How Professional Development Businesses Utilize Quizzes

Two primary use-cases for quizzes in Professional Development and Training

1. To recommend the right course for someone who wants training
2. To assess the current level of someone who wants training and then recommend a learning pathway based on the level.

Two Core business problems quizzes solve for Professional Development Organizations

1. The question of “Which course is right for me?” that prospective customers are asking. According to this Columbia University research study, offering up fewer, targeted, options leads to higher purchase rates. So recommending courses leads to higher follow through.
2. The question of “Where should I get started?” which is answered by both quiz types. Giving people a jumping off point eliminates the Blank Page Problem, which leads to action paralysis and non-action.

Let’s look at an example of each type of quiz and break down how they function.

1. Course Recommendation Quiz

This type of quiz determines which training course the quiz taker is best suited for based on their goals and interests. We will be examining an example from Edumine, Professional Development for Miners.

The quiz experience begins under the courses drop down, where you can choose to take the quiz to find your next course.

The menu link takes you to a quiz page (https://www.edumine.com/find-your-next-course/) that has the quiz embedded on it from Interact Quiz Maker. The quiz is very straight to the point, which is what I’ve observed to convert the best for this type of quiz.

The first question is “Are you new to the mining industry?” and I choose yes I’m immediately taken to the beginner courses. If I choose “No” then I’m asked follow up questions. This utilizes branching logic to create a different experience depending on how I answer that first question.

Let’s choose the “No” option so we can see the rest of the experience. The next question I get is about my role in mining so I can be filtered to courses that are relevant to my role.

I chose “The mine” and here’s the follow-up question, which drills down on what job I have within the mine.

After answering I get my course recommendations with a header that matches my particular choices in the quiz to reflect back to me that I am being recommended the right courses based on my choices.

I can retake the quiz if I’d like. But this quiz is an excellent use of a quiz to recommend course content, personalize the experience for the quiz taker, and utilize the strengths of a recommender system to increase follow through.

2. Assessment followed by course recommendation

In this type of quiz you are assessing where the assessment taker currently is in regard to a topic, then you can recommend courses to help them improve from their current status. This taps into people’s natural desire for improvement.

Let’s take a look at a really well done assessment from Atana workplace training.

The assessment starts off by asking the person taking it “How Ethical are You?” after giving a disclaimer that this is not a judgmental assessment.

The assessment asks questions to determine the person’s current level of Ethics, every answer choice assigns a point value and the total score of the assessment is based on how many points you get throughout the assessment.

After the questions I’m shown a breakdown of my results, and I can click in to see more detail about each result. This is essentially a ranking of my scores.

When i click in to see more detail I get a full breakdown of my level on the assessment

And then I can click through to see courses from Atana based on my current level.

Assessment style quizzes are great for getting people curious to see how they can improve themselves, which is an innate human desire. As a result this quiz has super high engagement, as evidenced by its search ranking.

The assessment ranks #1 for the search term “Ethics Quiz” which is a pretty common search term. The quiz page on Atana is set up nicely for SEO traffic and it’s paying off.