Content Gating and the Use of Registration Forms in Lead Generation
Content gating is a tool you can use to grow your customer base. The idea is that you’ll provide potential customers with helpful resources like eBooks, webinars, or reports in exchange for names, email addresses, and other user information.
This practice offers prospects valuable insights and helps businesses generate leads. You’ll have users fill out registration forms before receiving your content so you can contact them later on with offers. Lead generation is a $4.6 billion industry in the United States, so doing anything you can to cut costs can be advantageous for your company.
This article explores how content gating and registration forms work hand-in-hand to drive lead generation. It also gives practical tips for optimizing these strategies to grow your audience and boost conversions.
Quick Takeaways
- Content gating involves offering valuable resources in exchange for user information, helping businesses identify potential customers.
- Effective lead generation captures potential customers’ attention, and content gating enhances this process by filtering out genuinely interested individuals.
- Registration forms are essential tools in content gating, allowing businesses to collect user information while providing valuable content that can drive conversions.
- Businesses should carefully consider their content strategy, weighing the benefits of gated content—such as higher-quality leads—against the advantages of ungated content, like increased visibility and shareability.
What is Content Gating?
Gating refers to the process of requiring someone to fill out a registration form to view or download a piece of content.
The registration form can request just one or two pieces of information, such as an email address and name. It can also go even further by asking for your title, company, address, and phone number.
In some scenarios, you might have to opt-in for future communication if you are a decision-maker or want to be contacted by a salesperson. The form could even ask for the name of your firstborn child, favorite color, and other information, depending on what data the company wants to collect.
The Importance of Lead Generation
Lead generation means to attract or capture the attention or interest of potential customers (or “leads”) for your products or services. It’s a critical part of any business strategy because it helps build a pipeline of future customers, driving growth and sales.
With a steady flow of leads, businesses can expand and maintain a healthy revenue stream.
Content gating is a tool you can use in lead generation. It enables you to offer valuable resources like eBooks, reports, or webinars in exchange for a user’s contact information.
This exchange helps businesses identify individuals who are genuinely interested in what they offer. When someone fills out a registration form to access gated content, it indicates that they see value in the information and may be a good fit for future engagement.
From there, businesses can target their marketing efforts toward people who are more likely to convert into paying customers, making their lead-generation efforts more efficient.
The “Creep Factor” in Content Gating
Despite its usefulness, there is a creep factor regarding content gating. Some marketers liken gating content to asking for someone’s phone number at a singles bar without even introducing yourself.
Your audience might not be willing to give up that information without engaging with your brand first and getting to know you, so the content likely won’t generate as much interest as an ungated piece.
According to the Edelman Trust Report, 88% of consumers believe trust is one of the most important considerations before buying a specific brand. Gating content could hinder your ability to engage with potential customers and build that trust before moving to the next step of the buying process.
4 Factors to Consider For Content Gating
If you decide to gate your content, you’ll need to put some thought into what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Four considerations for content gating include:
- Objectives: what is the goal of the content?
- Audience: who is the intended audience?
- Value: is it a 20-page research brief or a 400-word blog post? Each has a relative value for your audience.
- Uniqueness: can your audience get similar content somewhere else without a form getting in the way?
The Pros and Cons of Content Gating
There are good reasons to gate and not to gate content behind registration forms. You’ll need to determine the best strategy for your customers.
The Benefits of Ungated Content
The main reason to “set your content free” is that more people are likely to see it, and they are also more likely to share it. This availability provides positive search results (SEO) for your site, more inbound links or “referral links” from other websites, and, ultimately, more traffic and visitors to your website.
The more visitors you get, the more opportunities you have to convert them to leads and customers.
The Downside to Ungated Content
Ungated content has some issues, though, including lower quality leads, unpredictable lead volumes, fewer conversions, and less information marketers can use to nurture buyers. The content won’t be as deep, so it might not be as relevant to your customers’ needs.
Content has tremendous value when you map it to the right stage of the buying process. You’ll need to consider content by the buying stage, as the customer journey can be a long process, and you must become their guide to ensure they reach the right destination.
