Start the New Year Strong with an Email List-building Quiz

By Jessica Pereira January 5, 2022

In the spirit of the New Year, why not try a fresh list-building tactic: creating your own quiz?

Offering valuable or interesting resources, or lead magnets, in exchange for email addresses can be vital to your email marketing success. But when you look up lead magnet ideas, the same old ideas tend to pop up—guides, eBooks, or videos. You need something innovative to add to your toolbox this year.

78% of marketers agree that email marketing is important to their overall success. Strategically crafted quizzes are a powerful way to harness that success, capture your audience’s attention, and boost your email list. 

In this guide, we’ll show you how quizzes can attract more subscribers and how you can create your own quiz in five steps. 

Let’s get started! 

How can a lead generation quiz grow your email list? 

A lead generation quiz “generates leads” to your business with interesting questions, spot-on results, and an overall interactive experience.

For example, take a look at this plant quiz. Maria’s Bloom and Grow radio podcast helps her audience learn which plants are best for them and how to care for them. And thus, her plant personality quiz was born. 

Think of Maria’s quiz as an interactive lead magnet. Users are invited to engage with her quiz questions. Then, Maria identifies how they take care of plants best with a personalized quiz result.

Here’s where things get interesting. You can’t see your quiz results until you sign up for Maria’s email list. 

Maybe you’re wondering, “Would people really subscribe just to see their results?” 

Maria’s results speak for themself:

“Much like I predicted, the quiz has become my top email list growth tool. I’ve used the quiz to more than double my list to 8,600 subscribers!“

Maria Failla of Bloom & Grow Radio

Maria’s success isn’t anything new. Zafira, a brand copywriter, boosted her email list and online course sales with a brand personality quiz. 

Zafira reveals:

“New leads book my services after reaching the end of my quiz all the time…but I also doubled my email list in one month (with no ads).”

So what makes these lead generation quizzes so successful at growing your email list? 

Quizzes are engaging

Quizzes differ from the standard lead magnet because they interact with you in real-time. When you’ve invested five minutes to take the quiz, you might as well sign up and see your results. 

Quizzes are personal

Quizzes reward you with customized results. You get to learn your strengths, weaknesses, and ways to improve–for free. ​​72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging. You’ll want to hop on this trend sooner than later.  

Now for the real question: How do you create a lead generation quiz?  

In the next five steps, we’ll teach you how to set up your interactive quiz for more email subscribers, leads, and sales. 

1. Capture your audience’s attention with an intriguing topic

Businesses thrive when they solve a problem. Your quiz topic should do the same. 

What is your audience’s biggest pain point, and how can you solve it in a few questions? 

To answer this question in its full capacity, list your audience’s pain points, and then use those pain points to brainstorm topic ideas.

Let’s say you’re a business coach. Your audience’s list of pain points might look something like below: 

• Feeling stuck in the “idea phase” of growing a business 
• Not sure if the entrepreneurial life is right for them 
• Scared of taking the big leap into owning a business 

Next, brainstorm topic ideas that target each pain point you listed. 

• Feeling stuck in the “idea phase” of growing a business → What’s holding you back from building your dream biz? 
• Not sure if the entrepreneurial life is right for them → Are you fit for the entrepreneurial life? 
• Scared of taking the big leap into owning a business → What’s blocking you from running a successful business? 

And don’t forget to add some flair to your quiz topics. One way to get creative is by integrating a theme into your quiz.

When Zafira created a brand copywriting quiz, she ditched the generic “What is your copywriting voice?” and spruced things up with a “What’s your brand’s core essence?” 

You can also lead with punchy copywriting. Here are some ideas to get you started: 

Relationship quiz → What’s your awe-worthy love archetype? 

Career quiz → What’s your leadership superpower? 

Fitness quiz → What’s your prime gym routine? 

Skincare → What’s your clear skin IQ?  

2. Keep your audience engaged with 5-7 quiz questions 

The best questions feel like you’re talking to your best friend over coffee. They’re casual, personal, and make you feel good. 

This scenario question paints a picture of an exciting experience and can trigger those happy hormones. Your quiz should leave users feeling inspired to take action. This question does just that.

But maybe your topic isn’t happy-go-lucky like Zafira’s brand personality quiz. Ashley Beaudin, a self-sabotage coach, was in the same boat. 

A self-sabotage personality quiz doesn’t particularly scream “happy,” but Ashley still cultivates a positive experience by focusing on her audience’s desires.  

The question “If I could wave a magic wand over my life, it would be to have” gets you thinking about what’s possible for you. Ashley’s answers follow suit and inspire users of what could be. 

Turning back to you, how can you bring positivity into your questions? Maybe it’s a few stimulating scenario questions, or perhaps it’s adding beautiful answer images.  

