Many people draw a fine line between pop-up ads and gated content. Both can come across as obnoxious, and — if you’re not careful — blocking access to content with an in-your-face landing page can rub your audience the wrong way.

1. The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content
for Lead Generation
Sam Brennand
Customer Success Lead
#uberflip

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The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

3. THE BASICS
GATED CONTENT
NON-GATED CONTENT
▪ Content that can be accessed
without having to provide
information through a form or a CTA
▪ Typically: blog posts, YouTube
videos, social media posts, etc.
▪ Anything behind a form or a
CTA that requires the user to
trade information for access
▪ Typically: eBooks, webinars
(like this!), white papers, etc.
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

4. WHY GATE
CONTENT?
▪ Great way to generate leads
▪ Demonstrates the inherent value of the
content you’ve worked hard to create
▪ Helps filter out prospects and customers
versus people who are just browsing
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

5. WHAT TRIGGERS PEOPLE TO
“BUY” CONTENT?
▪ Value
▪ Start with a conversation
▪ Play the “long game” to build trust and a
relationship before you ever ask for a
conversion
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

6. The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

7. JASON MILLER
LINKEDIN:
“The content purists will tell you not to
gate any top of the funnel content. I say
gate content if it has value.”
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

8. JAY BAER
YOUTILITY:
“Youtility is marketing that is so useful
that people would pay for it”
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

9. THE
GOLDEN RULE
If you’re going to gate your content,
you must provide some serious value to be successful!
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

10. TO GATE OR NOT TO GATE
THAT IS THE QUESTION
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

11. GOALS
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

12. SO WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?
Create
content
What is
your goal?
More leads
Increase
awareness
and reach
Is the content
high value? Yes!
No
Do you have a
large enough
audience?
Not gated No
Yes! Gated content
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

13. HOW TO GATE CONTENT:
2 APPROACHES
(1) LANDING PAGES (2) OVERLAY CTAs
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

14. 1. LANDING PAGES
▪ Keep forms short to increase conversions
▪ Progressive profiling can help
▪ Keep forms longer if you want to weed
out low-quality leads and spammers
▪ Design matters
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

15. Responsive
Descriptive
(highlighting the value and
explaining the purpose)
Images
Number of fields weeds out
“fake” leads
Clear call-to-action
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

16. Responsive
Brief description
(straight to the point)
Large, attention grabbing
image dominates page
Clear calls-to-action
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

17. PROBLEMS
▪ Process can be long
▪ Lots of drop-off opportunities
○ Fill out form
○ Go to ‘Thank You’ page
○ Go to ‘Download’ page
○ Read eBook
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

18. 2. CTA Overlays
▪ Keep the focus on your content
▪ It’s all about the message!
▪ Using progressive profiling to increase
conversion rates
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

19. Responsive
Compelling
messaging
Eliminating
steps
Limited fields (using
progressive profiling)
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

20. Responsive
Fun and engaging
copy
5 second delay
(“carrot”)
Limited fields (using
progressive profiling)
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

21. LANDING PAGES vs. CTAs
HOW DO YOU DECIDE?
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

22. LANDING PAGES: CTAs:
▪ Use landing pages when there’
s no need to direct people to a
piece of content afterwards
▪ Use landing pages when the
offer is complex and requires
explanation
▪ Use CTAs when the “next step”
is consuming a piece of content
immediately
▪ Use CTAs to keep conversion
rates high
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

23. REMEMBER
TEST, TEST, TEST
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

24. The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

25. The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

26. KEY TAKEAWAYS
▪ Gate high value content that was
created with lead generation in mind
▪ Use CTAs to keep conversion rates
high
▪ Don’t make people jump through too
many hoops (remember, you’ll be
nurturing them afterwards!)
▪ ABT - Always Be Testing
The Dos and Don’ts of Gating Content for Lead Generation #uberflip @uberflip @sambrennand

27. THANK YOU!
QUESTIONS?
@uberflip info@uberflip.com hub.uberflip.com
#uberflip