Latest / The Newsletter Podcast with Fexingo: Substack, Beehiiv, and Email Newsletter Business / Why Newsletters Are Using Interactive Quizzes to Grow
Transcript
- Lucas: I want to talk about something that sounds a little gimmicky on its face but is actually one of the smartest growth moves I have seen newsletter writers make in the last year. Interactive quizzes. Luna: Quizzes. Like 'Which productivity guru are you?' on a blog post in 2015? Lucas: Same format, way better execution. And not just for list building — though that is the headline. I have been tracking a finance newsletter called The Capitalist Duck — about 80,000 subscribers, mostly retail investors. In January they added a quiz at the bottom of their most popular post called 'What Type of Investor Are You?' — seven multiple-choice questions about risk tolerance, holding periods, reaction to a market dip. Luna: And they asked for an email to see the result, I assume. Lucas: Exactly. The quiz itself was built in Typeform, embedded in the newsletter's web version. The result page showed a typed-out profile — 'You are a Balanced Growth Seeker' — and then offered a free PDF called 'Your 5-Step Rebalancing Plan' in exchange for, again, the email. So it is a double opt-in actually, because they already had the email from the quiz entry, but the PDF download confirmed the subscription. Luna: Did they track how many of those were new subscribers versus existing ones? Lucas: Good question. They did. Roughly 60 percent of the quiz completions came from people who were not on the list yet. And the conversion rate from landing page visit to email capture was 40 percent. Compare that to their standard pop-up form which converts at around 8 percent. Luna: That is a massive difference. But I wonder — is the quality of those subscribers any good? Or do you just get a bunch of people who wanted to see their cartoon investor type? Lucas: That is the second piece. They also tracked engagement metrics on the subscribers who came through the quiz versus organic sign-ups. Open rates for quiz-originated subscribers were 35 percent higher over the first 30 days. And click-through rates were nearly double. The theory is that the quiz acts as a pre-filter — someone who voluntarily answers seven questions about their investing style is already more engaged than someone who just saw a pop-up and typed their email. Luna: Also, the quiz itself probably felt like a value exchange. You gave them something fun and personalised, they gave you their email. That is a lot better than 'Sign up for my newsletter'. Lucas: Right. And the segmentation potential alone makes it worth doing. The Capitalist Duck now tags each subscriber with their quiz result. So they can send specific content to 'Aggressive Growth' people versus 'Income Seekers'. They told me that since they started segmenting that way, their overall click to open rate went up by about 15 percent. Because instead of sending a general market update to everyone, they can send a piece about high-dividend stocks only to the Income Seekers. Luna: That makes a lot of sense. I have also seen newsletters use quiz results to drive product recommendations. Like a career advice newsletter that had a 'What is your next career move?' quiz — the result page then recommended a paid course or a consulting call based on the outcome. Lucas: I have seen that too. One example I really liked was a newsletter called The Plant Lady — it is a gardening newsletter. She created a quiz called 'What is your gardening personality?' — maybe five questions about space, sunlight, patience. The result page offered a tailored 'starter kit' collection of affiliate products. She told me the quiz-takers converted to affiliate purchases at three times the rate of her general audience. Luna: So the mechanics are clear. But what about the technical side? A lot of newsletter writers are solopreneurs. They do not have a developer. How hard is it to set up one of these? Lucas: Surprisingly easy. Typeform is the most common tool — they have a free tier that lets you do up to 10 questions and 100 responses per month. For the integration part, you want to connect it to your email service provider. Most of them have native integrations with Typeform or Zapier. So when someone completes the quiz, their email and their tag get pushed directly into your list. The Capitalist Duck used Intercom for the email side, but it works with ConvertKit, Mailchimp, Beehiiv — all the big ones. Luna: And the quiz itself — how long should it be? I feel like a ten-question quiz might scare people off. Lucas: Five to seven questions seems to be the sweet spot. The Capitalist Duck started with ten, but they had a 40 percent drop-off before completion. They trimmed to seven and the