of social media managers needs often. The cheat sheet is offered as a gated download on a dedicated landing page.

The Future of Gated Content

As marketers and audiences evolve, gated content strategies must evolve with them. Some trends and predictions for the future of gated content include:

• Interactive & Personalized Content – Expect to see more gated content that is interactive and dynamically personalized for each user based on the information collected in the form or already in your database. Think quizzes, calculators, and assessments that give people customized results and recommendations.

• Chatbots & AI – Chatbots and AI tools can be used to engage people on the landing page and collect lead info in a conversational way vs. a static form. Or the chatbot can ask qualifying questions before allowing access to gated content.

• Voice Search Optimization – As voice search continues to grow, gated content landing pages will need to be optimized for how people phrase questions verbally vs. how they type. This could also open the door to gated audio content offers.

• Gated Community Groups – Brands are starting to launch private gated communities where customers and prospects can connect, ask questions, and get exclusive content and support. These groups provide ongoing value beyond a one-time content download.

• Data Transparency – With data privacy regulations like GDPR, brands need to be transparent about what they are doing with the personal data collected on gated content forms. Expect to see more customized privacy policies and clear options for people to manage their data and email preferences.

Gated content is certainly not going away anytime soon. If anything, it will become even more valuable as brands compete for people‘s time and attention. The key is to make your gated content as relevant, targeted, and useful as possible so people feel it is worth the form fill. Quality is more important than quantity.

Wrap Up

Gating your most valuable content can be a highly effective way to generate qualified leads for your business when done strategically. The key is to provide content that is so useful people don‘t even hesitate to hand over their email address to get it.

Use the best practices and examples outlined in this guide as you develop your own gated content plan. And remember, your gated content is only as successful as the ungated content that attracts people to it in the first place. Use them together to create a well-rounded content marketing machine.