by Ian Buchanan

Created on: December 29, 2010

The vast majority of on-line survey participants don’t earn very much money in total, and as a function of rewards for time spent, begging in the street would be more profitable. There are some sites that pay real money, such as Leger which pay $1 for a short survey as well as chances for a prize draw, or Angus Reid which frequently offer a few dollars to participate, but most companies offer points that can be traded for some incentive of insignificant value.

The most important tip to making money is to focus primarily on companies that actually pay cash and not to waste time with those that don’t. In other words, if you want to get paid, don’t fill your inbox with offers from companies that award “stuff”.

Understand that your participation will result in a cash payment to the survey company as it has been hired to seek opinions. You are after a piece of that cash pie. Other rewards allow the company to negotiate incentives with suppliers at a discount, and that means you will need to participate over the odds to claim that $10 gift card to Amazon that the survey company has paid much less to offer.

It is interesting to see how many survey offers simply dry up as a participant approaches a redeemable accumulation of points. That means the participant has expended hours and provided valuable input only to be denied by a self-serving algorithm whose sole objective is to maximize profit to the company by minimizing payments to the participant.

A second tip is to cash out as soon as the minimum payment threshold is reached. While most companies will pay at that level, the incentive to more quickly reach a higher payout by waiting for the second threshold most often runs into that algorithm Grinch which will deny that higher reward.

A third tip is to use Helium writers’ experience to research companies that might be more profitable. Members share their views of who’s good and who’s bad, and while some suggestions might contradict each other, time savings can be significant.

A fourth suggestion is to seek survey providers from the professional level. If your business is IT for instance, eSearch often offers $5 to $10 a survey, and some medical researchers can incent with cash for surveys on medical conditions.

The overall point is to concentrate on cash rewards and to focus research on additional companies within that criterion. Simply signing up for extraneous panels will do nothing but suck your time with an audible extraction of your time and energy.

The best tip of all is to only participate when you hear “caching caching”.

Learn more about this author, Ian Buchanan.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.