A few weeks ago I got the chance to partner with a quiz-building tool called Interact. I have loved working with them, and the experience really got me thinking about how handmade sellers can use quizzes in unique ways to grow their business. So today, I’m excited to share my ideas on how to use an interactive quiz to build your list and increase your sales. Please note that this post includes affiliate links. I never recommend products that I do not fully support or have experience using myself!

how to use quizzes

MY EXPERIENCE WITH USING QUIZZES

First, let me discuss my experience with building an Interact quiz for Paper + Spark. The most frequent question I am asked is “Which spreadsheet is the best fit for my biz?” As my portfolio of spreadsheet offerings expands, it becomes more and more challenging to help potential customers figure out which tool is best-suited for their needs. This has led to me spending a lot of time fielding messages via Facebook and Etsy, and answering questions in my inbox.

I’ve been looking for a way to solve this problem for several months. I was hoping to find some sort of interactive questionnaire people could fill out, but nothing fit the bill. So my make-shift solution was to create this cray cray looking flow chart you might have seen hanging around my site earlier this year:

paper and spark

Just looking at that gives me a headache. But anyway.

Like magic, a few weeks ago the folks at Interact reached out and asked if I’d like to test their new quiz-building platform. After spending some time tweaking and testing it out, I created a super simple 3-question quiz that now finally allows me to direct potential customers straight to the spreadsheet(s) that best fit their individualized needs as a biz owner. This has freed up my inbox significantly, and now I can spend more time working on new projects and creating more content for you! If you want to check out my quiz in the flesh, you can see it right here.

use quizzes to build your business

I also use my quiz to collect email addresses, which is a great way to build my list. I offer everyone who finishes the quiz a coupon, which makes sense since they are already thinking about buying a spreadsheet if they’re taking the quiz. It’s really a win-win all around.

So now you can see how awesome Interact has been for helping me save time with my digital product-based business. I’d love to share ideas on how quizzes can also be a unique benefit to handmade businesses, Etsy shops, and creatives. The possibilities here are really endless and so much fun to think about.

SUGGEST THE PERFECT GIFT FOR GIFT GIVERS

If you sell stationery, jewelry, home decor or giftable items, you can quizzes to “match” a giftee with the perfect gift. How about helping a daughter pick out the best gift for her mom? Or helping a husband pick out an anniversary gift for his wife?

Quiz questions could include asking about the giftee’s favorite color, their hobbies, their family life, their career, etc. Use your quiz questions to determine whether a red waterproof picnic blanket or a blue monogrammed beach towel makes more sense. Use your quiz questions to determine whether the personalized recipe binder or the personalized baby book is the perfect gift. Who doesn’t love having the perfect gift suggested? What man doesn’t need help with this?! Am I right?

HELP NARROW DOWN YOUR PRODUCT CHOICES

Whether your potential customer is shopping for themselves or for a gift, if you’ve got a lot of products to offer, a quiz can help narrow down the overwhelm. Having tons of options is great, but it sometimes leads to analysis paralysis. Help your customer drill down to their interests by directing them with personalized quiz results. Are they a Game of Thrones person, a Star Wars person, or a Harry Potter person? Great, here’s the perfect line of t-shirts for your fandom.

SOLVE YOUR CUSTOMER’S PROBLEM.

If you sell handmade goods that are solutions to a problem, drill down on that with your quiz. Let’s say you sell essential oils, or scented bath products or candles. Ask questions about what’s stressing your potential customer out and recommend a product that addresses those pain points. Need bad skin solutions? Here’s my activated charcoal soap. Got dry skin? Let’s show you all my shea butter options. Your customer may have a problem to solve, but needs to be educated on which items address their specific needs. Quizzes are a great way to actually get your customer actively involved in the shopping process.

ANSWER YOUR MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION

If you are like me, and spend a lot of time answering the same question about the products you offer, a quiz can be a great way to solve this problem. Maybe you spend a lot of time helping customers figure out which size t-shirt they should buy. Build a quiz where they input their height, weight, measurements, etc. and your quiz will spit out the size they need! This saves you AND your customer time.

