The Value of Quizzes – Part 1: Providing Your Audience with Interactive Content
What would you do for a marketing tactic that draws in people like flies and gets conversion rates of 50%?
It may sound like you’d have to use a black hat trick that lures people in while you watch your back to make sure you don’t get caught. Fortunately, however, such a thing does exist and it’s as white hat as they come.
It’s the quiz.
You know what we’re talking about. You see them all over Facebook. And if you haven’t, here are some to check out:
- Which Shoe Brand Are You Based on Your Personality?
- Which Self-Care Ritual Should You Be Doing Right Now?
- Who’s Your Animal Soulmate?
In this article, we’ll introduce you to quizzes and interactive content, and explain why they are one of the best (if not THE best) marketing tactics available right now.
Passive Content vs. Interactive Content
If you are still trying to market your business with passive content such as e-books, whitepapers, and blog posts, we probably don’t need to tell you that it’s time for a change. You know it’s true because you are probably struggling to get the results you once did.
Passive content does hold an important place in marketing, but it doesn’t engage the way that interactive content does. With passive content, it’s all too easy for people to click away from it. Even video, which is said to be interactive, is still relatively passive.
Interactive content, on the other hand, is highly engaging. We’re talking about things such as quizzes, calculators, contests, and games. This type of content pulls people in and gets them to take action, involving them in the marketing process.
The key to marketing today is to bring the consumer into the experience you are offering. When people are engaged in what you are presenting, they recall your brand messaging on a much deeper level, and they are much more likely to purchase from you. Otherwise, it’s all too easy to be ignored.
Why People Love Taking Quizzes
Interactive content is the way to market in today’s landscape, and quizzes are the ultimate in interactive content. There is no other type of content that is so intriguing and addicting to people, and when someone wants your marketing that much, that’s the formula for success.
Just consider the popularity of BuzzFeed quizzes such as “What Big Bang Character Are You?” People love taking quizzes because it allows them to learn something about themselves that they may not have known before.
For example, the Viral Solutions team took the 16Personalities quiz, and we were impressed by how accurate the results were. It helped us understand our teammates’ individual personalities, preferences, skills, pet peeves, and beliefs better, ultimately allowing us to work more effectively as a team.
But is that all there is to quizzes? Heck no. There are a number of reasons why quizzes are so popular. Let’s look at some of the biggest ones now…
Self-Expression
The biggest reason people enjoy taking quizzes is because we love talking about and expressing ourselves. In fact, 40% of the words we use are about ourselves, and we get a rush of good feelings when we talk about ourselves, according to a study by Harvard University researchers.
Quizzes allow us to answer personal questions and learn or confirm things about ourselves, thereby feeding into that need for self-expression.
It’s not just theory; it’s scientific fact that we get a “biochemical buzz from self-disclosure,” as Interact puts it. Whether it’s finding out what type of genius you are, what Game of Thrones character you are, or what celebrity you could have been in a past life, people want to know. Even if you claim to be someone who doesn’t care, you still secretly want to know, even if you don’t admit it to yourself.
Belonging
Quizzes help us enjoy a sense of belonging, which is the first human need after food, water, safety, and security in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
When we receive our quiz results, we know we are not alone. We know there are others who also received the same result, and we feel like we belong. Plus, we can further interact with others and feel included by bonding over the results in the comment section.
Distraction
Quizzes also distract us from reality. They take us away from the stresses of our lives and allow us to escape into a little fantasy world. That’s why we love to take quizzes such as “What Celebrity Do You Look Like?” or “What Super Power Would You Have if You Were a Super Hero?”
Quizzes are short and fun; therefore, they are a welcomed little break from the craziness of our lives. We know they won’t take long to complete, so we allow the spur-of-the-moment distraction to reset our brains in a new way.
How Quizzes Help You Build Your Business
Let’s get real, though. None of that matters if it doesn’t help you market your business. So, let’s paint a picture as to how this interactive content strategy can give you an edge, and an incredible one at that…
Quizzes Make an Epic First Impression
If a quiz was at a party with e-books, infographics, videos, articles, and other types of content and lead-generation methods, the quiz would be the most captivating one in the room. Everyone would be checking it out and vying for its attention.
Quizzes make an incredible first impression. They get the conversation started between you and your audience. They spark interest in your brand and make you more popular.
Power Digital says quizzes drive as much as 3 times more clicks from cold traffic than blog posts and as much as 17 times more than cold traffic to a product page.
Quizzes Promote Your Products & Services in a Fun, Interactive Way
We all know how difficult it is to come up with a marketing tactic that makes people want to take a moment out of their day to engage with your brand. Quizzes provide you with a way to market to your audience that is actually fun for them. If done right, you can make the result of the quiz your products and services, and the participants will want what you are selling.
According to Interact, personalized product recommendations generate 230% more sales than those that are not personalized. Quizzes get your foot in the door in a way that is much more effective because they provide you with a captive audience that wants your recommendation and appreciates that it is personalized.
Quizzes Build Your List
According to Interact, quizzes average a 50% conversion rate, which is INSANE and unheard of when compared to other methods. Not only that, but 96% of users who start a BuzzFeed quiz finish it and get their results. That right there demonstrates how engaging quizzes are.
Think about yourself, for example. How many times do you start reading an article or video versus how many times you finish it? Our guess is you rarely (if ever) finish it. If you were taking a quiz, however, it is unlikely that you wouldn’t finish it because you want to get to the results.
Quizzes Gather Invaluable Data About Your Audience
Quizzes are a great way to engage your audience while allowing you to gather information so that you can segment potential customers according to interest, pain points, dislikes, etc. By learning about your audience in this way, you can create new products, services, and content that is sure to be a hit.
You might compare quizzes to surveys, but surveys pale in comparison to quizzes. With surveys, you usually have to entice people with expensive gifts or wind up getting a low number of participants. But people actually want to take quizzes. And with quizzes, you don’t need to come across as salesy; they sell themselves.
Quizzes Lead to Social Media Growth & Cheap Traffic
As they are the king of interactive content, quizzes get shared like wildfire on social media platforms, making it a great way to gain new LIKES, shares, comments, and followers. Plus, since Facebook rewards advertisers with reduced prices for ads with good engagement, it’s very easy to get cheap clicks with Facebook ads that feature quizzes.
In Summary
There is probably no other marketing tactic available right now that gets people so engaged, entices people all on its own, and converts as well as quizzes. If you aren’t using this type of interactive content, it’s time to start!
But if you don’t know where to start, don’t fear. Part 2 of this article will tell you how to build a quiz, what software to use to make it easy as pie, how to choose a quiz type, what questions you should ask, and how to get the most out of your quiz.
At Viral Solutions we are committed to seeing YOU succeed. It is our goal to grow your business with proven digital marketing strategies that will help your business for the long haul.
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