Most marketers are still gating content like it’s 2012.

You’ve seen it:

  • 9-field forms for a basic guide
  • No routing logic
  • No visibility into whether the leads convert
  • And then sales says: “These leads are useless.”

What do we do next? Either gate nothing, or keep gating everything — hoping something works.
There’s a better way.

Download ≠ Intent

David sees it all the time in client funnels: Teams assume that if someone downloads a whitepaper, they’re ready to buy. Then sales gets the lead, follows up, and… crickets.
Why? Because not all engagement = intent. And friction without value = drop-off.
If your forms are creating a wall — not a path — your content strategy is broken.

Reduce the Wrong Friction

You don’t need to remove all gates. You need to remove bad friction.
Start here:

  • Eliminate unnecessary fields (phone number, team size, etc.)
  • Introduce progressive profiling over time
  • Use teaser gates to let the content earn the form
  • Let mid-funnel content educate without scaring people off

Ask yourself:

“Will Sales actually use the data I’m collecting here?”

If not, kill the field.

Sales Knows What Marketing Doesn’t

One of the most underutilized insights? Sales feedback.
Here’s a simple way to improve your gating:

  • Pull call transcripts
  • Identify patterns in bad-fit leads
  • Combine scroll and time-on-page data with sales feedback
  • Use that to refine gating logic and scoring

As Arun points out:

“You’re not optimizing for form fills. You’re optimizing for revenue.”

And the only way to know if your content is actually working is to bring sales into the loop.

Gating Tactics by Funnel Stage

Instead of picking one strategy, tailor it to funnel intent:

  • Awareness stage: teaser gates or light friction
  • Consideration stage: soft gates or guided forms
  • Decision stage: fully gated, high-value offers (buyer’s guides, ROI tools)

No more “all or nothing.” Just calibrated friction.

Your Funnel, Your Rules — Just Make Them Testable

Modern content gating isn’t about locking down PDFs. It’s about:
 – Signaling intent
 – Qualifying better
 – Aligning with sales
 – Testing friction
 – And measuring what matters

You don’t need to copy what’s trending. You need to experiment with what works for your funnel.

Watch the full conversation
 → Link to episode

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