A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the successful quizzes that Lessiter Media is doing—an initiative they started well before the pandemic hit. For one, they received a few thousand submissions with almost 2,000 new email addresses; more than 120 new subscribers emerged from the list of quiz takers.
This week I came across a quiz from a publisher in the UK that ties into the pandemic. The Investment Week Virtual Quiz 2020 was designed to help “heroic frontline NHS [National Health Service] staff tackling the coronavirus crisis.” Today at 4 pm their time they held the live quiz “hosted by a special industry guest.” Participants were sent a link and also could dial in to a video/audio call. They would even show a leaderboard in real-time so the winner can be revealed instantly.
To take part they asked people to choose a donation fee with all proceeds going to CASCAID’s NHS fundraising campaign (minimum donation was £15).
Coincidentally, the Washington Post ran an article this week titled, The Pubs Are Closed, But Brits Won’t Give Up Their Quizzes, so the tradition is even stronger there. But still, given the success of quizzes here—I’ve read that Jeopardy is once again soaring in the ratings—this might be a good time to try one, especially if you can work in the goodwill.
Goodwill was one theme in the SIPA UK discussion last week. “What we’ve done this week is a special white paper on COVID-19,” said Victoria Mellor, who with Robin Crumby built Melcrum up from the ground floor and now runs Kademy. “The view I’m talking on subscriptions is that you need to sell by helping people. Cold calling in this environment is difficult; being helpful is the way to go. We have a coaching offering in our membership suite of online training modules… What we’re doing is for prospects in our pipeline, offering free coaching sessions [and it is] being well received. People need short-term help… Be helpful and thoughtful about how you’re positioning yourselves.”
If there can be some type of quiz or gamification involved, all the better. People are looking for any kind of escape, and quizzes, jigsaw puzzles and games can supply that.
In their 100 event trends for 2020—before the pandemic—the Event MB Studio team found that 10% of the apps they analyzed listed gamification features as part of the app. “…let people win rewards for acing a quiz on the keynote [speaker]. Leaderboards and awards have proven particularly effective, as attendees compete against one another for more recognition as well.”
Other publishers I know doing quizzes include:
Financial Times. They are still doing an FT Weekend Quiz that seems to be gated to subscribers (must be popular). They are centered around popular culture with this subhead: “Our ‘Round on the Links’ quiz tests your ability to draw connections. Thinking caps on!” Last year’s quiz focused on “The Week in News.”
Education Week. Although it looks like they put a temporary stop to their quizzes after Feb. 24. They would regularly achieve nearly 90% quiz completions and around 60% of people completing the quiz filling out the registration form for lead generation.
Kiplinger. The UK-owned publisher features an entire gallery of quizzes on varying topics. Although most of them seem evergreen—The Couples and Money Quiz; The Personal Finance Quiz—a click on the Recession Quiz leads to 10 Facts You Must Know About Recessions, updated on March 27.
PR News. On Access Intelligence’s PR News grammar quiz, a Scrabble-like image of “G R A M M A R” emerges with the headline, “How Good Is Your Grammar?” “Do you correct others on their grammar? Or do you get corrected? See how you stack up…”
Lastly, I always hark back to a quiz that OPIS did. The questions were tough, so that when you got one wrong, the answer led you to an upcoming webinar where the correct answers would be discussed. The email with this quiz drew the most sign-ups for that webinar.
