The Hidden Architecture of Quiz Funnels — Here's how to create scalable quiz funnels

in any market or niche (even if you've never done it before)

Morning, afternoon, or good evening, depending on what part of the world you’re reading
this post from...
...It’s been quite a while since I dropped a long-form banger here and for a good reason —
creating the best marketers in the game, running the biggest and best mastermind building
an industry-changing platform and secretly building 3 other game-changing projects takes a
lot of time and energy...
...But thankfully I have an incredible team to free me up a bit so I’m back at it.
So let’s put aside the humble brags and focus on what matters most right now, and that’s
helping you master the art of marketing.
Today, I’m going to take you behind the scenes of something that’s been right in front of you
all along and yet you’ve never seen it.
This is something I taught in Fast Forward about 10-12 months ago, and in NHB+ a few
months ago, and I’ve also used this exact process to create one of the biggest health back
ends for ClickBank weight loss offers that’s booking a ridiculous amount of calls and selling
high-ticket (don’t ask me what the link is because the last thing the person wants is for you
to funnel hack him and copy what I teach here).
...It’s also been used in dating to get CPAs at $2-3, biz-op, manifestation niche, home
services, and pretty much anything you can imagine.
It works in every single niche, not because it’s a marketing “strategy” or “tactic”, but
because it works on deep human psychology, and since humans are the only ones
interacting with what we do online, it’s safe to say that it can work in just about any niche
.
So let’s talk about quiz funnels. How they work, what makes them work, what everyone else
is doing wrong and what you can do to dominate the quiz funnel game.
Let’s talk about the hidden architecture of quiz funnels.
Now, fair warning...this is a 3-hour in-depth step-by-step call I did condense into a single
post, so A LOT of minor details have been left out and only the major retained to save you
some reading time.
If you’re in NHB+ or FF, watch the call to get those details.
Let's continue...
When it comes to quiz funnels, what everyone does is just throw up an ad, and that ad goes
to a quiz and that quiz just asks a bunch of questions.
The questions often have ZERO thought, ZERO purpose, and ZERO function.
They merely identify the customer based on some data point such as income or whatever
so they can do something with that data later on the back end, namely phone sales.
The problem of the traditional quiz model is twofold:

