Gated content: 10 Dos & Don'ts that eCommerce Founders Must Know

The more you want to deepen your relationship with customers across the funnel, the more you’ll discover the powers of gated content marketing. 

But not if you end up annoying shoppers and not matching steps with their interest and intent. 

In this piece, we’ve uncovered 10 do’s and 10 don’ts that you’ll need a handle upon if you want to create conversion success with gated content marketing.

10 Do’s to Boost Conversions through eCommerce Gated Content 

1. Personalize for customer journey

In 2025, you wish it were enough to show gated content, get signups and in the best case scenario, turn at least some of them into buyers. 

Except that it does not cut it—because every shopper is at a different point of the customer journey. 

Many eCommerce clients that take our tuppence on showing gated content, invariably ask, “What kind of gated content do I show then for customer X as against Y?”

Here are a few suggestions we’ve seen to work:

👉 How-to guides & Newsletters for ToFu shoppers: To add to lacking awareness and answer important questions that may be arising in the shopper’s mind around how the brand operates and products work.

👉 Product finder quizzes & Use case guides for MoFu shoppers: To refine the considering & comparing shopper’s mind, eager to narrow down on the right brand and the right product option. 

👉 Expert Q&As & Free consultations for BoFu shoppers: To justify the desire to opt for a particular brand over others and to make it easier to pick a product that’ll benefit the shopper. 

eCommerce giant Ikea differentiates itself from competitors largely by the gated content it makes available to shoppers across the funnel—its kitchen planner tool, for example, is typically considered by high-intent buyers who’re at the final stages of moving towards a purchase:

Further Reading: The Founder's Guide to Customer Journey Map (eCommerce)

2. Invest time in a competitive analysis

Competitor analysis, in general, is great, but even more so when you do it on gated content. 

Knowing what your competitors are already doing and what they could potentially be doing in their gated content strategy can fire up your own. 

Here are 3 major areas to look into:

👉 Value provided & information asked: 

What kind of questions are they asking on their form fields? 

What sort of value is the gated content offering?

Is the information being asked way more than the value on offer? 

How actionable is the content that they’re featuring? 

👉 The content journey from start to finish: 

What did the initial touchpoint look like? 

Was it a pop-up or featured on a landing page? 

How was the nurturance sequence after the user signed up? 

How did the mobile experience fare against the one on desktop?

👉 The quality & quantity of content distribution: 

How are they promoting the gated content across organic & paid channels?

Are they including it in some form in their email marketing strategy too?

How often are they refreshing the content they gate seasonally & otherwise? 

What sort of social media traction is their gated content getting?

Further Reading: 15 Critical Steps In eCommerce Competitor Analysis

3. Create real perceptive value

Almost 50% of shoppers begin and end their journeys on retailer apps and websites. 

This is an indication that gated content could very well wheel in more microconversions and conversions if a brand is able to maintain quality. 

So, how do you create value through gated content, value that shoppers know they won’t find anywhere else?

👉 Offer a trustworthy experience: One of the key ways of doing this is by increasing the interactivity of your gated material—ask questions around preferences, pain points, skill level etc. and feature a personalized experience by recommending a routine, suggesting a consultation with a specific expert etc. 

👉 Create value beyond a single channel: Expand the original scope of your gated content access to multiple channels eventually—for example, if you’re promoting a paid loyalty program, ensure you offer takers access to private groups on Facebook or to exclusive live streams over email. 

👉 Leverage expertise and leadership: Last but not the least, shoppers only trust and value gated content that comes with a seal of authority or expertise. When subject matter experts are able to vouch for efforts like innovation or community building, more visitors see the point of signing up. 

eCommerce brand Lululemon, for example, promotes “Sweat Collective” as a gated resource made and led by experts like fitness coaches and trainers. They offer this audience exclusive discounts, early access and gateway to an enriching community experience:

4. Create content that’s multi-format

Treat your gated content as a means to highly specific customer segmentation as well as value creation that improves customer lifetime value in the long run. 

