Should you really gate that whitepaper?
Four factors to consider when deciding whether to gate your content
Hello friends,
Ah, the age-old question.
Should you gate your content, making people fork over their emails in exchange for the download? Or should you leave it ungated, free for anyone to enjoy without sacrificing their data to your marketing or sales department?
Think back to the last time you came across a landing page for a great-sounding white paper. What was your thought process? If you’re anything like us, it was probably something like, “Ugh, will this be worth it?”
Or maybe you even typed “firstname@notmyproblem.com” into that pesky form — (yep, we see you 😉)
Here's what to consider when deciding whether to gate your content.
1 — Exclusivity.
The first matter to assess is the quality and nature of the content. Can the information in this particular asset be found elsewhere on the internet? If so, don’t gate it. Why would people trade their data for something they could find elsewhere for free?
Assess honestly:
Did you do original research?
Is the content exceptionally in-depth, with data that can’t be easily found?
Did you shape the data into a meaningful narrative?
If you answered yes, gating might be a good strategy.
2 — Brand awareness
Once you’ve determined that your asset is unique and valuable enough to gate, take stock of your intended audience’s level of brand awareness.
Do they already perceive you as a vetted and trusted source of information? If you’re still building a name for yourself, it may be more valuable to your brand to keep your content open and accessible to all — without asking for personal information.
Ungated, high-value content can help build trust and brand recognition. Which you’ll need to position your brand to generate qualified leads with future content initiatives.
3 — Funnel balance
Crafting a compelling buyer’s journey and maximizing conversions requires a healthy mix of top-of-funnel (ToFu), middle-of-funnel (MoFu), and bottom-of-funnel) BoFu content. Gated content is just one part of what should be a diverse strategy.
Each brand’s approach will be different, but we generally recommend a mix of about 70% ungated and 30% gated content.
To maintain a healthy funnel:
Analyze your content performance regularly: Use analytics to track how different types of content perform in terms of attracting traffic, generating leads, and converting prospects.
Talk to your customers: Gain insights directly from your audience about their preferences for consuming your content and whether they perceive your gated content as worthwhile.
Test and iterate: Experiment with different gating strategies, such as partial gating (providing a preview before asking for details) or using dynamic gating based on user behavior.
By carefully assessing the role each type of content plays in the customer journey, you can more effectively decide when to gate content and when to leave it accessible. Rather than hyper-focusing on “generating leads,” a better goal is achieving a balanced funnel that nurtures leads through each awareness level.
4 — Purpose
Finally, define the primary goal for the content. Each piece should be aligned with a specific marketing objective.
If generating traffic is a priority, you might leave content ungated so it can be crawled by search engines and help your website rank organically.
If the goal is to position your brand as a thought leader, consider ungating insightful analyses or opinion pieces to reach a broader audience and build industry authority.
If lead generation is your target — and you’ve positively considered the three previous factors — put that gate up. When done right, gated content works. High-quality, relevant white papers and industry reports build email lists and drive qualified leads.
Bonus considerations:
Gated content doesn’t show up in search — which means it does nothing to improve your search engine rankings or generate organic traffic.
Consider repurposing high-quality, ungated content into a “greatest hits” guide. People will appreciate that you’ve gathered and organized key content assets on their behalf, and the original posts can continue to please the Google gods.
Another option is to ungate content, but offer visitors the opportunity to provide their email in exchange for a PDF download. This approach will get more eyes on your content, and highly interested parties can benefit from the convenience of saving your paper to refer back to later.
Takeaways
Modern buyers are wary of giving out their information. They’re tired of being disappointed by content that doesn’t deliver. Don’t add to this problem.
Make sure your house is in order first. (AKA you’re generating traffic and you have an audience that trusts you.) Then use gated content wisely to build your email list and drive truly qualified leads.
When executed well, gated content can be a powerful tool. Just remember it's not the only one at your disposal.