Archive for October, 2008

30 Oct

Alternative Forms of Paid Surveys

If you start looking around the survey world, then you may start to see other types of surveys in the system. These can take many different forms. There are phone surveys, conferences, and long-term surveys. The good news is that these all pay quite well, but they can be a little intimidating if you don’t understand at first.
Let’s start with the phone surveys. These should be a fairly simple thing to understand. You just take a survey over the phone. The form will be a bit different, but the difference usually just takes the form of a conversation. You’ll be asked a series of questions, but you will be allowed to answer them in greater depth than normal. If you like surveys, then these should be perfect. Especially when you consider that the going rate is at least $30 for a half hour call.
The next would be the conference. It can take place at a gathering point near you or take place over the phone or online. Either way, it’s just a friendly discussion. These can often be quite fun if you enjoy a good talk. There are several meetings to talk about political candidates or social ideas, while others just talk about new products and what you like or dislike. One example would be a recent conference done by the Navy Reserve. They sent out a trial packet for a new advertising campaign to four people along with login information. They paid $75 for an hour’s worth of talking about what they liked or disliked about the new campaign. It’s all pretty simple if you are willing to express your ideas.
The long-term survey is different enough to be considered alternative. These can be rewarding or not, depending on what the company is willing to pay. They generally just ask for daily monitoring of an activity. There was a snack survey and a beverage survey that went out last year. It just involved using a PDA to track one’s consumption with a nice reward for those that did it right over two weeks time.
These are just some of the alternatives to basic surveys. If you are active in the survey community, then you should run across the opportunities from time to time. Now you at least don’t have to make your decision blindly.

30 Oct

Doing Paid Surveys Online

You may have heard a lot by now about the reasons to do online surveys. They are just a great way to earn a little bit of extra money for your little expenses and splurges. I doubt that this explains everything for you though. I’m sure you have a few questions about how to actually do the surveys.
Starting a survey is probably the easiest step. You will usually get email alerts to new surveys you can take so just keep an eye out. When you get one, just click on the link to go to the survey. You may have to put in an ID number, so make sure you read the Email beforehand.
Just about every survey will have the standard demographic questions. After you give your age, race, marital status, etc., you will have to check a list to see whether your line of work would interfere with the survey.
Once you get past this first part, you just have to take the actual survey. This is usually fairly easy. It will show you product images, give you brand names, or just ask about your shopping habits. Read the instructions and click the appropriate bubbles to answer the questions.
The only hang-up could be an opinions section. These work by stating something and asking to what degree you agree with said statement. It shouldn’t be too hard as long as you don’t over think it. Most studies just want your gut reaction. They don’t need you to struggle with your opinions for several minutes to reach a conclusion. Just keep moving forward and do the best that you can. Your opinion can’t be wrong.
Once you’ve finished the survey, you should reach the final page. Make sure that your payment is confirmed and then exit the survey as instructed. Do not rush through the exit, since improperly finishing the survey could cause it to not register properly.
These are the essential steps of filling out a survey. As you can see, it shouldn’t be too tough. You just have to read the instructions and give honest answers.

A paid survey company I like to use is Global Test Market

30 Oct

Paid Survey Sweepstakes Information

Just about every survey company will offer sweepstakes in one form or another. The big question is whether you should actually do the surveys are not. It should all boil down to whether it’s worth your time, and that is honestly a personal decision that you have to make for yourself.
The easiest decision maker is whether you have the time or not. If you are bored and don’t have any other surveys to do, then go ahead and do it. Someone does have to win the sweepstakes and it won’t be you unless you enter. Most of these sweepstakes surveys require little to no time commitment either.
There are other benefits to consider though. I’ve noticed a few survey websites that seem to monitor who takes the sweepstakes surveys. It’s rumored that taking sweepstakes surveys will ultimately increase your chances in getting a good phone survey or seminar. These can pay a lot of money, so you should do everything you can to improve your chances at getting one. It is also possible that the survey is just a secret screener for another survey. This is true for several low cost surveys. They want to filter out people who might lie to get the big ones, so they use a little survey to find a specific demographic.
I would go ahead and tell you to monitor what the actual sweepstake is. Getting one ticket to a huge quarterly sweepstakes isn’t really worth it for most people. The ones you really want to consider are the little monthly sweepstakes that actually pay out to a far number of people. Several just pass out $50 to 10 people as their reward. These are usually worth your time, since you have a fairly good chance of winning a smaller, spread out pot. It’s still your call in the end though.
That’s about it for sweepstakes in your surveys. There are a lot of possible bonuses to be had if you do them, but it simply won’t be worth the effort for some. If you have the time and the survey isn’t asking for much, then you should obviously do them. Don’t feel too bad about letting these slide into the dark corner of your inbox though.

One paid survey company that I use that doesn’t offer a lot of sweepstakes and mostly pays in points and cash is Global Test Market