Gated vs ungated content: 5 things to consider

Among content strategists and demand gen marketers today, there’s a big debate on whether it’s better to gate or ungate content.

The traditional inbound marketing methodology relied so much on gated content. But some B2B marketers believe that with all the tools available today, ungating content is a better, more customer-centric option.

So, what’s the right approach for your company? Like many big debates like this one, the correct answer is this:

It depends. 🙃

It makes sense to let leads do their own research without hassling them for information every single time. But there are times when having people's info lets the marketer—that’s you!— provide value in the process.

Some examples:
👉 When you have people’s info, you can make sure they receive appropriate follow-up communications (e.g. reminders about webinars they signed up for)

👉 You can provide them with relevant and related content to help them in their research

👉 You can connect them to the right people from your team (mostly applicable to high-intent forms like demo requests) 

Gated vs ungated content: 5 key considerations

If you’re still wondering if you should gate your content, here are 5 factors you need to consider:

1. Your customers and how they consume content.

   Buyers from some industries are more sensitive about filling out forms. Others simply accept this as part of life. Talk to your customers to learn about their preferences, and experiment and use data to validate what works in your industry.
   

2. Your martech stack. 

   You can’t really ungate EVERYTHING if you don’t have tools for data enhancement, to capture intent, or to do proper follow-ups. You have to consider the realities of your tech stack or you risk having lots of blindspots in the customer journey.
   

3. The robustness of your current systems and processes.

   Related to my point about your tech stack, you also need consider whether you have processes in place. Younger companies with rudimentary systems for data enrichment and lead scoring probably can't afford to ungate everything all at once.
   

4. The quality of your offer or content.

   Be honest about this one. If your gated content provides low value or are thinly veiled sales pitches, they may not be worth gating at all. There needs to be a fair exchange of value.
   

5. How your marketing team is being measured.
   Some teams are still responsible for MQLs rather than pipeline or sales contribution. This is not ideal, of course, but this is still a fact in many B2B organizations. If this is the case with you, then you need a good amount of gated content in order to achieve your numbers. Ungating everything is a risky proposition because most of your MQLs will probably come from your lead magnets.

So, yeah, it depends. For most companies, a mix of both gated and ungated content is still required.

Here’s a good thing to remember though: There’s nothing wrong with gating your content. If you’re providing a lot of value in your content, then it’s fair to ask for people’s information. The key, IMO, is to be radically helpful. To provide content so useful that people would be willing to you their info without thinking twice about it.

In the end, the crucial question you need to answer is what makes sense for your customers given the realities of your marketing organization and your business.