Not just surveys!

As I get more and more involved in survey participation or paid marketing research, as it is commonly known, I find ways to maximize my time and experience. When you first start you will find surveys that pay $1 or $2 dollars while others give you points to accumulate.. Typically, you will need to collect at least $25 to be able to get paid. Lots of companies, including, Qualitative Insights, Valued Opinions, Inspired Opinion from Schelsinger Associates, MySurvey, Global Test Market, Opinion Outpost, Survey Spot, among others are looking for new respondents to take surveys. They are interested in people from all walks of life, ages, income levels and educational backgrounds. If you ever thought about giving surveys a try now is the best time to so.

Vocalpoint-A Place for Women

I am a big fan of Vocalpoint, an online community of moms who enjoy engaging with other people, like to give their opinions and especially enjoy sharing information about products, services, and  experiences. The site is sponsored by Proter and Gamble and gives you the opportunity to try out new products through samples or coupons without any monetary obligation. All they ask is for you to give your true opinion about a product you might have received from them. There is no cost to join the community and you can contribute as little or as much as your time allows. In addition to the product trials they also offer short surveys, invitations to participate in focus groups and a weekly newsletter that summarizes all of the information about the products and tips sent in by members.

Synovate, a world class research company

Here is a great survey company for anyone serious about participating in opinion research. 

Synovate is one of the largest marketing research firms in the world. Membership in our Global Opinion Panels provides you with many opportunities to voice your opinions on the products and services you and millions of other people across the globe use every day.

Here's the skinny straight from the Synovate website:

"What’s Involved?

Being a panel member is simple and provides rewards for your opinions. Once you join, you will be contacted by e-mail when a survey is available. This e-mail will contain instructions on how to access the survey and details about the rewards you will be eligible to earn. Participation for all surveys is voluntary, with no penalty if you choose not to participate.

Most surveys take 5-10 minutes to complete. You can even stop in the middle of a survey and return at a later time, picking up right where you left off. But, we ask that you try to complete them as soon as possible, since most surveys are only available for a limited time.

From time to time, we may invite you to test a product or participate in a research project conducted by telephone. Your participation in these studies as well is always voluntary.

 

Still Have Questions?

If you would like to know more, check out our frequently asked questions or contact us at marie@synovate.net"

I absolutely love this site and encourage you to sign up! By the way, I do not get a kick back for referring anyone to this site.

Check out Ciao for More Opportunities.

Another interesting aspect of online surveys can be found in sharing your opinions of popular products through a site called Ciao. This site, which is affiliated with Greenfield Online and run by Microsoft, is a worldwide network of shoppers. Ordinary people from around the globe share their experiences with products ranging from computers to kitchen mugs. 

The key to making money is to post reviews, review other's posts and gather as many friends as you can. Each time a post is reviewed or you review a post, credits are given. In your circle of friends you can acquire additional benefits by having a lot of people be your friends and joining your circle of trust. Each review awards you a small cash payment each time another member rates it either "helpful", "very helpful" or "exceptional". You can expect to receive between 1 and 3 cents per review. On the website the rates that are available to you appear next to the product name on the overview page, i.e. one dollar sign up to three dollar signs.

Earnings  are transferred to your PayPal account once you reach a minimum balance of $5.00. You will need to "Request payment" from your Accounts tab. Payouts are made once a month to all members who have requested a payment in that month. Sometimes it takes up  to five weeks before the transfer occurs. But be patient and you will see the credit in your PayPal account.

I have found the review process to be a little biased though. Some of the reviewers are from countries where English is not the obvious language. So you might read a review with excellent ratings only to find it hard to understand. Obviously, the reviewers and the raters are giving each other high marks regardless of what is written. However, if you stay true to yourself and write intelligently, eventually you will get a following.

Joining Ciao is free and completely voluntary. The only thing they ask is that you actually own the product you are reviewing and give a complete an unbiased review. More than 38 million people visit the site every month. You can check out Ciao at your convenience and look for me (my screen name is "west757").

By clicking on the link you will be taken to my page. Look it over and see if this site might be interesting to you and something you would enjoy doing.

Keep Your Options Open!

Once you get started taking surveys lots of opportunities to sign up for other offers start pouring in. Weigh each offer and sign up for the ones you find most interesting. I recently started with AC Neilsen's Homescan, a consumer panel that tracks what you purchase, and have found it very interesting.

The program requires you to sign up and then your name is put on a waiting list under the "Reserve Status Waiting List".  Homescan then randomly selects households to join. Once you are accepted you will get a handheld scanner (and a lot of other information about the program)  that you use to scan the barcodes from products you buy for your family. It doesn't matter what you purchase since the whole purpose is to track everyday consumers preferences.

Homescan is truly an easy way to share your opinions in the marketplace. As part of the program you accumulate points to spend on a variety of products from a special catalog Homescan provides you. The products or rewards include small appliances, children's items, electronics, recreation products, kitchen items and travel items to name a few. 

The program starts you with a 1000 points and you get additional points on a graduated scale for weekly, monthly, and yearly transmissions. You can also get points for answering surveys and joining their online panel. (Mac users beware: the online panel is only for PC users)!

Watch Out For Sites That Don’t Deliver.

Yesterday I gave you my opnions about sites that I enjoy. Today, I wanted to let you know there are sites that will truly annoy you with multiple questions that have nothing to do with the survey. Several of the sites, including Vindale requires you to purchase items to get paid a small reimbursement fee. Sometimes it works out, I purchased a teeth whitening kit, had my son use it for two weeks and then returned it to net $8.00. However, I had to use a credit card to get the item, had to make sure I precisely followed the return policy and needed to keep track of exactly when it needed to be sent back. Other times, you are given the opportunity to purchase something for a trial that is not worth the money or you can find in the local stores for much less.

I would also be extremely vary in signing up for any site that constantly requires you to keep signing up for more sites just to get a very meager reward in the end. You will find your email inbox flooded with mail that is just a bunch of junk. There are other sites like Survey Scout that get you to sign up only to keep sending you invites to survey sites that you probably have already joined. I guess these are like clearinghouses for surveys, however, I find them to be annoying and useless when it comes to getting a payoff.

Decide for yourself if Vindale is the type of survey company you want to join. You may like it, and even though I think it is a pain, I have earned about $50.00 from them.

Hello World! Welcome To My Blog!

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog "Here's my Opinion! Can I get paid?". I am a semi-retired stay at home mom who loves to spend some time everyday on the computer. Semi-retired you may ask? Well my children area all over 18. However, I have a handicapped son who lives with me and my husband, and a daughter in college. My oldest is married.

Anyway, since I enjoy sharing ideas with friends,  I thought, could I make it a little more worthwhile? You betcha! I started signing up on some of the sites that either pay you cash or give you points to take the survey. Now let’s be real, you will not make a fortune doing this, but why not try to make some extra cash or get some prizes since you are on the computer anyway? 

So far, I am having the most success with online surveys like Hits4Pay; Opinion Outpost; ACNielson Homescan; Valued Opinions; e-Rewards, and ZoomPanel to name a few. All of these sites require you to sign up to receive email invitations for surveys. You can specify how many surveys and the types you want to receive. By the way, they are all free! Check Hits4Pay to get started. This online survey site even gives you a $10 bonus just for signing up!