These charming plant photos get Maria’s audience thinking about their next botanical purchase. Like Maria, you can pump your audience up so much that they won’t think twice about signing up for your email list. 

3. Build your email list with an email opt-in form 

Before the grand finale (your quiz results), ask your audience to exchange their email for their results. 

Along with the results, throw in a freebie to convert more users to subscribers. Popular freebies we’ve seen are: 

• A downloadable PDF about your type 
• A video explaining your type in detail 
• A 15-minute consultation call 

As for the form fields, you don’t want to scare your audience away and ask too many questions. A name and email address should do. 

We haven’t even talked about the best part of this step! 

When you create a quiz with Interact, a lead generation quiz maker, you can integrate your Interact quiz and email form with AWeber. This means you can email quiz takers, create segmented lists, and track analytics straight from your AWeber account. 

4. Drive quiz takers to your email list with spot-on quiz results 

If your audience signed up for your email list before the results, then you don’t have to worry about offering valuable quiz results, right? 

Actually–it’s quite the opposite. Your quiz results set the stage for your automated email campaign (more on this soon). Adding the most value assures users that your business is worth their time. 

So what makes a valuable quiz result? Let’s start from the top. 

Most quiz results start with–well, the results. 

Following the results, identify the quiz taker’s key traits, strengths, and challenges. Dig into the details and tell your audience something new about themselves. 

Now that you’ve dished everything about your user’s type, guide them to action with three pieces of advice. 

Notice how Zafira doesn’t stop at “Create and share a custom survey with your audience” but also offers six questions to pull from. 

Zafira purposely added a little extra to her results pages,

“After taking tons of quizzes, the ones that have always stuck with me delivered a ton of free value on their results page.

When you do this effectively, your audience is more likely to open the emails in your follow-up sequence, instantly connect with your approach, and understand that you are qualified to support them based on their unique challenges.”

Zafira

Protip: Once you’ve finished writing three tips for your results page, ask yourself, “What else could I add to go above and beyond?” and do that.  

Another way to add value is with free resources. 

The secret is to add resources affiliated with your business so that users stay connected with you. Podcast episodes, blog posts, and social media channels are just a few examples. 

You can even add these resources in your first email so users don’t forget about them. 

And speaking of emails– 

5. Segment your quiz takers based on their results 

Segmenting your email list to your quiz results delivers personalized content for each quiz type and can increase sales. 

Most quiz creators, like Zafira, use a similar formula to drive more leads to their services. Using Zafira’s email sequence, we’ll show you what this formula looks like. 

Email #1: The results 

As users have to subscribe to your email to see their results, the first email should deliver what you promised: The quiz results. 

Add a snapshot of their type below the results page link. Make sure this information is different from your results page so you’re adding double the value. 

And don’t forget to tell your readers when you’re popping in their inbox next. Get specific and tell them what the next email will entail and when you’re sending it. 

Email #2: Telling your story 

Now that your users have their quiz results in hand, they might be interested in you. Who are you, and how did you get to where you are today? 

This is your opportunity to share your story. Jennifer Aaker, General Atlantic Professor of Marketing says that stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.

Connect with your readers with the full experience—an introduction, conflict, and resolution. 

The best stories relate back to the reader. Add a piece of advice users can take away from your experience. You get brownie points if you can integrate your quiz results into it, too. 

Email #3: Solve a pain point  

Keep the value train going and tend to another pain point. In Zafira’s case, she busts three of the biggest beliefs her readers have. 

Each quiz type may experience different pain points. Dig into each persona and identify a specific pain point you can target via email.

Solving a problem helps your readers connect with you and your brand. 

Email #4: Introduce your product/service 

It’s finally time to weave your product or service into the mix. 

You don’t have to go for a hard sell just yet. For now, point out ways you can help your readers accomplish XYZ with your services, products, or content.

In the future emails, you can go for the incentives—discounts, promotions, and case studies. 

Overall, the key to a convert-worthy email campaign is value. Get into the nitty-gritty of each quiz type—their fears, quirks, and dreams—and turn them into actionable emails. 

And don’t worry too much about snagging more sales. If you focus on giving value, the sales will come easily. 

Switch up your email strategy this upcoming year with a lead generation quiz  

Lead generation quizzes are a unique way to capture online users at a low cost. And it doesn’t take much to build a quiz. All you need is: 

• A captivating topic: Turn your audience’s biggest challenge into a quiz. 
• Interesting questions: Always go for casual, relatable, and feel-good questions. 
• Valuable quiz results: Set the stage for a successful email campaign and provide value from the start. 
• Segmented lists and streamlined email sequences: Don’t forget to integrate your Interact quiz with AWeber! 

You’ve got everything you need to kick off the New Year with a quiz. It’s up to you to get started. Let’s go!

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