ALT-2 Survey Sites how they really Work
Understanding how survey sites work is pretty simple. Survey sites need members to give opinions on many different products and topics. Survey panels recruit people with an interest to give their opinions for most often some type of small incentive. Once you sign up for a survey panel you generally verify your email address and wait on surveys to arrive in your inbox. Some companies may require you check their site in order to find new surveys that are available. Surveys are sent depending on qualifying criteria.
Qualifying criteria includes items such as age, gender, employment, number of individuals living in the household, number and age of children, demographic region, etc. If you have a few of these items in common with what the client needs you will be sent the survey. When you begin the survey you are going to be taking a screening questionnaire to see if you qualify for the complete survey. The more of the criteria you fit the better the chance of taking the survey. You generally do not know the criteria that the survey is looking for so just be honest. If you don't get to take this one there will be more in the future. If you do not qualify for the survey you will have a message telling you that you do not qualify and if you earned any incentive of any kind. If you qualify you may be given a message telling you so or you may not know until you complete the study. Upon successful completion of a study you will be told the study is complete and what incentive if any you have earned.
Companies send out a mass number of each survey they send. It is important to get to the survey as soon as you can. Most surveys will have a required number of respondents and once that number is met you will no longer be able to take the survey. Some surveys will also require a certain number of people with a certain type of criteria before switching to another. If you answer surveys soon after receiving them you increase your odds of being accepted for the full survey due to your demographics. Waiting may allow others to get ahead of you and you may not be able to take the survey due to your demographic area already being full. Some surveys fill sooner than others. If you have a survey with a guaranteed incentive and you want to take it you better act fast or else it will be full.
The email you receive or welcome screen will tell you a bit about the survey such as how long the expected time to complete the survey may be, what you will earn for successful completion of the survey, what buttons you should and should not use during the survey, etc. Always make sure to read the email or information on the welcome screen. Companies have different things they may want to tell you about their surveys. If you do not read these screens you may mess up and screen out of a survey due to neglect read this information.
Each survey company has their own way of rewarding their panelists. We all would like to see cash incentives as our reward but this is often not the case. Many panels reward their panelists by means of points that can be converted to cash, prizes, gift cards, etc. Some panels will however pay a set amount of cash for surveys while others will send you a gift card upon completion. Some offer no type of guaranteed incentive at all but only enter their panelists in sweepstakes and prize drawings. A few but not most companies will also reward panelists for attempting a survey whether you complete the full study or not. Most often rewards for screening out of a survey is a small amount of points or cash but most often it is an entry into a sweepstakes. The amount awarded for attempting a survey is much less than completing the full study.