1. They only use identifier questions and that causes the loss of intent as they go through
the quiz funnel and the deeper they go, the less interested they are in buying it. The only
way to offset that loss of intent is with ever-higher prices. You can see this by low quiz
completion rates. People just bounce out.
2. Hence why most quiz funnels lead to some type of book a call that sells a thing for a
bazillion dollars.
3. It catches a lot of customers with curiosity up front, yet it does not do anything to convert
that curiosity to intent and without intent it’s harder to make a sale.
The reason for the above is that captures of quiz funnels tends to lead them into an
“information-seeking state” but it does not move them to a problem state and then a solution
state.
In order for someone to buy, they have to be in a SOLUTION state, not a PROBLEM state.
The thing is, the way you get to a SOLUTION state is VIA a problem state.
So a typical quiz funnel will use the model of:
INFORMATION SEEKING STATE -> PITCH
So you’re basically catching a lot of fish, only to keep a few at the end, kinda of pointless
tbh.
When it comes to any type of offer, every single word, action, move, or element on the page
has to have a purpose and a FUNCTION and its job is to affect the conversion via change
work.
Then the question becomes, what affects change and how?
As a quiz funnel is nothing but a series of questions, that means that the nature of those
questions has to cause the change, hence the use of functional questions.
So what SHOULD be done is that there should be the creation of intent via functional
questions as they’re going through the quiz process.
This concept of a “functional questions” is the difference that makes the difference here.
Because you see, what most quiz funnels do is they “IDENTIFY THE CUSTOMER”, but
what’s different about this model is it actually “CREATES THE CUSTOMER”.
Now, it’s getting interesting and you’re about to see some real magic in the game.
Let dig into this a little deeper, because it’s REALLY REALLY important.
If you look around, everyone wants to do this online thing, like legit EVERYONE, which
means that as time goes on, the competition as a whole is increasing in every single niche.
We have proxy data here to prove this point, and that’s the fact that the cost of ads is
ever-increasing.
The only reason the cost of ads is increasing is if there is more demand on ads, and the
only way we can have more demand for ads is if more people are bidding for those ads.
Hence, more and more people want to play this game we play.
And with that in mind, as everyone out there wants to do this online thing...
...That means everyone out there is fishing for customers who are ready to buy, yet very few
are getting them to buy.
Meaning, let's say...you have 1,000,000 people in a market.
At any given moment, only about 1-3% of that audience is “ready to buy”, so out of say a
million potential customers you’ll have 10,000-30,000 people in total who are “sellable”, and
970,000-990,000 sitting on the fence watching everything, neither here nor there, who are
“not sellable”.
So you have EVERYONE competing for the same 10,000 - 30,000 “sellable” people.
The sellable people are the ones who are in a solution-seeking state, the rest are either in a
problem state or pre-problem state.
Whoever knows how to sell to pre-problem or problem-state customers and flip them over
INTO solution-state customers owns the market because they can use those economics to
acquire even more solution-state customers.
Those that can do this can literally 10-100x their audiences and market size, and dare I
say...”scale”.
Real scale.
That’s why it’s so important to know how to CREATE the customer, not just IDENTIFY them
like everyone else is doing.
So if you’re not doing any of this type of stuff, then you’re largely leaving things to chance
and you’re just another person in the game competing with everyone else doing the same
thing.
And if you do the same thing as everyone else. Well, then, you get the same results as
everyone else.
And what’s the point of being an average marketer? I don’t like that. I like to be better. I like
to win.
So here’s how you win.
As I’ve said many times before, advertising, marketing and sales, at its core is nothing more
than change work.
All we’re doing is changing opinions, feelings, thoughts, and such in the sales process in
favor of the things we sell.
That’s the game we’re playing. From copywriters to Madison Avenue branding and PR
firms, we are all playing the same game, and that game is one of change work.
Those of us who can enact the greatest change, also sell the most. It’s simple as that.
Since marketing is change work, the first question to ask is, how does change work begin?
What generates it?
All change begins with a question.
I’ll say that louder for the people in the back of the group.
ALL CHANGE BEGINS WITH A QUESTION.
When you’re writing good copy, you’re basically generating questions in the prospect, and
the answers are in your copy and your product, hence why they buy. That’s all you’re doing
in the mind.
I like to use something called “assumptive questions” which I’ll write about later in the week.
But for now, back to the topic at hand...quiz funnels.
The best way to go from identifying the customer to creating the customer in a quiz funnel is
via specific questions that I like to call functional questions.
Aside from members of Fast Forward and NHB+, I’ve never seen anyone in this game use
functional questions anywhere in the sales process. So you’ll be amongst the very few who
do.
Since most quiz funnels merely identify a customer, the way we create customers is by
going through this transformational arc:
1. We capture them in an information seeking state (ads, quiz landers)
2. We put them in a problem state using functional questions, as you’ll see in the rest of this
post.
3. Once they’re through that, we move them to a solution state where they are presented
with a solution
4. And then we pitch our product or service
So the ads that lead to the quiz should always have some type of pay off of discovery
(information seeking).
For high emotional state markets, the word “HOW” works well, so an ad or headline that
leads with:
DISCOVER HOW TO ______________
For low emotional state, the word “WHY” works well, so an ad or headline that leads with:
DISCOVER WHY TO ______________
Read my posts on high and low emotional states to learn how to modulate this here.
Now, this information that you are offering on the lander always should lead to an outcome
(because people buy for outcomes, not features or benefits) and once they know the
outcome, they will get what they want.
So we take them through the quiz funnel and as they go through the quiz funnel, they are
asked to answer questions.
If we go from standard questions to functional questions, we can affect the emotional state
to a great degree.
For example, if I have a question that states:
- How old are you?
- 18-23
- 24-29
- 30-35
- 36-40
This question doesn’t do anything, it’s just a standard information question.
Now, to make it a functional question, we make it look like this:
- This year, I’m...
- This year, I’m between 18-23 years old and I have a great future ahead of me
- This year, I’m between 24-29, and I’m feeling optimistic
- This year, I’m between 30-35, and I”m feeling better than ever
- This year, I’m between 36-40, and I can’t see what the future holds in store for me
Read the two and notice the amount of energy that’s generated between these two. One is
A LOT more personal whereas one is just whatever, and also notice the “I am” in the
question and the answer, this is what makes the question FUNCTION.
So, the beginning of the quiz should always be inviting and positive, the middle of the quiz
neutral and the end of the quiz goes into negative.
The reason for the end always being negative in nature is because as you’ll see below that
is a must for problem states and without problem states, you can’t get to solution states.
So think of it as 1/3 positive, 1/3 neutral and 1/3 negative.
Feel free to play with the ratios, but don’t down play the 3rd negative section, that will make
or break the quiz.
We move them from one mind state to another mind state using functional questions.
Functional questions serve a function, and that function is that it makes them realize that
they have a problem or implies that something is wrong.
Example:
“I gaining weight because”
- I’m gaining weight because I can’t control my cravings
- I’m gaining weight because I can’t stick to a diet
- I’m gaining weight because I don’t have time to work out
- I’m gaining weight because I don’t have the energy to focus on losing weight
- I’m gaining weight because I don’t know what to do or change my situation
- I’m gaining weight because everything I tried doesn’t work
See it? This assumes that they are gaining weight, and all choice force the agreement of
that mind frame.
This takes the mind and takes it from feeling good, to feeling neutral to feeling not so great.
So what happens is they came in feeling bad (information seeking) via ads, the quiz made
them feel good via positive questions.
Then the quiz goes in the mind, thru questions into feeling bad.
We feel bad when we question ourselves on an identity level.
Problem state in ad -> solution state on page -> positive, back to even more problematic.
Identify them. Identify the situation. Identify the problem.
They have to agree to these things in order to move forward and get the outcome of the qiz.
Now, before they get to the quiz, the ad should entice them to discover their limitations that
are preventing them from getting the outcome.
Because to go from where they are to where they want to be, there is a limitation in the
middle, once they discover this limitation, that will allow them to move fwd.
Ads are them probing into their limitations.
Discover HOW or Discover WHY, or any type of variation of the headline.
Diagnostic marketing is the future.
Start the quiz with positive questions or identifiers. These are external questions.
If you put identifiers 1st, the quiz take rate will be LOWER than if you put positive questions.
Positive questions tend to be “TOWARDS”, and the language of towards is:
- I want to
- I’d like to
- I wish to
- I choose to
- I hope to
- I dream to
These are disassociated so they don’t feel much, cuz it’s not about them, it’s about the thing
they do.
For positive questions, you can use “YOU” instead of “I”, it also work very well.
Then we go to the middle of the quiz, which is the neutral question territory:
It’s about what they do, where they’re at etc…What’s going on in their lives.
Neutral language is:
- I tend to
- Sometimes I
- Once in a while I
- Etc...
Here you can also use “YOU” instead of “I”.
You can start using You in the 1st half of the neutral questions, and “I” on the second set.
The reason being is that You tends to disassociate, where as I associates more.
Once you use those set of questions, then it’s time to move to negative questions.
Negative questions tend to use AWAY language.
“You” questions on the front and neutral and “I am” questions on the back end.
“I am” questions and answers cause “negative ownership”.
In order to help them get out of the problem they have, we have to make them aware and
accept the problem.
If someone is a smoker, we have to get them to accept the fact that smoking is bad.
The way this looks like is:
- “I have”
- “I have had this problem for 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years”
- “I am”
- “I am a little bit ashamed of my weight”
- “I am quite ashamed of my weight”
- “No matter what I do I can’t lose weight”
Take “I” and combine it with AWAY language and you have negative admittance which
cause them to accept ownership of the problem.
These should be identities, so they are associated. Here we’re being asked to admit things
we never want to admit
So the questions get them to ADMIT they have a problem on an identity level and at the
same time admit that they can not get rid of it.
Once they go through this process. The curiosity has no become intent and there is a lot of
emotion, and out of this they come to the sales page.
On the sales page, you can sell a product, pitch book a call, whatever you want.
Now that they’re on the sales page, the goal is to thank them for taking the quiz, build
rapport and then insert some form of comfort language so that way they feel that you care
about them.
This is very important as they just came out of a set of very negative idenity building
questions.

