Discounts and flashy promotions are the backbone of Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns, but another strategy can supercharge your sales and truly connect with your customers.
This BFCM, don’t let another customer slip through the cracks of an aimless browsing journey or abandoned cart. Brands like Ilia Beauty, G Fuel, and Curlsmith have already tapped into the power of product quizzes—and now it’s your turn.
Why? Product quizzes help you sell smarter and faster without overwhelming your customers. Instead of guessing what they want, you’ll guide them directly to the perfect match—whether it’s their ideal shade, size, or a custom bundle—powered by a seamless AI-driven experience.
If your holiday campaigns aren’t already leveraging this tool, you’re leaving revenue on the table. Let’s look at how to build an effective product quiz strategy before, during, and after the BFCM season.
Pre-Black Friday: Building your quiz strategy
Before the Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness begins, it’s crucial to build a solid strategy that ensures your product quiz will engage, convert, and collect valuable data.
Add strategic lead capture
Product quizzes aren't just about engagement—they’re also a powerful tool for growing your email and SMS lists. Placing a lead capture within your quiz will increase the chances of capturing key customer data before the holiday rush. And if you want to drive sign-ups, sweeten the deal with an exclusive offer like a discount or early access to your BFCM promotions.
Take the mattress brand Polysleep, for example. By integrating lead capture into their Octane AI-powered quiz, they saw a 15% boost in email open rates—paired with a strategic sign-up incentive.
These results are due to two factors:
- Customers are excited to open the email after taking the product quiz to receive their discount
- Customers stay engaged even after because Polysleep collects information about them that they use to personalize emails going forward, making each email more interesting to subscribers.
Direct eyeballs to your quiz landing page
The more eyes on your quiz, the better your chances of boosting sales. To maximize visibility, feature your quiz landing page in high-value spots on your site, like the main navigation or through exit-intent pop-ups. Just ensure a seamless experience by disabling other pop-ups that might interfere.
Want to take it a step further? Follow Bambu Earth’s lead by driving ad traffic directly to your quiz.
This strategy, combined with their $300,000-$350,000 monthly ad spend, helped them secure 8-figure annual revenue, proving that quizzes can be a major driver of sales when front and center in your marketing campaigns.
A/B test your quiz to optimize before peak traffic hits
When BFCM rolls around, your product quiz strategy should be tested, optimized, and purposeful. A/B testing before the busy season sets your quiz up for success by allowing you to compare different versions of your quizzes to see which performs better in conversions, engagement, and revenue.
Octane AI’s A/B testing feature makes this simple—just set up two versions of your quiz, split the traffic, and track performance. To optimize results over time, you can test various quiz elements, such as questions, layouts, and designs.
What metrics can you track? The Octane AI dashboard will provide detailed analytics on
- Engagement
- Opt-ins
- Revenue
- Conversions
… And more, allowing you to choose the best-performing quiz just in time for the year’s busiest shopping season.
During Black Friday: How to drive up engagement
As the year's busiest shopping days unfold, your quiz should be working overtime to drive conversions. From aligning your quiz offers with your broader BFCM deals to optimizing post-quiz email flows and upselling products, this is the time to ensure every interaction counts.
Align your quiz discounts with your BFCM offers
Keep your in-quiz offers consistent with your general BFCM offer — if you’re advertising a 20% BFCM across your other channels, your quiz shouldn’t be offering 15% off to participants.
You can even entice users with an exclusive in-quiz offer a step above—like a 25% discount for sharing their email, while the general discount remains at 20%.
Nail your post-quiz email flow
Once customers complete your product quiz, the first follow-up email is crucial in converting them from curious browsers to committed buyers. By setting up a well-structured post-quiz email flow, you can keep customers engaged and guide them toward purchasing.
Here are a few strategies to help you maximize the impact of your post-quiz email communication:
- Timing Is everything
Strike while the iron is hot. Sending an immediate follow-up email, ideally within minutes, capitalizes on this recency effect.
Thank customers for taking the quiz, provide a link to their personalized quiz results, and let them know what to expect next. This seamless transition helps reinforce the positive brand experience, keeping the excitement alive and moving them closer to purchasing.
- Leverage dynamic personalization
Use the data gathered from the quiz to create hyper-targeted email content that speaks directly to each customer’s needs. This could mean addressing them by name, referencing their quiz responses, and tailoring product recommendations based on their preferences.
