Many people are skeptical about survey websites because they think it is ridiculous to get paid just by taking a survey. The truth is that the majority of companies today rely on and out a premium on feedback coming from their customers. In most cases, a company will have its own research or marketing department that runs this type of survey to get customer feedback. These feedbacks are used in order for the company to learn how they can tweak their products or add to better respond to their customers.
Surveys and market research are the exact reason how companies are able to create the perfect product, the perfect advertisement, and the perfect promotional tools. This is how discount coupons are created for example. Companies look at survey results and determine what kind of discounts their customers are most likely going to respond to. If you are someone who loves to collect discount coupons, then you are someone who benefits from these surveys. If you want, you can browse for the biggest collection of the best discount coupons on the internet; check this site!
In many cases, companies even launch full-on market research to really check out the changing needs, wants, and motivations of their customers. However, there are many companies that do not have the capacity nor resources to run much-needed consumer surveys and panels hire survey companies to do it for them. In this instance, a company may opt to pay an online company to send out the surveys at a fraction of the cost of hiring a whole department of personnel.
HOW ONLINE SURVEYS WORK?
It is very simple to sign up to take up online surveys. Here is a step by step instructions on how to start earning money with an online survey. Please take note that these steps are only for general information since the steps could drastically change from one survey company to the next. In general, this is the common way by which people sign up and earn money answering surveys.
- Look for a reputable company to sign up with. You may check out for the best website for this by checking out multiple reviews.
- Sign up and create a profile for the website. For every company you do surveys for, make sure to create a separate profile. Completely fill out the form, many research being surveyed requires complete information about your backgrounds like sex, age, and even location. Each survey targets only a specific demographic. Your profile will be needed so you can get appropriate surveys.
- Find/get the surveys. There are websites that notify survey-takers with available surveys through email. Others will have surveys ready after you signed up. There are some websites, will require you to answer pre-survey questions before you can go start taking the survey/ This is done to ensure you are appropriate for the survey. On some occasions, products will be sent to your address so you can review them.
- Start taking surveys. The surveys are usually designed that they are easy to understand and answer. This is perhaps the easiest part. You need to be honest since your answers will be used for products and ads.
- Collect the money/reward. This is something you need to check before signing up. There are companies that transfer money immediately to your PayPal account while others want you to earn the points, which you can collect to exchange for money or reward. For every survey you answer, you will receive a number of points. These points can be either converted to money or to certain rewards like free products. The points and reward system varies from one company to another.
HOW MUCH CAN SOMEONE EARN FROM TAKING SURVEYS?
The exact amount of money you can earn from taking surveys depends on the companies you signed up with, the number of surveys you took, and your profile or demographic. Realistically, you cannot become a millionaire taking surveys online. However, this would be a very good opportunity to make some extra money. There are companies that pay from less than $1 to more than $20. But on average most sites pay around $1 to $5. You can earn quite a bit if you take several surveys a day in a period of a month.
Please also check if your company actually pays with money. There are some that do not give cash. Some offer free products, which you test for the survey. Other companies will enter you into sweepstakes.
IMPORTANT TIPS BEFORE YOU SIGN UP TO AN ONLINE SURVEY WEBSITE
As mentioned, taking surveys online will not guarantee a huge amount of money. This can be good if you want extra cash while idling on your phone on a weekend or if you have a lot of time to spare. Some people are able to earn money for domestic travel. Others even use this to set aside emergency funds. Of course, there are drawbacks in online surveys, but so is with everything else, and taking surveys for money may be just the best way you can be productive in your free time.
Given all of these, here is our advice if you really want to start earning from taking surveys online:
- Never overshare information – You will be asked about your age, sex, and even some information about education and work. However, if you are asked to give your Social Security number, bank account number, credit card number, or driver’s license number, consider this a very bad red flag. Leave the site immediately so you do not fall in phishing scams. Do not give out information that you are not going to give to someone you do not know. Especially if these information can be used to make money from you or hurt you.
- Have a separate email address just for survey sites – Online surveys can be very spammy. The majority of these survey sites, even the legitimate ones, will send several emails in a day. To avoid spams in your personal email address, you must sign up for these websites with an entirely new email address.
- Install anti-malware software – Always work in caution. The website may be legitimate and may be good, but there are times that you will be sent to a third-party website to answer a survey. The survey site that you signed up in will not have control on the website they send you too. As such, it is highly recommended to install anti-malware apps before you start taking online surveys.
- Protect your eyes – Make sure to take breaks to keep your vision intact. If you are going to take this seriously, there will be times when you have to answer lengthy surveys. At this time, your eyes will be glued to the computer screen. Prevent eye strain by taking a 20-second break every 20 minutes. Best to do this by looking at something far away.