Introduction 

Instagram stories have become one of the most popular ways for brands and influencers to connect with their audience. The interactive and ephemeral nature of stories makes them more engaging than regular Instagram feeds. 

Adding interactive elements like polls, questions, quizzes and emojis to your Instagram stories is a great way to boost engagement and potentially increase conversions. When your followers are actively interacting with your content, they are more likely to remember your brand and make a purchase.

This article will discuss some tips on how to effectively use Instagram story stickers and polls to get more engagement and website traffic that converts into sales.

Use Questions Stickers to Engage Your Audience

The questions sticker is an underutilized Instagram story feature that can help increase engagement with your followers. To use it, simply add the questions sticker to your story and ask something related to your post. For example, if you post a new clothing item, you can ask “Which color do you prefer?” or “Would you wear this?” 

Questions stickers prompt your audience to respond directly to your story with text or photo answers. It opens up a two-way conversation with real comments that are interesting for both you and your followers. Replying directly to some of the responses and continuing the conversation leads to more meaningful engagement.

You can also ask broader lifestyle or opinion-based questions like “What are your weekend plans?” or “What’s your favorite app right now?” to spark discussion with your audience. The responses give you valuable insights into your followers’ interests and preferences.

Run Polls to Gain Audience Insights 

Instagram polls are an extremely easy way to survey your audience within stories. You can add the poll sticker and ask a question with two possible answers. Some poll ideas include:

– Would you buy this product for $X? (Price testing)

– Do you prefer Option A or Option B? 

– Should I post more videos or photos?

– When is the best time to post new content – mornings or evenings?

Instagram polls work best when you offer two clear choices. Pay attention to the poll results to better understand your audience’s preferences. This helps you improve your content strategy to align with what your followers want to see.

Over time, you can better segment your audience groups based on poll responses. Create more targeted content and offers for the different segments for better results.

Use Emoji Sliders to Spice Up Boring Questions

Emoji sliders are a more visually engaging version of polls, using a horizontal slider with emojis on both ends. For example, you can ask “How much are you enjoying this post?” with a slider ranging from a sad to a happy face. 

Followers can slide the emoji to match their sentiment instead of just tapping an option. It’s more interactive and also provides a spectrum of responses compared to a simple yes/no poll.

Some other emoji slider ideas include:

– Rate this product feature from bad to awesome

– How exciting is our upcoming sale to you? (bored emoji to excited emoji)

– Was this tutorial beginner-friendly to advanced? (confused face to expert face)

The emoji responses will clearly depict the overall sentiment towards your posts. You can even call out specific followers by name if they mark a more extreme sentiment. This personal touch helps form deeper connections.

Share User-Generated Content with Sticker Shoutouts 

User-generated content from your followers is a great way to increase engagement and exposures. Ask followers to share photos/videos using your products or brand with a specific hashtag. You can then easily reshare some of this organic branded content to your story as “shoutouts” to the creators.  

Start by adding the stickers that say “Shoutout to [username]” or “Thanks [username]!” to properly credit each piece of user-generated content. The getting public appreciation on your profile is a huge incentive for followers to create branded content for your brand.

Some ideas for UGC content calls-to-action include:

– Share your best holiday look featuring our new makeup palette 

– Post cute photos posing with our jewelry line and tag #[brandname]style

– Record your smoothie recipe you made with our protein powder  

– Show us your coziest look with our loungewear line

Leveraging authentic user content directly from your engaged followers helps attract more audience interested in seeing real experiences with your brand.

Offer Exclusive Discounts with Story Links

One effective conversion tactic with Instagram stories is to offer special discounts or promotional links that followers can swipe up to access. These create a sense of exclusivity and urgency that inspires followers to head to your site to take advantage of the deal.

Some examples of effective story swipe up promotions include:

– 24 hour flash sale – 50% off all purchases over $50

– First 100 customers get a free gift with purchase 

– Sneak peek of new arrivals – Shop the collection early

You want to clearly showcase the value of clicking and taking action on your promotional story. Countdown timers, limited product inventory or one-time discounts all help drive conversions from Instagram stories.

Just make sure the exclusive offer is compelling enough that followers get FOMO (fear of missing out) and quickly head to your site. Having a smooth user experience from story swipe to mobile-optimized landing page is also essential to prevent losing those highly engaged visitors.  

Following Up with Quiz Stickers

Quizzes and trivia questions related to your brand can be both educational and entertaining. The quiz sticker in Instagram stories lets you ask multiple-choice questions with different answer options that followers can tap to select their response. 

If you sell kitchen appliances, you can share fun food trivia like “What temperature should cooked chicken reach?” Or quiz followers on key specifications of your products.

Consider adding an “answer reveal” story slide and recognize followers who chose correctly. This helps reinforce learning in an engaging way. You can even reshare user quiz responses as stories to have followers explain the right answer.

Instagram quizzes spark natural curiosity in your audience. Use them to showcase your industry and product expertise while having some fun with your audience at the same time.

Review Best Practices

Here’s a quick recap of some best practices for using Instagram story stickers/polls to boost engagement and conversions:

– Ask genuine questions that spark two-way discussions

– Run regular polls to survey audience preferences 

– Personalize content based on sticker responses 

– Reshare authentic user-generated content

– Offer exclusive discounts or deals with swipe up call-to-actions

– Educate and engage audiences with interactive quiz stickers

Track your results over time and double down on what works best. With some strategic testing, Instagram stories give you an invaluable channel to increase website traffic, subscriber sign-ups, and sales.

Conclusion

Instagram stories open up creative ways to engage your target audience beyond static photo posts. Leveraging interactive stickers and polls helps you start meaningful conversations, gather helpful audience insights and incentivize high-value actions.

Building loyalty and community with your followers on stories pays off with increased brand awareness and conversions over the long-term. So be sure to take full advantage of these fun features!

Start brainstorming some sticker and poll ideas that would resonate best with your followers. Stay tuned for more Instagram marketing tips and growth strategies!