Can you make money for surveys? You've heard it's
possible... and you want to try it... but you're not sure if you should even
bother... or you've tried and you've gotten frustrated and given up. Paid
online surveys are everywhere and everyone seems to claim that you can make
money for surveys and quit your day job, or that they are scams that will take
your money and make you nothing.
I have tried dozens of paid online survey sites
in the search for honest programs that truly pay out. I have wasted lots of
money and even more time filling out surveys for which I was never paid.
This article is designed to help you go straight
to the ones that are tried and tested and steer clear of those that are just
scams.
How to
Spot a Legitimate Paid Online Survey Site from a Scam
Signs of a Scam:
1. They ask you to pay to join their survey panel
and claim that membership will give you access to enough surveys to earn back
your payment quickly.
2. You cannot find information about the company
such as contact information, minimum payout, amount earned per survey taken,
etc.
3. They advertise all over their main site for
other paid survey programs. Often this is a ring of sites that essentially
provide the same surveys and you'll end up in an endless cycle of taking the
same surveys and never reaching minimum payout.
4. Generally poor quality of the website. Often
scam sites have pages that are flashy and full of ads. If the company is
legitimate, they will more likely put money and expertise into creating an
attractive website for themselves.
5. Outrageous claims of obscene amounts of money
you will make quickly. If it seems too good to be true, it is. Period. Don't
fall for anything that seems like a dream come true. I had to learn the hard
way that it's true - nothing good comes without hard work and smart
maneuvering.
Signs of
a Potential Legitimate Paid Online Survey Program:
1. Membership is free.
2. You can locate a main company website that
contains information about the company as well as contact information.
3. You do not find any connection to another
company, particularly another paid online survey site. The company seems to be
a legitimate source of market panel research through surveys.
4. You get a feeling from the website that the
company is respectable and legitimate. The company's main website seems clean
and organized.
5. You are provided with a general sense of how
much you'll be making per survey and what the minimum payout is. You are not
led to believe that you will be making an enormous income and that you can
start thinking about quitting your day job.
What
Works for Me
1. Create
two new email addresses: one to use for the paid online survey programs
you join, and one to give on any of the surveys you take. In other words, if a
survey opportunity asks you to give another company your email address, give
you second one - that becomes your junk box.
2. Create
a bookmark folder in your web browser containing the home pages of the
survey programs you join. This helps you keep organized the legitimate sites
you have joined and helps you stay on top of payment times. Are you due for a
payout? Make sure to check in so you don't let money sit around!
3. Join
several paid online survey programs. If you want to earn a significant
supplementary income, you need to have money coming in from several programs.
If the sites I recommend on this site seem that they could work for you, join
all of them. I make lots of money taking surveys online but it's because I use
every single one of these sites and I earn my income from the sum of my
earnings. I couldn't earn enough just by using any one of the programs I use.
4. Take
all personal surveys. After you join, some programs have personal
surveys to fill out that do not reward you any points or cash. Take them! These
help the company find you surveys that fit you. You can only get paid if you
qualify for a survey. If you're a 24 year old woman and you get sent a survey
designed for an 87 year old man, you're not going to qualify and so you're not
going to get paid.
5.
Participate in as many legitimate offers as possible. When you find
programs that prove their worth, stick with it even if it doesn't seem to pay
very much money. The key to earning online is having multiple streams of
income. While two specific companies are my favorites because they have
high-paying surveys, I still participate in my lower-earning ones. I use two
companies that pay me the least overall, but the actions they require are too
simple to pass up - 3 cents per email read! It takes literally one second and
the payments add up over time to add nicely to my monthly income.
6. Be
completely honest when taking surveys. Don't say you're something you're
not just to try to qualify for surveys. Don't fill in answers randomly to try
to finish more quickly. I ran an experiment to see if it mattered. The program
where I filled in a column of answers just to get the survey done quickly asked
me to join very few panels. Eventually, I almost never saw correspondence from
them. The program where I carefully filled out the answers according to my
honest opinion sent me more surveys with higher payouts and even asked me to
join focus groups that pay significantly more.
7. Put in
a bit of time every single day. These surveys expire. Sometimes surveys
close within the same day they submit for survey panel members. You don't want
to miss survey opportunities, so check your inbox frequently.
8.
Recommend the programs to others! As you start to earn money, refer the
survey sites you find most rewarding to friends and family. Promote it on your
social networking site (like myspace or facebook). Get the word out about it.
Many paid online survey programs pay you for referring others. Look on each
site for an affiliate program. See if you can earn money just for promoting a
good thing!
9. Be
patient! This should be rule #1! Your zillion dollars won't pour in
within the first fifteen minutes of joining your first paid survey panel. Join
as many legitimate sites as you can, take as many surveys as possible honestly.
Refer people to the programs that work for you. The money comes in slowly but
surely, and you generally start to get paid more and more for surveys as the
companies start to see that you're a valuable panel member.
