Gated Content

Nowadays, we have access to more entertaining and educational content than ever before. While this sounds like great news for the end user, content creators must work harder than ever to differentiate themselves and increase user engagement. Gated content is one way of achieving these goals.

Whether you want to create your gated content or learn more about this term, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll shed some light on the gated content term and describe some of the most useful gated content strategies for your website or blog.

What Is Gated Content?

Gated content requires users to register, make a payment, or provide specific information to view or access the content itself.

Publishers often use this strategy, typically content protected by a paywall or registration form, to generate revenue or collect user data. However, gated content can lead to user frustration when access to desired content is restricted, which might increase the churn rate. For this reason, it’s important to carefully consider whether gated content is suitable for your website or blog.

However, when implemented thoughtfully, gated content can be an effective tool to enhance user engagement and monetize your expertise. It is most successful when the content is demonstrably valuable and meets the specific needs or interests of your target audience.

How to Define Gated Content?

Gated content, which can only be accessed after completing a specific action like registering or subscribing, is often used to gather leads or provide premium access to content. This strategy is typically applied to high-value offerings such as exclusive research reports, in-depth tutorials, or special webinars.

While gated content can effectively build a subscriber base by offering substantial value, it’s important to assess its appropriateness based on your audience’s expectations, the competitiveness of your industry, and the meeting point in the user’s journey.

For instance, gating early-stage educational content might deter new visitors who are not yet familiar with your brand. Conversely, providing access to exclusive case studies or advanced tutorials after registration can be highly effective for industries like technology or professional services, where detailed, expert content is highly valued.

Choosing when to gate content should align with your overall marketing goals and consider how your audience interacts with your brand, ensuring that it enhances user engagement rather than becoming a point of frustration.

Why Is Gated Content Important?

The importance of gated content is primarily for businesses to convert visitors, increase revenue, and nurture and qualify each prospect. Overall, gated content can be a powerful tool for companies looking to generate leads and nurture existing ones.

1. Lead generation and data collection

Gated content requires users to provide personal information, such as their name, email address, or industry details, before accessing premium content. This process not only helps in building a robust database of potential leads but also facilitates the segmentation of these leads based on the data collected.

As a result, businesses can tailor their future marketing efforts more effectively to match the needs and interests of their audience.

2. Enhancing customer conversion rates

By offering valuable resources in exchange for user information, companies can significantly increase their conversion rates. Prospects are more likely to provide their details when they perceive the content as high value, such as exclusive reports, ebooks, or webinars.

This strategy not only generates leads but also moves prospects further along the sales funnel.

3. Qualifying prospects

Collecting detailed information at the point of content access allows marketers to better understand and qualify each prospect’s potential interest and buying intent.

This insight is crucial for prioritizing follow-up efforts and customizing sales approaches to increase the likelihood of converting leads into paying customers.

What Are The Best Gated Content Strategies?

There are many different types of gated content, depending on the goal. Similarly, there are many strategies and best practices to consider. Let’s discover more of them below. 

1. Lead generation content

Lead-generation gated content is designed to capture user information in exchange for access to specific data. The information collected from visitors can then be utilized to follow up with each potential prospect.

For example, a financial advisory firm might offer a gated “Investment Guide” eBook, which provides valuable insights in exchange for contact details, helping them to nurture leads over time.

2. Conversion content

Conversion-oriented gated content helps to encourage users to take a specific action, such as making a purchase. This type of content often uses a “freemium” model, where customers can access some content for free but must pay to access the full content.

An example of this could be a language learning app that offers a few lessons for free, while gating the further lessons and topics.

3. Engagement content

As its name implies, engagement-gated content seeks to amuse visitors by requiring them to complete a specific task to access it. This can be a quiz, a mini-game, or something else entirely. Knowing how to use this strategy sparingly is essential, as overuse could irritate visitors and ward off potential prospects.

A travel agency, for instance, might use a fun, interactive quiz about travel destinations that unlocks personalized travel recommendations upon completion.

4. Educational webinars

Hosting webinars that require registration is another effective gated content strategy. These webinars can provide in-depth knowledge on relevant topics, which attracts a targeted audience.

For example, a technology company might offer exclusive webinars on emerging tech trends to tech professionals who register with their business email, thereby generating high-quality leads.

5. Exclusive memberships

Offering exclusive memberships that provide access to premium content is a powerful way to gate content. Members might receive access to specialized articles, videos, and industry reports not available to the general public.

For example, a professional association might offer members-only access to cutting-edge research papers and networking events, which encourages both sign-ups and long-term loyalty.

Additional Tips & Tricks

• When you use gated content, take the opportunity to acquire the contact information of a lead. Contact information such as email addresses can go a long way for email marketing and lead conversion efforts;
• A report by Orbit Media Solutions says that 34% of the bloggers reported strong and effective results from gated content;
• Social media is an excellent place to look for a target audience for your gated content. Social media marketing can also be a way to leverage your content into a content marketing tool to drive lead generation;
• A case study or product demo can provide visitors with additional information to make them feel better about purchasing. Providing proof of value is a best practice in gated content.

The Bottom Line 

Gated content is information that can only be accessed by users who have completed a specific action, such as subscribing to a newsletter. This marketing strategy is often used to generate leads or to drive conversions.

You’ve learned what gated content is, why it is important, and a few strategies for creating gated content. With all this knowledge and information, you are able to determine if gated content is the approach you need to implement for your company or organization.