In 2012 Blue Bottle Coffee redesigned their website and doubled online sales. Up until that point, most online coffee shops were categorized based on the region where coffee beans were grown. But in user testing, Blue Bottle realized no one actually knew what the region meant, not even coffee experts.
But what people did know was how they prepared their coffee at home. People could tell you what type of machine or device they used to make their coffee. And Blue Bottle knew that if they had that information they could easily recommend the right beans to people.
The point being, if you ask people questions they know the answers to, and that helps you refine your recommendations to them, it will increase your sales. This story is from the book Sprint, which I highly recommend.
Okay, but 2012 was a different time, and that example is out-dated. If you look at Blue Bottle today they no longer filter based on brew type because coffee drinkers have evolved past that. But I do want to highlight two modern day examples of global brands using questions to increase sales – Apple and Tesla.
I want to walk through these experiences from beginning to end so we can get the full picture together. In both instances we’re dealing with product recommendations. In both cases the experience begins with the simple phrase “Help me choose” – so there must have been extensive user testing leading to the conclusion that the number one thing people want is help making a choice. I guess this makes sense, it’s the same experience you get if you walk into an Apple Store or Tesla Showroom.
Here’s the Tesla Example, you can access this experience from their website.
Here’s the Apple example, you can access this experience from their Mac product page.
So that’s the opener, and openers are important. Because you only have one hook to get people’s attention, it has to be perfectly dialed in. Looks like “Help me choose” is the best for now, but that does change from time to time to keep an eye on what users are responding to and continuously do user testing to make sure it’s still the best option if you implement something similar.
Now let’s move into the questions of these experiences, where we really see how asking the right question can lead to a sale. Questions that lead to conversions ask people about topics which fit the following criteria.
- The question is easy to answer: Meaning that the information needed to answer the question is easy to recall, and doesn’t require thinking. It’s something people just know.
- The question addresses something important to the customer: Each question has to address an important topic. In the coffee example, the important thing is that you have coffee you enjoy. In this Tesla example, the important thing is that you have the right type of car. In the Apple example the important thing is that you have the right computer. But within those important things, there are sub-topics that are also important, like what style of vehicle you have. Those sub-topics which matter deeply to the customer become the topics of the questions that you ask.
- The question helps you help the customer: Every question you ask should inform how you help the customer. This can be direct or indirect. Meaning that the question could be very literal like “What color computer do you want?” or indirect like “What do you use your computer for?” In either case, you only want to ask questions which actually help you inform your recommendations for the customer, otherwise you are just wasting their time.
- Every answer choice is user tested: The answer choices to your questions are where you are speaking on behalf of your customers. You never want to do that unless you know for a fact what they want to say. No one wants to be misrepresented, so it’s vital that you know what types of answers someone would give if you ask a certain question, and that you include those answers, in the tone of voice that your customer would use, as answers to your questions.
- Every question gets your customer excited and curious about their recommendations: You want your customer to be answering questions and starting to formulate their own ideas about what solution is going to be right for them. By the end of your question-asking, you want the customer to basically have guided themselves through the buying process, with you there as a helpful support. You want every question to be sparking ideas about what type of solution is going to be best for them, even if they don’t know the exact product from your portfolio that matches what they are thinking about. You want them to have this concept in their head, and when you present your recommendations, it should match that concept. If you can do that, then the sale is done for you.
All right, so here’s Tesla’s first question, they start off with a softball. That’s a strategy you want to employ as well. Start off with the easiest thing first. But also make sure it’s still a relevant question. Remember the criteria of question asking that says you must always ask questions which actually help you inform your recommendations.
Apple likewise starts with a softball question. Something very simple that people will immediately know the answer to. This gets the ball rolling. If you ask something where people have to stop and think, they will feel obligated to give a good answer. They will think to themselves “I’ll come back to this later” and guess what, they never will. I’ve been running Interact quiz software for 12 years, and I will tell you from first hand experience, if someone stops to think, they will usually never come back. If they do come back, it might be months or years later. I kid you not, I’ve had customers come back after 7 years because they had to “stop and think.” A seven year sales cycle is usually too long, unless you’re in the business of selling luxury real estate or something. For the rest of us, let’s not make people think. Apple, being one of the best in the world at customer experience, nails it on this first question. Asking people what they’ll use their Mac for. This is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. It’s automatic, you just know without thinking what you’d use it for.
