Taking Surveys for Money

Has this idea ever come across your mind of making money by participating in online paid surveys? This is one of the easiest ways for anyone to start making money online, which wouldn’t even cost anything only a computer, internet access, and some time.

Though the idea of getting paid for completing surveys sounds unreal, you probably have heard about the supposedly real nature of the offer. Honestly, is anyone making money by answering survey questions from the comfort of their own home? If so, what’s involved? The goal of this article is to respond to such questions and give more details as well.

We’ll delve into various topics, including:

• First of all, we need reliable and up-to-date tips about partaking in online surveys for cash.
• The drivers of online survey companies opting for surveys
• Determining justification for getting money via the manner of participation in the survey.
• Going deeper and looking if there is any chance of becoming self-sufficient by taking the paid surveys.
• The variety of ways in which you can earn through paid online surveys can be really exciting.
• The mechanisms by which responses are paid should be known.
• Strategies to improve your financial capability
• One last poll, covering some of the most reputable survey sites.
• Online surveys involve to an extent the identification of the risks.
• Ideas on how to choose trustworthy sites where you can earn money by answering paid surveys and avoiding scammers.

What do you need to know about taking online surveys for cash?

The internet has opened vistas ranging from easy to hard, some of which were previously non-existent. A new opportunity for people of the world now to do online surveys is also open.

The initial stages appear to be surveyed as one of the easiest earning methods in order to get money. Indeed, what might seem like a daunting task, e.g. logging in to a site and filling out surveys online for cash, cannot be that hard.

But besides that, this art of providing your opinions in exchange of money is not as simple as it seems. You have to have an understanding that you’re dealing with a reputable company and that the work is not compromised by your security, reputation, or integrity. Besides, you wish to be sure that payment is timely that the amount you will be receiving is proportional to the amount of work you’ll do, and that you receive it without any delay.

Now imagine that it’s more than what you usually do in any job – even the one that you’re currently employed with. If a job requires your time, energy, and skills, it has to provide your life good – it should be valuable if not it is not worth it.

They are carried out either by direct instructions from companies or on their own initiative. From small startups to global corporations, any company could implement an online survey.

Why do online survey companies launch surveys?

The most important question is why companies value the voices of people who may or may not be their target audience. Usually, it is in this market feedback that we find the answer.

For all-sized companies, conducting market research by creating focus groups is a good approach to obtain information on the people’s attitudes, thoughts, and choice of product. The customers who don’t pay but window shop or try the shoes on and go home without buying them are also being interviewed, in order to find out what motivates them to start buying. Certainly, the most important of all is enterprises’ customers’ reaction which in turn tells the companies about the public mood.

There is no need to wait for feedback from existing clients, it could be anyone. Sometimes the feedback of non-customers is just useful the same as that of loyal and paying customers. The most efficient way is launching a survey online for companies to reach people they do not even have any relationship with.

The data and the ideas acquired by using online surveys can be used for different purposes. These tools can fuel product and service formulation, navigate sales, as well as, build a brand’s credibility. Besides that, they can do the signing of new product lines as well as impact strategic orientations, and almost all features of the company

This is highly important to companies irrespective of their growth stage: formative startups or established organisations. Additionally, online surveys generally cost us less compared to conducting major market research campaigns.

Taking surveys for money – Is it legit?

Of all the numerous questions that can be asked about taking opinion polls, those related to their legitimacy are perhaps the most common and most argued issue. On the other hand, there are people openly declaring that online surveys are a hoax and that they are an ideal opportunity to make a lot of money.

On the other hand, an equal number of people hotly debate that online surveys are nothing more than scams or subtle efforts to frustrate people individually for their time, money, and information. So, which is it: are true or false?

Online surveys can be both of them (e.g. good or bad). In fact, there are more suspicious surveys than the real ones. Even though those seem to be unharmful surveys free (pseudo-paid) survey sites could serve as a cover for data collection for scammers’ activities.

