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Gating Content with Forms

Article: 000050630
Updated: July 29, 2024

Only allow leads to access content once they've filled out your form

Gated content is content that is purposefully hidden behind a feature. In Lead Gen & CRM, content is normally gated behind form fills. Gated content is a key content marketing strategy, as it forces leads to interact with your forms and submit their information before they can access the desired content.

This article will detail how to create simple gated content pathways.


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Decide Which Content to Gate

In order to gate content behind forms, you will first need to decide what content you want to gate. Options include:

  • Media content - If you would like to gate certain media content, upload it to the Media Center and add a trackable link.
  • A landing page - Landing pages serve many different functions. You may find that you want to have a landing page serve as a destination page for when users fill out forms.
  • External content - There may be times when you want to direct form submissions to external webpages or other content.

Once you've decided which content to gate, ensure you've uploaded it or created it in Lead Gen & CRM, if applicable, and then proceed to building your form.



Create and Configure a Form

Once you have decided which content should be gated by a form, you can create the form itself. Add field and formatting content and configure form buttons. Because this form is gating content, consider changing the form's button text in the General Styles section from "Submit" to something that explains to the lead that they will obtain a file or information when they submit their information, such as "Download Now" or "Request a Demo".

After building your form, take the necessary steps to gate the media content, landing page, or external content.


Gating Media Content

You can set forms to navigate to or download specific media content after a lead has filled out your form. When paired with required fields, you ensure that leads can access your content only after they have filled out form information.

This requires that you have first uploaded media content to the Media Center, added a trackable links, and created a fully configured form.

To gate downloadable content behind a form fill, do the following:

  1. Click Media Center in the left toolbar.
  2. Locate a media file and click Trackable Links > Copy next to the media file's name.

    Media Center Overview
  3. Click Forms in the left toolbar.
  4. Click on a form.

    Select a form
  5. Click the Settings tab.

    Form Settings
  6. Scroll to the Thank You Page section and paste the media content's trackable link in the Page URL field. 
  7. Optionally, select any or all of the available settings in the Thank You Page section.

    Thank You Page URL
  8. Click Save Changes.

    Save Changes to Form Settings

 



Gating Landing Pages

There may be times when you want forms to direct to specific landing pages after they have been filled out and leads have submitted their information. 

This requires that you have first built a landing page and created a fully configured form.

To link to landing pages or other content after a form fill, do the following:

  1. Within the Landing Page editor, click  file-text.png  Page Settings in the left panel.
  2. Copy the URL in the Funnel URL—Secure field.

    Landing page settings Secure URL field
  3. Click Forms in the left toolbar.
  4. Click on a form.

    Select a form
  5. Click the Settings tab.

    Form Settings
  6. Scroll to the Thank You Page section and paste the media content's trackable link in the Page URL field. 
  7. Optionally, select any or all of the available settings in the Thank You Page section.

    Thank You Page URL
  8. Click Save Changes.

    Save Changes to Form Settings

 


 

Gating External Content

You can use your forms to redirect to external content, such as webpages, images, videos, files, and other content not hosted in Lead Gen & CRM.

This requires that you have first created a fully configured form and have the external content's URL available.

To link to external content after a form fill, navigate to the desired webpage or other content and copy the external content's URL. Then:

  1. Click Forms in the left toolbar.
  2. Click on a form.

    Click forms and click on form name
     
  3. Click the Settings tab.

    Form Settings Tab
     
  4. Scroll to the Thank You Page section and paste the external content's URL in the Page URL field. 
  5. Optionally, select any or all of the available settings in the Thank You Page section.

    Form Settings Thank you page URL
     
  6. Click Save Changes.

    Save your form
 


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