Which you should as they are your customers

Comfort language is all about NOT BEING ALONE.
Example is “You’re not the only one who took this”, etc..
Then the sales page always opens with “here’s the bad news” or “here’s something you
have to know” something that bounces off of that negative state in the last set of questions
in the quiz to CONTINUE that feeling.
Where they go “oh what now!”, and then you go into it.
The reason we do this is to create a massive contrast to the good news that follows which
will change everything for them.
Because, remember...CONTRAST is the basis of AWARENESS, and the ore contrast, the
more they will be aware of our solution and product and it’s value to them.
You create a set of generalizations that bundle people up that they can identify with that are
reflected as true from those questions.
The bundles have “negative labels”.
E.g. in the parenting niche - Your parenting style is “Authoritarian”
Parents with this style tend to ________ and because of this, your child will comply in the
short term, but the real effects are going to be seen in a year or two as it does deep
psychological damage to the child blah blah blah”
[you insert the bad news as to why they could not get the results based on the last part of
the quiz]
Human beings tend to REMEMBER THE LAST THING THAT WAS SAID.
You explain the bad news, and this sets up and explains the reason why they have had the
problem.
Then you reveal the MECHANISM OF THE PROBLEM ITSELF.
After that, the flip over is easy.
Which sets up the next section which is:
Here’s the good news:
Here’s how you fix it all -> from here you can sell, book a call, do whatever.
If you want to increase compliance, give them a reason why you’re asking.
That’s the gist of it, now some nuances...
You want to ask questions that elicit sensory experiences that bring about things that are
deep down in their minds that they really do not want to think about let alone talk about.
Such as:
I struggle with ________
I have a hard time with __________
I find it impossible to __________
I can’t seem to over come ________
If women, add “FEEL”
I feel overwhelmed when ___________
Future pace the questions with NEGATIVE POSSIBILITY:
The #1 thing I’m afraid of is ______________
The reason we’re asking is we need to know how to best help you overcome that.
Here’s how it was done in the dating space to great effect:
- I’m afraid that I’ll be alone forever
- I’m afraid that I’ll meet the wrong guy and it won’t work out
- I’m afraid that I’ll keep having to use dating apps well into my 40s
- I’m afraid that I’ll be the only one in my social circle who’s still single
[That’s what I’m the most afraid of, let’s continue]
Here’s an example in the coaching space:
Because there are so many coaches coming into the market, I’m very concerned that:
The reason we’re asking is we need to know how to best help you overcome that.
1. I won’t be able to get clients
2. My clients will leave me for other coaches
3. I will become irrelevant if I can’t generate new clients
On the negative “probe” give them an out in allowing them to say “Something else” if clicked
they type it on or you can allow them to skip it.
Just the act of reading is sometimes enough to bring the problem to light.
This isolates attention by isolating them in their own attention.
What’s really interesting about all this is that if you get someone to admit they have a
problem, by default you are also getting them to admit that they need help, and you are the
person who can help them.
Here’s some examples of what we’ve done in Fast Forward using quizzes:
Survival quiz
- how much longer could you survive when disaster strikes?
- How safe is your location
- A secret test to test if you can trust your neighbors
- Is your plan going to work?
- The perfect plan for you and your family
Parenting
- Parenting market. You can add in how many days left of their childhood they have left. So
you show where they are, and how much they have left.
- There was a study I forgot the name but it said by the time you turn 18, you’ve spent 90%
of the time you’ll ever spend with your parents
Dating
- What’s your dating style?
- Are you secretly repelling high value men?
- The highest caliber women that would consider dating you
- Are you dateable?
Weight Loss
- How fast can you lose weight
- Discover what hormones are preventing you from losing weight
Biz-Op
- How much are your skills worth?
- How long would it take you to make a million dollars?
- How fast can you launch you own business and make $10k?
Quit Smoking
- How addicted you are to smoking and how long it’ll take you to quit
DFY Ecom
- How much can your ecom store idea make
- How fast can you store scale
Golfing
- How good can you get?
- How much can you add to your drive
Muscle Building
- How much muscle can your body carry without TREN?
- Discover your natural genetic potential
So on and so forth, and I’ll leave you with a golden nugget of this post.
If you want to amp up the quiz to generate even more intent, after your set of negative
questions, a pressure-release question is this:

