10 Interactive Forms Builders for Surveys & Lead Generation
Gated content is an effective inbound lead generation tool.
And the best part is, it isn't going anywhere yet! According to Semrush’s 2023 State of Content Marketing Report, 17% of business owners and marketers said gated content was their top-performing content.
Gating your content helps you build a database of high-quality leads who are genuinely interested in your offering and will most likely convert. Essentially, you’re offering something valuable to your audience in exchange for contact information.
Wondering how to create effective gated content? In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about gated content, including the types, best practices and real-life examples to inspire you.
A gated content is any type of online resource visitors can access after they’ve shared their contact information and other details, like name, job title and company.
Examples of gated content include exclusive reports, webinars, white papers, demos and ebooks.
Creating gated content is an effective tactic for generating more leads, growing your email list and, ultimately, boosting sales. By providing high-quality content behind a form, gated content serves as a lead magnet that entices prospects to share their contact information with you.
Here’s an example of gated content:
Besides creating the content, you’re going to need a form to collect data. Use Visme’s online form builder to create interactive online forms proven to drive up to 2x more conversions.
Add animated characters, customize fields and apply your branding to create a beautiful form sure to capture leads.
Gated content helps gauge a user’s interest in your subject. It also provides information that will help you nurture a lead and close deals down the line.
Keep in mind that gated content used for inbound lead generation is free and differs from paywall content, which requires users to pay a fee to access.
Now that you know what gated content is, you might be wondering what the difference is between it and ungated content.
In contrast, non-gated content is any resource that is publicly accessible by anyone who visits your site without restrictions, permissions or privileges. Visitors don’t need to submit any information to access it. Some examples of ungated content include blog posts, infographics, news articles, videos, podcasts, public forums, and social media posts.
Although visitors aren't compelled to leave their information, marketers can add a voluntary signup form that offers access to exclusive content, like a lead magnet. However, this doesn’t bar visitors from reading or watching the original content.
Gated content is well-suited for generating sales-qualified leads you can nurture relationships with. However, gated assets have limited exposure because they typically block web crawlers and search engines can’t index them.
Ungated assets have SEO value because they are visible on search engines. You can use this content type to attract users to a website or blog, build brand awareness, and establish credibility in your industry.
While gated content can be an effective strategy for generating leads and building a marketing list, it can also be a turnoff for users who want to keep their personal information private. Ungated content, on the other hand, can be a great way to attract users to a website and provide value without any strings attached.
Here are some of the reasons why gated content is an asset for marketers
If you’re looking for ideas for gated content, this section offers a detailed breakdown. We’ll also share templates from Visme’s library to get you started.
Better yet, tap into the power of Visme’s AI document generator to whip up any type of gated content in minutes. Simply describe what you want the tool to create, select the design, and let the tool handle the rest.
An ebook is one of the most popular types of gated content. You can use them as part of your marketing campaigns to attract prospects in the awareness and consideration stage of the buyer's journey.
Ebooks provide them with valuable information about a particular topic. Besides positioning you as an authority, it helps you build trust with your audience.
Even if you sell ebooks, you can gate a part of your content to generate leads for future upsells and cross-sell opportunities.
One strategy to grow your customer base is to offer a portion of your book for free. Afterward, you can request the readers' email addresses in exchange for the remainder of the book. This way, you can create a list of potential customers and monetize by selling additional books or other products in the future.
Creating ebooks doesn’t have to be a hassle. In Visme’s library, you’ll find tons of ebook templates that match your branding and unique needs.
A white paper is an authoritative, in-depth report on a specific topic. It’s a long-form piece of content that contains analysis and insights into industry trends, challenges and solutions. And they make great gated content because of the value they provide.
Creating a white paper positions your brand as an expert or authority on a topic. When you're a trusted expert, your opinions and insights carry weight, making it easier to attract and engage your audience while encouraging them to download your offers. In fact, we’ve compiled a list of the best real-life white paper examples you can learn from.
To drive signups for your gated whitepaper, ensure the design is visually appealing. Visme’s whitepaper templates are your best companion for turning your insights into an engaging story
Gated content has to be valuable and relevant to your target audience. Reports check these boxes. Essentially, they provide in-depth information and insights potential leads can use to improve their business or solve problems.
For example, industry research reports offer an in-depth analysis of trends, challenges and opportunities within a specific industry. This gated content will be invaluable for businesses looking to enter a new market or make informed strategic decisions.
