Like everything else in the world not all quiz funnels are equal.

And as a massive quiz fan, I can’t help but take every quiz I stumble upon.

And from all of these quizzes that I take I learn a ton - of course I learn a lot about myself. (Because that’s the whole point of a quiz right? For your quiz taker to learn something about themselves; and if you disagree then you really need to read point # 7).

But I also learn what makes a good quiz and what makes a bad quiz.

And unfortunately, I’m seeing a lot of bad quizzes out there.

So, if you’re planning on building a quiz, take this as your checklist of what NOT to do.

1. Asking too many questions.

Don’t make it feel like your quiz takers need to commit to an hour long assessment here. Yes, quizzes are engaging, but people still can get bored quickly, so keep your questions down to 9 or 10 or you’ll lose them.

2. Too many answers to choose from.

Don’t make it a struggle to have your quiz taker pick which answer is right for them. They should be able to quickly glance through the answers and pick the obvious one for them. If they’ve got a giant list of answers to go through then they’ll end up forgetting what the first couple were by the time they’ve finished reading the entire list. That’s causing friction and people will ditch your quiz.

3. Confusing questions and answers.

Yeah, we all want to sound clever, but have you ever come across something so ‘clever’ that it makes you say WTF? We want clarity over clever and confusing. Again, make it easy for people to go through your questions and quickly choose their answers.

4. Similar questions throughout your quiz.

Sometimes I’ll be doing a quiz and think - didn’t I just answer this? Make sure that your questions are very different from one another. Don’t just reword the same question just to fill up your quiz. There are SO many great general questions to choose from that can be modified for any quiz topic.

5. The questions don’t flow right.

Think of your quiz as a journey. Yeah, I know that it’s probably only a 90 second journey, but sometimes I take a quiz and I feel like it’s throwing me all over the place. Don’t just put your quiz questions in any random order; play around with the order to make sure that it flows nicely. There are a few obvious tricks like putting easier questions at the beginning and ending the quiz on a positive note.

6. Your quiz is a downer.

Sometimes I'll finish a quiz and think to myself - wow, I suck. And this isn't a pity party I'm throwing for myself, it's just that every single question in the quiz was all about what I was doing wrong. And listen, I get it, the whole point of a quiz is to help people. We want to know what their pain points are so that we can help through it right? But we don't want the entire quiz to just be an exercise in pointing out shit sandwich after shit sandwich, just so that you can swoop in and save them. Quizzes should be a positive experience; something where the quiz taker can learn a little bit more about themselves in a good way plus gain some fantastic new knowledge about how things can get even better.

7. Being lazy with your quiz.

Sometimes I take a quiz and by the third or fourth question in I know exactly what they quiz builder is trying to do. They aren’t leading me on a transformational journey, where I will learn something new about myself. They just want to learn something about me so they can pitch something to me. I call this a lazy quiz. There is really no effort put into a quiz like this because they aren’t think about how they can help the quiz taker, they are only thinking about how they can help themselves (and often these have a clickbait title and make you opt-in before you even take the quiz - ugh.)

8. Not letting me know why I should opt in.

Don’t just say ‘opt-in to get your results’. Nope, not good enough. People’s inboxes are overflowing these days, and a lot of people are not willing to give up their email address for the possibility of just getting a lame-ass one-sentence quiz result. Tell them what they’re actually going to get. Are they getting a report or a video? What’s in the report/video? Will you tell them how their results are impacting them? What are the strengths and challenges of their particular result? How they can manage the challenges? Are you going to provide them with loads of value? Tell them!

9. Making the opt-in too complicated.

Just ask for their email address and name. Sure, maybe you’d love to have their phone number so you could text them some info. Sure, having their IG handle would help connect with them on social media. But the more you ask for, the more likely they are to say ‘nope’.

10. Pitching right after the quiz.

A quiz is a great way for a new audience member to get to know you. Don’t turn them off by saying ‘Hi there, nice to meet you. Thanks for taking my quiz. Now buy my thing! Buy! BUY! Why won’t you BUY!?!?!’ Now, I’m talking about mid- to high-ticket items here - anything over $100. If you have a low-ticket product - a workshop, a template pack, something you sell in an e-commerce store, then absolutely, let them know about it. But a quiz is more than a way to just make a sales pitch, even for a low-ticket item.

11. Having a crappy (or barely there) welcome sequence.

Your welcome sequence is your opportunity to continue providing amazing value after they take the quiz. One of the best reasons to do a quiz is to set up segmented email lists - and your welcome sequence is the very first place where you can continue providing tailored content to your quiz takers based on their quiz results. Why wouldn't you take full advantage of that? And, it’s during your welcome sequence that you let them know about what you have to offer, how you can help them.

12. Not promoting your quiz.

And then being disappointed. And then saying ‘quizzes don’t work’. Just like anything else in life, a quiz isn’t a Kevin Costner movie. Just because you built it, it doesn’t mean ‘they will come’. Just people you hit publish on your quiz, it doesn’t mean that people are going to flock to it. You need to consistently promote your quiz - either organically or with ads.

So, next time you build a quiz, grab this list. Go through each item and ask yourself - am I doing this? Am I doing this?

If you answer no, then you’re good.

If you answer yes, then you have some changes to make.

If you don’t know how to make those changes - talk to me. I’m happy to help.