Unless you’ve recused yourself from social networks recently, you probably couldn’t help but notice that people love quizzes.
As of late, Facebook’s news feed has been lit on fire with quizzes as more and more connections share and compare their results, creating the kind of rampant engagement that marketers dream about.
Summer Anne Burton, BuzzFeed’s Managing Editor, has been dubbed the mastermind behind the site’s viral quiz revelation, and explained her “aha!” moment in an interview with The Huffington Post:
“[A]round the end of last year, I was looking at some stats and what posts had done really well. Our most shared post was this quiz called ‘Which ‘Grease’ Pink Lady Are You?’ that Louis Peitzman in L.A. did. It had not been a big hit when it was first published, but it had this super long tail.
I had noticed a couple other things like that — posts that were quiz-related or quizzes that had a second life. So I mentioned the ‘Grease’ quiz a couple times in meetings with my team. They all are addicted to getting a lot of reactions and sharing, so it was inspiring for them to hear that that could do so well. They started making a lot more quizzes.”
Pause. How many of you were tempted to take the “Which ‘Grease’ Pink Lady Are You?’ quiz after reading the title in the quote above? Well, it turns out, I’m Sandy – doesn’t that make you want to take the quiz for yourself and find out which Pink Lady best defines you? Maybe you’re more of a Rizzo? Or Frenchy?
That self-defining response is exactly the impetus Burton identified and BuzzFeed banked on. The quiz format itself has such an implicit “answer me!” call-to-action that it is spring-loaded for response. We’ve written about the added engagement of a question headline, and BuzzFeed has taken that built-in intrigue, wrapped it up in a whimsical format, and sat back to rake in the views.
The quiz, “What City Should You Actually Live In?,” for example –written by BuzzFeed travel editor Ashley Perez – has had over 20 million views since its debut this January, garnering 140 times as many social interactions as BuzzFeed’s average.
And while the “What City Should Actually Live In?” quiz has garnered more views, BuzzFeed’s “What Career Should You Actually Have?” quiz has garnered the most engagement via social shares, raking in 178 times as many social interactions as BuzzFeed’s average.
But it’s not just BuzzFeed who’s churning out quizzes – even The New York Times is doing it:
The use of the quiz in print publishing is nothing new, but online quizzes seem to be having a viral moment. But why do quizzes work?
Here are a few of the factors contributing to the viral power of the quiz, and some food for thought for marketers to consider getting quizzical.
1. Quizzes are sticky.
Quizzes are small and easily consumable pieces of content, and since they are interactive, they are more likely to engage someone through to completion. According to a study conducted by social marketing platform provider Wildfire, quizzes have the highest click-to-conversion rate among earned media. On Facebook, Wildfire found that 82% of users that click on a news feed post shared by a friend will go on to take that quiz themselves.
2. Quizzes satisfy our desire for taxonomy.
Notably, all of of BuzzFeed’s top-performing quizzes serve to identify an individual according to some category that is purported to be indicative of our true selves. They allow us to lump people into categories and reveal personal preferences – which, on some basic level, is the central organizing factor that powers most marketing efforts. Burton explained how this desire for taxonomy and surprise translates into major shareability:”When you get the results, you can relate it to yourself. Sometimes, that relationship is, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not a Zack Morris, I’m a Kelly Kapowski.’ That’s a lot of the sharing that we see. It’s fun, it’s a game.”
3. Quizzes build resonance.
Quizzes categorize people – so what? If that were the end of the story, they wouldn’t be going viral. The real momentum behind BuzzFeed’s quizzes is their ability to spur conversation and comparison. They are equal part alluring and reassuring, enticing us with questions that are immediately satisfied with answers that help us better understand our relationship to others – even if it’s just for entertaining, superficial reasons. (Would Mindy Kaling play you in the movie version of your life? Me too!)
4. Quizzes are data repositories.
When marketers set out to understand the wants and needs of their customers and potential customers, the more data the better. So what better way to solicit this data than to ask for it directly? Even if it’s lighthearted, the responses you get can serve as raw material for future campaigns. Take BuzzFeed’s quiz response data, for example – it’s easy to see why companies would be interested in knowing the favorite cities, foods, songs, milkshake flavor, and dream first date of millions of BuzzFeed readers.
5. Quizzes guide decision-making.
Our brains have peculiar ways of processing information. When faced with questions of any gravity, our brains can quickly become paralyzed by the paradox of choice. Not only do numbered lists and multiple choice questions help to guide and focus our thought processes, but when strung together in a quiz format with an ultimate score or answer, they can point consumers towards purchasing decisions. Consider BuzzFeed’s uber-viral “What City Should You Live In?” quiz – if that quiz was linked to, say, a travel website, the responses could prompt users towards transportation options to and from their ideal destination. Consider it a form of quiz-induced manifest destiny.
Ready to start quizzing your audience? Well, before you do, maybe you should find out what career you should actually have first.
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