Business corporations need data all the time...customer preferences, opinions, experiences, competitors’ data and stuff. This helps them in improving and tweaking existing product/services and in new product development. Now there are two types of data, Primary and Secondary. Online survey is a new method of gathering primary data. As internet penetration is increasing everyday, online surveys are becoming more popular with market researchers as a relatively time and money saving tool to gather data. It works out to benefit both ways I must say. The researchers get the data they want in a short span of time relatively cheaply without moving a single data gatherers arse out on the street. And responders like us get the money and our opinions shape future services and products.
So, we can earn money for completing surveys on behalf of companies that value your opinions. Market research firms conduct surveys online by getting people like us to give our opinions, and get paid to survey. Mode of payment could be Paypal, or by cheque or points which can be redeemed for cash or gifts, it depends on the company. They analyze the data compiled from the answers of you and their other respondents, and this is how they can understand the feelings of consumers.
You can get into legitimate survey sites with no money out of pocket. Others may charge you a small one-time fee, though I will be giving you only the free ones (‘FREE’ is my theme). You may also do focus groups, where you and other consumers meet up to discuss products and services that your opinion is needed on.
Once you register at survey sites, you'll find many companies who want people like you to complete paid online surveys. Paid surveys can be interesting, and they are usually fairly simple, you just need to understand the language. Nowadays I have even seen (and completed) surveys in pure chaste HINDI!. As long as you have the Internet and email, you can pick and choose which studies you would like to participate in.
Before I start giving out survey site reviews, tips and details, and before you start joining these sites, there are some important stuff you’ve got to know. Get the basics right and create a good game plan and strategy before you start out. It will be helpful if you go through the following points and keep them in mind:
- Firstly, there are a lot of bogus sites which promise you lots of paid surveys and money if you ‘pay up’ and become a member. Don’t fall for these. They will only give you a list of survey sites (lot of which don’t even exist anymore). Dont waste your money. I will be giving you this for free. And of course later on as you get a hang of it, you can be ‘out on your own’.
- Secondly, you need to search on google by typing the suvey site name and ‘scam’. See what comes up.
- Get organized. Set up a separate email account only for surveys. Trust me, you will need this. Keep a list of the sites you join and keep updating. You might make mistakes and join sites which are not very beneficial. You will need to unsubscribe and keep your ‘paid surveys inbox’ uncluttered. You can eliminate some sites if you find that they only give you reward points or entries in contests. If you'd rather have cash, concentrate on the market research companies that offer cash for your opinions.
- When you set out to get paid to fill out surveys, don't close any doors. Join as many survey sites as possible. Joining 2-3 sites won’t serve your purpose since they don’t send you surveys everyday. Depends upon how frequently and how many projects they get. And then, not necessarily you will qualify for each and every survey. They need specific data according to their target market/audience.
- Keep your common sense around you while filling these surveys. Experience will teach you to respond intelligently.
- Join sites which are relevant to you. For example, if you are from India and you join a site which comes up with surveys only for users from US and Canada, it won’t serve your purpose. So make sure you join India specific survey sites, or global sites which have India specific content and surveys to offer. Of course, I will be helping you out with quite a few of these.
- Be sure to complete your profile at every survey company. They use those profiles to determine who gets sent the paid surveys.
