On one hand it makes sense, that the company collects information, leads, that their sales team can follow-up on.
On the other hand, there is a friction and I'm assuming several people drop off who may have otherwise just clicked on the link to get the whitepaper.
Additionally, and I don't have data, some people might be putting just fake info to download the material.
We see several examples of people posting direct links here on HN itself.
So, the question: has anyone done any research on what is an effective strategy? I believe there are a few options:
- Document behind a form
- Document behind a form, with a direct download link also provided to reduce friction
- Document link shared freely
- Document link shared freely, with an optional form if they'd like to be contacted out by the sales team.
- other?
Are there any good examples of best practices that companies have followed that people here on HN generally like?
I'm fine with this approach myself. Display the form and encourage the user to submit info, but have a clearly labeled link that says something "No thanks, just take me to the download". I think this is the best of both worlds - users who want you to have their information can easily give it, and users who'd prefer not to don't feel compelled to make up fake information just to get to the document.
- Document link shared freely
- Document link shared freely, with an optional form if they'd like to be contacted out by the sales team.
I'd consider either of these approaches as acceptable as well, especially the first one (from a consumer POV). But I understand why companies sometimes want to gather information from the people downloading this stuff, and I don't begrudge them the attempt as long as it's done in a reasonable way (see above).
Documents behind a mandatory form cause me to either A. go away, or B. make up fake user information. I don't see how either scenario particularly benefits the company in question. shrug