Online quizzes are powerful, data-rich lead magnets that can teach you so much about your potential customers.
But only IF, you ask the right quiz questions…
Over the years, we’ve seen businesses make lots of mistakes that can turn their quiz from a potential powerhouse into a full-on flop.
These quiz question mistakes can be the difference between your quiz driving warm leads to your business or not.
The good news is – building a set of quiz questions shouldn’t be complicated, and by knowing the pitfalls, you can avoid them.
So, in this article, we’re exploring the most common mistakes businesses make when crafting quiz questions and how you can fix them to create the ultimate lead-generation machine.
1. Asking two questions in one…
Have you ever been asked two questions at once and got confused? It’s no wonder.
I see this happen all the time when taking online quizzes. And if you’re not careful, you could end up in this predicament with your quiz responses.
Asking more than one question at once is something we’ve seen people do more than once in their quizzes.
For example, if you ask: “How much do you love Xero, and what’s your favourite thing about it?” or “are you struggling to build your email list and make sales?”
The answers can get confusing.
Ask one clear question to avoid friction
In this example, someone could be struggling to build their email list but find it easy to make sales, so how do you answer both?
Instead, ask just one clear question every time – this will ensure the responses are clear and relevant to each question.
2. Assuming things…
When creating your quiz questions, you should aim to get an honest, unbiased answer, but sometimes our questions can be a little too asumptive.
For example, in a quiz, you might be tempted to ask: “How much do you love Xero?”
But the problem is – you don’t know they love Xero…
In fact, they might have a burning hatred of Xero (sorry, Xero, we love you), and by assuming that they love it, they might feel friction and exit the quiz.
Why would they continue if they feel that you aren’t going to give them an honest score?
Aim for an honest answer
Try to ask something like: “On a scale of 1 to 5, how much do you love Xero.”
Give them the option to give you their unbiased opinion – and to do this, you have to use unbiased, unleading language. Ultimately this is better for you as you get more in-depth, nuanced answers.
3. Not using quiz milestones
Have you ever been flicking through a huge quiz and got bored before completing it?
We’re all extremely busy! And we don’t have endless amounts of time to spend scrolling through quiz questions. Especially if you have no idea how long the quiz might last.
Improve your quiz completion rate
Let people know how long the quiz is going to take and when they are nearing the end so it gives them the motivation to keep going.
Say something like ‘last question’ or ‘not long until you get your report’ to keep encouraging them along to the end of the quiz.
4. Providing no encouragement when they don’t know the answer…
A quiz is a great chance to get a baseline understanding of your audience’s knowledge level, but nobody wants to feel bad about themselves. So let your potential customers know that it’s okay if they don’t know how to do something.
For example – if we’re sticking to the Xero questions, you might want to know if someone knows how to automate recurring invoices. But this question might make them feel inadequate or ashamed if they don’t know the answer.
How to keep beginners happy
Say something like: “Do you know how to create recurring invoices (don’t worry if not, we’ll tell you how to do it at the end).”
Make sure they know it’s okay not to know, it will encourage them to keep going.
5. Not including an answer for everyone…
Nobody wants to feel left out, even when they are taking your quiz.
If someone is taking your quiz and they have a multiple-choice question, but you DON’T include an option for them, this will cause friction.
Here’s an example…
“What’s your favourite colour? – Blue, red or green”
Their favourite colour is purple, and they don’t see that options. This person is not allowed to give you their true answer. This will also mean you don’t get the most accurate result.
How to be frictionless with your quiz
Be methodical with your questions and answers. Focus on clear, simple questions that don’t leave anyone out. If there are too many possible answers to a question, then consider changing the questions.
Get people to test your quiz out before you share it with the world.
6. Having too many questions…
Again – we’re back to people being busy.
The more questions you have, the less likely it is that someone will make it to the end. We’ve all been in a situation where a quiz or survey is never-ending and we get bored.
While you don’t want your quiz to be too short (which would leave you with a lack of information), you also don’t want it to be too long.
A good number of questions is between 10-20, and remember, let people know they are almost at the end.
7. Starting off with tough questions…
“What’s your five-year business goal?”
This isn’t the easiest question in the world, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Yes, you’ll get some people who know their answer to this right off the bat, but for most people, they are going to need a little run into the quiz before they start answering philosophical or in-depth questions.
Should you ask difficult questions within your quiz?
There will be times you want to ask slightly more challenging questions, but be cautious.
Tricky questions too soon might cause your visitor to feel unsure or overwhelmed.
You certainly don’t want to begin with those kinds of questions. Start off with slightly easier questions to get your quiz participant warmed up a little.
Then once they are in, and committed to finishing the quiz, hit them with the more difficult questions that will give you real, comprehensive answers.
There are also ways to make your difficult quiz questions easier. Take the example above…
“What’s your five-year business goal?”
Could be changed to…
“Do you have a clear vision of where you want to be in five years?
The answer is either “yes” or “no” which makes it easier and still gives you some data.
8. Starting off with sensitive questions!
Imagine you were on your first date!
Would you walk in, sit down and ask them what their salary is?
Probably not!
As in real life, you don’t want to kick things off with super personal/sensitive questions in quizzes – you need to ease into them.
When to ask the sensitive questions
If you’re asking about someone’s budget or their current marketing spend, you might want to wait until they have a bit more ‘skin in the game’ rather than hit with that right away!
Start with easy questions, give them a chance to build some trust and then go in with the personal questions.
9. Having too many responses…
Once you ask a quiz question, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to answer.
Don’t give them 20 options to scroll through – they’ll get bored and probably have forgotten the first by the time they get to the end.
How many quiz options per answer
Try to keep the number of responses consistent (don’t go from three options on one question to seven on the next), and try to limit them to a few.
It makes the quiz easier to consume, the questions faster to answer and ultimately keeps your potential customer clicking through from one question to the next.
10. Not using beta testers before launching your quiz…
Your quiz is complete, and the excitement is just too much…you hit publish and then rush to share it across all of your social media channels!
We get it! You want to get the quiz out there and gather information on your potential customers ASAP.
Just be aware, that there might be a few mistakes you might have missed such as:
- Spelling and grammar (it catches us all out from time to time)
- Some questions might be a little confusing
- Scoring might not be accurate and need tweaking
- The landing page and/or results page might double checking
There are any number of mistakes that you might not be able to see because you are too close to the quiz.
How to prevent quiz errors
Test your quiz out on beta testers first, and get some people to look over it. Make sure that everything makes sense for people who aren’t as familiar with your business as you are.
Remember, you might know all the industry lingo, but not everyone will, so ensure that it makes sense in layman’s terms.
Using 4-5 beta testers will usually weed out any errors, mistakes or confusion.
Once you’ve fixed your quiz and made it as easy as possible to complete, you’ll get the most accurate results – as well as come across as super professional and tech-savvy with a snazzy quiz.
Then you’re ready to share it with the world.
Ready to launch your quiz?
We might be a little biased, but quizzes are an amazing way to gather data-rich information on your potential customers that you can then use to create relevant and tailored sales calls and messaging.
But…only if you don’t make the above mistakes!
If you want to use quizzes to their full potential, you need to ask the right questions in the right way to keep your answers accurate and your users engaged all the way through to the end.
Next steps
Still not gotten started with quiz marketing? Try ScoreApp today to and get a 14-day free trial. Learn more about your audience and build a data-rich bank of leads.
