Eileen Fisher is digging up sales this weekend by rolling out an Earth Day-inspired style quiz via Instagram, enabling consumers to answer several questions to receive a discount toward a future purchase and a chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree.

The apparel brand is sponsoring posts on Instagram and encouraging its current followers to click the link in its bio to take the mobile-optimized quiz, which asks users to answer five questions to discover what type of environmentally-conscious clothing best suits their style. Participants will receive a limited-time promotional code accompanying their results, allowing them to receive $25 off a purchase made at an Eileen Fisher store or online.

“Tying marketing campaigns to a national holiday, such as Earth Day, adds relevancy and timeliness to the campaign, which may spur greater participation,” said David Naumann, director of marketing at Boston Retail Partners. “Consumers are bombarded with information overload and anything that helps a marketing campaign cut through the clutter is a good thing.

“The Earth Day holiday is a perfect fit for Eileen Fisher’s social consciousness and mission to embrace simplicity, sustainability and great design.”

Impromptu incentives
Eileen Fisher is sponsoring advertisements appearing within Instagram users’ feeds to spread awareness of the mobile-optimized quiz. Additionally, consumers who are already following the retailer’s official account will also be able to access the quiz by clicking the link in its bio.

Individuals will then be brought to a microsite featuring the Earth Day style quiz. Participants must answer five questions, all of which are presented in a streamlined format.

The quiz prompts mobile users to identify their home style, favorite type of restaurant cuisine and go-to clothing fabric, among other questions.

Once consumers have selected their choices, they must input their email address and year of birth. The quiz will then bring them to their results page, showcasing their Earth Day style personality – such as Enlightened Luxe or Living Local – and inviting them to shop complementary looks.

Eileen Fisher is also including a short paragraph in the results, detailing why the chosen style best reflects the participant’s beliefs about apparel manufacturing and environmentally-conscious practices.

Additionally, the brand suggests which clothing pieces and accessories each consumer should browse, and encourages the quiz-taker to use the Earth Day-inspired promotional code to take $25 off when shopping at eileenfisher.com or one of its retail stores.

This could fuel a plethora of consumers to take advantage of the surprise discount and make an impulse purchase from the retailer. While the mobile-optimized quiz will likely propel Eileen Fisher to the forefront of shoppers’ minds, the impromptu incentive is an optimal way of cinching a sale from a customer undecided about completing the checkout process.

Mobile quiz frenzy
Mobile quizzes have been gaining considerable traction among retailers seeking to jazz up their mobile strategies with interactive elements. Eileen Fisher’s quiz follows a streamlined user interface, allowing participants to simply tap on their response to each question and complete the test within seconds.

This type of snackable content is exactly what mobile users are looking for when seeking a distraction.

The inclusion of a strong incentive also makes Eileen Fisher’s quiz stand out. Consumers have been proven to react positively upon receiving a thank-you discount or freebie after taking the time to interact with branded content, thereby placing the marketer in a better position to drive more sales.

Several other major retail chains have been experimenting with mobile-optimized quizzes as well.

Starbucks recently fueled digital sales by inviting Twitter users to take a quiz designed to discover the coffee flavor best suited to their tastes and click through to a mobile-optimized shopping site to purchase a bag (see story).

Meanwhile, Sephora leveraged sponsored content on Facebook to promote its Color Correcting Crash Course, which let consumers discover their best-suited colors for combating undereye circles before inviting them to shop these items on the retailer’s mobile site (see story).

“We have definitely been seeing more retailers using quizzes and other games to enhance customer engagement in the past year,” Mr. Naumann said. “According to a Boston Retail Partners survey, 87 percent of retailers plan to use gamification to engage the customer within five years.

“Consumers like to be entertained and retailers are giving them what they want.”