conclusions and facts about paid online surveys

there's plenty of information and reviews available for "taking free paid surveys for money."

And, unfortunately, there's plenty of misinformation and hype as well.

There are the sites that will try and convince you that getting paid to take online surveys will enable you to work from home and make a reliable steady source of income month after month after month. So reliable you'll be able to calculate your own paid surveys earnings even! Which is NOT the case!!! There are other sites that only preach the good news, and glaringly omit the truth behind the facts. And that's misleading. Still more sites pretend they can sell you on a paid survey company if they put them on a specially labeled list.

Big, flashing dollar signs, pictures of money, people smiling on the couch with their laptops, in their pajamas, all making untold fortunes taking online paid surveys for cash!

WhuHOO!

Whu-hoo INDEED! Somebody stop the madness!

If you want a fresh take on this stuff,  then here it is. After some serious hours of research, in a nutshell - maybe you'll come to the same conclusions if you put in the hours. This is our summation of what we've found, and while we're not certified, licensed or otherwise educated in the world of market research, our experience doing these online surveys and doing the homework necessary to validate all of these conclusions, has lead to us to the following...

 

CONCLUSION #1: Market research is a huge, multi-faceted, global industry. Surveys are conducted 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Surveys of prevailing opinions are absolutely vital in any competitive market. Opinion polling is happening all the time, everywhere, all over the world. Watch the news and it's the results of a poll. More and more store receipts have phone numbers or website addresses on them to take a customer survey in exchange for a reward of some kind. Most product labels or packaging include some way of contacting the manufacturer and offering your opinion. The larger companies have entirely separate departments that do nothing but pro-actively gather input from consumers. You can call any Fortune500 firm and ask for their marketing or research and development department. Other companies may opt to pay an out-sourced market research firm to do the work for them. They can buy an in-place survey-system that was created specifically for them, or they pay a firm to do a part or all the work for them. There are other ways, but that's the basic idea. For a little more explanation, see this...  

 

CONCLUSION #2: There are a few different ways to gather consumer opinions. Some don't pay consumers to participate.....

There are lots of ways that don't pay consumers a cent. There are quite a few of you that will hand out your opinions for free. Sometimes it's the warranty information you take the time to fill out for that new gizmo you bought. Sometimes you get the option to take them when you call your service providers. Sometimes solicitors will call and ask you to take part in an opinion poll for an issue relevant to your locale. Sometimes a smiling person with a clipboard will stop you outside the supermarket and ask for a few minutes of your time.   Whichever methods employed, the researchers are purposely gathering public opinions based on certain criteria of their study. In these cases, modus operandi dictates the use of "recruiter-elected respondents."  

 

...and some you get paid for your input...

But why would anyone pay for something they can maybe get for free?

The answer is a much debated and written about topic in the industry. The effects of incentives on online surveys is a topic all unto itself.

The contention seems to be whether people are more likely to give their absolute honest opinion (and make no joke, that's the only thing these people are interested in) when it's for free or when it's compensated. Some researchers answer that most people don't mind giving up a few minutes, granted. But after that, it's a nuisance, right? You're never sure if you got some "hurry up and get this over with" answers. For more time intensive online surveys, most people are not willing to "work" for free. You literally must reward them for their time somehow. At that point, the researchers can reasonably expect a person they're paying can be obligated to put forth an honest effort, as technically, the respondent is "under contract." There is the other side of the research industry that states they don't believe in using "self-elected respondents" or paying for answers. And that's their prerogative.

When all is said and done however, there's a bunch of companies that believe paid research is the way to go for their types of studies, and continue to sponsor these types of online surveys.

Basically, certain studies lend themselves better to volunteer responses, some to paid responses.

Take a look around, the evidence is in, paid online surveys are a viable way of gathering consumer opinions. Sometimes, the ONLY way.

 

 

CONCLUSION #3: Anyone interested in online surveys can search the topic, get some contact information and start "taking surveys," right?

While partially, true, doing your own research about paid online surveys can raise more questions than answers!

 

If legitimate market research firms are really rewarding consumers for their input, why is there sooooooooo much hype and information about all of it? And where did the term "paid surveys" come from? Some say legitimate paid surveys online are all free, some say you should pay for a good "list." Some say almost all paid online surveys are scams and very few will really pay you. There's dead, duplicate or expired links, short-lists, black-lists, best-paid-online surveys-lists, popular-lists, blogs, flogs, flames, and blames. With so much conflicting information about surveys for money, how do you really know what's what?  

 

FINAL CONCLUSION: You'll never really know these surveys are legitimate  without proving it for yourself.

Which is as simple as setting up an alternate e-mail, signing up, taking the online surveys, and ultimately, collecting your rewards. Fortunately, all the hard work has been done for you. There're more surveys opportunities to make money online here than you could possibly handle. All you have to do is roll up your own sleeves, start signing up, and start figuring out which of these paid survey firms are best for you. Your demographic, your lifestyle, your tendencies. Some will be well worth your time, some won't. But you'll never know if you don't start and actually do something.

 

psssst.... the BIG secret... here comes the hate mail :) 

You want the TRUTH behind the hype of most of the paid online surveys ads?

No one can predict whether "Paid Online Surveys Company X" will necessarily benefit you more than "Paid Surveys Online Company Y." No one can tell you which of the thousands of research firms out there are going to contact your demographic, how often, and just how much they'll pay you for every study. You want the $300 surveys? Yeah, who doesn't? You may get thirty invitations a year, you may get one! And for $300, you better be ready to do what they ask. They won't ask you to dig a ditch for eight hours testing a shovel, however, so don't worry. But it may include a few hours of your time, going shopping, to a restaurant, or to a public park. You may sign-up with a company, and not hear from them for six months. It doesn't mean they won't contact you down the road, and ask you to test a major appliance for a few thousand dollars.  

 

Like any other competitive market, different research firms are hired by different companies for different research projects, all throughout the year. Just like the real world, paid market research surveys all have unique, per-project goals, schedules and budgets, which in turn will dictate the "which respondents get what online surveys, how often and how much to payout" variables down the road. Make sense? Forget rankings, forget "top-paying" lists, forget "earnings calculators," forget all the over-worded sales pitches! You want the "$75" online surveys? They're here. You want the "Top 25 Paid Survey Companies?" They're all  right here. You want the "Top 300?" They're all here, In alphabetical (sorta kinda) order...
 

Are you getting the picture?

It's up to you to start putting your name out there as a quality respondent if you want to get paid. Read the fine print, terms, privacy policy, etc of every single paid survey panel you want join up with. Yeah, it's going to take a few minutes, but isn't your peace of mind worth it? There's nothing more shocking in most of them than you would normally read in any standard fine print, but you should always check! If something in their policies makes you suspicious, then visit the watchdogs and make a simple inquiry to see if they have a history of defrauding people.