Unlike multiple choice questions, essay questions can be answered more than once. This gives your members the option to return to a question and add to their original response even after they've already "completed" the quiz.
This can be especially useful for journal-style questions, ongoing reflections, requests, or any situation where you want to give members a way to continue a conversation with you over time.
How a Member Adds to a Previous Answer
Once a member has submitted an answer to an essay question, they can return to that question and submit an additional response.
Open the lesson where the essay question was originally answered, and scroll to the question.
Underneath the first answer, your member will see a box allowing them to add additional insights or replies. They can type in their new response, then click "Add to Answer".
After they add the answer, you'll see a new response logged in your Quiz Answer section on your dashboard. Your member will see a new box where they can come back later to add to their answers.
The new response is added to the existing answer history, so both the original response and the follow-up responses can be viewed together.
Tip: This also creates an opportunity for admins to respond directly to a member's answer and continue a private back-and-forth conversation.
Ways You Can Use This
Allowing members to add to previous essay answers can be useful in a variety of situations, including:
1. Weekly journal or reflection prompts
Give members a question to reflect on each week. They can return to the same question and add a new response rather than creating a new quiz or lesson every week.
For example:
"What are you working on this week?"
"What progress have you made since your last reflection?"
"What would you like to focus on next?"
2. Requests from members
Use an essay question as a simple way for members to submit a request within your membership. They can add additional information to their original request if needed, and you can respond privately.
For example:
Requesting feedback on a project
Submitting a topic they'd like you to cover (i.e recipes for a food membership, songs for a music learning membership)
Requesting help with a particular challenge
Asking for a resource or recommendation
Submitting a coaching or lesson question
3. Ongoing member check-ins
Create a question that members can return to throughout a program or membership.
For example, you could ask members to share their current goal and then have them return later to update their progress.
Hot tip: Make it super easy for your members to navigate back to the Quiz Lesson by grabbing the lesson link from the gear menu in your lesson editor and including it strategically throughout each of your modules and/or your emails where applicable!
4. Continuing a conversation
Essay questions can also act as a private conversation between you and a member. You can respond to their answer, and the member can add another response when they want to continue the conversation.
This can be particularly helpful when you want to provide personalized support without moving the conversation to email or another platform.
5. Keep It Going
Because members can add new responses to an essay question, you don't necessarily need to create a new quiz or question every time you want to collect an update (though you certainly can if this is your preferred method).
One essay question can become an ongoing space for reflection, requests, updates, or conversation.
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Questions? Reach out to us at hello@membervault.co, within our Facebook group, The MV Collaborative, or via chat support within your admin account (not sure how to log in? look up your account here).