7 Creative Ways To Use Instagram Polls & Quizzes

Instagram has a constantly-evolving set of tools that allow small businesses to stand out and create engaging content straight from the app. One of the most popular and essential Instagram features that businesses should utilize are Instagram story polls and quizzes.

1. Use Polls to Dictate an Upcoming Product Release

Stuck in a creative rut? Why not ask your followers for help! 91% of mobile internet access is used for social media posts. Getting social media users involved in the production process of your products will not only make them feel special but will also ensure that you'll have their support once you're ready for launch.

It can be as simple as asking them which color or patterns they prefer to help you make a decision.

Swimsuit brand Blackbough Swim (@blackboughswim) regularly posts polls asking audience their opinion about new styles. Results help the brand make important design decisions and dictate which products to put on sale.

2. “This or That”?

“This or That” instagram poll is an easy and quick way to end an internal debate with yourself regarding product decisions or a way to find out your customer's preferences . Similar to the example above, a “This or That” poll will help you make a decision whether it be about which product to push or which to discontinue. These polls can also help both you and your audience determine the better option between two products or ideas.

Gathering ideas from your customers will also help you produce the type of content that's both interesting and relatable. Ask strategic poll questions that can give you useful information about your audience such as their likes, dislikes, and what they want to see from your brand.

3. Turn It into a Game

Instagram polls and quizzes make it possible to play a game with your followers without the need for complicated software. Test your follower's brand or product knowledge via a fun quiz, and reward your top scorers with some freebies. Encourage your followers to tag their friends to join the game or quiz, boosting your reach and engagement.

Internet cartoonist and character, Ketnipz (@ketnipz), uses polls as a game with its followers to build a design together. The final result is dictated by the votes.

Creating a fun game with the help of poll and quiz stickers will make your followers look forward to your stories and help build brand affinity.

On the flipside, a fun quiz or a poll is a way to educate your potential customers about your brand or a cause that matters to you. Using clickable stickers can quickly transform what might usually be seen as “boring” into something exciting and interesting. Because your followers will be compelled to interact with your story post, the chances of them skipping will be less.

4. Gauge Interest and Gather Honest Reviews

Getting your customers to write product reviews is a challenging task, most brands turn to incentives just to get a review. Most of the time, customers are doing it just for the incentive, so the review might not even be credible.

Instagram story polls are a convenient way to find out how your customers honestly feel about your products.

Having just two options and the simplicity of just tapping their opinion make polls a powerful marketing tool to gather audience insight without having to reward them with anything. The sense of anonymity (only you can view their poll responses versus reviews that are public) makes it less intimidating to be honest about their answers. The insights you gain from polls and quizzes can help you improve your service and provide more tailored recommendations, ensuring you better meet your customers' needs.

5. Let Your Audience Be the Judge

Instagram users love contests especially when it involves freebies and prizes. If you're running a contest and can't decide on a winner, it would be a good idea to get your followers involved! Use the poll sticker to let them vote for your shortlisted entries and give them a deadline for voting.

Letting your audience be the judge will make the contest more exciting and will avoid accusations of biased judgment (it happens all the time).

6. Create Hype

Stickers are excellent tools to build hype around events or launches. Use the stickers to keep your audience on their toes and drop hints about something big coming up.

An ordinary flat lay or regular video topped up with a sticker can easily make it more interesting.

Blackbough Swim is a pro at hyping up new releases with strategic polls used as teasers accompanied by videos and vibrant photos.

7. Have Fun with It!

The appeal of poll stickers is that they're fun not just for your followers, but for you as well! So, when you have a poll idea and you create a story, don't stick to typical marketing strategy or online advertising templates. Instead, tell a story to know your target audience, and don't be afraid to explore a more creative side.

You don't have to overthink it, a simple yes or no question can give you valuable insight about your audience that you can use for future content ideas.

What Are Instagram Story Polls and Quizzes?

Instagram first introduced polls and quizzes in 2017, allowing followers to vote and answer questions with a tap, while creators can see the results in real time. Similar interactive features, such as polls and quizzes, are also available on Facebook, making quiz funnels effective across multiple social media platforms.

The feature enables users to interact with their followers beyond just responding to comments and Direct Messages.

From private users asking for help from friends to choose an outfit, to businesses gauging their customers' excitement about an upcoming product launch you've probably seen all kinds of ways the polls and quizzes could be useful.

Popular stationery and sticker club, Pipsticks (@ilovepipsticks), uses the poll sticker to learn more about its audience as well as hype up certain products.

Why Poll and Quiz Stickers Should Be Your Favorite Feature?

Unlike your ordinary Instagram sticker, polls and quiz stickers aren't just there for aesthetic purposes. These stickers can get you results.

1. Increases follower interaction - Without stickers, the only way to start conversations with your customers is through comments and direct messages, which could get tedious as your follower count increases.

