Gated vs Ungated Content on Web in EMEA Countries

Avi Bhatnagar

In North America region, we have all of our marketing content/assets ungated on our website & campaign LP experiences. As we are looking to expand our GTM motion with a concentrated focus in the European countries for 2026+, I'm reaching out to understand the philosophy of what other 6Sense customers are doing in EMEA when it comes to content strategy - gated or ungated? We are leaning towards ungated, and 6sense positions its ungating strategy as fully GDPR-compliant, emphasizing that rather than violating GDPR, account-based marketing actually better aligns with GDPR principles because it's about being selective, targeted, and providing valuable communications for prospects legitimately interested in our solution. Just want to get more validation from others.

Stefano Iacono

Hello! Stef here, EMEA marketing lead for 6sense.

Thought I’d chime in with how we approach GDPR and gating across different markets.

Short version:
We flex our approach by region:

• In legitimate interest markets (like the UK), our gating strategy is similar to North America.
• In opt-in countries (like Germany), we advise taking a consent-first approach. Some customers interpret this as only gating high-value content aligned to buying stage signals.
• At 6sense, we lean into always-on communities and webinar programmes that are buying-stage agnostic and high value.
• Some customers also see success using content syndication via partners like INFUSE (who offer a 100-lead trial).

The longer explanation:

As you mention in your post, 6sense uncovers intent signals and prioritises accounts using AI-based scoring — all while staying GDPR compliant. We aggregate data at the account level, not the individual level. 🔗 More on GDPR compliance

This means the gated vs. ungated debate is still relevant — do you want to reduce friction and enable research, or gate to capture contact data?

Here’s the thing:

• Most of the B2B buying journey happens before a prospect talks to sales — in the Dark Funnel (the research stage you can’t see).
• Our 2024 Buyer Experience Report shows 80%+ of buyers won't talk to sales until they're ready.
• Crucially, it's during this unseen phase that buyers create shortlists — and most will buy from that list.

That’s why ungated content matters: it helps buyers self-educate, builds trust, and positions your brand as “shortlist-worthy” - knowledgeable, likeable, top of mind. 🔗 See the report

But GDPR does impact how you engage individuals.
Especially around email and outreach. Some customers activate forms in strict markets to meet consent requirements.

There are essentially two "flavours" of GDPR compliance — your legal team should always guide you here, but broadly:

• Legitimate Interest (e.g. UK): Opt-in is not required when there’s a legitimate business interest, relevance, and appropriate safeguards in place. Safeguards such as targeting by intent or persona, and always offering an opt-out. At 6sense, we treat this similarly to our US strategy.
• Single Opt-in and Double Opt-In: While GDPR doesn’t mandate double opt-in, local interpretations (e.g. Germany’s regulators) often treat it as necessary. Cultural expectations also play a role - outreach without clear consent is typically less well received.

How we adapt:
In opt-in markets, we still keep most educational content ungated. We only gate where there’s a clear value exchange — like:

• Geo-specific benchmark reports
• Toolkits and practical playbooks
• Event registrations (these also serve as opt-in capture)

Some customers use 6sense buying stage insights to guide this — for example:

• Target stage: Nothing gated
• Awareness to Purchase: Gated content aligned to high-value buying moments

What else works:
To create high-value, always-on engagement that we can target throughout the funnel (without relying on form fills), we’ve launched:

• A monthly no-sell EMEA-friendly community session, featuring peer-led insights
• A global webinar series with practical advice, product content, and thought leadership

These create consistent, consent-friendly touchpoints that are genuinely useful — not intrusive.

Customer trends we're seeing:
Many EMEA customers are adopting a hybrid model:

• Ungate educational content
• Gate only when value is clear (definition of value is key here - internal value and external)
• Tailor outreach by GDPR flavour

Ultimately it's a balance, if we gate too much we run into the same issues (e.g. we don't get shortlisted on vendor-of-choice lists) so the key is to focus on the timing, while respecting local laws, and delivering value in every interaction.

One extra note for clarity:
Even if you’re not sending email, any personal data (like email addresses, names, IPs tied to individuals) is still subject to GDPR. That’s why it's essential to get legal input on any data capture or outreach strategy.

Claire Couch

Awesome, thanks so much for this feedback and perspective @Stefano Iacono!