{"id":2089,"slug":"rule-show-result-before-email-gate","title":"Rule — Show the result BEFORE any email gate","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["lead-capture-gating","tier-design-principles"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** The widget displays the tier + drivers + first step BEFORE any email/contact form. Email gates may follow, but never precede, the value delivery.\n\n**Why:** Blastland Freeman van der Linden Marteau Spiegelhalter (2020, *Nature*) — \"five rules for evidence communication\": inform, don't persuade; offer balance; disclose uncertainties; state what you don't know; share sources. The single biggest separator between an honest diagnostic and a lead-gen scorecard is whether the result is delivered free or gated.\n\n**How to apply:** Free result includes the tier, the drivers, and the proximal first step. A follow-up \"want the full report?\" email gate is acceptable AFTER. Anything earlier = lead-gen gimmick.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-smb-widget-presenting-tiers-june-2026","title":"Research brief: SMB widget presentation layer — tiered results without overclaiming (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"blastland-2020-five-rules-evidence-communication","title":"Blastland et al. 2020 (Nature) — five rules for evidence communication","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:03.505Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:03.505Z"}