The Truth About Paid Online Surveys
by John Lee
Recent popularity
Seven million companies now actively seek out the opinions of moms, students,
retirees and others. In the last year thousands of people have discovered that
they can earn money simply by filling out paid online surveys or participating
in paid focus groups while sitting at their computer.
A stay at home mom may fill out a couple of surveys while the kids are napping
or later in the evening when the kids go to bed, or a student may complete a
survey in-between classes or use surveys as a part-time job in the summer. If
you have a computer with Internet access then you are eligible to participate.
Why will companies pay for your opinion?
Why? Because getting your opinions allows companies to get in touch with
consumers and their views and habits BEFORE launching new products and services.
With research and development costs at all-time highs and profit margins at all-
time lows, a company simply cannot risk bringing a product to market that nobody
wants. Think "New Coke" or today's automotive industry.
It's worth it to these large corporations to pay someone $75 to fill out a
one to two page online survey, or to pay someone $150 an hour to participate in
an online focus group, or to pay someone $25 per hour to preview the trailer for
a new movie.
How they work
Companies you register with will send paid survey opportunities to your email
inbox. You have the option to accept or decline these individual surveys. For
each survey you complete, you will be paid a preset amount. Most of these paid
surveys take approximately 5 to 15 minutes to complete and normally pay $10 -
$75 per survey.
Online focus groups pay substantially more ... up to $250 per hour. It quickly
becomes clear that if someone is willing to devote several hours per day to
these surveys that it's entirely possible to earn several hundred dollars per day.
Let's say you complete 20 online surveys per day ... all at the low-end pay of
$10-$15 per survey. At 5 to 15 minutes per survey you would be earning $200 -
$300 per day for 1.5 to several hours of at-home work. At just $35 per survey
the earnings go to $700 per day. And at $75 per survey the earnings skyrocket to
$1500 per day.
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