For instance, if a customer completed a skincare quiz and indicated they have oily skin, send them product suggestions specifically formulated for that concern.
Octane AI’s integration with platforms like Klaviyo makes it easy to dynamically personalize your emails with quiz data, ensuring each customer feels like the content was made just for them.
- Include a 'View Quiz Results' button
Make it easy for customers to revisit their quiz results by including a prominent 'View Quiz Results' button in your follow-up email. This simple feature invites them back to explore their personalized recommendations, giving them another chance to buy.
Make the button eye-catching with contrasting colors and strong CTAs like 'See Your Perfect Match' or 'Discover Your Personalized Products.'
A smooth, optimized landing page for these quiz results—like the one Blanqi uses for their maternity wear quiz—can further guide customers through their decision-making process, leading them from browsing to buying.
Add upsells to your quiz results page
Don’t let your quiz results page be a dead-end. Use it to upsell complementary items, bundles, or gift cards—especially during the holiday season when shoppers seek extra gift ideas.
ILIA Beauty saw impressive results by including upsells in their quiz results, driving a higher AOV than their typical conversions.
ILIA Beauty can also take this one step further: by using customer behavior data from the quiz, they can develop personalized, targeted email content to continue driving conversions. For example, customers who report having oily skin within the quiz can receive emails with product recommendations that only suit their skin type.
Post-Black Friday: Keeping shoppers long-term
Your product quiz may have been designed with BFCM in mind, but your gathered customer data can fuel long-term holiday sales. By tapping into the insights from your quiz responses, you can develop a highly targeted, data-driven strategy to carry your business through the remainder of the holiday season and beyond.
Keep the party going
Just because Black Friday and Cyber Monday passed doesn’t mean your chances to convert customers are over. Many shoppers experience FOMO during peak season, and you can tap into that emotion to re-engage them post-BFCM.
Through targeted follow-up emails, strategic pop-ups, and well-timed SMS campaigns, you can remind those customers that your offers haven’t disappeared quite yet. How so?
- Use language that creates urgency but emphasizes that they still have time to take advantage of your exclusive offers. For example, “Missed our Black Friday sale? Good news—there’s still time to get 20% off, but only for a limited time!”
- Push shoppers to your product quiz to reintroduce them to tailored product recommendations. By filling out the quiz, they re-engage with your brand and feel like they’re getting a second chance at the exclusive deals.
Plenty of consumers didn’t make a purchase or were on the fence, and now is the time to reel them back in.
Switch over to the holidays right away
Creating a holiday gift-finder quiz is a powerful way to use your quiz data. The holiday shopping season extends well past Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and many shoppers will still be looking for gifts as Christmas, New Year, and other seasonal celebrations approach.
Using your quiz as a gift concierge helps customers find the perfect gifts for those hard-to-shop-for people, like a Secret Santa exchange or that picky relative.
Keep your holiday quiz results page updated with your best-sellers and new seasonal items. You can even introduce curated gift bundles, making it easy for customers to purchase multiple items with one click.
Use quiz data to continue engaging with your BFCM shoppers
The beauty of your product quiz lies in its ability to convert new customers and in the first-party and zero-party data it collects.
With the detailed customer data at your disposal, you can retarget customers with personalized offers that speak directly to their needs and preferences. For instance, if a quiz-taker indicates a preference for cruelty-free skincare or specific product categories, you can craft retargeting campaigns promoting those products.
Need a real example? This brand asks customers about their favorite time of day to enjoy their products. Based on the answers, you can segment shoppers and send them messages during their favorite times.
Brands that personalize retargeting based on quiz responses, such as highlighting new product arrivals that match quiz preferences, tend to see higher engagement and increased repeat purchases.
You can also use the data to create lookalike audiences for retargeting on social platforms. If someone with certain quiz preferences converts, you can target similar users who haven’t yet taken your quiz with personalized ads, increasing your reach and potential customer base.
Building Lasting Relationships Beyond BFCM
Your customer relationship doesn’t end after the holiday season—it’s just beginning. You’re in a prime position to build long-term customer loyalty by leveraging the insights from your product quiz.
If you want to add a product recommendation quiz to your store, we’re here to help. You can get started yourself right away or schedule a time and we'd love to walk you through the product ourselves and learn more about your brand
