How To Grow Your Email List With An Online Quiz

How To Uplevel Your Email List With An Online QuizPin

It’s no secret that bloggers benefit from starting an email list. But the hard part is convincing random users to sign up.

Mini guides, templates, and checklists are all popular lead magnets… but they’re a bit overdone. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could stand out from these generic lead opt-ins?

Oh, wait, you can with an online quiz!

Online quizzes are a not-so-secret strategy to attracting more website visitors and boosting your email list. In this guide, we’ll show you how quizzes work and five steps to creating your own!

Let’s dig in.

How can an online quiz increase email subscribers?

1. Quizzes are engaging

Interactive content—quizzes, calculators, widgets—are coming in hot. 88% of marketers agree that at least 10% of their static content will become interactive in the next two years.

Sure, static content like eBooks or guides have their place, but interactive content takes engagement to a new level. Unlike most lead magnets, quizzes encourage users to interact with your brand before they even subscribe.

Sasha Lassey, for example, uses a quiz to help aspiring bloggers create their own blog.

Sasha Lassey quiz examplePin

Her humorous questions and fun images are sure ways to warm her audience up.  No wonder why Sasha achieved a 34% conversion rate soon after releasing her quiz!

Not to mention, engaging quizzes keep users on your blog longer and give your SEO a boost!

2. Quizzes funnel users straight to your email list

Maybe you’re interested in this whole quiz thing but wonder how they lead quiz takers to your email list.

It’s easy—simply attach an email opt-in form to the end of your quiz BEFORE users get their results.

Attach an email opt in form to your quizPin

Emily Jeffords uses a quiz to attract fellow artists to her email list and online membership. If you want to see your results, you have to first subscribe to Emily’s list.

Once you subscribe, she’ll show your results and send other relevant emails.

So… does this tactic even work?

Yup! Emily grew her email list by over 800 subscribers in just six months. This isn’t a one-time success story—we’ve seen plenty of clients reach this milestone or more—talk about a lead magnet!

To recap, online quizzes

  • Engage with your audience from start to finish
  • Automate your email list building strategy
  • Boost SEO by encouraging readers to interact with your blog 

5 steps to creating an online quiz

If creating a quiz sounds overwhelming, we’ve got you covered. In five steps, you’ll learn how to create a quiz from scratch.

1. Choose a topic your audience will love

Your quiz topic is the foundation of your strategy. Attract your target readers with something they’re dying to know.

Let’s take a look at Emily’s online quiz, “Where are you on the Artist’s Path?”

Choose a topic your audience will lovePin

Emily’s topic targets the biggest pain point of all artists… making a living by creating art. This quiz helps them figure out the best path to monetizing their work.

So how can you brainstorm a quiz topic? The following three questions will guide you. 

a. What pain points can you solve?

Let’s say you run a food blog. Pain points could be…

  • Cooking as a busy parent
  • Finding groceries on a budget
  • Finding quick and easy recipes

b. What are your audience’s desires? How can you make those a reality?

Let’s stick with the food blog example. Your audience’s desires might be…

  • Cooking healthy meals in under 30 minutes
  • Wow-ing their family and friends with delicious meals

Based on these ideas, you can brainstorm some quiz topics! Here are some ideas.

  • What is your cooking style?
  • What’s holding you back from cooking delicious meals?
  • What is your go-to healthy meal?
  • What’s missing from your grocery list?

And if you get stuck, reach out to your readers with a blog post, newsletter, or survey and ask what they want to see.

2. Write 5-7 intriguing questions

If you want to engage with readers throughout their quiz journey, your questions will need to resonate with their likes, dreams, and overall personality. 

Get your audience thinking, “Wow, this is so me!” 

The question, “What does your to-do list look like?” isn’t anything special. But take a look at Emily’s answers—all of them specifically resonate with artists!

Write intriguing questions for your quizPin

On another note, people love a fun quiz. Invoke those “feel-good” emotions and sprinkle a few “just-for-fun” questions to the mix. 