“What would you like instead?”

- Choice 1
- Choice 2
- Choice 3
- Choice 4

This frames that they have choice, once they feel they have choice. They are a lot more apt
to act.
The choice they choose would go to the page that has that solution, so this question directs
them to a uniquely personal sales page.

So there you have it, a long post that’s long over due.

____________________________________________________________________

Man, I literally printed this. I took a lot of notes:

So positive > neutral> negative (associative) functional questions. Add "FEEL" for women
audience.

Then on the sales page, you create contrast:

Negative: Thank them/build rapport/comfort language (you're not alone) > "Here's the bad
news" (continue negativity) and create a set of generalizations on why they can't get results>
reveal the mechanism of the problem

Positive: Then you flip, here's the good news > Give them a reason why you were asking the
negative questions and for compliance

Then you pitch your solution, I guess with a mechanism of the solution, one that contrasts the
one revealed for the problem.

You're great Alen, thanks. Will test it.

___________________________________________________________________

people will also be way more invested as they go through a quiz funnel... because they feel
like it is tailored to them as they answer the questions. The more time they spend with you,
the better the conversions

___________________________________________________________________

We generate 1,500 leads a day through a quiz funnel and an extra 2,000 with identity resolution.
We have been split testing this quiz for over a year, sometimes against radicals (a la Matt Bacak
who probably invented the term), and sometimes just a headline or button copy or a trust badge
near the optin form.
A few insights…
1. The biggest drop off points are where you ask for personal information. For example, asking
for a name at the beginning of the quiz is a massive drop off point.
2. Another indication of a massive drop off point is making someone stop and type into a field.
It’s better to use a sliding bar.
3. As crazy as it sounds, asking for the email up front with cold traffic is a mistake. Wait until
they’ve invested some time in the quiz and want to get their custom report. Then they will give
up their email more easily.
Bonus tip: Also, use ID res to grab 10% of US traffic on browser abandonment.

____________________________________________________________________

QUIZ FUNNEL
I'm creating a quiz funnel to get leads from our Instagram and I'd like to know whether to go
with Option A or B in the diagram below.
The process is:
1) We have a call to action on Instagram posts that says something like - Take our quiz to
discover XYZ. To get started DM the word "quiz"
2) The quiz is then activated in their DM via a chatbot.
We can then either:
a) Give them their quiz result with the bot >> then offer them a free ebook lead magnet
(which is the specific solution to their problem uncovered in their quiz answers) >> take their
email address and email their ebook.
Or
b) Redirect them to a squeeze page at the end of the quiz to give them their quiz result,
offer the ebook and take their email address.
If it wasn't for GDPR I think I would avoid the landing page but complying with GDPR in the
bot might be a bit clunky and disrupt the flow.
But Im also wondering if adding a landing page might build trust and improve lead quality.
To clarify, my question is not whether or not to ask for their email address. I want to know
whether to ask for it in the chatbot (less friction) or to take them from the bot to a landing
page and ask for it there.
(An understanding of GDPR is important in being able to give a really valuable answer).
Any expert guidance would be much appreciated!

I’ve done both.

Have had less leads when giving them the results and then offering the ebook for their
email than asking for the email before giving them the results.
However, the QUALITY of the leads when you’ve already given them the result, is MUCH
better since they really want the stuff you’re selling (vs simply being curious about the quiz).
Nowadays I only do it this way. Can’t be bothered with filling my account with crap “leads”

____________________________________________________________________________

Engagement does not always equal sales...

This morning I saw a brilliant quiz funnel trying to duplicate VShred.
But when they got to the sales page - we were so far down the rabbit hole In the wrong
direction.
The goal of a quiz funnel Is to move people in the direction of your product.
Without giving the product away - the opening hook and the sales page had been diverted
along the way.
And It was paid traffic (which I saw) and it was all aimed at a female avatar.
Just because you have an engaging quiz funnel don't assume the sale.
Never let up until the last downsell Is done.

___________________________________________________________________________

***Grow Your List Faster With More Qualified Names, Quicker Conversion Time & Higher
AOV!***

For copywriters writing squeeze page copy OR marketers and offer owners looking to grow
their list… this is for you!

