Not everyone loves searching for the perfect gift. In fact, if you’re like many people, you probably find gift shopping stressful. But everyone treasures that warm feeling that comes when someone absolutely adores your gift.
So how can you help stressed-out shoppers create more of these moments?
eCommerce merchants can help solve gift-giving woes with an interactive gift guide quiz. In these quizzes, shoppers tell you about their recipients, and their answers narrow down your store’s vast selection into the options that fit their special someone perfectly.
Not only does this lead to gifts that delight the recipient, but it can also reduce your chances of dealing with a post-holiday return.
While typical gift guide lists require shoppers to scroll through a long list of products, gift guide quizzes surface the perfect product in seconds with a quick, fun experience. That’s what makes gift guide quizzes so effective. Our clients typically see that shoppers who take a quiz are 3x more likely to make a purchase than those who don’t take a quiz.
Let’s look at how you can master the gift guide quiz!
Gift Guide Quizzes: Great for Any Occasion
When eCommerce stores think of gifting, the end-of-year holidays typically come to mind.
This is a great season for gifts, but it’s not the only time you can convert customers with quizzes!
Some gift guide quizzes, like the example quiz below, start by asking which occasion they're shopping for. This allows sites to tailor their gift recommendations to any time of year.
Or, you can create gift guide quizzes specifically for certain occasions, including:
- Christmas and Winter Holidays
- Mother’s Day
- Father’s Day
- Valentine’s Day
- Graduations
- Anniversaries
- Birthdays
Even better, with a themed quiz, you don't have to ask for the occasion. That's one less question your shoppers have to answer!
You can fill your whole marketing calendar with gift finder quizzes! Some occasions happen like clockwork for everyone in the world, while others are scattered across the calendar: anniversaries, birthdays, or just because! There’s always a reason to give a gift. And when someone comes searching, your quiz can be ready to lead them to the right place.
What Your Interactive Gift Guide Should Ask
With your occasion in mind, it’s time to create your quiz. You can introduce your quiz to shoppers as a gift finder, gift recommendation quiz, gift concierge, or another creative name. Have fun with it and your shoppers will too!
Because this quiz helps people find the right gift for someone else, it will look a little different than your average eCommerce quiz. You’ll have to ask simple questions the shopper will know about the person they’re shopping for. Here are a few ideas for questions to include in your quiz.
Ask Shoppers “What is your budget?”
This is a must-have for nearly every gift finder quiz. Most people know how much they plan to spend on a gift, and many holiday gift exchanges set precise spending limits.
Asking for this information tells you exactly which products fit their price range.
Consider asking “Who are you buying for?”
This is a perfect question for a general holiday like Christmas. Knowing the shopper’s relation to the recipient helps narrow down their choices. Depending on your site, you may also want to ask for the age range too.
If your quiz is designed for a particular holiday, such as Father's Day, you can infer they're probably shopping for a father. In this case, get more specific by asking whether they're a new father, grandfather, or perhaps just a father figure to someone.
Make your questions match your shop.
If you’re an apparel shop, ask them about their loved one’s style or favorite color. If you sell gadgets, ask them about their loved one’s favorite hobbies and activities. If you sell toys, ask questions about the kid’s specific age range, favorite movies, and any activities they enjoy.
Another fun way to get insight into gift recipients is with a quick association game. Asking shoppers to choose an image they associate with their recipient can tell you a lot about their personality. After all, a picture's worth a thousand words!
Speaking of a thousand words...
Keep it as short as possible.
A common quiz mistake is to ask too many questions. While more questions can help narrow down the decision, it can also make it more likely that visitors abandon your quiz before the end. If you find yourself writing a quiz that extends beyond 8-10 questions, it’s best to consider cutting a few questions.
After launching your quiz, monitor your drop-off rates. This will tell you where a question may not be helpful or where your quiz may be getting too long. Follow the data and continually refine your quizzes to make them more efficient.
Need ideas for what to ask? Check out our list of quiz question ideas for eCommerce merchants.
Turning Quiz Responses into eCommerce Revenue
Now it’s time to answer the all-important question: how does your gift finder translate to closed sales? Creating an awesome quiz is one thing. How do you get shoppers to commit to a purchase? Here’s what we recommend to help your quizzes convert.
Capture an email address.
Businesses that capture email addresses using quizzes are far more likely to capture revenue. If you collect the email address in exchange for providing recommendations, you can follow up with them by emailing them their results. That way, they have an easy path back to their gifts when they're ready to purchase.
Of course, some shoppers may not be ready to part with their email address. To prevent shoppers from abandoning your quiz because they don't want to enter their email, allow shoppers to skip this step like in the quiz pop-up example above. Make sure your "skip email" link is easy to see; otherwise, visitors may abandon your quiz without realizing that the email is optional.
Offer a one-time use coupon code.
Add an expiration date, e.g. after seven days, to encourage shoppers to make the purchase. You can even implement minimum requirements. For example: “$20 off when you spend $100 or more!”
Create a sense of urgency.
This is especially effective if you know when the gift-giving occasion is. For example, for Christmas gifts, remind them how many days they have left to order before it’s too late to guarantee delivery in time. If you don’t know the date of the occasion, you can still remind shoppers of their coupon’s expiration date.
Make it super easy to buy.
Don’t make shoppers search your site to buy the gifts you recommend! Include an “add to cart” button right from their results or in your reminder emails.
Overcome objections.
Show your return policy during the purchase process so their purchase is stress-free. Do you also offer free shipping or other benefits? Mention those too.
If shoppers aren't satisfied with their gift recommendations, you can also provide other options to keep them shopping. Take a look at the gift quiz template below.
This quiz template shows 3 gift recommendations, then gives shoppers secondary options to purchase a gift card, browse additional gifts, or retake the quiz.
With each recommendation, you can explain to shoppers why you're making that particular recommendation. By explaining the why, you can increase shopper confidence in the recommendations your quizzes make.
Retarget your shoppers on social media and across the web.
Shoppers often browse multiple sites when gift shopping. With the zero-party data you collect from your gift guide quizzes, you can gently remind shoppers of their recommendations across channels.
Driving Traffic to Your Gift Quiz
Finally, it’s time to get people through your quiz so it can work its magic. Do you put it on your website? Promote the quiz in a social media ad? What’s the most effective approach?
The best approach is to not rely on a single channel. Absolutely find a place or multiple places on your site to promote your quiz. During a holiday period, this could be right on your homepage celebrating the season. It could be on a banner or pop-up teaser that follows shoppers to each page as they browse.
Or consider using exit-intent pop-ups to capture departing visitors.
Outside of your site, gift recommendation quizzes are great for email campaigns. For a more engaging email experience, show the first quiz question within the email. When they click their answer, they immediately jump to a landing page with the second question on your site.
Finally, promote your gift guide quiz through social media, both organic and paid. Quizzes are far more engaging than static content, making them more effective than the average social media advertisement and potentially leading to a higher ROAS.
Give Shoppers an Interactive Experience This Season
Buying gifts can be tricky, but an interactive gift guide quiz can do all the work for your shoppers, making them great for the holiday shopping season – or any excuse to give gifts!
Every shopper is shopping for a reason. They all need or want something – even if they don’t know what it is yet! Quizzes naturally help customers narrow down what they should buy, while developing a trust and attraction to your brand that urges them to make a purchase.
If you want to launch a gift finder quiz for your site, let us know; we’re here to help! Which gift-giving season do you want to create a gift guide for first?