Polls and quizzes are a simple way to let your followers know that you value their voice and opinion. Today, customers seek a deeper connection with brands. By allowing your followers to connect with you through interactive stickers, they are more likely to look forward to your posts and engage with your brand.

2. Boost Engagement - There's only so much a pretty picture can do. Adding an extra interactive element to your stories can grab your follower's attention. The more they engage with your content, the more likely they will see your posts on their feed.

3. Get to know your audience - Polls and quizzes are a great way to learn more about your audience. Plus, the stickers make it less intimidating and hassle-free for your customers to answer questions versus the traditional surveys.

What's best is you can see who exactly answered what for a more granular insight into your followers. You can also use the stickers as a tool to receive valuable, real-time customer feedback.

How to Add the Sticker Poll or Quiz to Your Instagram Story?

Creating a poll or quiz on Instagram is as easy as adding a sticker or decorative element you can do it all in a few taps.

1. On your Instagram home screen, swipe left to create a story.

2. Tap on the sticker icon on the upper right corner of your screen (next to the text icon)

3. Select the poll or quiz sticker

4. Type your questions and fill in the choices (the quiz sticker requires you to have only one correct answer). Make sure the design and questions of your poll or quiz matches your brand's objectives and visual aesthetic for consistency and engagement.

5. Publish your story as usual.

6. Wait for the answer to come in.

Pro-tip: While all your photo or video editing can be done straight through Instagram, you can spruce up your editing and Story design by using third-party apps that allow you to post directly to Instagram. Use vintage overlays to achieve a dreamy effect that will surely make your Instagram Story pop.

Measuring Success: Tracking the Impact of Your Polls & Quizzes

Let's talk Instagram analytics. You've probably posted polls and quizzes on your stories, but are you actually measuring their success? Understanding how well your content resonates with your target audience and how effectively you're driving audience engagement is absolutely key to your social media strategy. And the reality is, with so many social media users scrolling through their feeds at lightning speed, you need to know which poll ideas, quiz stickers, and Instagram stories are truly capturing your audience's attention and leading to those meaningful interactions that matter.

Here's the good news: Instagram makes it pretty straightforward to track the performance of your polls and quizzes through its built-in analytics tool, Instagram Insights. This is where you can monitor essential metrics like response rates (how many users actually tap to answer your poll or quiz question), engagement rates (likes, shares, and comments on your stories), and even audience growth (new followers gained after a particularly engaging story). And for businesses looking for deeper insights? Third-party analytics platforms can provide even more detailed data on how your quiz stickers and poll stickers are really performing.

When you're evaluating the impact of your Instagram polls and quizzes, you'll want to focus on these key performance indicators (KPIs):

• Response Rates: This tracks how many people are actually interacting with your poll sticker or quiz sticker compared to the total number of viewers. High response rates mean your poll idea or quiz topic is relevant and interesting to your specific audience, and that's exactly what you want.

• Engagement Rates: Look at the number of likes, comments, and shares your Instagram stories receive. Engaging polls and quizzes often spark conversations and encourage users to interact with your brand in meaningful ways.

• Audience Growth: Notice if you're gaining new followers after posting a fun quiz or an entertaining poll. This can indicate that your content is appealing to potential customers and expanding your reach beyond your current audience.

• Quiz Completion Rates: For quizzes specifically, see how many users start and actually finish the quiz. A high completion rate suggests your quiz question and answer options are well-matched to your audience's interests and attention span.

By regularly reviewing these metrics, you can determine which types of polls, quizzes, and stories are most effective at engaging your audience. If you notice low response rates? Try experimenting with different quiz topics, more creative poll ideas, or customizing your answer options to better match your audience's preferences. On the other hand, if a particular quiz sticker or poll sticker drives high engagement, consider building more content around that theme to capitalize on your momentum and keep that engagement rolling.

The insights you gather from tracking your Instagram polls and quizzes can also inform your broader marketing strategy, and this is where things get really interesting! Use the data to create more targeted social media posts, develop content that appeals to your audience's interests, and even refine your lead generation funnels. By leveraging instant feedback from your Instagram stories, you can connect with your audience on a deeper level, promote your brand more effectively, and achieve better results from your social media efforts.

Don't forget: the best way to improve is to keep experimenting Test new poll ideas, quiz questions, and customization options to see what works best for your brand. With the right approach, Instagram polls and quizzes can become a powerful tool for audience engagement, product knowledge, and business growth that actually moves the needle for your business.

Get Started

Instagram's interactive stickers provide brands with more opportunities to engage with their followers and have fun with them. Before question sticker polls were introduced, the only way you could capture your audience's attention was through visuals.

Now, you can encourage them to engage with you a little bit longer it could increase your ad performance by a whopping 40% Before you have too much fun, don't forget to align your posts and messaging with your overall goals.

Most importantly, don't be afraid to experiment with new creatives and see how they perform. And if you're still unsure? Use the stickers to ask the audience what they want.