Paid Online Surveys: Do They Really Pay?

In my last article, I focused a lot on affiliate marketing and my successes and failures concerning this money making program. Prior to affiliate marketing, I focused on making money through paid online surveys. Let's first get to the main question at hand: Do Paid Surveys Really Pay? The short answer to this is yes. Paid online surveys do actually pay and in most cases, this is not a scam or a waste of time. Prior to really answering this question thoroughly, let me explain what "Paid Surveys" really mean.

While looking for "Online Money Making Opportunities" online, I am sure we have all come across the paid survey ads. When I was initially looking to make a little bit of extra cash to supplement my current income, it seemed to be the most ideal solution. At first, I tried to be "frugal" about it and hunt out paid survey sites on my own. I found about 5 or six sites that promoted offering to pay for taking surveys. I signed up for them, got on their mailing list, and nothing! I waited about 2 weeks for "a survey" and did not get anything. Very annoying! I continued to research the topic (in forums) and started to realize that 5 sites are not enough to get started. That prompted me to join a paid survey site. This is when I learned what "Paid Surveys" is all about!

In order to make paid surveys work, you need to step out of the box a little bit. There is MORE to paid surveys than just "Paid Surveys". Remember, the whole point to getting paid for surveys is for companies to collect data, build profiles and become more successful marketers. Filling out paid surveys online is just one way to do this. Phone interviews are a way to collect data. Online focus groups exist where you join a real-time discussion online. Also, you can read other people's email and get paid for it. While this seems strange, you can get paid a few cents per email, and this can add up in a short hour! There are about a half-dozen more ways as well to earn money through paid survey opportunities.

Getting back to the original question again: Yes, you can get paid for you opinion! Most surveys I have gotten range between $5 and $25 each (for about 15 minutes to an hour of your time). Getting paid to read emails is about one cent to ten cents per email read (and I have made up to about $15 in an hour doing this). The other thing to be aware of is the payment options. A lot of paid survey sites offer compensation in either money and/or prizes. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on why you are doing these programs. Some of the prize sites are pretty nice and you can get more value in prizes than cash.

The main point to be made here is that you will be paid for you time. If you fill out a survey or sit in on a focus group, your time will be compensated. You commitment goes no further than the survey or interview or the group you attend. For people like stay-at-home parents or even college students, this is a great way to bring in a little bit of extra cash at your own leisure. A lot of it is quite a brain-dead exercise that you can do while watching some bad reality TV in the background. My biggest issue with paid surveys is its lack of residual income as well as its income potential.

I see ads that advertise that you can make thousands of dollars per month doing surveys. Their math seems to be pretty convincing as well: If you do two paid surveys a day at $20 each, for 30 days, that is $1200 per month! Wow! How easy! Not quite reality, though. If you sign up with enough paid survey sites, you can expect to get (on average) about 5-10 surveys per week, and most of these pay in the $5-$10 range. If you also join some focus groups and phone interviews, you can add an additional $100 per week. So in reality, making $500 is very doable, but that is near the ceiling for cash potential. It is still not bad! That is an extra $6000 per year (and a fairly respectable car payment!). If you were looking for a higher paying online opportunity, I would then recommend affiliate marketing. Online marketing provides the potential for a lot of residual money (money that is earned while you are not actually driving it) and its earning potential can be in the thousands to tens of thousands per month. Affiliate marketing does require a lot more commitment, initial set-up and a bit of training (all of which is achievable to anyone, as long as they are focused on their goals!). 

Read my article First Impressions of Affiliate Marketing to learn more about this.

In summary, I would like to give a few suggestions to those who are planning on trying to make money through paid survey programs:

1) Sign up for as many paid surveys as you can! - Most paid survey sites provide you with only one or two survey opportunities per month. If you are signed up on 50 sites, you now can about 2 surveys per day.

2) Sign up for a Paid Survey Link Site - So where do you find these 50 or so sites? That is what these paid survey link sites are all about. Most of them cost about $35 to join, but it is a one time fee (for any reputable site). Trying to find 50 sites on your own would take 10s of hours (and remember, time is money that you can be making filling out surveys!).

3) Funnel all of your paid survey email into one, new, dedicated email account. - I found that some paid survey opportunities can appear as spam and become lost in a regular email account.

4) Stay Organized! - As you start receiving paid online surveys, start a spreadsheet of whom you are working for and what you expect to be paid. When trying to manage over 50 sites, you can very easily forget which companies owe you money or prizes.

5) Remember, you are still an employee of the paid survey sites! - Be sure to fill out the surveys accurately and consistently. Surveys that have box number three filled out throughout the entire questionnaire provide them with no feedback and you will more than likely stop receiving survey requests. Also, if you start ignoring a lot of requests, they will stop sending them.

Paid surveys are an honest and solid way to make a little extra money on the side. Like any money making opportunity, there is a little bit of initial overhead time, but with paid surveys, once you are set up, you are set up for awhile. You CAN make money working from home and paid surveys are a fairly safe, easy and risk-free way of doing so.

 Getting Started in Paid Surveys

When a company is looking for direction on the tastes and preferences of consumers they often contract with a secondary firm that seeks to gauge buying habits and opinions regarding products and services useful to the surveyed consumer. This is where paid surveys enter into the equation.

Paid surveys are simply tools used by a company to advance their business directives. Because your opinion is valued, paid surveys can provide you with a multitude of rewards not limited to cash. Participants may be allowed to provide their survey online in exchange for products, discounts or to have their name submitted to a variety of paid surveys cash drawings.

