As I mentioned, market research is a big part of today's product development. After all, who better to tell you what they want from your product than your customers, right!?…
But, getting those customers to give up their time to talk to you is not that easy, especially in 21st century when fast paced lives are a norm.
That, is how and why paid surveys come to be. Market research firms realized that in order to got people to give their opinion, they needed to reward them with something.
In the early days of market research. there were no rewards, in fact the whole thing was done in a totally different way. Little by little firms started offering compensation in order to lure people in to participate in their studies. The rewards were free products and samples. But as online surveys become the industry standard for getting faster results from a wider variety of consumers, rewards offered started to change as well.
Gradually panelists demanded better and more exciting rewards for their time. That coupled with the fact that sending physical goods to survey takers would actually cost these companies (in shipping and handling fees) more than the reward itself, led to the kind of rewards offered we see today, gift cards and cash through check and latter on through online payment systems like PayPal.
That is the Knots and bolts of this whole cash for surveys phenomenon.
How to get started?
Getting paid for answering surveys is a fairly simple process. First up, you need to register with a survey site and fill-in the member profile the site puts up.
Having done that, you can expect to hear from the site via email anytime a survey fitting your profile comes up.
How long each survey takes?
This survey invitation will typically include details about the length of the survey in question, the compensation you stand to earn in return for the time you spend (provided you do qualify), and a link directing you to the actual survey.
On average, you’ll be required to spend around 15-20 minutes on a survey.
How much can you make?
The amount of money you can expect for each qualified and completed survey is highly dependent on the actual panel, the length and subject of the survey itself.
But from my own experience, I would say normally you can expect anywhere from $0.50 to $5. But this number can go as high as $50 or even more, though the higher paying ones tend to be very very rare.
How do you get paid?
As for compensation methods, you’ll be usually paid in any of the below three ways:
- Points – These can be exchanged for prizes Sweepstakes – You’ll be rewarded with entries into sweepstakes held by the site Cash – You’ll be paid cash ranging from $1 to even $50 for every survey
