How Tortuga Backpacks Increased Leads & Conversion Rate with Their Quiz
Learn how this travel backpack brand uses a personalized product quiz to help customers find the right bag and boost email opt-ins.
About Tortuga Backpacks
Tortuga Backpacks was founded in 2009 by childhood friends Fred and Jeremy after their firsthand experiences with inadequate travel gear. Their mission: design the perfect travel backpack that would eliminate the need to check a bag.
Today, Tortuga is a leading direct-to-consumer travel brand offering premium backpacks designed specifically for carry-on travel. Beyond their products, Tortuga supports youth travel through scholarships and partnerships, believing that travel experiences can be transformative.
Company Info
The Challenge: Navigating Product Selection
With over 20 similar-looking products in their catalog, Tortuga customers found it challenging to select the right backpack for their needs. Different bags are designed for different travel styles—from weekend trips to extended adventures, from budget airlines that charge for carry-ons to those that allow larger personal items.
The Solution: A Personalized Product Quiz
Tortuga introduced a product recommendation quiz designed to guide shoppers to the most suitable backpack based on their unique travel needs. The quiz accomplishes three key objectives: helping customers find the right product, capturing emails to build relationships, and gathering zero-party data for personalized marketing.
Understanding Travel Needs
The quiz asks targeted questions about each customer's travel habits, preferences, and requirements. This helps match them with the perfect Tortuga backpack while collecting valuable data about their needs.
"The quiz is extremely helpful to help them find what products best fit their travel style, their needs. And regulations, if they're flying international or more of like a budget carrier where they charge you for a carry on versus a personal item."
Travel Style Matching
Questions about trip duration, airline preferences, and packing habits guide recommendations.
Optional Email Capture
Email opt-in is optional, yet achieves a 20% capture rate—higher than any other lead magnet.
Zero-Party Data Collection
Gather insights on customer travel needs, demographics, and preferences for personalized marketing.
Complementary Recommendations
Beyond the main bag, suggest packing cubes, tech organizers, and other accessories.
Why Route Visitors to the Quiz?
Reduces Choice Paralysis
Instead of browsing through 20+ products, shoppers receive 1-4 tailored recommendations that best match their travel style.
Captures Valuable Customer Data
Tortuga collects zero-party data on travel preferences, which informs business decisions and enables personalization.
Builds Email Relationships
Even if customers don't buy immediately, Tortuga captures their email and can continue marketing through owned channels.
Higher Conversion Rates
Quiz takers convert at a 3% purchase rate—significantly above the normal site conversion rate.
The Results
The introduction of the quiz led to significant improvements across engagement, lead generation, and conversion metrics.
A vast majority of users who started the quiz completed it, indicating exceptionally high engagement.
Even though email is optional, one in five users provided their email—surpassing all other lead generation methods.
Users who completed the quiz converted at a rate higher than the overall site average.
Quiz data reveals unmet customer needs, informing product roadmap and new SKU development.
"We have about a 20% opt-in rate, which is better than any other lead magnet or any other offer that we've been testing even though it's not required to add an email. And about 91 percent of store visitors who start the quiz complete it."
Leveraging Zero-Party Data for Product Research
Beyond immediate sales, the quiz provides valuable insights into customer preferences and unmet needs. Tortuga uses this data for more than just marketing—it informs their entire business strategy.
Email Segmentation
Create personalized nurture campaigns based on travel styles and preferences collected from the quiz.
CRM Integration
Sync quiz insights to marketing automation platforms for ongoing personalized communication.
Product Development
Identify common complaints or requests from thousands of quiz responses to guide new product creation.
Marketing Optimization
Use quiz data to inform ad targeting, content strategy, and promotional campaigns.
Key Takeaways
- Product quizzes can achieve exceptionally high completion rates (91%) when designed around genuine customer needs
- Optional email capture can outperform forced opt-ins—Tortuga's 20% opt-in beats all their other lead magnets
- Quiz data goes beyond marketing—use it for product development, segmentation, and business intelligence
- For brands with complex product catalogs, quizzes reduce choice paralysis and increase conversion rates
- Zero-party data enables personalized marketing that feels helpful rather than intrusive
Ready to help customers find their perfect product?
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