The
Top 6 Paid Online Survey Programs I Recommend and Why
#1
Program
Requirements:
18 yrs of age, US/Canada resident
Payment
per Survey: 10-200 Opinion Points
System of
Payment: 10 Opinion Points = $1.00 cash
Minimum
Payout: 50 Points ($5)
Method of
Payment: Check sent within 6-8 weeks
My Experience:
This is my favorite program because while they do not send tons of surveys,
they do send a steady stream and the surveys are relatively high-paying and
easy to complete. You can request a check after earning only $5 and the check
is sent more quickly than they even say.
#2 + #3
Programs
These two programs are affiliates and run the
same group of surveys. They pay per email read, however, so joining both wills
double your pay.
Requirements:
18 yrs of age, US/Canada resident
Payment
per Survey: 3 cents per email read, 50 cents - $4.00 per free survey, 25
cents - $5 per 100% free offer
Minimum
Payout: $30
Method of
Payment: Check processed following month of request and sent within 2
weeks
My
Experience: It took a long time to reach minimum payout with each of
these programs, but your earnings increase over time. You start to receive more
offers and you learn how to spot high-paying 100% free offers (they'll present
you with offers where the payout is high but you have to become a member or
give your credit card information - don't bother with these). I like these
programs because I like earning a supplement to my income just by reading an
email and clicking "Confirm Reading This Email." I was concerned at
first because it is obvious that they are affiliated with each other - their
websites look similar, their offers are similar, and their programs are
identical. It turns out that this is a way to double your income by doing the
same simple actions - reading emails and participating in offers that pay you
cash that adds up. The other thing I love about them is that they send you
email confirmations that you completed an offer and how much your account has
been credited. The 100% free offers really add up. I try to do a few of the
$1-$3 100% free offers per day.
#4
Program
Requirements:
18 yrs of age, US/Canada resident
Payment
per Survey: 75-200 Lightspeed Points
System of
Payment: 575 Lightspeed Points = $5.00 cash
Minimum
Payout: 575 Points ($5)
Method of
Payment: Paypal electronic transfer immediately upon request
My
Experience: I would say this is my second favorite program only because
they are one of the few to pay electronically. That means upon reaching minimum
payout (575 points), you get $5 dumped into your PayPal account immediately. As
with most survey programs, your earnings will increase over time as they start
to send you higher-paying surveys.
#5
Program
Requirements:
18 years of age OR 14 to 17 years of age with parental or legal guardian
permission
Payment
per Survey: 5-80 MarketPoints
System of
Payment: 1 MarketPoint = 5 cents
Minimum
Payout: 1000 Points ($50)
Method of
Payment: Check sent within 4-6 weeks within the United States, 6-8 weeks outside of the U.S.
My
Experience: The minimum payout is high, so I almost gave up on this
program when it took me so long to climb to $50. I am so glad I stuck with it.
I receive higher-paying surveys almost exclusively now and the surveys are
usually much shorter than other programs making them well worth my time. I also
realized that they give you 5 MarketPoints (25 cents) even if you do not
qualify for a survey. That is extremely rare in the paid online survey world,
but of course much appreciated.
#6
Program
Requirements:
18 years of age
Payment
per Survey: 1 cent - $5.00 per click
Minimum
Payout: $10.00
Method of
Payment: Check sent on the 10th of the month for payment of the previous
month. You can also use your earnings to get visitors to your own website.
My
Experience: Over time, the clicks they presented to me were worth more
than 1 cent! Although, even when they were (and sometimes still are) worth only
1 cent, it is mindless and quick and those clicks add up. I alternate how I use
the money I earn. One month, I get a cash payout and have my earnings sent to
me. Every other month, I use the earnings from my clicks to send visitors to my
website. I don't know why, but it's fun to check the site every day for new
clicks!
Be
Patient and Persistent!
Getting to the point where you really make money
for surveys, earning a significant addition to your income takes time! Don't
forget... each survey only takes a few minutes and requires little to no skill
- you can't expect to be paid enormous sums of money! If you are persistent
with each panel, you will be rewarded with higher-paying and more frequent surveys!
Good luck and happy earning!
For more information on the top paid online
survey companies that have consistently worked for me, please visit my website
listed below. It is full of free information that I update frequently. Thanks
for reading!
Paid Online Market Research Surveys -
Registration and Participation
This Article discusses some of the more important
considerations in registering for survey panels and participating in paid
online market research surveys. By keeping these considerations in mind, it
will help insure a quality experience for both the survey participants and the
clients of the survey company, who are the paying end users of the survey data.
At the outset, panel sign-ups should be aware
that many online panel companies "filter" participant information.