Remember when there was only 1 fitness or weight loss quiz out there… now you see like a
gazillion of them… and across all niches.

Ever wonder why… Because they work!

Same holds true for strategic online polls or surveys… when done right, they work.

And these aren’t just polls you slap together and throw on your website thru surveymonkey.

These are squeeze page-like polls used for cold traffic on Facebook, Google PPC, and
targeted media buys as well as with cost email list rentals and sponsorship ads.

And not only can they bring in new qualified names to your list, but they can also be
monetized on the front end and also used to check viability for a new concept or product
idea.
I have been using strategic polls & surveys for more than a decade at several top health,
financial, biz op and political publishers. CPLs typically averaged under $5 PLUS to offset
the media buy there was instant monetization to front end products. And of course, the
name is now on your file going thru an A/R series for added LTV on the back end. A
win/win/win.

By far the masters of the ‘poll with a purpose’ is Newsmax. Some samples of their survey
landing pages are here: https://www.newsmax.com/surveys/

But to be successful at this form of lead generation, there are some ‘must dos’ and 9 things
to keep in mind…

1. Interactivity. Your headline and questions should engage the reader, encourage
participation, peak interest, and tie into a current event. In addition, always have a
“comments” field for additional remarks. This gives passionate poll takers a place to sound
off. It also encourages engagement. Sample topics: Politics, economy, health, consumer
breakthroughs, the stock market, foreign affairs, or in general contrarian, controversial, or
emotional (ie. Greed, fear, vanity) topics.

2. Relevance. Your poll question should also be related to your product, free eLetter topic,
or free bonus report topic. This will greatly improve your conversion rate (how many people
actually take your poll) and up-sell rate.

3. Incentive. After people take your poll or survey, mention that to thank them for their
participation you’re automatically signing them up for your free eLetter, which they can opt
out at any time.

Also offer a free “must read” eReport valued at $xx which ties into your poll theme. Emailing
the report will reduce the number of bogus emails you get. Keep in mind, if it’s part of your
privacy policy not to sell or rent email names to third parties, mention this by sign up button.
This will help reassure users that their email addresses are safe with you.

4. Name Quality. If your poll question and your product are in sync, these names could be
extremely qualified for current … or future products. This can help allocate leads for
like-minded “front end products” like a paid newsletter or digital product. Each name that
comes in under a specific topic or product type should be “tagged” accordingly for
segmentation purposes to help future email marketing and conversion rates.

5. Market sentiment. In addition to list building, your effort will also gauge general market
opinion. The results from your poll could be an indicator that a new product should be
developed based on market demand. If I wanted to test viability of a potential new product
idea, I would throw together a quick and dirty free ebook with a topic similar to the product
or service I was thinking about. Run an ad for 1-2 weeks on PPC and/or Facebook and
measure interest by conversions.

6. Follow Up. To help reiterate to prospects the connection between the poll they just took
and your eLetter, it’s important to make sure that each name that comes in gets an
immediate “thank you page” (for taking the poll) and then an auto responder email
containing the free eReport (via .pdf or downloadable link). Also consider sending a series
of bonding emails that basically “warm up” the new subscriber to your company and eLetter
– letting them get to know who you are, what you do, and how it will benefit them. This will
help improve the life time value of your new subscribers.

7. Results. Don’t just leave them hanging … make sure you tell prospects on your poll page
that “results will be published in your free eLetter as well as on your website”, which they
should check regularly. This will help readership and website traffic.

8. Reader Participation. Mention on your poll landing page that some comments may be
published (anonymously) when the results are released. Pick the very best, most powerful
responses and publish those in your eLetter or on your website. This tactic has been
extremely successful with social networking communities and blogs.

9. Sticky Names. As mentioned, I’ve been using this method for over a decade at various
top publishers and its most always brought in good quality names that stay on the file. At
one publisher we looked at two cohort groups that came in off of lead gen efforts. The poll
people stayed on the file more than 4x longer than the non-poll people, converted faster,
and were more engaged (opens/clicks with our emails).

I also attached a flow chart that maps it all out!