Moreover, there are loads of legit platforms for online surveys and some of them pay as well as other types of jobs. If you, by any stroke of luck, see any such kinds of online surveys, your income source can become be a good one.

This highlights the necessity of being wary during the search for online survey websites to register with. In the second part of our articles, we shall emphasize more on how not to be cheated by fraudulent internet surveys.

Can you make a living doing paid surveys?

Since we have considered the validity of online surveys, we can now review the financial side of it. To some extent, this question is then echoed in, whether answering online surveys can become a source of income.

While the answer is a simple “no,” the chances of answering survey questions and earning a considerable income are almost non-existent. Even if you manage to systematically and efficiently locate genuine online surveys and acquire plenty of survey opportunities, the returns are still not enough to cover your rent, not to mention the necessities of your family.

Compensation varies

Why is it a challenge for people to live on a full-time basis from mere surveys online? Commonly, the survey rewards online usually fetch ranges from less than a pound to about five pounds for completion. Only a handful of will pay the highest sum of 10 pounds and, on the other hand, sometimes even more expensive 20 pounds, especially for focus groups and expert groups. Nonetheless, they offer such high pay rates rarely. However, for most of the surveys, the expected time to complete is 15 minutes with the payment of one to two pounds.

Besides, not all surveys give you monetary compensation for the time you have spent or the efforts you have involved. Other surveys provide products as in the case of giving summer wear products to respondents of the summer survey. A lot of questionnaires expect you to answer questions concerning particular products you have viewed in the past and the same products are given to you in turn as compensation. However, some of this stuff is beneficial for your household, personal uses, and cleaning. To tell the truth, it is not possible to earn money by selling these.

On top of this, some surveys pay participants to get a chance in a lottery. This choice, on its part, is less appealing, for it is not guaranteed to get you anything until the draw is done. These are furthered by the fact that the prizes given out are products from consumers or gift cards instead of cash. That is why it is not very likely that such surveys will have a major role to play in the regular process of earning money.

Participation is still worth it!

Does it mean that experts give up on the industry due to the fact that people can guess their predictions? Not at all. Getting a meaningful income from a few surveys each week may not be feasible. However, the load of online surveys can bring you a lot of money if you combine them with your regular work. For example, you can do a few surveys in a week, and it will help you earn an extra income of several hundred pounds per month.

The bottom line is: Though it’s highly unlikely that you will become wealthy by giving all your time and effort to micro jobs like online surveys, persistence, and regularity will, however, contribute to a better income.

Perhaps, you have an excellent job that takes up the majority of your bills and daily living expenses. This would be a great way to earn additional income by taking part-time in survey panels. On top of that, it helps to monetize the time that is spent watching fun but time-consuming videos instead of browsing social media.

Ways to earn with paid online surveys

Before going in deep, we discuss how the online surveys work and what is the expected output from them. While the survey formats may differ, they all have one thing in common – structural components and content types are common. Moreover, you’ll notice that most surveys follow a similar approach:

• Register for an account: Consulting survey questions is possible by either creating an account on the provider’s site or signing up for an account. This is the second part where you would be required to verify that you’re a real human being and not just a bot. They will also add your details to their database which they can then use for marketing purposes.
• Provide personal details: Like this, you will need to give your name and e-mail address as personal information. Besides, certain organizations may claim an actual address, especially if they have physical goods to ship for review or to mail you a payment check or a physical gift card as a reward.
• Answer questions: The business may be asked targeted questions, for example, about their products, services, or any other aspect of their niche. With these questions, they will be able to get closer to the customers. The questions can be as simple as your cleaning product choice to as complex as your opinion on such products.
• Access survey questions: You will be registered and the questions will appear right after that. Usually, the answers are multiple-choice questions and this makes the answering process easier, but sometimes the survey may require even more detailed information or open-ended responses.
• Receive payment: Usually, one can complete a survey within two or three minutes. When all the questionnaires have been filled in and the form is submitted, you wait for your payment to be released. The payments could be made via PayPal or an online transfer service, otherwise, they may be transferred directly to your bank account.

How do surveys pay out?

At the beginning of this article, you can find the fact that companies are not all same in terms of paying their members for their time and effort during surveys. Depending on the company commissioning the survey, you may be rewarded in any of the following ways:

• Cash: The main payout method planned is cash, with a minimum payout requirement. Money transfer is often carried out via PayPal and checks, but sometimes also via Skrill and Bitcoin.
• Points: Several companies have a “point” approach, where each completed survey gives you some points. After hitting a specific amount of points, you are free to exchange these for cash, gift cards, or merchandise.
• Gift cards: Some projects offer gift cards rather than cash as an incentive. The gift cards can be in physical form, be sent through post, or be e-gift cards, delivered via email. You’ll be able to use the code on our website or in-store.
• Products: Some organizations pay you for using samples from their goods rather than money. These are the products that get sent to your home. Afterward, you will get the chance to test and provide some feedback. This way they perform a dual function that is you can use them as both a means of payment and a way for you to give some informed reviews.
• Prize draw entry: In some instances, companies give you a chance to win prizes after interviewing because of taking surveys. Even though income earned on a survey site looks less attractive than in a traditional lottery/sweepstake, the probability of winning is higher on a survey site. Be mindful, either way, somebody has to be the winner!

Tips on maximizing your earning potential

Thus, using some proven strategies and common sense, it is very easy to make a survey on the Internet more profitable. Here are some suggestions:

• Sign up for as many surveys as possible: The more surveys you sign up for, the bigger the chances you have to earn more cash. Attempt to register with as many surveys as you may find, however, make sure that you pick only the genuine sites. By filling up your work week with an increasing number of surveys, you will keep busy and will also be generating a steady income rather than getting one or two surveys per month, which is just adequate to keep you busy.
• Set up a dedicated email account for surveys: This type of work is similar to most online jobs and the main requisites for successful completion of this work are being organized and efficient. One option is to create a specific email that is exclusively used for online surveys. This will provide you with a central location to check all survey-related communications and have a focused goal of accomplishing the assigned task. It will also have the benefit of making you able to keep tabs on the assignments and payments so you do not miss anything vital.
• Answer the questions honestly: Answer the questions up to the point you know and in the most honest way you can. Many of these surveys seem to be of small importance, but the companies giving them give great consideration to them. Your responses will not just be taken into account and recorded; your overall score may be reduced if you provide contradicting answers.
• Use Roboform to auto-fill responses: There are situations where it is okay to use Roboform or other fill-and-save programs to fill in registration forms automatically. Nevertheless, you should know that this strategy will not work for every survey, particularly those that demand more personalized responses. This also might not be convenient when you are answering questions that relate to your use of the product. Weigh your options carefully on which of these solutions you will use and when.
• Cash in when you reach the limit: The majority of online surveys feature ‘milestones’ which reflect the point at which you can request your revenue. You should cash out as fast as possible, as soon as this happens, instead of allowing time to go by and cashing it out when it has become a substantial amount.
• Avoid “pay-to-join” surveys: We would rather you don’t sign up for this type of survey that requires you to pay to join or if you have to pay to be part of it. Recall, that you are doing a job by answering questions for the company which they will be using for marketing and research. Such sites are, in essence, charging you to do that job that they should be doing for FREE! Here, if you come across this sort of site while searching for an online survey to sign up, click “Exit”. There are a lot of additional survey sites that will be ready to pay you more if you simply answer their questions, everything should go smoothly.
• Practice care: Without question, you should practice care when you register for an online survey. There is something not good about getting scammed or having your personal and financial information stolen and putting them in your account is not something that profits you! We’ll cover this topic as we go about detecting scam sites later. At present, they should be avoided as far as possible if you are willing to generate huge income with online survey campaigns.

Some of the best legitimate survey sites around

These days, survey websites are all over the place and it would take a single minute on Google to be bogged down by lots of options. We urge you to not rely on our information only but on the tips we give throughout the article that you can use in your research. Anyway, we’ve made some recommendations from a collection worth browsing.