The second question for Tesla begins to introduce product feature education while keeping the focus squarely on what the customer needs. It asks about range, and lets the customer choose what amount of range is best for them. This does two things.
- Puts control in the customers hands. The idea of “choose your own adventure” is powerful and engrained in all humans from an early age. We need to feel a sense of autonomy in order to self actualize and reach our full potential. If we do not, we will feel stifled and our motivations will be something other than in pursuit of a greater life. Even if you do convince people to buy based on fear or wanting to be perceived a certain way, the beginning of your relationship with that customer is thrown off because the customer doesn’t have autonomy in the relationship. If, however, you let customers choose what they want from the beginning, you can set the tone that this will be a mutually beneficial connection that will let them get what they want. By asking what people want and need in this way, you are giving them the power of control to make their own decisions and setting the relationship up to be one that feels empowering to the customer.
- Educates the customer about features. It’s well known that attention spans and memory recall are at all-time lows. The “Tik-Tokification” of the internet as it’s called, is real. Platforms like TikTok have perfected the idea of “Stimulus overload” where a short piece of content is so stimulating in so many ways that it’s like a drug for the brain. What this means when it comes to educational content, like product features, is that people are less attentive and less able to remember things. Unless, you involve them in the process. You can see this with interactive workshops, where if you highlight someone during the workshop and have them be part of the process, they are much more likely to engage and that moment will be memorable to them. If, however, you simply drone through an entire presentation without involving people, TikTok brain will take over and people zone out. (not speaking from first-hand experience here at all…). Asking people a question like “How far do you drive each day?” and then giving options is a way of actually touting a product feature, range, without having to say it. Someone will see the options and think to themselves “Oh, I could get a Tesla and drive 100+ miles a day?” that’s awesome. In my opinion, this is a genius way of subliminally messaging product features to people in a way they will actually ingest.
On the Apple quiz, the second question is what I call the “Can you see yourself…” type of question. Meaning “Can you see yourself using a Mac?” and it’s a question about how a Mac would fit into your life.
You know what people think about all day is themselves. Their lives, their worries, their priorities. The proverb is “Help people get what they want, and then you can get what you want.” So if you combine those two pieces of data, you basically want to help people imagine how your product can fit into their life and help them get what they want.
That’s why I appreciate this question in Apple’s experience, because they ask you “What are your day-to-day essentials?” and provide options in order of what’s most likely to be the use-case for this Mac. It’s a nice way of asking the person to visualize how a new Mac would fit into their daily habits and routines. And this is a powerful effect, visualization often becomes reality. People who answer this questions are mentally rehearsing having a new Mac before they even look at the product. It’s really genius.
Tesla follows up with a second question about how you will use your vehicle. Everyone is all the time thinking about “How does this benefit me?” and if you present the options for what the vehicle can do for you and let you choose which ones work for you, it answers that question. By listing all the options here, Tesla is also able to prompt people to think about use-cases they might not have thought of otherwise.
Similarly, the second question of the Apple quiz asks about what you’re going to use your Mac for. Once again it helps to jog people’s memory and think “Oh yah, I do have to use editing software for my work, guess I better get a Mac that can run those programs smoothly.” And it also acts as a bridge to show you how the computer fits into your life. People don’t like to change, so if the thing they are buying can flex to accommodate how they live their lives, that’s a lot better than having to learn something new.
The final Tesla question before revealing a recommendation asks what you want most from your next vehicle. This does two important things. First, it makes people reflect on what they care most about. Second, it prepares people for the inevitable fact that all vehicles have trade-offs, so you might have to make a choice between one thing or another. It’s a nice easy way of getting people used to the idea of trade-offs.