That’s just one type of business report. There are various types of reports that businesses can use as gated content ideas, depending on their industry, goals and target audience, such as:
No matter what you want to create, Visme has the perfect report templates to give you a creative headstart.
Webinars are an excellent gated content offer for prospects in the decision stage of the buyer's journey. These live, interactive events provide valuable information and insights to attendees.
This type of gated content has a high perceived value. People are more likely to sign up for a webinar when they know they will gain valuable knowledge or skills to achieve their goals.
Webinars don’t happen all the time. So, there’s a sense of urgency or FOMO, that drives people to register in advance to secure their spot. The beauty of hosting a webinar is that it gives you an opportunity to interact with prospects, understand their pain points and address them quickly.
At Visme, we have a page dedicated to our pre-recorded and upcoming webinar; users must fill out a form to access these resources.
Templates and tools are actionable resources users can use to execute tasks.
Compared to ebooks, reports and whitepapers, this gated content type has higher perceived value. That’s because it offers practical value and tangible outcomes the prospect can see, use and measure impact immediately. And the fact that you’re offering it for free incentivizes visitors to provide their contact information in exchange for access.
For example, a template for a business plan or pitch deck template can help an entrepreneur create a professional document that they can use to pitch their idea to investors. Similarly, a template for a project proposal can save time by providing a pre-built outline and structure that the user can fill in with their information.
Bplans offers a business plan template as gated content and visitors have to fill out a form to access the template.
Access thousands of templates in Visme to create gated offers your audience can’t ignore. Our template spans 25+ categories, over 10 industries and roles.
So, regardless of what you want to create, your industry or your role, you'll find a template that suits your taste. There are multiple features, tools and customization options to help you tailor it to your needs. No design skills or experience required.
Online courses are valuable marketing tools that can be used in the awareness, consideration and even decision stages of the buyer's journey. In the decision stage, online courses can differentiate your brand from competitors and provide a final push toward conversion.
You can use a free online course as a gated asset to attract potential customers and build thought leadership. Essentially, you’ll have to restrict access to the course materials, lectures, assignments, quizzes, exams, or any other components of the course until the learners have enrolled.
Just like webinars, online courses have high perceived value as they provide valuable information and structured learning experiences. This entices users to sign up for your email list or provide their contact information in exchange for access to the course.
Visme’s free presentation course is a great example of gated assets. We leveraged our years of experience and knowledge to create a course that will equip people with presentation skills to close deals or achieve other goals.
Demos and free trials are often gated and only accessible after visitors provide their details. That’s why they are more effective for building your email list and driving signups.
A free trial offer allows potential customers to test your product for a limited time before deciding to purchase it. A demo is when you do a live or pre-recorded demonstration or presentation of how your product or service works.
Both demos and free trials provide users with a hands-on experience of your product or service before committing to a purchase.
This gated content strategy is very effective because potential users get to experience the features and benefits of your product firsthand. You can prove to them that the solution will be valuable for their specific use case before they have to pay anything.
Leads generated from the demo are high quality and more likely to convert into paying customers. When someone submits their details in exchange for demos or free trials, they're actively choosing to receive emails from you. You can be confident that they have some level of interest in what you have to offer.
Using surveys, polls, and quizzes as gated content involves collecting valuable information from users in exchange for access to the content. This could require users to submit their email addresses, fill out a form, or create an account to access it.
The best way to get users to sign up is to ensure your content is engaging, relevant, and aligned with their interests. Also, offer value and incentives to motivate users to participate, such as exclusive access to results, a downloadable report, a discount or entry into a giveaway.
This type of gated content will also help you learn more about your customers so that you can continue to create better products and services for them.
For example, a poll asking your audience to vote on a particular topic or product feature can help you gauge interest in new products or features before investing time and resources into development.
Let's say you run a health and fitness website. You could create a quiz that helps your audience determine the best workout routine for their fitness level and goals.
This will not only engage your audience but also provide them with valuable information that they can use to improve their health and wellness.
Gated assets aren’t limited to videos, text and audio-based content. Marketers can gate assets like experience, relationships, and networking opportunities in exchange for contact information.
Private and membership-based communities are valuable sources of qualified leads. Essentially, they are exclusive groups of people who share common interests and goals such as:
Private communities can also be a group of exclusive customers for your business or service.
These groups offer prospects exclusive content, networking opportunities, and other perks, often in exchange for their email address and other relevant information.
