Lead-gen playbook
Quiz funnels for local businesses
A quiz funnel is a short series of easy questions, one per screen, that ends with a useful answer for the visitor and a qualified lead for you. For a local business it works best as a smarter quote form: what's the job, where, how soon, roughly what budget. Keep it short, honest and answered fast.
Published · 6 min read · 5 sources · By the AOS Sites team
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The quiz funnel playbook
6 steps, in order. The detail behind each one is below.
- List the four things you need to quoteUsually: what the job is, where it is, how soon they need it, and a rough size or budget. Anything else can wait for the call.
- Turn each into one easy questionGive tap-able answers where you can ("Today", "This week", "Just planning") instead of open boxes, and allow a photo where it saves a site visit.
- Put easy questions first and contact details lastStart with the job, not the email address. By the time you ask for a name and number, they've already invested in the answer.
- Show progress and say what happens next"Step 2 of 5" at the top, and before the last button: who will contact them, how, and how soon.
- End with something usefulA price range, the next available time, or a straight answer about whether you do that job. Not just "Thanks, we'll be in touch."
- Reply within minutes, urgent jobs firstRead the urgency answer first and call those leads back right away. Everyone gets a reply the same day.
What is a quiz funnel, and when does it beat a contact form?
Strip away the marketing name and a quiz funnel is what usability researchers call a wizard: a step-by-step process where people enter information in order, and later steps can depend on earlier answers. Nielsen Norman Group notes that wizards suit tasks people do only occasionally, which is exactly how often someone hires a roofer or a moving company.[1]
A plain contact form asks "Name, email, message" and leaves the customer to guess what you need. Half the replies say "how much for a quote?" and you spend the first call asking basic questions. A short quiz asks those questions up front, in plain words, one at a time.
| Use a plain form when | Use a quiz funnel when |
|---|---|
| The job is simple and similar every time | Use a quiz funnel when: Price depends on size, type or urgency |
| Most people call anyway | Use a quiz funnel when: Many visitors aren't sure what they need |
| You only need a name and number | Use a quiz funnel when: You need three or four facts to give a useful answer |
Which questions should a local business ask?
Ask only what changes your answer. For most service businesses that's four things: what the job is, where it is, how soon, and how big. Here's how that looks in a few trades:
| Trade | Questions |
|---|---|
| Roofing | Questions: Repair or replacement? Is it leaking now? Roughly how old is the roof? Town or ZIP? A photo, if you have one. |
| House cleaning | Questions: Home size (bedrooms and bathrooms)? One-time, move-out or regular? Any pets? Preferred day? |
| Landscaping | Questions: What do you want done? Rough yard size? One-time or ongoing? When would you like to start? |
| Moving | Questions: Moving from and to (towns)? Home size? Moving date? Any stairs or heavy items like a piano? |
Use the customer's words, not trade jargon. "Is water coming in right now?" is clearer than "Active intrusion?". Offer answers to tap rather than boxes to type in; on a phone, tapping is far easier than typing.
Budget is optional and delicate. A range with a "Not sure yet" option is fine; a required budget box feels like a test. Never ask for anything sensitive, like card numbers or Social Security numbers, in a quiz.
How many questions is too many?
Fewer than you think. Nielsen Norman Group's form research recommends removing every field you can derive another way, collect later, or simply skip; their own example cut a form from six fields to two. For a local quiz, four to six questions plus contact details is a good ceiling.[2]
Show people where they are. The same researchers warn that because a wizard shows one step at a time, people can lose context or not realize how long it will be. A simple "Step 2 of 5" and a back button fix most of that.[1]
- One question per screen on phones; two related ones per screen is fine on a desktop.
- Contact details last: name, phone, email, and how they'd like to be reached.
- Labels above each box, not placeholder text inside it.
- Let them skip what they don't know.
Sources: [2]
What should the last screen say?
Something useful. If you can, give a price range for what they described, the next available appointment, or a straight answer about whether you take that job. If you can't, say exactly what happens next: "Dana will call you within 30 minutes during business hours, or first thing tomorrow." Then make sure it's true.
Don't trick people. The FTC's 2022 report on dark patterns documents deceptive designs that manipulate people's choices online. A quiz that promises an instant price and then demands a phone number before showing anything is the kind of bait people resent.[3]
Be clear about contact. Say how you'll get in touch, and ask separately before you text anyone: wireless carriers' guidelines expect a person's consent before you text them, and express written consent for marketing texts.[4]
What happens after someone finishes the quiz?
Speed decides. In a Harvard Business Review audit of 2,241 US companies, firms that contacted a web lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as those that waited even an hour longer, and more than 60 times as likely as those that waited 24 hours or more.[5]
- Read the urgency answer first. "Leaking now" gets a call within minutes.
- Reply to everyone the same day, even if it's to say when you'll call.
- Use their answers in the first sentence: "You mentioned a two-bedroom move from Marion on the 14th…"
- If they don't answer, try once more by phone and once by email, then let it rest.
The speed-to-lead playbook covers how to set this up when you're on a job all day.
How do you build one without a developer?
Write it on paper first: the four or five questions, the answer choices, and the last screen. Read it aloud to someone who isn't in your trade. If they hesitate on a question, rewrite it.
On AOS Sites, forms can do this on paid plans: split a form into steps, show a question only if an earlier answer matches, take photos and PDFs, and save answers if someone leaves halfway. Every answer lands on the lead in your Leads inbox, with where they found you. See question types, steps and photo uploads and how to make a custom form.
Then test it on your phone like a customer would, start to finish, before you put it on your service pages.