_________________________________________________

I’ve been meaning to post here for a while about quizzes and “Bam!”, Alen released a banger on
quizzes recently, so now’s a good time to get right into it!
If there’s one thing we all know it’s this…
Data is more valuable than gold.
That’s literally the thing that led to companies like Google and Facebook to become the
behemoths that they are today.
But over time, it’s gotten harder for us marketers to use 3rd party data in our ads because of
increased privacy regulations and growing concern over data privacy.
Now if you’ve been around for a while then you already know this and that’s NOT what this post
is about.
Instead I want to show you how you can…
…capture zero party data that you own with a quiz funnel…
…along with what data points you want to consider capturing…
…and then how to use those data points in your email follow up sequences…
…for increased connection and conversions.
So first up…
Here’s the big mistake people make with quiz funnels.
They have a mediocre hook, badly designed questions, no proper connection with the quiz taker
and therefore poor conversions on the back end because it’s more of a gimmick instead of a
carefully crafted conversion event.
How do you fix that?
Well one way is to make sure you capture specific data points and then use those data points in
your email follow up sequence.
Both right after the quiz and also in future if you’d like.
For example, we all know that when you add a first name merge field to the email then it’ll
automatically pull in the reader’s first name right?
Of course, everyone knows that, but what they don’t know is that your email copy itself can
adapt and change based on how someone answered the quiz, because you’re storing those
data points captured through a quiz, to the contact’s record.
And not in a “1-dimensional way” like using a simple first name merge field.
You can totally go next level with this.
For example…
If 5 of your quiz questions were crafted to capture specific data points, each with 4 answer
options each to map to the quiz taker’s contact record in your CRM…
…you can then use the power of something like Liquid to serve up specific and persuasive
email copy to each of the captured data points.
(Liquid is a templating language used by Shopify that allows for dynamic content creation. When
applied to emails, it can pull specific data points captured from your quiz directly into your email
copy. It’s not unique to Shopify and can be used in CRMs like Infusionsofts etc.)
That means that ONE email can have up to 1024 unique variations.
Yep, that’s not a typo…
I’ll say that again…
1024 unique responses to the reader on the other side…
When your email is able to adapt and respond like that and serve up specific copy to your
reader…
…do you think it’ll increase the CONNECTION you have with them because they FEEL that you
truly GET them?
And by extension of that increased CONNECTION and TRUST, that it’ll lead to higher
CONVERSIONS?
You bet!
But it has to be done right.
Because if you’re using data in a creepy way where it’s obvious what’s happening then the
CONNECTION quickly starts to feel creepy.
Or if you use it without proper thought, then your copy will be disjointed and read like a dyslexic
spammer wrote it.
This post is here to help avoid both of those scenarios.
So to recap…
You build a quiz and set it up so that you can capture specific data points through carefully
crafted questions…
…and then your emails serve up unique content to connect with the reader which leads to
higher conversions.
Now what type of data points do you want to capture?
First of all, there’s a whole science on what questions you want to ask in a quiz and in what
order you want to ask them.
This post is not about that or about quiz building 101.
Instead it’s about capturing meaningful zero party data and then using that in your follow up
emails.
So with that said, here’s a list of 10 types of questions you can ask during the quiz so that you
have specific data points captured for when you want your email copy to adapt on the fly.
Here they are in no specific order…
1. Current Situation
2. Current Level
3. Primary Goal
4. Why That Goal Is Important
5. Biggest Challenge
6. Emotional State
7. What they've tried before to solve the challenge
8. Time
9. Current Activities
10. Their Values
You definitely won’t ask all 10 questions in one quiz…
Instead you want to see which of these data points would be the most useful to you if you had
them on record.
Also, you can add in an “Other” option that either skips capturing the data point, or you can ask
the quiz taker to type it in.
You’d then review all the “other” responses and see if it’s worthwhile updating your answer
options.
Anyway, loads of nuance and details, but I’ll keep it high level for the illustration part.
(Just holler in the comments if you have any questions.)
While this might seem like a lot, the goal is really quite simple…
Capture data points that would be meaningful to use in your email follow up when it comes to
serving up personalised copy, based on how a quiz taker answered the quiz.
One last note before we get to the examples, the questions and answer options will be adapted
to fit the niche and business, so for the most part these are purely for educational purposes to
illustrate the range in the answer options.
Each time someone answers a question, that data point is stored to the contact’s record in your
CRM which then allows you to do some copy and automation magic down in the follow up
stage:
So let’s break each one down real quick.
Each section below will have…
a title and description of the type of question,
an example question with an example of 4 answer options each,
and finally a super quick high level note/example about how this can be used in the email follow
up copy.
And when it comes to the email itself, the copy needs to be written in such a way that it reads
like it was written as one email to one person.
That’s a post for another day and I’m happy to illustrate how you can play around with this in a
simple Google sheet with a few formulas.
Let’s dive into the question types and the examples…
===============
1. Current Situation
===============
While people might belong to the same ICP or TAM, their specific situation might be different
and worth capturing.

