Ask HN: Whitepapers behind a form – Good idea or Bad? Best options?
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?