A question I often hear as a Quiz Consultant is will a quiz work for my business. It’s the question I got from Julia, an interior designer based in the Cotswolds in the UK. She wanted to know if she could use a quiz as a service provider to get leads.
And I was quite happily able to say “yes” to that question because I haven’t yet come across a business where a quiz won’t work. From mortgage brokers and accountants to business coaches and musicians, I’ve done quizzes for them all.
I’ve even done quizzes for an Opera Singer and an Artist.
But Julia was the interior designer I’d worked with and I was excited. You see in a previous life I was an event designer, which isn’t so far off from interior design. The main difference is one designs for temporary structures and the other for permanent.
How to make a quiz work for an Interior Designer
When Julia and I chatted she told me quite early on in the conversation that she wasn’t interested in a quiz that had no substance. Just as well really because I don’t do fluffy quizzes.
She mentioned she’d been disappointed herself when she’d taken quizzes online only to receive very basic results that didn’t really tell her anything new. She wanted to provide value and not be like every other interior design quiz out there.
This was music to my ears. I loved that Julia didn’t want her quiz to be based around someone’s personal style. Instead she wanted to help them make the decision as to whether or not they needed the help of an interior designer.
Now Julia had a great handle on her audience. She knew that they struggled with a few key issues. They were either budget conscious, time poor or had no confidence in their design skills. And that’s where we started from. She also understood that they often had quite a few misconceptions about interior designers and the world of interior design itself.
We were able to take all Julia’s knowledge and use that to design a quiz that really packed a punch. Instead of asking people to choose a colour palette or design style we approached it from the angle of where they were getting stuck.
We decided that the big question her quiz needed to ask was a simple one – what was their interior design stumbling block.
To Design or not to Design that is the question
Once that decision had been made we were on a roll and it was time to come up with the possible outcomes. Knowing we had to help them identify what was holding them back we also didn’t want them to feel incompetent. It’s a fine line between being able to admit you’re struggling with something and feeling like a failure.
That being the case we tried to make the outcomes feel friendly, not intimidating, but still allowing them to admit what was holding them back. Based on what we knew about the three main areas, time, money and skills, this is what we came up with:
- Blowing the Budget
- Having the Headspace
- Finding Your Flair
Busting some myths with your quiz
Having settled on these I started the process of writing the results. Now you have to remember with quiz results we’re trying to do quite a few things. We want to show empathy, provide value, be the expert, give some quick wins, and let people feel like they’ve learnt something.
One way of providing value, especially in a case like this where people have preconceived ideas about interior design, is to use the “busting myths” method. It works a treat and you can answer questions they’ve had in their head without them having to ask them.
For example, with the results for Blowing the Budget we busted three myths we knew were common for this type of person:
- Myth 1 – Interior Designers are expensive and will blow the budget
- Myth 2 – Interior Designers are glorified personal shoppers for the home
- Myth 3 – Interior Designers don’t add value to the design process
Under each myth we showcased how actually this wasn’t true and gave examples, where possible, of how it was actually the opposite of what they thought. We then created something similar for the other two results..
Using images in your quiz results
Not every quiz I create needs lots of images but in Julia’s case we did. Her industry is a very visual one and I wanted to showcase not only her work but images of her at work. By using those types of images I was subtly planting the seed in the mind of the lead of working with a designer. Showing Julia working humanised her a lot more and allowed people to see that an interior designer is no different to them. They aren’t like the image people often have in their mind of an interior designer.
It was also important to showcase Julia’s style. Not every lead would be right for her style and her style wouldn’t be right for every lead. By showcasing this up front we’d get rid of the leads who weren’t right and save time in the long run. Style in interior design is very personal and although we didn’t want the quiz to ascertain someone’s style, we did want it to showcase Julia’s.
Creating quiz questions that segment your audience
We knew that we wanted to segment the audience into those who would spend money on working with Julia, those that might want to pay for a consultation, and those that were freebie hunters. To do that we needed to make sure our questions not only diagnosed people with the right results, but also allowed us to understand if they were likely to spend money.