The filtering process can begin contemporaneous with survey panel registration
and continue throughout the survey taking process. Each panel vendor has its
own approach - - some applying more filters than others. But, whatever the
approach might be, if a panel participant provides accurate information in
response to the sign-up questions, is truly interested in participating in
online consumer surveys, and takes the time to responsibly answer the questions
on the survey questionnaires, it can be a winning situation for all.
Participants might want to consider the factors
mentioned below when joining a survey panel. Each can impact the reliability of
the survey data and may also impact the registrants continuing participation in
the panel.
1. Did you provide accurate contact information
on the registration form (such as name, street address, city, state and zip
code)?
2. As part of the registration process, did you
accurately identify your demographics, all areas of personal interest, and
other items of profile information that were requested?
3. When invited to participate in paid online
surveys, do you make an effort to respond to and participate in most of the
surveys or do you pick only those survey with the largest incentives?
4. When completing online consumer surveys, do
you take your time and answer all of the questions to the best of your
abilities?
Start
off by choosing a high quality survey panel
A survey panel that bombards its panelists with
survey invitations is often not the best choice. This could mean that the
vendor lacks an adequate number of panelists to complete client projects, has
low participation rates, or both. Although panelists possessing sought after
demographics - - such as high income, a business executive, or a difficult to
reach job function - - might receive a disproportionately higher number of
survey invites, the number of invites should still be limited in number and
spaced out over reasonable time frames.
Provide
accurate address information when registering for a survey panel
It is important to provide accurate sign-up
information when registering for a survey panel. Many, if not most, survey
panels verify sign-up information with the same or similar records database
used by mailing companies to verify postal addresses. Also, the vendor may use
GeoIP lookups to verify that the location of the participant is consistent with
the self-provided registration location. While some vendors will apply the
verifications contemporaneous with registration and immediately flag incorrect
or contradictory registration information, others may wait until after the
registration is complete and then remove the panelist if the information cannot
be verified. Some vendors may allow the registrant to correct information at the
time of registration, while others may appear to accept the registration (or
provide a limited number of correction attempts) and then delete the registrant
as a means of ensuring reliable data. Whichever approach is used, no survey
panel wants a registrant who deliberately provides incorrect postal
information.
Recommendation: Sign-up with the same information
which the U.S. Postal Service uses for your mailing address. Do not introduce
new abbreviations or skip parts of the address. If you provide inaccurate
information, you might still make it through registration process (if the
vendor is not using verification software), but a mailed award cannot arrive at
a wrong address - - and the vendor cannot be responsible for correcting your
information. You could also be asked at the end of a survey questionnaire to
verify your registration information for awards purposes, and contradictory
information immediately raises a red flag.
Provide
accurate demographic and profile information
Some registrants might think it is a good idea to
provide demographic information that will result in the largest awards or
greatest number of survey invitations - - even if the information is
inaccurate. Keep in mind that clients are paying for these studies and may take
action based on the results. Engaging in a dishonest registration and providing
inaccurate survey information, compounded by acceptance of an award under false
pretenses, is an obvious concern. A survey research company that provides both
survey panels and survey hosting will often compare your registration
information with your responses on a survey to identify false data. Vendors may
ask some or all of the same profiling questions each time you complete a survey
to identify inconsistencies. In addition, if you complete a survey with a false
profile and do not have the knowledge or experience to respond intelligently to
the survey questions, this could create further concerns.
Recommendation: When registering for a survey
panel, take your time and be sure to identify all areas of interest and respond
to all profiling questions. The more information the survey company has about
you, the more likely it is that they can target you to participate in surveys.
But do not overstate your profiles, and do not provide inaccurate information.
Do not
pick and choose your survey participation based on awards
Assuming the vendor is not blanketing you with
survey invitations, try to respond to as many surveys as possible that interest
you. Most survey panels will alter the amount of the award based on the length
of the survey and the profile of the respondent (for example, high-level
business executives receive larger incentives than most general consumer
profiles), but this should not be your most important consideration in choosing
which surveys to participate in (unless the award amounts are not reasonable in
relation to the amount of time spent on taking a survey). Hopefully, your have
a general interest in participating in surveys with incentives being just one
more reason to respond.
Take
your time when completing surveys
Most online survey companies will carefully
review and "clean" the survey data. This is an excellent way to
identify respondents who do not have knowledge in the profiled area, are
straight-lining their responses (answering all of the questions with the same
response option), providing gibberish in response to open-ended comments, or
contradicting their responses in different parts of the questionnaire. In
addition, some survey research companies employ timers on their platforms to
identify respondents who are rushing through questionnaires. For example, if it
takes a staff member of the survey company two minutes to take a 50-question
survey by clicking response options without reading the questions or response
options, a respondent who answers 50 questions anywhere close to this time is
rushing through the survey or not reading it at all.
Recommendation: Take your time
and answer all of the survey questions as accurately as possible. Otherwise,
there is a good chance that you will be identified and removed from the panel.
