Taking surveys is undoubtedly one of the easiest ways to make money online. You don’t need any extra qualifications, equipment, or a dedicated time slot to make money from home.
Just sign-in for a popular survey site and start giving out your opinions for money. Although you require minimum expertise to get paid to take surveys, many things can go wrong.
If you take the wrong surveys, you could get disqualified and waste your time. Similarly, if you sign-up for a scam site, you probably won’t get the promised rewards.
To avoid making these mistakes while taking paid surveys online, I’ve listed the ideal ways to get paid to take surveys. Check out my list to get a positive outcome on your first try.
How to Get Paid to Take Surveys?
Before I list out how you can get paid to take surveys, you’ll need to know the basics.
Here are some initial steps you’ll need to take before choosing the ideal way to get paid to take surveys physically or online.
Select An Online Survey Platform
This is the most crucial aspect when you think of generating a survey income. Remember, don’t sign-up for the first site that comes up on your Google Search result.
Instead, conduct some background vetting and research regarding your target website to see if it is legit and worth your time.
Besides that, select your survey website depending on the type of survey you want to take. For example, if you want to join focus groups, make sure your site offers the earning opportunity before becoming a member.
Sign-Up And Complete Your Profile
The sign-up process usually takes only a few minutes on most survey sites. Remember to go for survey sites that offer free sign-up. That way, you’ll have nothing to lose even if the site doesn’t work for you.
After that, filling out your profile details honestly is a crucial step. The surveys recommended by the site depend entirely on the details you provide.
Moreover, even if you provide false information to get highly-paid surveys, the website will pick that out from your responses and block you from further surveys.
Keep an Eye Out for Surveys
Depending on the survey website you sign-up for, you will receive regular in-app notifications or emails when new surveys come up. Make sure to keep track of every new survey opportunity and take them immediately to maximize your income.
Accumulate and Redeem Your Rewards
Some survey sites might reward you with actual money when it comes to rewards, while others offer points. Either way, you’ll have to accumulate enough rewards according to the site’s minimum payout limit to redeem your rewards.
Some sites like Swagbucks let you withdraw your rewards with as little as $2, while others may require up to $25 in your account before you can request a payout.
Be Consistent
Let’s face it; if you’re planning to get paid to take surveys, you won’t make a fortune overnight.
But, you can still hope to make enough to pay for minor expenses and keep some spare change in your pocket. For that, you’ll have to be consistent, regularly work on the website, and avail of every offer that comes by.
If you follow all these steps, you’ll quickly generate a good survey income, regardless of the option you choose from the list below.
7 Ways to Get Paid to Take Surveys
While taking online surveys through websites or mobile apps is the easiest way to take surveys and get paid, you can go for other profitable ways. Most of them require signing up for the right market research websites.
Apart from taking short online opinion polls and surveys, these sites have other earning opportunities that involve filling out questionnaires and citing personal opinions.
Now that you’ve learned the basics about making a survey income, I’ve listed out the various ways you can get paid to take surveys. This way, you can choose the method that fits your personality and make money while having fun.
Fill Out Short Opinion Polls
If you’re thinking you won’t find any time to take surveys attributing to your busy schedule, think again. Many survey sites such as Pinecone Research, MyPoints, and LifePoints offer short opinion polls for busy users.
These polls take anywhere from three to five minutes to complete. Furthermore, they mostly involve short yes or no answers or basic multiple-choice questions.
Most importantly, depending on the site you sign up for, these short opinion surveys can pay anywhere from $0.5-$1.
It doesn’t sound like much, but if you use the survey app while riding a cab or waiting in line at the cafeteria, you can earn a dollar without any extra effort.
Some survey-takers even consider short opinion polls to be the best money-making options on survey websites. That’s because they take considerably less time than other surveys and are abundantly available at all times.
Participate In Lengthy Expert Surveys
If you’re already a member of some survey sites, you probably know about high-paying surveys that come by occasionally. Platforms like InboxDollars, Vindale Research, and LifePoints are known for displaying high-paying surveys on their sites worth around $30-$50.
These surveys are lengthy and can take around 1-2 hours to complete at a stretch. Besides that, they’re usually centered around complex topics like sciences, politics, technology, and economics. That’s why these surveys have high remuneration rates compared to short opinion polls.