For example, you might be helping people with traffic generation but you might want to know
what it is they’re selling:
> Question & Answer Options:
"Which of the following best describes your primary offering?"
Online Courses / Memberships
Coaching or Consulting Services
Physical Products
Professional or Done For You Services
Other
Copy example for answer option 2 above:
“Here’s the thing, when it comes to selling *coaching or consulting services*, you need to use
the right approach in your targeting and messaging in your ads. If you don’t your ad costs will
skyrocket and even worse, you could be attracting low quality leads.”
When you echo back something specific about what they’re selling then that email will feel like
it’s relevant to them.
If they selected another answer in the quiz, the copy will adapt accordingly.
Remember, it’s not just about simple word replacement though. You can write whole sentences
or paragraphs of complete copy that is specific to that particular data point you captured during
the quiz.
===============
2. Current Level
===============
If you’re selling business coaching, consulting or training then it would be great to know at what
level someone is based on their revenue for example.
> Question & Answer Options:
What’s your current monthly revenue?
(The reason for asking is that different revenue levels face different challenges.)
Pre-revenue: Just starting out and setting things up.
Less than $50K/month: Building and finding our market fit.
$50K - $200K/month: Expanding and optimizing operations.
Over $500K/month: Scaling and ready to lead the market.
You can adapt the ranges as you see fit, but as you can imagine, you’ll use different language
when speaking to someone in the pre-revenue stage than someone who’s at $50K a month etc.
If you’re serving a hobbyist market you might want to know what level someone’s at:
> Question & Answer Options:
"How would you describe your playing level?"
Beginner
Advanced Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Copy example for answer option 1 above:
“If you’re still at the beginner stage in your guitar playing, the great news is that you’ve not yet
developed a bunch of bad habits that tend to keep guitar players stuck in a rut for years on
end…”
See how that one wasn’t just a word replacement, but the whole sentence was written to
beginners. Again, you’ll change the sentence for the different answers they gave.
===============
3. Primary Goal
===============
If you can know what someone’s primary goal is, then you can focus on that goal more than
others in your email follow up.
In business that might be a revenue goal:
> Question & Answer Options:
"Which of the following best describes your current business goals?"
Building a six-figure business
Achieving high six figures in revenue
Scaling to a 7 figure business
Growing beyond 8 figures
(Sidenote, when you do quizzes the right way you can adapt follow up questions to make sense
in light of what someone has already told you.
For example, if someone’s already at $50k a month, you would not include the first two answer
options because they’ve already exceeded that.
When your follow up questions are tone deaf then it doesn’t reflect well on you as the creator of
the quiz.)
You can also do this in a hobbyist market like this:
> Question & Answer Options:
“Which of the following best describes your current guitar goals?”
Learning to play complete songs
Playing for fun and relaxation
Master lead guitar techniques
Enjoying jam sessions with friends and family
Copy example for answer option 4 above:
“Once you discover my XYZ method for ripping up the fretboard your next jam session is going
to be insane!”
===============
4. Why That Goal Is Important
===============
Knowing your quiz taker’s goal is one thing, but knowing why it’s important to them is key.
There are many different models for this, but one I like is something called “Will Drivers”.
Basically it’s what’s driving them to achieve the goal.
This is important because people want to achieve goals for different reasons.
Broadly speaking you can fall into one of four will drivers.
Autonomy - What are my options once I get this nailed?
Mastery - How do I become the best at this?
Connection - Who will benefit when I reach this goal?
Purpose - Why does this even matter?
And this is what it might look like in a question:
> Question & Answer Options:
“What's fueling your drive to grow your business? What's the big motivation behind all your hard
work?”
I'm all about being my own boss. I want the freedom to make my own choices and steer my
business exactly where I want it to go. (This question maps to Autonomy.)
For me, it's about being the best in the game. I have this burning desire to be the best I can be
and to set new benchmarks in my industry. (This question maps to Mastery.)
Honestly, it's more than just business for me. I’m passionate about making a difference, helping
others, and creating something that positively impacts people's lives. (This question maps to
Connection.)
I believe in doing work that resonates with my core values. It's important for me that my
business reflects what I truly stand for and believe in. (This question maps to Purpose.)
Here’s one in the hobbyist space…
> Question & Answer Options:
What’s important to you about playing guitar?
I want to have fun & express myself whenever I feel like it. (This question maps to Autonomy.)
I want to master the guitar and become the best player I can be. (This question maps to
Mastery.)
I like to connect with friends/family & meet new people through my music. (This question maps
to Connection.)
I play because music gives meaning to my life. (This question maps to Purpose.)
Copy example for answer option 2 above:
“A couple of years back I had this student Frank. Super nice guy, in his late forties and he really
wanted to play guitar. During our first lesson he told me that he spent a ton of money on guitars
and gear. He said all his goal was to *master the guitar and become the best player he could
possibly be.*”
If you tell a story about someone with a similar motivation as your reader, they’ll perk up and
pay attention because they can see themselves in the story.
===============
5. Biggest Challenge
===============
Just like there are different sub goals within the same ICP or TAM, there are different sub
challenges too because everyone’s on their own journey.
Even if it’s just knowing what they think their biggest challenge is hugely beneficial.
> Question & Answer Options:
As you're pushing your business to new heights, what's the main hurdle that seems to stand in
your way?
Attracting Quality Traffic: "It's like I'm waving a flag in a ghost town. I need more eyes on my
website, but not just any eyes – I'm looking for the right crowd that genuinely needs what I offer."
Generating Sufficient Leads: "Leads are the lifeblood of my business, but it's tough. I'm
struggling to attract enough people who are genuinely interested and ready to take the next
step."
Converting Leads into Customers: "I get people interested, but it's like there's a missing link.
Turning these potential leads into paying customers is where I hit a wall. I need to crack the
code on making them commit."
Creating Customer Success Stories: "I know my product/service can make a difference, but I'm