It was important to Julia that we did this so she could then market to them accordingly. It made no sense to ask the freebie hunters to book a call with her. It would be a waste of her time and theirs. However, she still wanted to give value to those people as they might be a potential source of referrals. Plus, she didn’t want anyone to walk away empty handed.
So we put together a selection of both diagnosis and non-diagnosis questions that allowed us to segment the audience accordingly.
So now let me ask you a question. Are you ready to turn your house into a home that reflects your story? Take the quiz to discover your Interior Design Stumbling Block.
What was Julia’s quiz journey like?
I love to interview my quiz clients once we’ve launched their quiz and get a feel for what they enjoyed the most. It’s also great for me to hear about their experience of working with me. So now let me hand you over to Julia to hear about her experience of working with me..
What was it that attracted you to the idea of creating a quiz lead magnet for your business?
I was just starting to become aware of quizzes as lead magnets when I first met Kylie. It is not something that other interior designers are doing in the UK, and I felt it could provide a fun and informative sales funnel, as well as giving me some insight into prospects’ thoughts and interests for an alternative income stream in time.
Tell me more about the goals you had for your quiz as a service based business.
My goals were twofold – firstly separating out those people who were never going to be my full service clients, and secondly creating a funnel for an alternative income stream down the line.
I wanted quiz takers to be educated about the benefits of using a designer, have some myths busted and find out what their pain points were so I could target other offerings.
Have you ever taken any quizzes yourself and if so which ones really drew you in?
I have taken quizzes before, and they were often disappointing and ‘fluffy’ or didn’t deliver the freebie they promised. I took a couple of Kylie’s quizzes and that’s what persuaded me there were other possibilities out there.
How did I open your mind to the possibilities a quiz gives you?
Through the types of questions that it can include, diagnostic versus the more light hearted fun ones and also it gives the opportunity to bust some myths about my profession. The follow on email series is an integral part of the quiz itself as is the CRM system set up for keeping in touch with the quiz takers which was not something I had even thought about.
What was your favourite part of the quiz process?
It was all highly enjoyable to go through. Probably my favourite part was the deep thinking and brainstorming that was necessary to identify what we were trying to achieve. It’s not often you get a chance to really analyse in collaboration with someone else what we do and how it is perceived by others.
Were there any lightbulb moments throughout the quiz journey that really surprised you?
Your incredible ability to research and quickly understand the interior design world and my take on it. But also your outstanding copywriting skills. I was completely in awe of how you were able to deftly and succinctly get across certain points and the mood we wanted to convey. You’ve taught me a lot and I’ve been able to shamelessly extract pieces of the copy to use in my marketing.
I also really liked your Loom videos which were an excellent communication tool to quickly and easily explain ideas and concepts instead of having long emails to wade through. It is a great way to get to know someone.
I decided to adopt your approach and it became a really enjoyable way of communicating back and forth with each other, also handy because I could watch them when I had time or out of hours, instead of needing to set up a zoom call. This has been something I’ve adopted for walking my clients through pieces of information, for similar reasons.
What would you say to other service providers looking to create a quiz? Any words of wisdom you’d like to share now you’ve been through the process?
Definitely go for it because not only will you get a quiz at the end of the process, you’ll understand so much more about how you’d like your business to come across, your ideal clients and your industry than before.
There is simply no way I could have come up with the end result on my own. Be prepared to invest a good amount of time and money, but you’ll be delighted with the results.
How would you sum up your experience as a client working with the Quiz Funnel Formula Team?
Ace! There is simply no way I could have come up with the end result on my own.
Kylie was amazing to collaborate with. She is extremely smart and professional but also unfailingly cheerful and hugely fun to work with.
She guided me through the process with flair. I’ll miss our video back and forth!
As possibly one of the world’s biggest ABBA fans I have to ask, what ABBA song would get you up singing on the karaoke?
Ooh it’s hard to pick just one, as they wrote so many brilliant anthems. The Winner Takes It All is one of my faves, so I’ll choose that!
So now you know the journey Julia and I took together to create her quiz. To see the whole thing in action you can TAKE THE QUIZ HERE >>>
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