A quick online search will show that there are a number of paid surveys websites; however paid surveys are intended to be of mutual benefit to both those who have commissioned the survey and those who participate. Sadly there are many sites that take advantage of the situation by seeking to have visitors pay a subscriber fee for information on paid surveys that can be obtained elsewhere at no cost.

While results may vary, some individuals have found that paid surveys have been instrumental in helping to either meet family obligations or provide enough added funds to purchase an item that's been a part of a wish list for a while.

If you've wanted to participate in paid surveys and thought it was too good to be true you may be right in some circumstances, but a reputable paid survey website can help steer you toward offers that provide the best opportunity for success.

If you have sought to participate in paid surveys in the past, but were never offered the opportunity to fill out one of the many paid surveys available, the answer might be found in the profile you submitted. Firms that are in charge of selecting individuals for paid surveys must be sure that they fit a certain profile for the required survey. By keeping an up-to-date profile the overall numbers of paid surveys that may be available to you are likely to increase.

Companies that provide paid surveys have a level of expectation if they are going to pay you for completing paid surveys. If you are not a good match they cannot pay you for your information. This is why keeping your profile and information up to date is imperative in the world of paid surveys.

With paid surveys there can never be promises or guarantees of financial return, however many have benefited from paid surveys programs. Much of the success of paid surveys has to do with how closely you follow the instructions provided. There is little tolerance for incomplete paid surveys. If this happens the respondent may be removed from consideration for future paid surveys.

As with any online program that pays you for providing a service, there will always be the potential for scams with paid surveys, however many of those providers are well noted and can be avoided using a reputable paid surveys portal website.

Hundreds of paid surveys are available. If you are able to connect with the right survey company you may find more paid surveys than you can complete. The primary suggestion that is given to those who are just beginning is to not give up. Paid surveys will likely be available, but this is not a get rich quick scheme and there will be work in making paid surveys something that you see more and more of.

A brief overview...

1) Paid surveys assist companies in their marketing plans.

2) Paid surveys are available in fund payments, goods, discounts and cash drawings.

3) Fee-based access to paid surveys should never be needed. Many reputable sites provide this information at no cost.

4) Paid surveys can provide an income, but this cannot be guaranteed.

5) Participating in paid surveys often requires patience and perseverance.

6) Paid surveys are often obtained by keeping profile information updated.

7) Paid surveys should be filled out completely and not rushed through.

8) The concept of paid surveys can be subject to scam artists, be sure to check with reputable sources for surveys to avoid.

9) Hundreds of paid surveys are available.

Paid Online Surveys - What to Know Before You Start

What do Paid Surveys Really Ask?

You might think that once paid surveys ask you about whether you like a product, or not, you should answer in the positive. No, that is not the case! Paid surveys are designed with the sole purpose to provide reliable consumer feedback to the manufacturing companies and the service providers. If you think that a certain product is crappy, you should indicate that, giving your supporting comments if the survey design allows for that. If you are happy with a purchase you made, then you should say so, giving adequate rating to the company and product of your choice. Surveys ask you about your true experiences, because you as a consumer are the key to company success. If you like a brand, you should credit it with your positive opinion; likewise, if you've had terrible shopping experience or didn't get the services you paid for, then your survey responses should reflect that.

But Don't I Get Cash Anyway with Paid Surveys?

Getting cash with paid surveys does not mean that you will be rewarded for submitting blank surveys, incomplete surveys, or surveys with unfounded and misrepresenting responses. If you complete a satisfaction survey, its questions will be designed to ask for your detailed opinion - you might need to order a list of product qualities; to show your product satisfaction on a scale; to supply written comments in a text box, etc. If you complete a screener survey, it is most likely that you'll end up in a lottery drawing or get some sort of prize. Screener surveys are get-to-know-you surveys that companies send to newly registered survey takers. They are broadly scoped and are usually used for the purposes of the survey companies itself, rather than for third-party companies.

Some survey companies have reliability scores for their survey respondents. On the basis of this score, companies select the survey takers to be contacted when a survey that is really important and pays top dollars comes up. When a company relies on a particular survey for carrying on its strategic plans, it needs only the most reliable, most qualifying, and most objective survey respondents. If you are consistent in your survey responses, and build a reputation for a quick, reliable and objective survey taker, you may end up in the top list of your survey company when it sends the $100-surveys. On the other hand, subscribers who do not respond to survey invitations on a regular basis are dropped off the contact list.

How quick should I respond to complete Paid Surveys?

Once you get proficient in taking paid surveys, you learn how to minimize the time you spend completing surveys. Seasoned surveys takers have training in providing answers quickly and accurately, thus ensuring they have completed and returned the survey before it closes.

Why is it important to submit the survey before it closes? The survey method is based on collecting a representative sample of responses, which suffice to formulate significant and meaningful conclusions about the goals of the survey. As it is never possible to interview 100% of consumers, survey designers set a number of respondents who need to answer the surveys in order to make its results relevant to the whole consumer segment. Most surveys, especially the highest-pay ones, have a preset limit of survey responses. Once this limit is reached, the survey questions might still be online, but the survey is no longer available to complete, and you will get no credit for it. Therefore, survey pros know that they should opt to complete the surveys that are worth the most as quickly as possible. As many other survey takers get the same invitation that you do, it's no wonder that the most attractive surveys get completed within the first hour of their upload. To eliminate the possibility of disappointment, it pays to make sure you complete the surveys that pay good cash with highest priority.