Best Practices for Using Registration Forms
Designing effective registration forms is crucial for successful lead generation through content gating. Here are some best practices:
Keep the Form Short and Focused
Avoid overwhelming users with lengthy forms. Ask for only the most essential information, such as name and email. Shorter forms reduce friction and increase the likelihood of completion, improving lead capture rates.
Use Clear and Compelling Calls to Action (CTAs)
Your CTA should clearly convey what users gain by submitting their information. Phrases like “Download the Free eBook” or “Get Instant Access” motivate users to act by highlighting the benefit of filling out the form.
Ensure Mobile-Friendliness and Ease of Use
Many users will access your content using mobile devices, so ensure the form is mobile-friendly. Keep it simple and easy to fill out, with large buttons and a straightforward layout.
Transparency in Data Collection
It’s important to be upfront about why you’re collecting personal data. Include a brief statement about how you’ll use the information and link to your privacy policy. Transparency builds trust, so users are more likely to share their details.
Deliver the Right Content, and You Will Get Customers
The debate on whether to gate or ungate your content will depend on multiple internal factors, as every organization has different goals when interacting with potential customers. However, developing high-quality materials is essential regardless of how you allow consumers to access your content.
Marketing Insider Group can provide the content you need through our Content Builder Services. We’ll supply your business with a steady stream of quality material you can share with customers in any way you see fit. Contact Marketing Insider Group to learn more, or book a free consultation with our team.
19 thoughts on “Content Gating and the Use of Registration Forms in Lead Generation”
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Hi Michael,
Considering the buying stage is an interesting point in deciding whether to gate content or not –
As you said, blatantly asking for someone’s name, address and email without even first introducing yourself is no way win hearts. It’ll drive more people away in fact.
Developing a strategy for the process is crucial – why are they giving you their information, where are they going next in the process and what can you offer to them that will completely delight them.
Thanks for sharing!
~Christine
Great post, Michael, on an age-old question – to gate or not to gate.
I like the idea of offering mostly ungated content, but having a simple gave for some of the highest value content like in depth white papers or analysts reports. I also agree on simple forms for most.
Love your blog, Michael., Keep up the great work.
Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Creator and Host of Marketing Made Simple TV
https://www.marketingmadesimple.tv
Terrific post, Michael. As I mention in the Focus.com discussion you point to, I think one of the biggest mistakes companies make is basing the gating decision on how much effort they put into developing a content asset. A prospective buyer frankly doesn’t care that your company spent 2-4 times longer preparing an early-stage white paper than a later-stage case study. Their comfort level sharing their information is more often based on how much time they’ve spent digesting that organization’s content (i.e., less willing on the first date, more comfortable after the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th). That’s not to say people don’t assign more value to certain types of content, but they’re still hesitant to hand over contact information early on, knowing they’re likely to get hounded as a result.
I wrote a post earlier in the year for the Content Marketing Institute on this very topic. Check it out for stats into what info tech buyers are willing to share in exchange for certain types of content and at what point they’re willing to do so: https://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/03/content-registration-forms/
Thanks Christine, as you said it is all about the strategy and the process to execute that and not a single event.
Thanks Jeff, I really appreciate the support and congrats to you on the recognition you’ve received as well!
Stephanie, great point. You provide another example of the issue of company-centered vs. customer-centered decision making. A customer-focused organization is better for business because it better serves the customer, who in turn is more willing to become a customer, and a referrer of more, new customers.
And those stats are great. 80% are probably or definitely not willing to share their information with a company they are not familiar with! I also like the % of people who do not expect to be followed up and who would be annoyed if the vendor follows up.
Thanks so much for your leadership on this topic!
Amen. 2.1 Million IT buyers are nodding their heads in agreement.
IT buyers and IT vendors on gated/ungated content
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/79863-registration-free-white-papers
IT buyers on their contact info
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/226574-sign-up-for-a-it-print-magazine-or-website-and-you-get-a-free-sales-call
Thanks Kenny, It’s been a while since 2.1 Million people agreed with me! Most days I’m happy when just my 1 person does. 😉
Great post, Michael. You captur all the issues around gating without over-simplifying.