But how do you figure out which formats will work and how to serve them up in a logical flow?

👉 Consider segment preferences to narrow down on formats: For example, while a younger audience may prefer a AR or VR led gated experience, an older audience will appreciate if you gate a webinar with a subject matter expert. 

👉 Feature dynamic content forms to personalize: This is a great opportunity to create unique pathways to gated content recommendations based on answers that a specific audience selects. 

👉 Display multiple formats across landing pages: Only in the past would eCommerce brands stick to a single format for gated content. Now it’s about offering multiple “hooks” to help various segments explore and discover value. 

A case in point in this regard is eCommerce brand REI, which multi-format and multi-channel hooks to appeal to multiple segments seamlessly, be it exclusive discounts to members or in-person classes & experiences that shoppers can potentially sign up for:

5. Combine with a nurturing email sequence

No matter where the shopper is along the conversion funnel, they will expect an eCommerce brand to show up in a consistent, trustworthy way alongside featuring gated content. 

And this is where combining nurturing emails along with your gated content marketing is a good idea. 

👉 ToFu sequence (for those who’re just discovering your brand & products): Initiate a welcome email followed by an educational resource like a video or blog post. You can follow this up further with an email on your brand and its promises and the final email in the sequence can be a quiz that’ll help the shopper narrow down on recommendations.

👉 MoFu sequence (for those who’re considering to buy but aren’t sure): Let the first email be where you send across the gated marketing resource. Follow this up with an email that dives deeper into the pain points that the shopper may have selected in the gated content form. And make the final email be about offerings that can work for the recipient supported by social proof and brand promises. 

👉 BoFu sequence (for those who’ve almost made up their mind to buy) : Deliver the gated resource in the first email and follow this up with an email that talks about brand promises, what other shoppers are saying and even an FAQ section. Follow this up with a limited time offer either on a bestseller (works better if the lifecycle is longer) or a bundle supported by info that will resolve customer objections. 

Athletic Greens is an eCommerce brand that’s known to nurture potential customers with content that creates awareness and builds trust—here’s an example of a gated content resource they offer to a ToFu shopper, following it up with a comparison chart email:

Further Reading: Top 26 lead nurturing emails in eCommerce

6. Show a preview of what’s in store

When you’re aiming at conversions through gated content marketing, it’s ideal to peek into the mind of someone who first wants a taste of an offering before they pay up. 

White you may be an authority in your niche, they may still want a glimpse into what the resource is going to do for them. 

So, for example, if you’re offering a free trial on a library of video content, it’s ideal that you let them view a short sample of what that might be like. 

eCommerce wellness brand Alo Moves, for example, mentions that anyone who takes the free trial will “get started with…”:

But we’d recommend that you add a secondary CTA that either allows:

👉 The recipient to go to your Youtube Channel and view a short video (don’t give away more than 5 minutes as this can indicate that the “resource” is cheap), or

👉 Show up a video blurb and let it play without the user having to step away from your site. 

7. Feature relevant social proof

Potential customers want to know why existing customers love your brand. Period. 

And that means social proof can be a real asset in promoting your gated content downloads as well. 

👉 Map review snippets to exact demographics: So, if shoppers of a certain demographic are trying to download the content, show them review snippets from customers across similar demographics, 

👉 Feature highlights from a case study (and gate the rest of it): This can especially be effective when the subject you’re covering is uber specific like “Gut Health for Women Over 50 - 3 Case Studies”. 

👉 Talk about the impact of social proof: If you don’t want to be too wordy, bring this out through a set of before / after images beside a bold headline or create bold labels like “Better skin than ever” or “Cleared 60% of brain fog.”

Further Reading: 15 Ways To Get The Most Out Of Social Proof (eCommerce)

8. Work with mobile-first forms

People who want to fill out your gated content forms are those who’re testing the waters to see if a deeper, more integral relationship with your eCommerce brand is even possible. 

