For those of you who aren't familiar with the industry, let me quickly explain how paid surveys work.
When companies want to find out what consumers think about their product and services so they can improve or develop new ones, they turn to market research companies.
Market research companies have online (as well as offline) panels where they pay a group of panelists to share their thoughts and experiences about these products and services.
You probably are familiar with focus groups. Well, online surveys are kind of like that, except you answer surveys via online forms and questionnaires.
What kind of questions do surveys ask?
Well, anything that can help the intended company fine-tune a product or develop a new, better version.
When it comes to business, data is important.
After all, if you don't know what your customers want, how can you make things that they will buy?
Survey questions cover all kind of topics, but the end goal is usually the same to understand the consumers and make products that want to buy.
They can be as detailed or as simple as a yes or no question.
To give you an idea, let's assume we are conducting a survey about PayPal, the company/website that allows you to pay and get paid quickly and easily online.
Some of the questions you can expect could be:
- How easy is it to send money from your PayPal account? Do you prefer to login on your phone or on your computer? How many times a week/month do you use PayPal to pay or get paid? What new features would you like to see?
Now, of course this is an over simplified version, but you get the idea. The idea is to gather information and data from actual consumers and use that data to improve or create better products.
Why do they pay people to answer surveys?
Because nobody likes to do things for free!
Because people need an incentive to take the time from their busy lives to answer questions that will further benefit and enrich big companies and corporations.
In order to get people to take the time to answer these questions and fill out the surveys, MR companies have to incentive the efforts. So, they pay you!
Where does the money come from?
From businesses and companies that pay them to conduct these surveys.
In order to get the data that the companies and manufactures so desperately want and need, they have to pay MR companies to conduct surveys son their behalf.
Why won't companies do it themselves?
The same reason why you pay somebody to fix your car when you could buy the tools and parts, learn the trade, then fix it yourself!
Because it's expensive and time consuming.
Because it's much easier and cheaper to pay an expert to do it correctly.
How do I get paid?
Now, not all survey sites operate or pay the same way.
Generally there are three ways you get paid:
Cash paid via PayPal or by Check Points that you can redeem for gift cards and prizes. Sweepstakes Entries that give you chances to win cash and prizes.
These days though, almost all survey sites have or are moving towards cash and gift card payments on top of giving sweepstakes entries.
How much money can I make taking surveys?
If you are serious about making some real cash through filling out online survey forms, at some point, the question of how much you could possibly make by doing so would have to enter your mind.
In all honesty, there is no straight answer!
There are many factors that determine how much an individual survey pays.
- The length of the survey. The product/topic the survey is about And things of that nature.
So subject to all these variable dynamics, you could find surveys that pay a paltry $0.25 to a generous $200 (this is the maximum I have heard of).
Before you get too excited, it is important to point out that the overwhelming majority of surveys should take no more than 15 minutes to fill out, and the average payout probably falls around $1 to $5.
As a rule of thumb, you can imagine that the payout is usually in direct proportion to the amount of time it takes to complete a survey.
I would say, an average panelist, who is a member of a few survey sites, can make make an extra few hundred dollars a year.
Granted, there will always be people who are going to make more than that because they sign up for more sites (thus increasing their chances of qualifying for more surveys) and spend more time doing surveys.
Why do I have to qualify to take a survey?
This is one of the most confusing parts of taking surveys for money for a lot of people.
Unfortunately, a lot of people think because they didn't qualify for a survey, that the company conducting it is somehow scamming them.
That's not true at all!
Remember how we said companies want to gather feedback from their target consumers?
If you don't use PayPal at all, what good does asking you how many times a month do you send money with PayPal do for PayPal? Why would they waste money ask questions from people who don't even use their product?
So that's why all surveys have what are known as pre screening questions. These pre screening questions help research companies gather data only from people who belong to the demographic that the survey is intended for.
That's why almost every survey panel asks you to complete your profile. Some even give you points for doing it. They use your profile information to match you with surveys that you are more likely to qualify for. But sometimes there may be a small criteria that you don't meet, that's where those pre screening questions come into play.
Paid survey scams: what's up with that?
As I mentioned earlier, unfortunately, there are survey scams out there.
You see, because making money with paid surveys sounds so easy and awesome, scammers know that people are much likelier to fall for scams related to it.
They promise you the moon.
They tell you how you can make a full time income in your pajamas on your couch taking fun surveys!
Who wouldn't want that?
Unfortunately, no body can make a living taking surveys. Ok, there may be a few people here and there that can make enough with surveys that they can say it's their job, but for the majority it's just a way to earn some extra cash.
So, how can you stay away from survey scams?
The best and easiest way to avoid scams is to remember that all legitimate survey sites backed by real market research companies, are free to join.
No real survey panel will charge you a registration fee. After all, they are supposed to pay you for your opinion, not you paying them to join their site!
Keep this in mind, though, a joining fee may not be enough indication that the site is up to no good. But with zero joining fees, there is no chance you can lose money unwittingly.
Another useful piece of advice is to do your research online before deciding on any survey websites. You can check out online forums and reviews, find out how they rate by the BBB, and whatever else that will help you gain as much insight as practical before joining any site.
Bottom Line
Hopefully, this post and the list of survey sites is going to help you make a little extra cash with surveys while avoiding scams.
Be sure to bookmark this post. If I see enough interest, I'll turn this page into a sort of directory where we continuously update and add new surveys to the list.
Remember, you will not get rich taking surveys, but you can make a little side money in your free time while helping to develop and improve products and services you use in your everyday life.
Want More Money?
Join MySurvey, a fun paid survey site that has paid its members over $32 Million so far. Yes $32,000,000!
And it is 100% free to join and make money.
