ALT-1 Tips for Making Money with Online Surveys
As a customer, your opinions are important. They provide valuable intelligence that can shape the future of new and existing products and services. Companies benefit from your feedback, rewarding your time with incentives. There is a wealth of opportunity to earn money partaking in on-line surveys. Financial success varies from person to person however, there are three main criteria that will influence your potential earnings.
1. Legitimacy Of The Panel
The internet is saturated with market research panels. Fortunately there are useful resources to help you conduct your research. Legitimate panels never require a paid membership. Nor will they promise substantial earnings. As a rule of thumb, if a website looks suspicious, poorly constructed, littered with advertisements or overzealous claims, leave immediately. The last thing you want is to infect your computer or clutter your inbox with spam emails.
To decipher which panels are credible, seek advice. Search the databases of consumer review sites such asDooyooandCiao. Read the first hand accounts of panel members past and present and draw your own conclusions from their experiences. Also head toSurveypolice.com. Here you will find a large directory of well known panels rated for their efficiency by their panel members.
2. Demographics And Availability
Your demographic profile determines your survey eligibility. Most information within your profile is largely out of your control to change. Your age and sex for example. But if you were required to fill out a personal profile, remember to keep it updated. In fact, it's worth refreshing your profile periodically, particularly if survey invitations are slow.
Be sure to log into your accounts on a regular basis. By doing so, not only will your accounts remain operative, you will be able to seize opportunities as they arise, before quotas are filled. Many companies send more invitations to regularly active members.
Activate your accounts to receive email invitations. This will keep you up to speed with new surveys as become live. Often, email invitations are used for exclusive surveys, when only select members are invited to participate. Sometimes these surveys will not even show in your account. A word of caution though. Never rely solely on email invitations.
3. Successful Participation
Like a company, as a panel member you need repeat business. The manor in which you conduct each survey is of great importance. It will ensure you continue to receive survey invitations.
Frequently your answers are cross referenced with your profile or previously participated surveys. From time to time, you may be required to answer a question multiple times throughout the survey. Measures like these are in place to ensure consistency. Make sure you do not fail this quality control. Answer all questions with honesty and integrity. Never rush answers or attempt to cheat the system. Illogical and/or inconsistent answers can result in disqualification, forfeit of payment or even account termination.
Payments
Market research companies reward their members in several ways. Firstly, there is the tiered points system. Each point has a monetary value which varies from site to site. Points accumulate each time a member completes a survey. On redemption, they can be exchanged for gift cards, store vouchers or product discounts.
Other sites will pay their members in cash. Cash will be paid either directly into a bank or PayPal account. In either circumstance, almost every market research company will retain your money until you reach a redemption threshold. These can vary greatly and be as little as £4 or as high as £50. The third way is through sweepstake entries. This is generally frowned on by the more experienced survey taker. Your time is valuable. Understandably without a guaranteed payment, there is little to no incentive to complete a survey in the first place.
Above all, familiarise yourself with the terms and conditions. Understand how the market research company operates. What their reponsibility to is to their panel members and your to them. Ensure you are aware of their incentives before you become a member. Nobody wants to work for free so make your opinion count.