So someone who has never bought from you before may enter that giveaway, and someone who has bought before may now want to switch to the subscription model. 

To enable this, your gated content marketing has to work with mobile-first form design, since a lot of these takers will be engaging with your site on mobile:

👉 Avoid too much text entry: Instead use dropdowns and toggle actions to ease thumb zone mistakes, which could then potentially lead to frustration. 

👉 Feature large buttons: So that actions like clicking and tapping feel seamless and submissions can take the least amount of time. 

👉 Enable one-tap submissions: Use a multi-choice form that closely tracks user preferences and make sure your microcopy specifies that capturing exact preferences may not be possible—this way you can feature a single large CTA and be done with it. 

One look at the gated content forms nutrition brand Gainful uses and you’ll see why most people complete them—they feature minimal text entry and have a single large CTA per spread:

9. Track how well the gated content is performing

While the ultimate aim of any piece of gated content is to improve conversion rates in the short run and profit margins in the long run, a lot depends on the metrics you track. 

Without tracking the right metrics you may be stuck with offering content that’s either become dated or doesn’t map exactly to where the customer is in their journey. 

👉 Email open & click-through rates: These metrics indicate how well the user resonates with the topic of gated content served to them, and as a consequence, engages with the nurturing email sequence that follows it. 

👉 Subscriber growth rate: In the most ideal cases, gated content marketing leads to eCommerce brands growing their email list. The idea is to find out how much your email list has grown as a result of gated content downloads. 

👉 Lead to customer conversion rate: If your gated content marketing isn’t bringing in new customers or leading to higher AOV, you have a problem. This metric helps you equate the number of gated content leads who makes a purchase against the total number of leads. 

👉 Download rate: This is one of the most significant metrics that tracks how many of those who submit the form also actually download the content. If you run a low download rate, it could mean potential UX issues around broken links and unclear instructions. 

One of the key ways of assessing how your gated content is doing in real time is to have a separate landing page for it, like Beardbrand maintains a separate product page for their Alliance Membership. The reviews are telling for how much value they receive against accessing this content:

Further Reading: 28 No-BS Ways To Get More Email Subscribers in eCommerce

10. A/B test and optimize

How well your gated content marketing performs depends on a number of factors, and a key one among them is A/B testing. 

If you want to consistently improve the quality of your eCommerce gated content, you need to:

👉 Experiment between benefit statements: This is a biggie because some benefit statements directly speak to customer pain points and make them see the value of the gated content example instantly. 

👉 Experiment between only functional & also additional form fields: You can experiment between collecting all the data in one spread or dividing the data collection into two or three spreads. 

👉 Experiment between the kinds of social proof: Test between a variant that shows review snippets and another that shows numbers or one that takes the name of experts and another that shows UGC. 

👉 Experiment between scroll-based & time-based triggers: For the former, you may have to keep responsive design in mind as scroll depth keeps changing, while the latter can sometimes be inaccurate with triggers not being genuine. 

Further Reading: 153 A/B Testing Ideas for eCommerce (Homepage, PDP, Cart, Checkout)

10 Don’ts — What To Avoid in Your Gated Content Marketing

1. Gate the basics

No matter how mature the shopper is with your brand, they need the basics to continue engaging with your brand, buying from you or taking a pause to consider other brands. 

When you gate the basics in terms of information and support, you’re ensuring your eCommerce brand loses not just conversions but also engagement. 

❌ Hiding ingredients or nutritional facts

❌ Gating product info like size, variants and dimensions

❌ Not featuring a basic care guide or usage instructions 

❌ Gating basic warranties

2. Gate outdated material

Even if it was content that got you micro-conversions and conversions at some point, today it might be totally irrelevant. So gating something that has lost its value will surely be a setback for your gated content marketing goals.