The key to attracting people is to communicate the benefits of membership clearly.
Keep the community active and engaged through discussions and interaction and continue offering various exclusive resources, such as forums, content, or discounts.
Email is an effective tool for building customer relationships, generating leads, and increasing sales.
Introducing a drip email series that adds value to your audience is a more compelling type of gated content. This means the reader has to opt-in to receive a series of emails over time.
Rather than give out all of the content at a go, you can spread it over weeks and months to keep your audience engaged and nurtured toward conversion.
It's crucial to ensure that you are using gated content appropriately. If you fail to provide enough value upfront, people may not buy from you again as they won't perceive it as a worthwhile investment of their time or money.
The concept of gated content is that it should be valuable enough to entice people to pay for it later on. This way, they can keep receiving more value after the free offer ends.
If you’re unfamiliar, Visme is a visual design and content-authoring tool that offers a range of pre-designed templates and graphics that users can customize to create infographics, social media posts, presentations and more.
As a gated content platform, Visme has a lot you can learn.
The presentation course from Visme Versity is an excellent example of a real-life gated content strategy that works. The free online training is available to users who fill out a simple signup form.
Visme's landing page is exactly what you'd expect from a visual design tool. It is filled with beautiful color combinations, visuals, widgets, and design assets created with Visme.
It includes a video introduction to the course and a compelling copy that describes the benefits students will enjoy from taking it, what they’ll receive upon completion, a course outline, and a prominent CTA.
The course also serves as an effective lead magnet because it entices users to sign up to get access to a valuable resource that they can use to improve their skills.
Furthermore, by gating the content, Visme is able to collect user data, build a database of leads and create more targeted marketing campaigns.
This approach is a win-win situation because users get access to a valuable resource, and Visme can generate more leads and boost sales.
Crazy Egg is a website optimization and heatmap recording tool that helps businesses improve their website's user experience. The company offers a free 30-day trial of their tool as a gated asset. To access the free trial, users have to provide their website and email addresses and agree to receive promotional emails from Crazy Egg.
Their website has a bold headline of the benefits you’ll get by entering your position. The subheading further injects social proof; you’ll see the logos of top brands using the tool, the number of users that benefit from it, and how they’re using it. The signup page also features a testimonial from a satisfied user.
Another reason this strategy has worked is that it provides users with a valuable tool they can try out for free while also giving Crazy Egg a list of marketing-qualified leads to nurture leads and market their product to them even after the free trial ends.
Backlinko is a popular SEO and content marketing blog run by Brian Dean. They offer a variety of gated content, including free updates, link building strategies, and SEO tips.
To access this valuable content, you need to subscribe to Backlinko's newsletter.
The form is pretty simple as well; just enter your email address and click “Try It,” and you’ll find instructions on how to confirm your email.
The website layout is clean and uncluttered, with a compelling headline that draws attention to the core message. Below the header is a brief testimonial from Kieran Flanagan of HubSpot, which adds a layer of social proof.
Hootsuite offers a social media playbook that helps businesses and marketing professionals develop successful social media strategies. Visitors must fill out a detailed form to download the playbook.
Hootsuite's Social Media Playbook works well as a gated content example because it provides valuable insights and practical tips that are not easily accessible elsewhere.
Unlike our previous example, Hootsuite has a bold headline, a lengthy copy that highlights the benefits of the gated content, plus a bullet point of what readers will learn.
What’s more, the signup form has eight fields with a bold CTA you cannot miss. By gating the playbook behind a detailed registration form, Hootsuite is not only able to collect contact information from potential leads but also segment its audience and tailor its content and marketing efforts to their specific interests and pain points.
Creating gated content worth trading information for is a skill. You can create valuable content, set up a gating strategy, create compelling landing pages and more. But that doesn’t guarantee success.
There are smaller details you need to pay attention to. Read on to discover best practices to get more results from your gated content.
When potential lands on your page, the first thing that comes to mind is: What’s in it for me? Why should I exchange my details for this resource?
Whether you’re offering a downloadable resource or discount, it should be relevant and valuable enough for users to part with their details. This is super important because different types of gated content may provide value for some users and not others based on their interests and needs.
For example, early access to a new marketing automation tool would be valuable for a marketing manager of a software company but not for a sales manager of a manufacturing company.
Made with Visme Infographic Maker
So, how do you guarantee your offer is valuable to your audience?
Zoom into your audience's needs, challenges, and interests.
