Quizzes are often an effective way to reach new people and be discovered, while simultaneously educating those people about your products and services. Using quizzes at the top of the funnel can enable you to both get discovered and filter people who are ideal customers for your business by educating them about what you do so they can self select to learn more from you.
Author and Happiness Expert Gretchen Rubin exemplifies this use case for quizzes perfectly with her portfolio of quizzes. Each quiz connects back to one of her books, and the topics of the quizzes have broad appeal.
You can see in the image below that Gretchen Rubin ranks #3 for the broad term “Happiness Quiz” in a Google search, so it’s got a wide appeal.
As someone finds her quizzes, either through search, from a podcast mention, or other sources, they are brought to an opening page explaining how the quiz can be helpful to them as an individual. This page is what gets indexed in search engines, and it gives an overview of what to expect in the quiz.
Then the visitor can engage with the questions right on the same page. The way these questions are written serves as education. For example, the first question says “If you could magically accomplish one of these aims over the next twelve months, which would give you the biggest boost in happiness?” and the answers are “I made meaningful progress on a big undertaking” or “I made a new relationship or deepened an important relationship.” And that question in itself is educating people about what habits might lead to happiness, and also it’s eliminating anyone who is looking for something that this quiz doesn’t work for because it’s such a specific question.
When it comes to customer education, Gretchen Rubin is a genius, and has been in this industry for decades, and is a 7x New York Times best selling author. The way she frames the questions of this quiz are perfect examples of how you can educate within the context of a quiz.
At the end of the questions in this quiz, there is an opportunity for the quiz taker to opt in for more updates on Happiness from Gretchen Rubin. The way the lead is asked for makes sense in the context of the quiz itself. She says “In addition to receiving information about your next new habit, you’ll receive periodic email communications, including Gretchen Rubin’s “5 Things Making Me Happy” newsletter.” Which is a compelling offer if you are in fact interested in learning more about happiness for yourself. This is once again where the discovery and education collaboration works really well in this quiz. Because this is a lead generation form, it’s an opportunity to continue the discovery process with the person taking this quiz, if they want to opt in. And also, it’s an opportunity to continue educating over email if the person opts in.
You will notice there is a very prominent “Skip this step” option on this lead generation form at the end of the quiz. This is because you don’t want people to join your list who are not really interested in what you have to offer, and is generally a best practice for lead generation quizzes.
In the results of the quiz, Gretchen Rubin educates people about which Habit they should pursue to increase their happiness. Because the person who took this quiz actively participated in answering the questions which led directly to this result, they have activated their active learning brain, which has been shown in numerous studies to increase attention and retention of the information given.
Gretchen Starts off with a simple and direct answer to the question posed in the quiz with a headline that says “Your Result: deepen your relationships by making regular connections. To be happier, consider a habit that will deepen your relationships by making regular connections.” It’s a simple opener, with direct and clear language, to get people involved in their result.
The result continues with a section titled “Why this aim is likely to make you happier” which explains why the recommendation being given is being given. This section is arranged in a way that is visually appealing, and makes the text more easily digest-able and fun. It’s designed almost like flash cards so you can quickly see your recommendations for how to employ your newly recommended habit for happiness.
The result then continues with a recommendation to “Know Yourself Better” which outlines some methods for continuing to build your connection with yourself. These are free and easy to implement recommendations, so the person getting this result won’t feel overwhelmed, but rather, encouraged by their result.
The result concludes with a few notes of caution, which are ways to give yourself grace as you are building your new habit. It then gives suggestions for ways to dive deeper, which are links to Gretchen Rubin’s other work that is related to habits and happiness. A very nice follow-on to continue the education and engagement pathway.
Quizzes are a really powerful way to increase discoverability and educate potential new customers or followers of your brand. Because quizzes are so interactive, fun, and engaging, they tend to perform well in search results, be share-able within friend groups, and have staying power. They also activate active learning, which increases memorability and makes quiz takers more likely to come back and work with you in the future. We are grateful to Gretchen Rubin for being a customer of Interact, please check out all of her quizzes here.