❌ Content that’s not optimized to the customer journey

❌ Content carrying visuals that don’t align with customer segmentation

❌ Expired offers & promotions that don’t work anymore

❌ Social proof that’s more than 3 months old

3. Force gating on repeat & loyal customers

Dangling a piece of gated content in front of someone who is almost on the brink of a purchase or a switch to subscription, can be a real temptation. 

But you’d want to avoid doing this with those who’re already buying from you at least once a month. 

Here’s how forced gating can look like:

❌ Gate access to expert advice that could have naturally added to their existing experience

❌ Show up gated content with no connection to their purchase & browsing history

❌ Not pre-filling forms and forcing them to re-enter information for every new form

4. Neglect feedback

If you’re not taking your feedback forms, email surveys or even product reviews seriously, it could start reflecting on the (ir)relevance of your gated content. 

Let’s look at a few instances:

❌ Customers have responded saying the content is “too basic” and you repackage it 

❌ Mobile forms being overly complicated and most of your form bounces happen there

❌ Not working on new topics or emerging patterns based on what shoppers share

Further Reading: 27 Practical Ways To Reduce eCommerce Bounce Rate

5. Force social sharing

Are you making it a non-negotiable for shoppers to share your gated content across socials? 

This is really a lose-lose situation because even if someone wants that content badly, they’ll not perceive your brand with respect for putting them through that feeling. 

If you end up doing the following, it can look like you’re forcing social shares:

❌ Let them use a “basic routine” but they can’t unlock exclusive content without a social share

❌ Use social sharing as pre-condition even before they’ve actually entered their email

❌ Feature surprise additional discounts on the pre-condition that they make a social share

6. Create dead ends

One of the key consequences of an overcomplicated gated content access process is the number of dead ends it can create. 

If you’re new to this form of marketing, you’ll have to be watchful about:

❌ Shoppers discovering what you positioned as “exclusive” is “basic” on a competitor’s store

❌ Links within gated download leading to 404 pages

❌ No additional content suggestions across your how-to videos or blogs 

❌ No clear instructions about how many forms the shopper has to fill to finally access the resource

7. Neglect data privacy

In the age of zero party data, if your gated content marketing is running this risk, you’ll have to re-evaluate the steps. 

Common concerns include:

❌ Consent not taken before syncing data with multiple marketing applications (some of which could be outside the purview of the hosting platform)

❌ User data collected through forms find their way into non-secure databases

❌ Data exposure that includes shoppers’ purchase histories, financial details, personal preferences etc.

8. Complicate access UX

The purpose of gated content is often to create instant gratification for visitors who’re on the fence to buy for the first time or repeat customers who’re not yet willing to buy more. 

In these cases, if your gated content UX is complex, more than downloads can be affected. 

❌ Requires multiple stages of verification, all separate and including different forms

❌ Content not viewable across browsers and devices 

❌ Pre-condiiton of app downloads to access the final content 

❌ Overly long forms without a progress indicator

9. Overlook areas of friction

Apart from broken links and long forms, there can also be other areas of friction when it comes to eCommerce gated content. 

❌ Bad gated content pop-up timing—too early or too late can both affect the interest to download

❌ Needing to wait for a follow-up email for the final content download (& it takes hours, or worse, days!)

❌ Offers on products and services the shopper has no interest in

Further Reading: 18 UX hacks to reduce cognitive load in ecommerce

10. Skip performance tracking

Failing to assess how your gated content is performing in real-time can set you back in terms of micro-conversions, conversions and even customer loyalty. 

Here are a few aspects that not assessed can cause roadblocks:

❌ Not assessing at what point bounce-offs are happening across forms

❌ Not tracking engagement with post-download email sequences

❌ Not detecting patterns of disengagement after content downloads

Lead gated content best practices with sharp UX

Gated content or not, 98% of visitors who visit an eCommerce site—drop off without buying anything.

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors.

And this is the problem Convertcart solves.

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions.

How we can help you:

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions.