There are hundreds of survey companies looking for people like you to share their opinion. So how do survey panels typically work? Here are simple steps to get you started:
Step 1: Register
Sign up with panels such as iGlobal Surveys. Share your basic information such as your email, name, zip code, gender, etc. They ask these questions to make sure: (1) you are a real person living in a real physical address; (2) payments and incentives will be sent to your home; (3) you are able to possibly receive products to evaluate and test; and (4) you receive relevant surveys such as surveys about an election happening in your city.
Your information will be kept confidential and will be used only for membership and payment purposes. If you feel uncomfortable about sharing any of this information, check the survey panel’s privacy policy.
Step 2: Confirm your email address
After you have successfully submitted your basic information, you will receive an email notification that will ask you to click the link provided to confirm your membership. Confirming verifies that you are the person who requested the survey invitations for that account, not someone else spamming the system. Once you have confirmed your membership, your survey panel account will be active to start receiving surveys. Invitations will generally start arriving a few days after signing up.
Step 3: Answer profile questions
How do survey companies find these people to participate in surveys? The answer is in your profile. It is important that survey panels have clients who look for specific characteristics of people to answer particular types of surveys. For instance, if a survey asks about coffee beans, the company looks for people who brew coffee at home and not those who buy their drinks from a coffee shop. Another example is if a business wants to conduct a survey about airlines, they want to poll people who go on business trips via plane mostly.
Survey panels like iGlobal Surveys will ask you to complete “profiles,” meaning some series of questions on certain topics. Profile questions will ask you about your household, your activities such as your interests and leisure, shopping and travel, TV shows you watch, websites you visit, and much more. If you indicate in your profile that you wear eyeglasses or contact lenses, you will be eligible to receive surveys about these products. If you answer in your profile that you are a manager in an office, you will be more likely to get surveys for business decision makers on office purchases. Filling out the employment profile is important because many companies are looking for professionals to take surveys.
Update your profiles regularly. This is important because survey companies rely on this information to send you relevant surveys. When your experience a major life change such as marriage, promotion, new job, or a new baby, update your profile with this information so you can keep getting matched to relevant surveys.
If for any reason you are uncomfortable answering a profile question, you don’t have to answer it. Most questions have a “do not know” or “not applicable” answer, and you should select this type of answer if you are not comfortable providing that information. Please remember that the more responses a survey company has about you, the more likely they will be able to match you to the right types of surveys. The more difficult it is to find your kind of profile, the higher a survey company is willing to pay for your expertise.
Step 4: Respond to survey invitations
Generally a survey panel will send you two or three survey invitations a week. This will usually be an email that will indicate how long the survey takes and how much the reward amount.
Participating in all surveys for which you receive invitations will generate a high response score for your account. If you have a high response score, you’ll get invited to more surveys because a survey company knows it can rely on you to help out. Companies send out invites to more people than they are looking for because they want to fill their quotas quickly in order to get the results which help them make decisions. Your quick participation is key because once the required number of panelists have submitted responses, the survey will be closed for future respondents.
When you answer a survey, be careful to read and answer the questions carefully. Since survey companies and their clients are careful to collect quality data, they put in trap questions; if you are not careful, you will answer a question incorrectly and get terminated or disconnected from the survey. They also go through your answers to check for predictable patterns of answering, inconsistencies in responses or garbage answers in open-ended questions. If there is an indication of any of these in your data, your account can get suspended.
Step 5: Use your rewards
Some survey companies pay in currency, while others use point system. In a point system, each survey is worth a particular amount of points that can be translated to a dollar amount. For example, a 30-minute survey may be equivalent to 50 points, and 50 points could be equivalent to $5.
Lately, survey panels have started introducing more creative modes of payment. You would find some companies paying through PayPal while others would still send checks. Some would pay in pre-paid credit cards, while others would prefer gift cards. Still others would offer a mix of all of these payment options, and adding more to it such as restaurant discounts, online game access, or discounted magazine subscriptions. Survey companies offer variety in payout to make different ways of earning interesting, appealing, and convenient for its valued members.
It really is simple! Sign up, answer questions, and earn rewards. Get started earning rewards today!
Also here are some other sources of information about taking surveys online.
ABC News - Making Money Online by Taking Surveys
wikiHow - How to Make Money with Free Online Surveys
WiseBread - Can I Really Make Money Taking Surveys
