Springboard America

I recently signed up with a new survey company, Springboard America, which is sponsored by Vision Critical and Angus Reid Public Opinion. Springboard gives you an opportunity to speak up on what affects your daily life, from politics to products. The site is elegant and well designed. Springboard America is extremely user friendly and offers surveys that pay out in survey dollars (a rarity now that most companies are using a points system). You need to accumulate 50 survey dollars to collect a check for $50 or a donation to a US charitable organization.

According to their website "Most of our surveys award between $1 and $5 if you qualify and complete them. We'll always let you know in the survey invitation how much you'll receive for completing it, or if there is a sweepstakes instead. The amount is generally based on what's involved in taking the survey - for example, if it is longer in length, or more complex, we'll usually award a little more."


Like most of the survey sites you need to fill out all of the profiles so you can get as many surveys as possible. Also, survey companies are looking for dedicated people. So, if you only want to take surveys once a week or once a month, indicate that in your initial responses. Otherwise you will see your survey opportunities drop dramatically if you don't respond each time they offer you a survey.

Health Studies Can Pay Out Too!

There are tons of options out there to take surveys. Sometimes you might even be asked to be a part of a health study. Recently, I participated in one for fiber. The whole process took about five weeks. 

The first week I had to refrain from using any and all fiber related products including pills, special fiber bars, cereals, etc. Within the week I received a package with a white plastic bottle filled with an orange powder. I was instructed to begin on a specific day and take a teaspoon of the powder mixed in 8 ounces a water once a day. When I reached the end of the first week, I took a short survey to ask me about the average time of day I took the product. The second I did the same thing except to increase drinking the product twice a day and finally on the third week, I was asked to take it three times a day. Each time I filled out a short survey requesting time times I took the product. A few days ago, I received an email informing me I had successfully completed the trial and would be awarded $40.00 for my time. I am still waiting for the check, but they said it would arrive in 4-6 weeks.

It turned out I was taking Metamucil. Initially, I didn't like the taste of the powder and found it hard to swallow. However, as I kept going it was pretty easy to complete this task. All systems worked well (if you know what I mean) and I actually lost about three pounds.

The survey did question me about my health, my age, weight, over the counter medications and prescription medications as well. I wasn't initially told if I actually got a real product or a placebo. For me it was very little effort to get $40 and I would do it again.