Properly segment your gated content so that each visitor gets a super-relevant offer based on their interest and what stage of the journey or funnel they’re at.
For example, consider offering educational resources like e-books, whitepapers, or webinars—at the awareness stage—to help them understand their problem better.
Product comparisons, demo videos and free trials are amazing gated content ideas for the consideration stage, and then consider offering consultations or exclusive discounts to help them make the final decision.
Lastly, pay attention to what your competitors are doing. Look at the type of content they keep gated and ungated. This will give you an idea of how to optimize your content to deliver more value.
Remember, your landing page and form are the first things your visitors will see, so you need to leave a positive first impression.
Your landing page design, copy and CTA should hit the right notes.
Write a strong headline and compelling copy that clearly explains the benefit they’ll get from the resource.
Your call to action should be clear and direct the reader to what you want them to do—whether that's filling out a form or navigating to another page on your website.
It’s also important your landing page focuses on the gated content. This will eliminate distractions and get your visitor’s undivided attention.
Use a visually appealing design that is consistent with your brand and is easy to navigate. Grab premium stock photos, icons and graphics from our library to grab attention and engage visitors. And if you have images that need editing, our AI TouchUp tool can come in handy.
When it comes to forms, keep the fields to a minimum and only ask for the information that is absolutely necessary. Doing this will help increase your conversion rate and minimize the number of people who abandon your landing page without filling out the form. Also, remember to add a prominent and clear CTA that directs visitors to take specific actions, such as "Download Now," "Get Started," or "Subscribe."
A/B testing is a must, if you need to keep churning out great results with your gated assets.
It gives you insight into how your gated assets are performing so you can figure out the best version that will generate leads.
Assign different gated content variants to different contacts and track which piece of content performs better. Then, repeat the same process with your forms and landing page to determine which combinations work best.
When it comes to testing, explore all the different possibilities, including
Use Visme’s analytics tools to track the performance of your gated content. You can track how many visitors have viewed your gated content, how long they’ve spent on it, what areas they’re focusing on and other relevant metrics.
Even at the form level, Visme form analytics lets you track views, starts, submissions, completion time and the average time it takes for users to complete the form.
Analyze these data to make informed decisions and continuously improve your gated content strategy.
After users access the gated content, what’s next? Collecting leads from your landing page form is just one piece of the puzzle.
The real prize is to nurture those leads and convert them into paying customers.
So where do you start? Set up a follow-up and lead nurturing strategy to transform those prospects into sales, recurring revenue, and growth opportunities for your company.
Set up a personalized drip email series to build relationships with prospects and move them closer to conversion. Send thank-you emails, provide educational resources, and offer product demos or free trials to further engage with your leads.
It is important to tailor your approach to the needs and interests of each lead, as this will help to build trust and increase the likelihood of conversion.
Creating gated content is easy with Visme. The best part about using Visme is that you get access to an intuitive design tool, templates, and a form builder—all in one place.
Follow these steps to create high-converting gated content for your business.
Visme’s template library has thousands of gated content ideas you can use, including reports, infographics, ebooks, guides, case studies, plans, webinars, whitepapers, checklists, newsletters, templates, manuals, discounts, quizzes, videos, charts, presentations and much more.
Sign up for free or login to your Visme account. You'll find the Visme dashboard. Click "Create" or "New Project," then the search bar to find a gated content template that suits your needs.
Start by replacing the default text with your own. Then, customize other aspects of your content, such as color, fonts and graphics.
Instead of manually setting up your brand kit, use Visme’s Brand Wizard. Just input your URL and the tool will extract your brand assets (colors, fonts and logo) and save them in your brand kit.
Access an extensive library of premium and royalty-free stock photos, icons, shapes, illustrations and other design assets to make your content super engaging.
And if you don’t find any visuals that meet your needs, use Visme’s AI image generator. Just describe what you want to create and let the tool bring it to life in seconds. Select from several output styles: photos, paintings, pencil drawings, 3D graphics, icons, abstract art and more.
Easily customize your content for different audience segments with dynamic fields. Elevate the engagement level of your content by incorporating our selection of animation and interactive elements, such as animated graphics, text, objects, hover effects, and pop-ups.
Pro Tip: If you’re having difficulty writing copy for your lead magnet, use our AI text generator. All you have to do is type a prompt and let AI do all the heavy lifting for you. Tweak the prompt till you're happy with the output.Now that your gated content is set, head over to our form builder to create your lead capture form.
