Gated content – How to use it the right way for lead generation?

Have you ever experienced clicking on an article you were interested in reading, and after some time a message popped up asking for your email address to continue reading? It can be frustrating, Am I right?

But it's actually an effective marketing strategy.

As your readers read the content, they realize its value, relevance, and interest to what they were searching for, making them more eager to continue reading and they are definitely willing to provide their personal information in exchange.

In this article, we will go through the following topics,

• What is gated content?
• What are the pros and cons of gated content?
• How to use gated content to generate leads?

Let’s start with a definition,

What is gated content?

Gated content refers to valuable information such as articles, videos, infographics, white papers, flip books, eBooks, quiz results, or downloadable resources that can only be accessed by users who provide their contact information, typically their email address. This content type typically holds significant value, offering detailed information, exclusive insights, or comprehensive knowledge that is rarely found in a standard blog post or website copy. Businesses leverage gated content to generate leads and cultivate relationships with potential customers.

What are the pros and cons of gated content?

Pros of gated content

• Gated contents allow businesses to capture more email addresses.
• Gated contents attract fewer but more qualified leads.
• It helps businesses to understand their audience better through vital customer data. So that businesses can create more personalized marketing strategies.
• It allows you to segment your email list, resulting in you can send super-targeted emails.

Cons of gated content

• Gated content will reduce the number of people who read your content, Not every visitor is willing to exchange their contact details for content, so you may lose those potential leads.
• Search engines can’t crawl the gated content, search engine bots can’t read it and index it in Google which means it won’t contribute to your website’s search engine ranking.
• Nowadays internet users often expect content to be freely accessible. Gated content may cause frustration and damage your brand’s reputation.
• Not every user will provide accurate information to access the gated content. Those false customer data may lead to ineffective marketing strategies.

How to use gated content to generate leads?

• Understand your audience
• Create irresistible headlines
• Align content to the sales funnel
• Provide high-value content
• Create effective landing pages
• Optimize your forms
• Create a thank you page
• Track your performance

Understand your audience

Understanding your audience's preferences and needs is crucial before creating gated content. To generate effective gated content, it is recommended that you ask yourself the following questions:

• Who are the target audience?
• What challenges do they encounter?
• What information are they seeking?

Create irresistible headlines

In the digital age, our attention spans are short which means you have very little time to grab your audience’s attention. Use your attractive headline and a call to action as a trump card to capture the interest of your audience. Make sure your headline is compelling, it has to offer a clear benefit or solution, and it has to ignite curiosity among your audience.

An attractive, well-crafted headline can make to feel your audience that your gated content is worth their time.

Align content to the sales funnel

Nowadays consumers are highly aware and informed. You have to provide certain types of content to certain levels of the sales funnel. In a buyer’s journey, they must have the right information and content to guide them to make the right decision. First, you need to identify where your lead is in the sales funnel. So that you can identify the topic and format according to each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Related post: The sales funnel – AIDA model to boost your content marketing.

For example, if your prospect is in the awareness stage, it’s time to craft a compelling story that both educates and entertains them. Sharing your personal experience and customer stories can help you establish a personal connection with your audience, and that helps to create trust and loyalty. Incorporating case studies, research reports, and statistics into your content can add value and further enhance your storytelling.

Meanwhile, as a prospect in the consideration stage, you have to stimulate your audience's desire. Use customer reviews and social media shares to highlight the benefits, features, and relatable issues.

Alternatively, a potential customer in the decision stage may require a product demonstration or a webinar.

Provide high-value content

Ensure that your gated content is valuable enough to justify requesting visitors' email addresses. Give them the impression that they are accessing unique, top-quality, and authentic content that cannot be found elsewhere. If you create gated content that does not provide any value to your readers, it will ruin all your efforts. Your users end up feeling disappointed instead of becoming potential customers. Make sure your gated content addresses your audience's requirements, concerns, and goals, ensuring it provides genuine value and connects with their interests throughout the buyer's journey.

Make it visual – By using images, videos, and multimedia content you can grab the attention of your audience.

Include data visualization – Data visualization plays a key role in gated content. Present your research studies in the form of graphs, charts, infographics, maps, heatmaps will turn the regular blog post into high-value content.

Use interactive elements – Using interactive elements like quizzes, puzzles, games, and stories will make your blog post more engaging.

Related post: Ways to use visual content to increase blog engagement

Create effective landing pages

Effective landing pages are one of the ways to promote your gated content. Make sure your landing page compels your readers to take action and it should minimize distractions.

Here are some tips to make your landing page effective,

• Keep your layout clean and simple
• Create a compelling and click-worthy headline that explains exactly what the content is 
• Includes subheading that provides additional context
• Highlight the major benefits and features
• Use images or videos to catch the audience's attention
• Use contrasting color
• Include social proof to persuade the user to convert

Optimize your forms

Registration form plays a crucial role in your gated content’s success. Before creating your form, you should determine the number of fields you want to include. When requesting information, keep it simple. Avoid making it complicated by asking for too much information. For the initial request, stick to gathering only the essential details, such as the person's name and email address.

While requesting more information can improve your sales targeting, it may also discourage people from signing up.

Create a thank you page

The thank you page plays a crucial role in the lead generation process as it is the page where the user lands upon completing the form. This page can either have a button to download the PDF or media file or provide instructions on what the user should do next, such as checking their inbox.

Track your performance

Once you have decided to put a certain piece of content behind a gate, it enables you to measure your analytics and track conversions. To ensure the effectiveness of your gated content and strategy, it's crucial to analyze, review, and measure their success. By tracking your analytics, you can determine the impact of your content and gain insights into your audience's behavior and perception of your brand.

We recommend you to track the following metrics,

• How many people shared their contact details to access your gated content? 
• How many visitors left your website after encountering the lead form? 
• How much time is spent by users on your gated content material?

You can use these metrics to identify areas for improvement and refine your content marketing strategies.

Conclusion

Before creating gated content, you have to consider what type of content you have and what type of audience you have.  If you're unsure about whether or not to gate your content, try answering the below questions to make the process more straightforward,

• Does your website have stable organic traffic?
• Does your website have a solid visitor base?
• Is gated content the most effective way to convert visitors into subscribers?
• Do you have valuable content that is worth gating?

If you answered "yes" to all the questions, creating gated content is a clear choice. On the other hand, if traffic is your top priority, and if you would like to increase brand awareness better avoid gated content to enhance visibility and shareability. As I mentioned above, if you put content behind the gate, it means you can’t get any SEO benefits from it.