First
of all, let me explain what is meant by the term 'Paid Survey'.
Paid surveys are a form of market research whereby consumers
who
fit a specific profile give their opinions in an online survey or poll
and are then rewarded (compensated) for their time in the form of cash,
vouchers, prizes or points which can be saved and then exchanged for
cash or goods. Most companies also conduct surveys over the
telephone or in person for some products and the reward for these are
usually greater
I
started
joining paid survey panels last year as a
way of subsidising the cost of my broadband connection, and my first
words of
advice
would be
"don't expect to give up your day job in
favour of being a full time
survey buff". Many paid survey
guru sites suggest that there is a
fortune to be made doing online surveys. This may be the
case in the USA, but in my experience, none of the
overblown claims have come to fruition in the UK. Don't get
me
wrong, taking paid surveys can provide a reasonable supplementary
income and there are other avenues of market research which pay
extremely well. Also, if
you fit the right demographic profile, focus groups will be abundant.
In many cases, you need to start taking paid online surveys regularly
before the higher paying opportunities are offered to you.
Below
are some of the sites
I
have received paid surveys from (and have been a member of for at least
six
months), along with my opinion of each. Visitors to this site
who
are not based in the UK should not feel left out - many of these sites
offer paid surveys worldwide, and the links will redirect you if you
choose to join any of the panels. I have also included a list of international links to survey sites at the end of part 2.
Brand Institute consists of a number of companies. Their panels consist primarily of either medical professionals (Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians etc) or consumers (someone with a particular ailment/illness or uses a particular type of medication). You are paid either by PayPal or cheque for each survey completed, so no waiting around for a balance to accumulate. Survey rewards start at around $15 each and, depending upon your profile, invitations arrive regularly. They do have a comprehensive survey screening process, so do not try to "con" your way through the screener. This site comes highly recommended, and the link takes you to more details on how to sign up.
Community
style website for
consumers.Not only
can you earn cash for participating in paid surveys,
you can publish
reviews, which will earn you money if rated helpful or higher by other
members.A user
portal allows you to track your earnings month by month.Surveys seem to come more
frequently if you are an active user, ie, writing
reviews and rating other people's. You may also be offered the
opportunity to take part in online focus groups paying around
£25 per
group. The US arm of Ciao is Greenfield online
Major public opinion
survey
organisation formed in 2000 and used by government and the media.
At present, YouGov have paid survey panels
consisting of members from the UK, USA and Middle East
YouGov
usually
send out between 2 and 10 paid surveys a
month, paying anything from 50p upwards. This site is worth subscribing
to if you don't mind
waiting for your balance to reach the minimum.It
would have gained another point rating if
the
redemption balance was lower, but a recent follow up survey suggests
that this may be about to happen. If you opt to join via this
link, please use the referrer e-mail address as
darren_gibson*@*hotmail.co.uk (without the asterisks {*} these are
icluded to stop spam robots scanning my page for email addresses)
Not
just online paid surveys from this
company.Telephone
surveys and focus groups pay much higher amounts.Although
redemptions are in the form of
vouchers, they are for recognised high street names (Tesco, HMV,
M&S, Argos, WH Smith, Kingfisher -B&Q, Comet etc..,
Boots and for various charities too. The average paid survey
takes about 15 to 20 minutes and pays around £2
Part
of a French market research
organisation called ToLuna.You
earn points for various transactions, including online surveys, product
tests
and quick polls.Points
can be exchanged for vouchers (HMV or Pixmania), Ipoints or prize draw
entries.Invitations
to surveys are infrequent, but regular points are available via
alternative transactions, and surveys reward well when they come..
Part
of GFK/NOP market research
organisation.Surveys
arrive regularly, but the site is very slow to update your account.The redeeming quality of
joining this panel is that you are offered regular surveys from the
parent organisation (TV research and 'What I buy'
in particular) where you have a 1 in 7 chance to win cash prizes.
My rating reflects these "membership
bonuses", as I have received a number of prizes from both, in the form
of Amazon
e-vouchers.
Paid
to visit websites
recommended as a result of your personal profile.You will be credited with between 40p and
£1.50 per invitation
£25
Fair
£££
More
sites are reviewed in Part 2
. Further sites will be added as I join them and/or have received
enough surveys to
evaluate them properly. For anyone with a chronic or
longstanding
medical condition, those taking prescription medication regularly and
members of the medical profession
(doctors/nurses/technicians etc..), I would recomend joining the Brand
Institute panel (this link takes you to a
page containing more information), which is always looking for
evaluators with a medical background. Brand
Institute typically pay
between $10 and $25 per survey, sometimes much more, and payment per survey is either by cheque or PayPal. If you
haven't got a PayPal account, you can sign up for one here. As these pages are about free to join paid survey sites, I am not
going to go into too much detail about paid subscription databases, but have found that Survey
Hawk
and Survey
Scoutcan
both be joined for about $30 (£15) each, and contain enough information
to at least get the subscription value back in
survey rewards (obviously, any visitors from the US get the full set of
options running into several hundred companies on the database). Survey
Hawk also
contains information
regarding mystery shopping, and is the site I have found to be most
useful. These sites list literally hundreds of free to join panels, so if you are intending doing a lot of surveys, they are well worth the one time only fee (I am a member of both). As an
added bonus for visitors to our site, if you sign up for PayPal via the link on this
website and
join Survey Hawk
(again, via the link on this website), I will give you a
third of your subscription back, paid into your new Paypal account. Click here
for the terms.