Choose the type of form you want to create. Visme offers a variety of form types, including newsletters, pop-up forms, lead forms, event registration forms, contact forms and much more.
Once you’ve selected the form type, you’ll see a range of interactive form templates to get you started.
Now, it's time to customize your form template. And there are lots of options available to you.
Customize your form to include or exclude a book cover and add form fields for collecting information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, company details, etc.
Apart from customizing the question card, you have the ability to personalize the thank you page by incorporating your logo, branding, heading, text, button, and footer.
Choose from an extensive hub of 3D animated characters to elevate your form design and increase engagement and conversion. You can tap into these prebuilt characters or create your own scratch—plus, you can easily select the entry, waiting, and ending poses.
You’ll also find an option to enable legal consent on your forms for GDPR compliance. We tested these forms on 700k visitors and generated 2.0x to 3.1x more conversions from organic traffic. Read the full case study.
Make form creation faster and more accurate by collaborating with your team. Tag collaborators, assign tasks, and share comments and feedback.
Use the workflow tool to manage and track the collaboration process. You can assign the entire project or split it into parts and share them with different team members to work on—create an approval process, fix deadlines and track progress and corrections.
Take full advantage of your Visme forms by integrating them with leading apps like Mailchimp, HubSpot, Google Sheets, Salesforce, and ActiveCampaign.
Our Zapier integration makes it easy for you to connect with hundreds of other tools and platforms in your sales, marketing and productivity tech stack using our Zapier integration.
For example, you can collect and send the form submissions and information to your CRM or email marketing platform. This will streamline your sales and marketing efforts.
Now that your form and gated content design are ready, it’s time to share it with your audience. You can share the content as a standalone document or pair it with your form.
Share your content as an online URL, generate an embed code to place it on your website or download it in multiple formats. You can configure your content to require registration before visitors can access it.
To pair the content with your form, grab the URL, add it to your thank you page and then publish your form. Embed them on your landing page using auto-generated HTML. Choose where to place your form in a popup, sidebar or within the content.
You can also generate a shareable link or share your form directly to social platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Slack, email or QR code.
Track the performance of your content using Visme’s analytics tool. See the number of views, clicks and how much time they’ve spent viewing your gated content.
Also, monitor your form performance with metrics like views, starts, submissions, completion time and the average time it takes for users to complete the form.
Filter your reports based on devices, data and time to understand what resonates with your audience. Use this data to test different messages, designs and offers to see what gets you the best results.
Use this data to create engaging reports filled with beautiful data visualization for effective decision-making.
Gated content has a bad reputation because of its limited reach. Only people who are willing to share their information can access it.
Putting your content behind a wall can be a major turn-off for people who want to engage with your brand but aren’t willing to part with their details. You’ll find it difficult to reach a wider audience or increase your brand awareness.
Some users may provide fake or incomplete information to gain access to the content. This means you’ll be left with skewed data, making building a database of high-quality leads more difficult.
Gated content can impact your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Since it involves blocking visitors from viewing the content without filling out a form, search engines will also consider these forms as a brick wall.
Ultimately, gating the content from viewers essentially walls it off to search robots. It can impact your rankings, resulting in lower visibility and limited traffic from search engines.
An example of a gated content form is one that requires users to provide their personal information in exchange for access to a whitepaper, eBook, or other type of downloadable content.
The form typically includes fields for the user’s name, email address, and possibly other information, such as their job title or company name.
Some gated content forms may also include additional questions or fields such as their industry or company size. This information can help you better target and personalize future marketing efforts.
Once the user completes the form and submits their information, they are redirected to a page where they can download the gated content.
Here are a few ways to distribute gated content to your target audience.
When done right, gated content can help you attract and engage leads at every stage of the funnel.
If you’re ready to create effective gated content, we recommend using an all-in-one tool like Visme.
Visme offers everything you need to create engaging gated assets and other lead generation content, including ebooks, whitepapers, lead magnets, presentations, reports and more. Customize everything to fit your brand, collaborate with your team, use AI tools to streamline the entire process and share and download in various formats.
On top of that, Visme’s form builder empowers you to design irresistible and interactive lead magnet forms proven to generate 2x more conversions. Customize fields, add animated characters, apply your branding and embed them on your landing page.
What are you waiting for? Sign up to create high-converting lead forms with Visme.
Improve your data collection from emails, leads, to surveys and more, by using beautifully designed forms that convert up 2X better.
Signup Free
