But doesn’t gated content restrict potential leads from your content?
This is where the line between gated and ungated content gets a little “blurry”. Some argue that:
“Gated content ensures only people who really want your content will opt-in. Which will definitely boost the quality of your sign-ups, and maybe even quantity (providing that you’re gated content is that good).”
This is (Hubspot’s ‘3rd founder’) Mike Volp’s view:
“If I can get 100,000 people to see that page and I can get 28,000 people to fill it out, 28,000 contacts may be more valuable than even 50,000 people seeing the content.”
On the opposite side, you have marketers like Moz’s Rand Fishkin, who openly share massively detailed guides; and marketers like David Meerman Scott that advocates tearing your content walls down because:
“A lot of people will see the form and say, “Forget it. I don’t want to fill out the form. The vast majority of people are unwilling to share a piece of content that has a form in front of it. A lot fewer people will blog and tweet something that has a form on it.”
So what’s the right answer?
We’d love to say either gating or ungating content will boost lead acquisition, but the truth:
There’s no cut-and-paste answer.
There are too many intricate variables in a business – and with its customers, to give a solid yes or no answer. It heavily depends on your specific goals and KPIs. Are traffic numbers, views, and brand awareness the goal? Or is all that worth sacrificing for to stack up more qualified leads?