What types of content deserve visitor registration?

When to force visitors to register for Website content is a question that’s been debated since the dawn of the Internet. An Aberdeen study* sheds some light on how B2B marketers are addressing this issue.

When asked what types of content they are gating, participants mentioned company-authored white papers (52%), Web events (31%), e-books (31%), and online assessments/ROI calculators (23%) most frequently.

On the other hand, surveyed marketers said they offered video (74%), slides (48%), and infographics (44%) most frequently as “free” (ungated) content.

B2B marketers seem to be using ungated content for inbound initiatives where driving traffic, awareness, and engagement are the primary objectives. Higher-value technical or scientific content is being gated with registration forms for lead acquisition and to drive prospects to higher-level relationships.

Tiziani Whitmyre believes that all high-value content that solves a prospect’s problems, addresses industry issues, or permits product configuration should be gated with registration to enable visitor conversion and lead generation. This Web-to-lead conversion is a key step in the marketing revenue generation process.

*Source: Aberdeen Group, “Content Marketing and Management Study.”