Most importantly, you can only participate in these surveys if you qualify. If you want to get paid to take surveys and are an expert in your profession, you should sign-up for survey sites that offer these expert surveys.
For example, if you’re a doctor, lawyer, or finance expert, you can benefit from market research sites with your expertise and earn some good side income.
Become a Mystery Shopper
If you’re a shopaholic who spends most of their time hopping from one mall to another, this is the ideal way for you to get paid to take surveys.
You see, most survey sites offer opinion polls based on your prior knowledge or preferences about brands and products. That’s one thing, but did you know some sites let you go on shopping missions and answer questionnaires about your experience for money?
Yes, you can do that by signing up for mystery shopping programs on sites like Ipsos i-Say, Secret Shopper, GigWalk, and Field Agent.
Once you sign-up as a mystery shopper, you’ll be able to select shopping missions near you and get to work. After you complete your trip to the retail store or brand outlet, you’ll have to fill out surveys regarding customer service, cleanliness, and product availability.
The brands themselves usually conduct these surveys to evaluate the overall functioning of their retail stores.
So, if you want to influence the brands you love, consider this survey-taking option. The best part is, you can get paid around $30-$75 per hour as a mystery shopper.
Join Focus Groups
Joining focus groups is an ideal way to get paid to take surveys for people who’re looking for a profitable side hustle. Typically, focus groups work in the same way as mystery shopping.
However, once you join a focus group on a survey website, you’ll be conducting field research in several industries rather than only surveying retail outlets.
What makes focus group surveys different from regular surveys is that you have to collect the required data by visiting the field. After that, you’ll have to answer a detailed questionnaire regarding the information you collected on the mission.
Popular survey websites like Survey Junkie and American Consumer Opinion let their users join focus groups on their site. Although you’ll have to take some qualification tests initially, you can earn anywhere from $100-$300 per project once you’re a member.
Test Products and Answer Questionnaires
Believe it or not, there are ways to get paid to take surveys that involve getting free stuff. If you think taking surveys is not a lucrative side hustle, you can maximize your income by signing up as a product tester.
Many survey sites offer product testing gigs for their users, namely, Toluna, UserTesting, and Clicks Research.
The process is easy. All you have to do is request a product to test out, and if the site approves, they will send it to your doorstep. The products can be anything from food or drink, cosmetics, electronic gadgets, and even clothing items.
You have to use them and provide a detailed review or answer a specific set of questions regarding your opinion. The best part is, you can earn around $10-$50 for filling out product review surveys on these websites.
Play Games and Take Relevant Surveys
This is the ultimate way to get paid to take surveys for gamers. Did you know there are hundreds of new games pumped out every month into the market? However, these games need to be tested before they are released for online gamers.
That’s where users like you come in. You can test out new games on sites like Bananatic and Blizzard and answer surveys after you’re done playing.
These surveys help the creators pick out any glitches in the game and get a precise evaluation of its functionality and other essential aspects.
As a gaming survey-taker, you can expect to earn around $10-$50 per hour. Most importantly, if you spot any significant bugs or issues or provide ideas to resolve them, the platforms can even pay you $300-$500 for a job well done.
Help Companies Conduct Mobile and Computer Research
This is one of the easiest ways to get paid to take surveys. It might sound weird to you, but there are some apps and websites that will pay you only to keep them running on your devices.
What these websites and apps do is conduct mobile and computer research through your devices. They track information such as the number of calls you receive and web searches you conduct every day.
Occasionally, these apps also offer high-paying services about your mobile and computer habits. You can earn around $1-$5 for every 10-20 minute survey by answering these questions.
All you have to do is download apps like Nielsen Computer and Mobile Panel and Mobile Xpression. If you don’t have time to take surveys regularly, just let them run on your devices in the background and get paid.
Besides that, whenever you’re free, open the app and take surveys about your computer habits to maximize your income.
Final Words
That concludes my list of the ways to get paid to take surveys. While there are many ways to choose from according to your daily routine and expertise, I would recommend taking up multiple options at once.
Sign-up for more than one site to maximize your earning opportunities and avail of different offers like sweepstakes and giveaways. Similarly, try looking for sites that let you take surveys in multiple ways.
For example, Survey Junkie lets you take short opinion polls, lengthy surveys and also lets you join focus groups. This will help you diversify your approach and generate a steady survey income.
