People always ask me “Is this quiz question good?” There isn’t really a simple answer to that question because “good” relates to both the question and how it connects to the logic of the quiz. But there is one metric that tells me if a question is effective. And that’s response rate. If people are willing to read and answer a question it means that’s a good question.
In order to give a strong answer to the “Is this question good?” question, I pulled data from our quiz dataset of the top quizzes. These are the 14 types of questions that have an average response rate of 97.5%, meaning that only 2.5% of people will not answer the question.
Convictions
Asking people about their convictions is a sure-fire way to get an answer. Convictions are deeply held beliefs that matter a lot to people. If you ask them about their convictions in relation to the topic of your quiz, people will answer the question, and become more intrigued about how their conviction impacts the result they’ll get on your quiz.
Reflective
People think about themselves roughly 95% of the time according to Dale Carnegie, one of the original people to study attention and influence. If you ask people about themselves, that’s great because they’re already thinking about themselves. Questions that ask people to reflect on their own life are highly interesting to people.
Traits
This type of question is not only interesting, but also helpful. Often times when you ask people about their traits, they hadn’t really though to deeply about it before. When you ask, it prompts them to consider what their real strengths are, and how that relates back to themselves. Of course that gets people’s attention.
Values
Values are culturally universal. They cut across all culture and background. Everyone has them, and they are one of those areas where there’s not a ton of variation but the interpretation of values can be different depending on what topic you are talking about. So overlay values on the topic of your quiz and you’ll have a universally appealing question that everyone feels strongly about and knows their own answer to.
Lifestyle
Our habits lead to happiness, or unhappiness, says researcher Gretchen Rubin. It’s true, and most people think about what they would like to be doing with their time all the time. “I’d rather be fishing” isn’t a bumper sticker for no reason. If you can ask a question about lifestyle and connect it back to your quiz, it will get high response rates.
Preference
Ask people what they like and dislike, then get out of the way. In real life we all know how engaging asking questions about preferences can be, and it tells you a ton about the person. This is absolutely one of the best quiz question types for retaining attention.
Preference Visual Choices
In some cases preferences are best expressed through visual choices. You can change your answers to be images. This works best like in the example below where it’s about interior design and it’s just better to show than to tell when it comes to design preferences.
Introspective
Asking people to look inwards is a strong way to capture attention. This has to be done carefully and you need to know what kind of capacity your customers have. If you go too far then they’ll leave because your question feels too hard. If you make it too light then they’ll write you off as not serious. But if you get it just right, then people love to think about their inner world and answer questions about it, especially if its in service of learning something about themselves, as is the case with quizzes.
Perception
Many people’s goals in life are motivated by how they want others to see them. Other people’s views of us are powerful in informing our behavior. If you ask people how they want to be seen, you know it’s top of mind and important to your customer, so they will want to answer it.
Goals
Stating your goals, committing to them, and having accountability increase your odds of completing those goals. A quiz counts as social accountability because of how seriously people take quiz results. Asking people about their goals is helpful to them, and people know this, so they’ll answer the question.
Identity
“Know thyself” dates back to ancient Greece and Confucius. There is an extreme amount of value in knowing yourself. If we consider SMART goals in the context of self knowledge, you can’t just tell people to “Look inward” you need to give them something small to start with. This gets people feeling confident and excited about self knowledge. That’s why questions about Identity are so powerful within quizzes.
Skills
Research shows we have to practice a lot to become an expert at anything. People know this, and we know we have to make choices about what skills to work on. But it’s so hard to choose. And that’s why questions about skills are super appealing to people, it helps them sort through their own head to decide.
Behavioral
“How would you act?” is a fun and powerful question. It allows people to “try on” a scenario without having to actually do it. It sparks introspection and gets people thinking about who they are, which is highly compelling.
Experience
Ask people about their past and watch the light up. Everyone likes to reminisce with pride. So if you ask people to look back on their highlights they’ll be happy to answer your question and excited to find out what it means about them.
Q&A For Best Quiz Question Types
Common questions that come up when people are thinking about formulating the questions for their quizzes.
Is one of these question types the best?
Sometimes the best quizzes use one of these questions types for all of their questions. Sometimes people mix it up. It honestly depends on what your customers respond well to. Some audiences want just preference questions, others want just skills questions, some want a mix. You’ll have to poll your audience and build research groups to really get the feedback you need to answer this question.
Can I ask for Demographic Data in my Quiz?
Demographic data questions drain people. You have to build up rapport with your quiz takers so they are incentivized to answer the demographic questions. You have to keep that in mind if you ask for demographic data within your quiz, people have to be excited enough about their quiz results that are coming up in order to answer demographic questions they would rather not answer, all things considered.
How Many Questions Should I ask?
2025 data shows that standard logic quizzes (personality, assessment, and trivia) should have 13 questions and branching logic quizzes (where questions asked are conditional on previous answers) should have 7 questions.