Just for fun questionsPin

Just looking at Zafira Rajan’s questions livens up the mood, doesn’t it? You can take her images, punchy copy, and brand colors.

As you brainstorm a list of questions, ask yourself:

  • What type of humor does my audience have?
  • How can I relate to them?
  • How can I entertain my readers from start to finish?

3. Design a beautiful quiz

Engaging quizzes aren’t just about the content but the design. In 2021, 40% of marketers predicted that 51-80% of businesses will heavily rely on visual content.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to build a visually appealing quiz. Online quiz makers such as Interact make it easy.

With Interact, you can easily drag and drop images, GIFs, and brand colors to your cover page, questions, and results.

Design a beautiful quizPin

It’s also easy to add your quiz copy—just click on a section and start typing.

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You can also add wow-worthy answer images and GIFs to your questions!

Overall, your quiz design comes down to three strategies:

  1. Incorporate brand colors – Brand colors represent your blog and connect your audience to your brand. Pick one color scheme and stick to it if you don’t have brand colors.
  2. Don’t skimp out on the images – Images help readers visualize your questions, answers, and results. You can either upload your photos or use Interact’s image search engine.
  3. Write short and sweet quiz copy – Quizzes are fast-paced marketing tools. Save the essay and go for concise copy instead.

Note: Want to take Interact for a spin? Click here to claim your free trial.

4. Build a convert-worthy email opt-in

As we mentioned earlier, an email opt-in is key to growing subscribers.

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Don’t have an email opt-in builder? No problem. You can create an opt-in form using Interact and then integrate it with over 10 different email marketing tools, including ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, and Drip.

Set up integrationPin

Is everything connected? Your email software can now segment your quiz takers into email funnels, based on their type!

Segmentation for your quizPin

Segmentation personalizes the conversation with each quiz taker and keeps them engaged post-quiz.

Some email ideas you can send to subscribers are:

  • A welcome email – Welcome new subscribers with their quiz results and what you’ll send them next.
  • Free resources – Continue the value train and send your best free content. Blog posts, podcasts, guides, whatever you got!
  • A story – Your readers might be curious about how you started your blog. Introduce yourself, send a personal story about your journey, and invite them to share their story with you!
  • New blog content – Anytime you write a blog post they’ll find interesting, send them an update.

If you want to see these emails in action, head to Interact’s list-building guide for a breakdown and snag four free quiz email templates.

5. Create 3-5 valuable results

Your audience just went through your entire quiz and subscribed to your content—thank them by packing your results with valuable content and free resources.

Let’s see how Emily gets the job done.  

Create valuable resultsPin

Every results page should start with the reader’s results. Better yet, spruce this section up with an eye-catching image.

Next is the section your audience is waiting for!

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Describe their type, how they thrive, and the challenges they face. Don’t skimp out on this section—wow your audience with the nitty-gritty details!

Now that your audience knows about their type, help them improve and grow with free resources, like:

  • Ebooks
  • Videos
  • Blog posts
  • Guides
Offer free resourcesPin

And now is your chance to chat about your blog, paid products, or courses.

Mention your blog course and paid productsPin

Think of this as a soft sell—you’re solely introducing your content without any hard promotion. You can talk more about your offers as you nurture your readers via email.

Overall, a valuable results page:

  • Talks to you like a friend
  • Offers free resources
  • Inspires people to improve your quiz type using your resources
  • Gets users excited to learn more about your blog, products, and courses 

Ready to boost your email list with a quiz? 

You now know how online quizzes can grow your email list and how to make one… so what are you waiting for?

With Interact, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial and start building your quiz for free…

And remember to always keep your audience in mind when creating your quiz. Your topic, questions, and results should tailor to their needs and interests.

Dig into your blog data, audience research, and social media feeds to create the most personalized quiz possible. This way, you’ll serve your audience and get the list-building results you want… Win-win!


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