One way to decide whether to gate a piece: run an A/B test, one landing page with a form against the same page without the form.
Conversion will be higher without the form, but until you know how much higher, you can’t decide if the upside is worth the penalty.
Would you sacrifice the data capture for ten percent fewer downloads? How about sixty percent? The debate becomes much clearer when you’ve got the numbers.
This topic is quite relevant. If you’re in sales, you want every opportunity to capture a name, which leads to lead nurturing and a possible opportunity. We believe forms have its place in context of the quality of the content. Consider:
a. Forms are a no-brainer when it comes to offering content via paid search, online display, or social media promotion via landing pages.
b. Website. If your content has great value, I urge clients to summarize the content (Or tease it) with an option to get the entire white paper with a form.
You really have to study your analytics and your conversion funnel. In my view, all lead generating websites need to have a call-to-action, otherwise your KPIs are engagement metrics- average time on site, pages per visit, etc. Those metrics don’t necessarily equate to media or keyword analysis, but do tell a story of your website is engaging enough for audiences.
It does come back to goals of a website. If you’re using a website to generate leads into the funnel, you need a sound conversion architecture.
That’s a point-of-view of a lead generator and a conversion-focused professional, me. It’s a great topic to debate.
Paul Mosenson
NuSpark Marketing
https://www.nusparkmarketing.com
Great tip Doug. In order to conduct the test, the un-gated content needs a follow-on call to action. So it’s great to get 20-50 times more views on a piece of content, but there has to be something to incite action to the next stage. “Attend a webcast” “Explore our solutions” “Sign up for a free demo” all these things are valid calls-to-action for “free” content.
With this, you can see: 1) how many gated content registrations were completed and 2) how many conversions do you get with un-gated content to the follow-on calls-to-action. You can compare these 2 and see their relative value. So, for example, how many of the registrations appear valid vs. how many webinar attendees who actually attended or stayed on for more than 50% of the webcast.
I think it’s important to think through these validation and comparison points because too often, our bias can quickly come through as we jump to the foregone conclusion that supports our personal goals.
Thanks Paul, every website should have a conversion path in my opinion. I’m with you that we need to drive business goals and outcomes!
Great post Michael!
Thanks for the nice mention…but more importantly, thanks for the great insights.
In this buyer-centric world…over-gating can leave a negative impression of your brand AND force a potential prospect to find information elsewhere (which may mean never seeing him again). The question of “to gate or not to gate” is more sensitive now than ever. Err on the side of generous, and gain the exposure you mention above.
Thanks for the great insights. Cheers, Lauren
Thanks Lauren, I completely agree. I think a good rule to follow is to prioritize the following objectives and metrics: 1) attention (reach), 2) engagement (shares, comments) and conversions (leads) in that order.
Great post Michael!
I also think we need to consider the social visitor potentially visiting on a mobile device. The screen is small the keyboard is horrible – let’s not force these people through the traditional gate. If I’m in twitter and a friend posts a cool white paper by a vendor I’ve never heard of – ideally I don’t want an abrupt gate to get the content. regardless of it its early stage content or not – lets approach a brand new visitor and let them in for free or since they are social let them socially sign in for the content instead of filling out the form. Then we can use progressive form technology to learn more about them over time assuming they continue to express interest asking for more content.
Great post I’ll check out the focus session. Thanks!
GREAT point Bryan, forms + mobile = BAD! (generally).
I find myself searching Google to find a back door to access gated content without having to register. The result is either I find the content without having to register or I find a similar piece of content with the same topic/search phrase that may be just as good or better.
Thanks Chris, I think many of our customers have found that trick useful as well.
It would be interesting to tie analytics and engagement to content, call to action and conversions. For example: as someone consumers your content over time they will be willing to self identify (as opposed to being “tracked”) either by giving some information in exchange for additional/more in-depth content but also the ability to engage with someone with the domain expertise.
The analytics piece is comprised of tracking anonymous readers with respect to what content they consumer the paths they take prior to filling out a form. This is where content type, get’s tied to content consumption and conversion. This is something I’m exploring with software/app developers from Silicon Halton’s Peer to Peer software engineering group.