TLDR:
Gating content does not promote a positive brand experience. Terminus uses four strategies to address this problem: 1. Terminus uses chatbots in tandem with content placement. 2. Forms can be useful if they’re placed further in the content as the prospect scrolls. 2. Chop those forms down to size to make them less of a chore to fill out. 4. Don’t use forms for everything; use them only in cases where prospects have indicated some interest.
More often than not, marketers are faced with an inevitability. It takes the shape of forms, and they are super-annoying. These forms don’t collect accurate information a lot of times. In short, thought leaders don’t use forms—at least, they don’t use forms the way they’re usually implemented.
Although marketers can use Terminus to track account engagement without form fills, there are four ways Terminus would use to get around this gated content problem.
For starters, if marketers pair content with a chatbot, it keeps the door open for sales, but also gives prospects the option of contacting them if they have a question.
Further, it allows a marketer’s sales team to be more involved in the buying process. If they’re more involved, the better the chances of a sale. And it goes a long way to promote marketing and sales alignment, which is a core principle of Account-Based Marketing.
But forms are not all bad. They’re just no good when marketers front-load them. This means that if you mesh your forms deeper in the content, they’ll have a better chance of success. Lower amount of leads because it’s a form, but the chances of the information being accurate are increased. Any person who fishes knows that they don’t yank the rod at the first nibble, wait until the fish nibbles some more.
If marketers use Terminus, they can also leverage Engagement Spikes. It’s a tool that tells marketers are seeing surges in engagement on any piece of content. Using this information, marketers can decide which pieces of content to gate and which not based on engagement numbers.
Regardless of the methodology a marketer uses, they should always be in the habit of using shortened forms, if they’re using them at all. If marketers have to use forms, they should be short and backed up with business intelligence.
Original article from Terminus on 15 July 2019.