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is definitely a market leader amongst the other survey platforms. The amount they paid out to their members by the end of last year was more than £800 million, in cash, vouchers, and draws. The site has many different ways through which the participants can earn some Swagbucks cash, and there is an amazing sign-up bonus from them of £5. A Swagbucks review questionnaire can take you around 10 minutes to finish all questions.

LifePoints

LifePoints is a fairly young company on the survey site scene having arisen as a consequence of a merger of two already popular platforms – MySurvey and GlobalTestMarket.

Survey Junkie

Surveys on the website of Survey Junkie are available through all devices to more than 10 million users. Utilizing a points system, a participant can accumulate points which could be redeemed either for PayPal cash or E-Gift Cards. The gift cards include options like Amazon and Target giftcards. Likewise, they also help with scoreboards in case you are screened out of the survey which is also free.

Ipsosi-Say

i-Say in the lead in the market of the largest survey companies at the global scale, having multiple partnerships with respectable companies and research forms from all over the world. Respondents get the convenience of vouchers for High Street and Amazon and surveys come via email once a week. Moreover, they also have drawn on a weekly basis for their members.

Toluna Influencers

Toluna which is a reputed survey platform gives its members the chance to make money or earn vouchers by answering the daily surveys. With credibility adhered to by many of the top well-known reputable international companies, Toluna’s reputation is enhanced. The scope of these polls varies from products/services to current issues.

The risks of taking surveys online

Like any other activity that involves the disclosure of personal information and the completion of detailed responses in the online world, surveys in the online space can be used for fraudulent purposes by untrustworthy persons.

What are these risks? Out of the most dangerous options is when the data is exploited by malicious elements to rob the personal or financial information of the people. If you reveal no banking or credit card details, certain elements of the data you possess could be used to cause serious security or financial problems.

Among other things, dubious survey websites may make you hope for impossible payouts. So, as long as you have spent some time filling out surveys, you have actually worked for free as it was your service provided for free.

Besides, fraudulent websites not only throw money out of the window but also, make a waste of time. By learning to spot and avoid these platform types, you will have more time and energy to concentrate and utilize legitimate survey opportunities.

Scams and fake sites – How to avoid them?

Right, how do you prevent yourself from the fraudulent survey sites? These common web security techniques also apply to web-based applications. Here are some suggestions on how to steer clear of scams:

• See what policy the firm is operating under. Any legitimate website is expected to have a privacy policy page. This however doesn’t necessarily mean that the site is legit, it shows that the admin takes privacy seriously, though. If you still have some doubts, take the other option.
• Analyse the online reputation of the company. There’s an ample number of online resources that allow you to learn about a company’s reputation. SurveyCentral ratings from users as well as sites like Scam.com and RipOffReport.com are good awareness starters. Such unscrupulous firms are worse to be mentioned on these platforms.
• Go for an alternative email address. Let us recall the point that one needs to set up another email to ensure better organization? It also helps to save you from such. If the given site is indeed fraudulent, you have not given them your primary e-mail address.
• Install anti-malware software. It is wise to have anti-virus and anti-malware software on your computer as long as you are clicking through survey answers. Some sites that have been built to collect personal and financial information can use less apparent procedures. Having solid antivirus/anti-malware software will add a little more protection.
• Think common. Those appealing propositions can render you unguarded, no matter the fact if the offer is too good, it may likely not be true. How many firms have the luxury of giving away pricy gifts to tens of thousands of survey solicitors? Trust your instincts.
• Trust your instincts. When you are confused, it is good to act according to your feelings. Where things seem strange, they are probably so. If you believe that some online survey sites or phone apps are questionable, it is better for you to stay away from them. You have plenty of options in terms of legitimate web shops that can give you the best deals in a safe and sound manner.

Online surveys can truly work as an opportunity to earn some more money. Though they won’t make you rich, this is worth a try for someone who doesn’t have a job.