GIVE YOUR SHOP SOME PERSONALITY

Quizzes are fun, and people like taking them! Even if they don’t really have a point. (Just like on BuzzFeed…don’t tell me you haven’t figured out which Hogwarts house you’d belong to, which 90s sitcom you’d be on, which Golden Girl you are, etc.).

You don’t have to make your quiz literal (i.e., “Are you shopping for 1) earrings, 2) necklaces, 3) rings, etc.”) Even if your shop or products don’t really lend themselves to needing a quiz to help your customer shop, a quiz adds a sense of fun and personality to your brand.

Examples:

  • If you sell coffee mugs, “What kind of coffee drinker are you?” asking people humorous questions about their coffee habits. End by suggesting a specific coffee mug with their result (casual coffee lover, caffeine addict, coffee zombie, mom, decaf weirdo, etc.).
  • If you sell baby products, “What’s your mom style?” with parenting questions or questions about your kids. End by suggesting one fun product with their personalized result.

OFFERING PERSONALIZED QUIZ RESULTS INCREASES SALES

You know how when you go to a boutique or gift shop in person and that friendly sales lady takes the time to help you one-on-one? Oh, this lavender candle is the absolute best if you’re stressed. It’s my favorite scent. Are you a shower or a bath person? These bath salts are also the same scent and heavenly if you like to take long hot baths at night. Etc., etc. I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for this kind of thing.

Giving your customers personalized suggestions just adds that extra touch of service. They feel more confident in making the purchase now because you’ve taken their needs into account. 

Better yet, they didn’t even have to take the time to shoot you a message or an email asking their questions and then waiting on your response. They get the individualized attention, without having to wait on you, and can make that “buy” decision before the feeling fades or they move on elsewhere!

You can customize your quiz results to include a link directly to where you want your customer to go next (usually the product you are recommending). You can even offer them a coupon or special discount.

USE YOUR QUIZ TO BUILD YOUR EMAIL LIST

Etsy in particular makes growing your own email list a challenge. Interact allows you – if you want to – to “hide” the quiz results behind an email opt in. That means your potential customer can’t see their personalized result until they provide their email address. This is a great way to build up your list.

That being said, you don’t have to build your quiz this way. I chose to offer the results to my quiz-takers even if they didn’t sign up to my list, but I do sweeten the pot by offering a special coupon after taking the quiz, accessible via email. This is another great way to increase sales and build your email list. Offer your customers a discount on the exact product they are looking to buy, while joining your list!

WHY I RECOMMEND INTERACT FOR YOUR QUIZZES

I hope right now you’re brainstorming all the ways you can use quizzes to grow your business. If you are, let me tell you why I love Interact as my new quiz-building platform:

  • CustomizationInteract makes it easy for me to build my quiz and make it customized for my branding, which is very important to me. I can change colors and text, and add my own graphics (like my logo and header), to keep my quiz cohesive with my brand and website.
  • Sharability: You can easily share your quizzes on multiple platforms. Besides posting it on your own site (if you have one), you can share on social media. A quick share to Facebook and you’re growing your email list!
  • More than just quizzesInteract also offers the ability to host giveaways, a great way to drive traffic and interest to your shop. Setting up a giveaway on Interact is an easy and seamless experience and integrates with your email marketing system as well (build that list, baby!). You can also use Interact to create polls. Your poll choices can be a grid of photos or a list of text. How fun would it be to have your audience vote on your next design with a grid poll of prototype photos, (vote on your new favorite mug design!), and then email them with the winning result once it’s done!
  • Super easy email integration: I also love being able to easily integrate my quizzes with my email marketing system (ConvertKit). These days it seems like linking systems together online is like re-creating the wheel. Not so with Interact! Just a few clicks of a button and we are good to go.
  • Analytics are built inInteract offers awesome analytics if you’re a stats-driven gal like myself. I can see exactly how many people have started, completed, and opted in to my quiz for any given time range. This way I can easily evaluate whether my quiz is performing well and if people are into it!

Basically, I can sum it up by saying that Interact makes it super easy and quick for me to build pretty and personalized quizzes, polls, and giveaways that provide value to my potential customers AND drive traffic, sales, and email leads to my business!

If you want to try Interact out for free, you can do so here. There’s a free plan, and there’s also a free trial of the “lite” plan for entrepreneurs that’s perfect for handmade sellers!