completion rate went up to 85 percent. The key is to make each question feel meaningful but quick. So multiple choice, no open-ended text. And the result should feel like a reward — a personality type, a score, a recommendation. Not just 'You answered X, here is a generic PDF'. Luna: What about the design? Should the quiz match the newsletter's look and feel? Lucas: Absolutely. Consistency builds trust. If the quiz looks like a random internet quiz from 2008, people will hesitate to give their email. Use your brand colors, your logo, and a clean layout. Typeform allows a lot of customization on the paid plans, but even the free version lets you change colors and add an image. Luna: One thing I have noticed is that some newsletters put the quiz in a dedicated landing page, while others embed it directly in an email. Which works better? Lucas: Landing page, almost always. Email clients are terrible at rendering interactive content. So you send an email that teases the quiz and has a big button that says 'Take the Quiz'. That button goes to a landing page where the quiz lives. That way you also get the benefit of tracking click-through from the email. Luna: Makes sense. And then after they take the quiz, do you put them on a specific email sequence? Lucas: You should. The Capitalist Duck sends a welcome sequence tailored to the quiz result. So if someone is tagged as 'Aggressive Growth', their first email is about high-volatility plays. The standard welcome sequence goes to everyone else. That personalization in the first few emails probably explains the higher open rates we talked about earlier. Luna: I want to try this with our own newsletter, honestly. But I have a concern — are there any downsides? Like, could the quiz data be used in a way that feels creepy to subscribers? Lucas: That is a valid concern. The rule is: only collect data you are actually going to use. If you ask someone their risk tolerance but then never send them content relevant to that, it feels pointless at best and manipulative at worst. Also, be transparent about what you are doing. A quick line on the result page like 'We will use your quiz result to send you more relevant emails' is enough. Luna: And you should offer a way to retake the quiz or update preferences. People's situations change. Lucas: Exactly. The Capitalist Duck includes a link at the bottom of every email that says 'Update your investor profile'. That keeps the data fresh and shows good faith. Luna: Alright, I am sold. So what is the first step for a newsletter writer who wants to try this? Lucas: First, decide on the core question your quiz answers. Not 'what color is your parachute' but something directly relevant to your newsletter's niche. For a marketing newsletter, 'What is your marketing maturity level?' For a health newsletter, 'What is your stress type?' Then write five to seven multiple-choice questions that lead to three to five distinct results. Then build it in Typeform or a similar tool, connect it to your email provider, and promote it in your next few emails. Luna: And set a goal. Like 'I want to get 500 new subscribers from this quiz in 30 days'. Lucas: Right. And if the quiz resonates, you can even repurpose the results into content. Publish a blog post about the most common investor types, or share the data on social media. It becomes a content engine on its own. Luna: That is smart. I think we should actually try this for our show's newsletter. If we can get a 40 percent conversion rate like The Capitalist Duck, that would be huge. Lucas: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you have actually used — maybe a new tool, a different strategy — that is the kind of thing that keeps us going. And listener support is what makes this show possible without running ads or selling your data. If you want to help, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a simple way to say this is useful. Now, back to quizzes — I actually have a template I can share. Luna: Yeah, I would love to see that template. I think a lot of our listeners would too. Maybe we can put it in the show notes. Lucas: Good idea. So to recap: interactive quizzes are not a gimmick. They are a genuine growth tool that combines list building, segmentation, and engagement in one package. The key is relevance, brevity, and follow-through. If you design a quiz that genuinely helps your audience understand themselves better, they will reward you with their attention and their email. Luna: And it is fun. Which is not something you can say about most email sign-up forms. Lucas: Exactly. I am curious to see how this evolves — maybe video quizzes, or ai generated personalized results. But for now, a simple Typeform quiz is one of the highest-leverage things a newsletter writer can do.