Have you ever heard that a confused customer doesn't buy? There have been loads of studies on the paradox of choice and how the more options you present to someone the less likely they are to make a decision. Decision fatigue is real and if you sell multiple products on your eCommerce store, this might be hurting you more than helping.
Enter the product recommendations quiz. Not only are eCommerce quizzes great for helping your customer find the perfect product for them, but it's also a great way for you to collect data on your customer base that you can use to market more effectively and create a better customer experience.
And sure, eCommerce quizzes sound like fun and they're all the rage right now but like most things in business it can be a bit harder than we expect when it comes time to actually create them. You might be wondering how to structure your quiz, what questions to ask, and if you should even bother to put in the effort.
Today's guest is going to show us why eCommerce product recommendation quizzes are not only good for your customer and helping them find the product that they need, but also why they're a good business decision and the data they generate is worth their weight in gold; especially as we move into a cookie-less internet world.
Prefer to listen to this episode? Click here
What is zero-party data and why is it so important?
If first-party data is collecting data from customers somewhat passively. This includes transaction history, what they’ve purchased, how much they’ve purchased, how frequently they’ve purchased, webpages they’ve visited, and some actions on there like abandoned cart or abandoned checkout.
Zero-party data is as close to the source as you can get. So that is data that your customers are willingly and proactively sharing. The difference is that you’re understanding the intent—the WHY behind their purchase as opposed to WHAT they purchased or what they did.
You’re able to get some of the psychographic information that you can’t necessarily get with first-party data. For example, if somebody is buying a moisturizer, you can ascertain certain things like perhaps they have normal skin or if they buy every three months, then they’re using X amount.
However, you don’t know whether they’re buying it for their spouse or their children or giving it as gifts.
Think of zero-party data as adding more color so that you can improve.
You are using this data to power your personalization, not only in the form of product recommendations but also your omni-channel experience as it relates to your email, your SMS, your Facebook messenger, and your paid ads.
Hot tip: One little twist on the abandoned quiz flow is just cloning the abandoned cart flow and changing the trigger from abandoned cart to pre-product recommendation.
How do we decide what questions to ask and what to do with that data once you have it?
The best way to determine what information you want or need is to work backward—what will you use the data for?
Presumably, it would be to improve your segmentation. A great example is a skincare or shampoo brand that can use that very specific data to send different campaigns or flows based on their skin type or their hair type.
It’s a good idea to consider what challenges they are facing and what their goals are because ultimately, as marketers, our goal is to understand who our customer is, where they are and where they want to go. Our product will bridge the gap to help them become that aspirational self.
If we understand what those two endpoints are, where they’re starting at and where they want to go, it becomes far easier to paint that picture and position the product in a way that they can see it will help them become who they want to become.
You also want to ask for their contact information. Sometimes it’s optional, sometimes it’s required. That’s at the discretion of the merchant and something that should be tested, but it’s a critical piece to tie it all together so that you can reach out to them.
Less is more when it comes to creating an eCommerce quiz
One caveat to consider is that less is more. Can you remove things you may or may not need? Can you ask less or can you combine questions?
With every question that you ask, there will be drop-off and that drop-off will affect you in terms of fewer opt-ins, which means fewer leads, which means fewer sales and that translates to dollars, especially if you are running paid ads to these.
Prehook is one of the few quiz programs that syncs the data to
That’s an intermediate to an advanced level type of email marketing. You don’t have to do that if you’re just getting started. If you have a handle on things, that’s a really great way to utilize this data and give that customer a super personalized experience.
Is there a magic number of questions you should ask on an eCommerce quiz?
If there is one, I don’t know it. The reason I say there might not be a magic number is because there are some brands, for example, Hymns or Romans, where the quiz is almost like a patient intake form.
There is a lot of data that you need because they’re going to be recommending or qualifying you for a hair loss or something that you’re going to be putting in or on your body that you want to be pretty sure about as opposed to what is the best candle for me.
Using as few questions as possible ensures you can maintain the engagement.
How do you maintain engagement while adding more questions to your quiz?
1. Create a personalized experience by looking for conditional logic.
Conditional logic is “if this, then” logic, so you can take people down these personalized paths. It takes a bit of work up front, but the end goal is that the customer would have a more personalized experience.
In 2022 and beyond, customers who want a personalized experience will share the data, and they’ll reward brands handsomely if they’re able to deliver on that promise. You’ll see this through average order value, frequency of purchases, and ultimately, lifetime value.
2. Leverage the technology of email service platforms like Klayvio or Omnisend
These platforms allow you to dynamically insert the product so it is a spot-on experience, both on the website and then in their subsequent communications.
The fact that you’re asking, that you give a shit, is putting you light years ahead of your competition and all the big guys that you feel you’re competing with.
3. Ask key questions that your customer wants to answer
They’re having fun doing the quiz. You’re getting data, which is helping you market to them better, which makes them feel less marketed to and more served. It’s a win-win.
You’re gathering data that is essentially invaluable and creates a competitive differentiator that can be used across channels.
If you had a brick-and-mortar skincare store and somebody walked into your store, what would you ask them? What are you struggling with? How many steps do you have time for? You would gather that information and then make the best recommendation for them.
This is an amazing way to recreate that experience.
Quizzes address your buyer’s objections and any potential anxiety that they would have around this purchase
What you might’ve had to pay market research groups thousands of dollars for before or time you might have spent scouring competitors' Amazon reviews, you’re getting that same day on a mass scale, in a structured way from your existing base. That’s one of the ancillary benefits of the quiz.
What can you expect from the Prehook eCommerce quiz platform?
When we were building Prehook, our key priority was a simple user interface.
We wanted it to be very intuitive without the need for any technical expertise or website development skills to get it up and running. We’ve also built a lot of templates specific to the niches that would benefit from a quiz, whether it’s a mattress, clothing, fragrance, or a candle company.
Essentially, you’re just choosing your template and your design so that everything is on-brand in terms of the look and feel of the quiz.
How does the Prehook platform work?
To decide what questions you’re going to ask, consider the data points you would need to effectively segment and then build your questions around those.
From there, based on their quiz responses, it would tally up the points for the products that are most appropriate based on their responses and I believe it’s the best practice to ask for a lead, such as an email and/or phone number towards the end of the quiz.
The reason to ask for the lead towards the end of the quiz is because they’ve made micro-commitments and are more likely to offer their information right before they get to the recommendation.
You can set that to be an optional step, where they can skip it easily with one click, but then they get the recommendation.
All the data that you’re gathering and the responses that a customer gives automatically create custom flows within the Klaviyo platform.
#1 takeaway from this episode
The customer experience gap is a huge opportunity to provide your consumers with a personalized experience, which is what they’re expecting.
On the flip side, brands and marketers are struggling to deliver on that, and therein lies the opportunity to meet that customer experience gap.
Think about how you can address that? How can you meet the consumer’s needs? How do you offer personalized experiences?
You gather the data with that you can use to personalize the customer's experience.
The opportunity for personalization is real, and it starts with the data you’re gathering and how that works between your website, how you gather the data, and then how you use it.
Those channels you own and that zero-party data are just going to become more and more important as we move forward with privacy.
