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White Paper Registration A Big Objection

By Michael Stelzner

A common debate in the marketing world is whether to require white paper registration or just allow a direct click through to your PDF file.

MarketingSherpa just released an interesting new finding.

They asked people who shy away from white papers, why?

According to this study (see page 5), 71% of people who avoid white papers do NOT like the fact that they must register to get a white paper.

MarketingSherpa’s Anne Holland, had this to say:

In other words, if you want your white paper to go viral, so people are handing it off to other people, which we know they do once they get them in their hands, if it’s an interesting enough paper — you have to loosen the strings early on and get rid of those barriers.

Just set the white paper free and let it go and find its home and find its way across the committee.

Now, Redhat has actually been testing this for two or three years now, and we did a Case Study on them and how they did that, and they said it was very successful, that they were getting an exponential increase in the number of white paper downloads for certain white papers, and then, of course, they just had a call to action at the end of the white paper.

If you read it and you were interested in them, then, “Hey, here’s how you get in touch with us.”

I want to know your thoughts on this? Let’s hear from marketing folks as well.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 5:05 am and is filed under Lead Generation, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • Hi Michael;

    I tend to disagree with you on a few points.

    I find that it is rare that a person actually goes from reading anything to actually acting.

    I give folks the option to register for my newsletter and about half take me up on it at the point of registration.

    There was a point when I did not do this and very few people actually were taking it to the level you were.

    So, I like to provide the option at the right moment.

    I think if you applied a similar strategy you would see similar results.

    Case in point, 44,000 people registered for my paper, I have 20,000 on my list. Those other 24,000 never acted. I guess very few of the other 20,000 would have had I not made it seemlesss for them.

    Mike
  • Mike,

    I believe that there are certain white papers for which giving your contact information away is a no-brainer, which includes your white paper on white papers.

    I also believe that many of those 20,000 readers would have still subscribed to your newsletter, had you made them register for the white paper or not... at least those who saw value in your white paper -- which should be most of them!

    I know for myself, I subscribed to your newsletter because after studying your book in detail, I definitely wanted to hear more of what you had to share. And I continue to subscribe to your newsletter and teleclasses because I clearly see value in doing so. I didn't subscribe just because I wanted to get your white paper for free.

    All I'm saying is that I perceive that more and more, people are getting tired of having to subscribe to a new newsletter every time they want to download and read a white paper -- whether it's out of curiosity, or it's part of necessary research.

    That's just my perception, and it could be wrong... but this particular finding of the study SEEMS to somewhat support that. Do you agree?
  • Michael - Thanks for your thoughtful commentary!! Let's put it this way.

    If it were not for a white paper that I wrote about 5 years ago, I would not have 20,000 readers on my newsletter.

    And I can assure you they all would have unsubscribed a LONG time ago had they not found the newsletter content valuable. :)

    Mike
  • I suppose I should re-read my posts before submitting... with all the errors... like "do do"! :)
  • I'm surprised by the 80% figure, though I don't doubt it. I suppose for those who need to read white papers in order to research their options WILL indeed go through the registration process... but I suspect they do do it with hesitation -- especially as their email inbox fills up more and more.

    I'm curious how many propects are on mailing lists -- as a result of registering for white papers and such -- that they would rather not be on, but actually hesitate to opt out... of a conscious or subconcious fear of insulting the person, colleague or company who provided them with a free white paper in the first place.

    I know I've held this irrational fear in the past (not anymore though). As a result, I would download less "free" stuff.

    Though I could very well be wrong, I suspect that the 80% figure will come down. I believe that more and more, it will be mostly those who MUST read a particular white paper that will register to download it. More of those who are merely curious, at that point, will not bother to register.

    Having said all that, I do believe that prospects will still register to download a white paper more than most, if not all other, marketing material.
  • Hi Michael;

    Great comment!

    Once key finding is that this came from folks who do NOT regularly go about using white papers.

    Perhaps a more telling study is this one: http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/2007/05/22/registration-study/

    It states that 80 percent of people are WILLING to register for a white paper.

    Your thoughts on that?

    Mike
  • With everyone being overwhelmed with emails coming from every direction, this particular finding of that study comes as no surprise to me.

    I completely agree with Anne Holland's suggestion.

    A prospect who downloads a white paper is researching options, not necessarily seeking to be marketed to. Let the white paper become viral naturally. If readers like what they see, they will contact the company who produced the white paper. Simple as that.

    I would suggest a little line at the end of the white paper offering interested prospects the opportunity to opt-in to a mailing list, which offers either white paper upates, newsletters, etc.. Let them choose what they want to receive.

    And let the readers choose how they want to be marketed to AFTER they read the white paper. I think that shows respect to the reader that they are capable of making their own decisions. And I believe that will result in a better list, with more interested and loyal prospects.
  • I completely agree with this philosophy. I hope more marketers will see the light and 'loosen the strings.'
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