finding it challenging to create those wow moments for my customers – the kind that turns them
into success stories and raving fans."
Copy example for answer option 3 above:
“The trick to converting more leads into customers all comes down to the proper use of problem
state and solution state. Most gooroos will say it’s all about the offer. Yes a solid offer is
important, but if your lead is not in the right state when you make that offer, you’re just flushing
dollars down the toilet.”
===============
6. Emotional State
===============
This is where things can get pretty potent if applied correctly.
The gist of this is how do people FEEL about the challenge and problem and how can you echo
that back to them in your copy?
This is where you get into functional questions that get people into that problem/solution state.
Alen spoke about this in great detail in his recent post.
Here’s a hobbyist example:
> Question & Answer Options:
Which of the following best describes the challenge you face when it comes to being the best
guitarist you can be?
Bored: I don’t have anything that excites me at the moment and I always play the same things.
Overwhelmed: I've got way too much stuff I want to learn and I can't keep up.
Frustrated: Nothing I do seems to work & it feels like I'm making slow or no progress at all.
Confused: I just can't seem to make sense of what it is that I need to do?
And here’s a business one…
> Question & Answer Options:
Running a business is an emotional rollercoaster. At this moment in your journey, which of the
following best describes your current experience?
Navigating Stagnancy: "It feels like I'm running on a treadmill – lots of effort, but not really
moving forward. I'm searching for that spark or idea that breaks the routine and injects new life
into my business."
Battling Overwhelm: "Some days, it's like juggling chainsaws. There's so much to handle – from
operations to marketing, and it feels like a never-ending battle to keep everything afloat without
dropping the ball."
Tackling Frustration: "It's like hitting a brick wall. I put in the hours, the strategies, the work – but
the results just don't match up to my expectations. It's about figuring out what piece of the
puzzle I'm missing."
Confronting Uncertainty: "Standing at the crossroads without a clear signpost. Making decisions
feels daunting when the path forward is hazy, and it's about finding that clarity and confidence to
choose the right route."
Copy example for answer option 2 above:
“Listen, if you’re constantly juggling a million things and never having time to pause and zoom
out for a bit, then you’re likely going to end up making poor strategic decisions that will only
make things worse in the long run.”
===============
7. What they've tried before to solve the challenge
===============
If you know what people have tried before then this can be fed back in the email follow up copy.
You can either present a case for why what they did didn’t work or why that specific activity
doesn’t work, unless done correctly.
> Question & Answer Options:
"Which of the following have you previously tried or used to grow your business?"
I’ve bought and completed a business courses
I’ve worked with a business coach or consultant
I’ve hired a marketing or sales agency
I’ve mostly tried a range of different DIY business growth tactics
Copy example for answer option 3 above:
“Now if you’ve worked with an agency that over promised and under delivered then you know
what it’s like flushing money down the toilet. The problem is likely that they focused on
execution without considering your specific scenario. Sadly this is all too common.”
===============
8. Time
===============
This one is obvious.
Are you talking to someone who’s brand new at the game or is it someone who’s been around
for a while.
The way you talk to them will vary greatly once you know how long they’ve been involved in
XYZ market/activity etc
> Question & Answer Options:
How long have you been operating your business?
Less than 1 Year: Just starting my entrepreneurial journey.
1-3 Years: Gaining momentum and establishing my business.
5-10 Years: Experienced with established business operations.
More than 15 Years: Long-term business veteran with deep insights.
And here’s one for the hobbyist market again.
> Question & Answer Options:
"How long have you been playing guitar?"
I just started playing guitar…
I’ve been playing for about 2-5 years…
It’s somewhere between 5-10 years…
I’ve been playing for more than 10 years…
Copy example for answer option 5 above:
“Sadly I’ve seen many guitar players getting stuck in what I call the “progress graveyard”.
They’ve been playing for years but they're not aware of those pesky blindspots keeping them
stuck at a certain level. That’s why you need a different approach…”
===============
9. Current Activities
===============
Knowing what activities someone’s currently engaged in is super helpful. Here an example.
> Question & Answer Options:
What are your current primary activities to grow your business?
Implementing digital marketing strategies.
Focusing on product or service innovation.
Enhancing customer service and experience.
Exploring new markets and partnerships.
Or the hobbyist market again:
> Question & Answer Options:
How are you currently learning or improving your guitar skills?
Regular sessions with a personal tutor.
Following structured online courses and tutorials.
Self-guided learning through YouTube.
Participating in community workshops or group lessons.
Copy example for answer option 3 above:
“Look, while YouTube is an amazing place to get lessons on just about anything you can
imagine, that’s actually doing more harm than good when it comes to making real progress and
here’s why…”
Again, it’s a whole sentence and not just word replacement.
===============
10. Their Values
===============
Here’s another one where you can capture some data about their identity and then align your
copy with that so that people feel like you’re on the same page as them when it comes to an
internal value.
> Question & Answer Options:
What value do you prioritize most in your guitar playing journey?
Creativity: Exploring and expressing unique musical styles.
Discipline: Consistently practicing and improving my skills.
Community: Connecting with other musicians and learners.
Enjoyment: Playing guitar primarily for personal joy.
Copy example for answer option 1 above:
“Imagine for a second having a creative outlet where you can explore and express yourself
without limits. I'm willing to bet that’s one of the things you love about your favorite guitar
players!”
///
Geez, let me stop there for now.
Hopefully this gives you some food for thought when it comes to using quiz funnels to level up
your email follow up game.
Remember, email is the cockroach of marketing. It’ll never die, so you might as well find a way
to level up.
And for goodness sake, whether you’re gonna go down this “personalisation revolution” route or
not, make sure your emails get delivered to the inbox with all the upcoming changes.
Because there’s no point to level up your email sequences with lethal copy if no-one’s gonna
read it right.
Alright, hope this helps and holler in the comments if you have any questions.

#firstnhbpostdone