The Importance of Gated Content: Capturing Leads Effectively

In today’s digital landscape, capturing leads is crucial for your marketing funnel. If we’re paying for ads, we need a way to nurture that potential customer if they haven’t converted on their first visit to our site. Retargeting ads are expensive and still won’t guarantee conversions. 

One powerful strategy is to capture customer information through gated content. This approach helps identify qualified leads and lets you continue targeted marketing efforts for free!

What is Gated Content?

Gated content refers to high-value resources that your ideal customers must access by providing some information, such as their name and email address. This strategy helps you identify leads who are genuinely interested in what you offer.

According to jackmorton.com, 48% of consumers would share their data if it meant a better brand experience, and 30% would exchange data for cash and goods. This statistic highlights the willingness of potential customers to share their details for quality content, making gated content an effective tool for lead generation and nurturing.

The Benefits of Gated Content

Gated content is a powerful tool for capturing leads. Businesses can build an extensive lead list by providing these high-value resources in exchange for user information. Thus, a huge email list becomes a cost-efficient marketing channel compared to retargeting ads.

Audience Segmentation

While growing your email marketing audience, you can niche down your marketing efforts with audience segmentation. Gated content can help to organize your lead segmentation lists instantly. Once users provide information to access gated content, businesses can bucket these leads into different lists of shared interest. With this information, you can send tailored follow-up emails that align with the content they’ve downloaded. This strategy positions your business as a thought leader in the topic while more effectively guiding leads through the buyer’s journey.

Gated vs. Ungated Content

While ungated content can attract a wider audience, users can bounce and may never return to your site. Users often perceive high-quality resources as valuable enough to warrant sharing their information. Gated content allows you to add those leads into an additional marketing funnel, like email marketing.

All the content on your company’s site is already free to consume. Valuable content, when gated, gives users a feeling of exclusivity and makes them take the gated content more seriously.

A/B Testing Gated vs. Ungated Content

To optimize lead generation efforts, it’s essential to determine which content pieces should be gated and which can be ungated. A/B testing allows marketers to experiment based on user behavior and conversion rates. For instance, testing a gated webinar against an ungated blog post can reveal insights into what content your ideal customer finds valuable. Businesses can effectively collect more targeted lead lists by adjusting their content plan based on this data.

What is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is a buzzword for gated content designed to attract potential customers by offering something of value in the short term in exchange for their contact information. Lead magnets typically are free, which makes the barrier of entry very low for traffic to opt in. Common lead magnets include e-books, whitepapers, checklists, and webinars.

Lead Magnet Ideas

When creating your lead magnet, consider the needs of your target audience and the easiest way that value can be given to them. Here are some practical lead magnet ideas:

E-books

E-books compile helpful information on a relevant topic. The writing style can be done in many ways, from informative narratives to step-by-step instructions.

Webinars

Webinars provide unique insights and training on specialized industry topics, allowing participants to engage with experts in real-time. Additionally, webinars can be recorded and shared, enabling attendees to revisit the content at their convenience and reach a wider audience beyond the live event.

Templates & checklists

Templates & checklists simplify a process for your audience. These resources can be easily shared in PDF or document formats, giving users a sense of your professionalism and the quality of your work.

Need a New Strategy?

Have you tried using lead magnets in your lead generation strategy? Reach out to Greenlane’s digital marketing team to see if we can help you with your website’s content strategy.