Should You Include Quizzes In Your Content Strategy?

Not sure if quizzes deserve a spot in your content strategy? This article will explain all the ways these unique content pieces provide value to your brand.

But first, let’s do a quiz of course.

Still wondering if you need to give quizzes a chance?

Well, you should. Here’s why.

Quizzes Are Engaging

It’s easy to scroll partway through a blog post and stop. You may even be thinking about doing so right now (please don’t).

But quitting a quiz after answering half of the questions? Not so easy.

The quiz format feeds on fundamental human desires:

• Curiosity (I need to know which Hogwarts house I would be sorted into)
• Success (I need to prove I know who said every quote from Mean Girls)
• Procrastination (I need to look busy, so I’ll concentrate really hard on this quiz).

When people are driven to finish your quiz, this is good news for your page metrics – particularly time on page. And when people spend more time on your page, they have more chances to familiarise themselves with your brand (e.g. the voice of your content in the quiz itself, the look of your website surrounding the quiz, and your brand name and logo).

Here are some examples we’ve worked on:

Stats like these tell us that people aren’t just taking our quizzes. They’re completing them and taking their time to do so, which is nice.

Quizzes Are Shareable

There are several reasons a person might share a quiz on Facebook and elsewhere. But the 3 big ones are:

• Superiority (my friends need to know that I got 100% on this Simpsons quiz and am therefore better than them in every way)
• Affirmation (my friends need to know that Pumbaa is my Disney spirit animal, just like I’ve been telling them all along)
• Fun (my friends need to take this quiz about the history of data storage because I just know they’ll enjoy it as much as I did).

You just can’t replicate these factors in an infographic or a blog post. Except for fun, to an extent. Like you’re having some fun reading this post, right?

Anyway, don’t just take my word for it. Buzzsumo says the average quiz gets shared 1,900 times.

Here’s an example from one of our favourite (and best-performing) quizzes:

Get the full lowdown on our Tigers Finals Quiz in this detailed case study.

Quizzes Can Dish Out Data About Your Audience

By using your quiz as a competition (i.e. with an entry form as part of the ‘outcome’ screen), you can create a huge opportunity for collecting customer data. You can then take advantage of this in order to:

• Grow your eDM database
• Build lookalike audiences
• Retarget people you already know are interested in your content.

The volume of data you receive depends largely on your conversion rate, or how many people finish the quiz and then fill in the entry form. The Tigers Finals Quiz discussed above saw an impressive 40% conversion rate, with over 4,100 people entering the competition after answering all the questions.

But a quiz doesn’t even need this competition angle to provide audience insights. With the right topic and questions, you can find out valuable information. The facts you can ascertain range from how close customers are to needing a new vacuum cleaner to what kind of beverage they prefer after a gym session.

The important thing is to be subtle. Your quiz isn’t a consumer survey. If you start asking for personal details or your questions don’t relate to the quiz title, that completion rate we talked about earlier is going to plummet very quickly.

Here are some examples.

What could you find out about your audience with quizzes? Well, that just depends on how creative you are. (Or how creative we are if you work with us to build a quiz.)

Quizzes Are Convenient and Complementary

If you’re a shrewd marketer, you already know that every idea costs money to implement – and the more you can do with a single idea, the more value it has.

One of the great things about quizzes is they can often be created off the back of existing content.

For example:

• A moving out of home checklist can lead to a quiz like ‘Are You Ready To Move Out Of Home?’
• An article of tips for choosing your next holiday destination can be enhanced with a quiz like ‘Which Part Of The World Should You Explore Next?’
• An infographic of dinner party dos and don’ts can lead to a quiz like ‘Are You A Good Party Guest?’

Just for good measure, here are 3 of our favourite ‘complementary’ quiz pairings from the National Storage blog:

Next step: Take a look at the content your brand has already published and/or any upcoming content you’ve got planned. Do any complementary quiz ideas pop up immediately? If so, add them to your content strategy for a quick win.

Hopefully after reading this, either you’ve reinforced your plans to add quizzes to your strategy or you’re seriously considering doing so. If you need a hand introducing a quiz or two to your content marketing, you know where to reach us.