Apple continues the visualization exercise by asking people where they’ll have their Mac set up. This also begins the transition over to the practical and logistical section of questions they will ask in order to provide the right product recommendations to people.
Apple has a few more logistical questions to get answered so they can narrow down their recommendations and make them relevant. Notice, they put these at the end of the experience. People Get excited and invigorated talking about themselves and imagining the fun things they can do with their new Mac. It’s less exciting for them to talk about the logistics of plugging in external devices and how they’ll actually set up the Mac. So those questions go at the end, so the momentum garnered in the first part can carry through the logistical questions at the end.
The final Apple question is about budget. A lot of people ask me if they should ask this question. My answer is “Does it help you give a better recommendation, or do you just want to know?” if it gives a better recommendation then include it. If you just want to know, don’t include it.
Turning Questions into Sales
Turning questions into sales is where the scientific magic happens. I call it scientific magic because if you do it right it will be perfectly scientific for you and feel like magic for the customer. What that means in practical terms is you take the information a customer gave you through the answers to the questions you asked and you turn it around into an offer that addresses everything they told you in a way that is subtle but profound.
Let’s look at Tesla and Apple, because what better teachers could we ask for.
Tesla First: Their offer is a single product offer. Right off the bat, the visual experience is super cool. The car looks cool, the presentation is excellent. Then I see the headline and I see that the title of the car includes All-Wheel-Drive, Long Range, and Dual Motor. I had indicated I wanted snow driving, long range, and performance, so they address those three things right away. Then further down I see range of 327 miles, which addresses another thing I had asked for which is long range.
Overall, this result is highly visual, highly appealing. It focuses on giving me a picture of what I could be, who I could be, if I had this vehicle. Then it includes all the relevant features I had asked for, plain to see. There isn’t too much information, but all the key points are addressed. The offer is very clearly in response to my choices, which I like. Then there’s the added cool factor which helps me feel excited about the vehicle.
Now let’s look at Apple’s offer. I like the headline “Two matches. Just for you.” that feels personal and authentic because I did just offer up a lot of information to get this offer. Then we get straight into the product recommendation. I see the specs and can pick a color. It’s a simple offer, but narrows down my choices a lot to eliminate choice fatigue. The Jam Study from 2000, reaffirmed in 2024, shows that narrowing choice increases sales, and this result is a great example of that. I have what I need and not more.
Apple also provides an alternative option to their top choice for you. It’s at a slightly lower price point, using price anchoring to potentially scoop up sales for folks who see the first price as too high. It’s a similar model, but with slightly different features.
Thank you to Apple and Tesla for creating such incredible question-based product recommendation experiences. I learned a lot going through their experiences and I hope you did too. You can see the Mac finder experience here and the Tesla finder experience here.
Types of Questions that Increase Sales
How do you want to be seen? Questions: What type of person do you want to be? How we view ourselves and how we want others to view us is one of the most powerful purchasing motivators. Asking questions to people about how they want to be seen makes them think about what type of person they want to be viewed as, and how your product or service can help them get there.
What is your ideal life? Questions: This type of question asks the person to visualize what an ideal life looks like. This will give you the information you need to position your product or service in context of what they see their ideal life looking like. Visualization is extremely powerful, if your product or service can become part of your customers vision for the future then they will sell it to themselves.
Does this Actually Work for Me? Questions: Everyone wants to make sure your product or service actually works in their situation. This could be factual specifications, or it could be stylistic choices. But whatever it may be, you have to make sure your offers are going to actually work for the person and their circumstance.
Your Goal in Asking Questions
You want to ask questions in such a way as to gather information so that when you present an offer to people you can proactively address three main things.
- Your Offer Elevates the Customers’ Status
- Your Offer Fits the Customers’ Ideal Vision of their Future
- Your Offer Logistically Works with the Customers’ Life Situation
If you can ask questions to gather the data needed to position your offers in those three ways, it will increase sales. Why? Because those are the three things people think about all the time, if you can address the main concerns on people’s minds then they are more likely to make the purchase without thinking twice.