Surveys Paid Online: What You Need to Know
Shiv Majumdar

Defined Tag: Online Surveys.

If you are interested in surveys paid online, there are some things you should know. First is how these companies work. A paid survey company is hired by a company who needs marketing information gathered in the form of completed surveys by a particular demographic. It is the job of the survey company to recruit survey takers that meet certain criteria. To entice people to take the surveys, the company offers payment. Payment may be in the form of cash, prizes or points which can be exchanged for various things.

Points are a popular form of payment these days for survey companies. For each survey you take, you are awarded a particular number of points. The points can be saved up and exchanged for sweepstakes entries, prizes or even cash. Some companies do sweepstakes entries only, while others do entries, prizes and cash. You may or may not want to deal with these types of companies. For example, if you are interested in making money you don't want a company that offers prizes. If you want money each and every time you take a survey, you certainly want to avoid those that pay in sweepstakes entries unless you are a risk taker.

You will find there are quite a few companies that do pay actual cash for completed surveys. How much cash depends on how extensive the survey is. You may be paid less than a dollar or all the way into double figures. Some companies will send you a check for each survey you take, while others will put your earnings into an account that can accumulate funds with each survey. There may be a payout minimum, for example the company might send payment when your account reaches $25. This is just an example as to how some companies work, you will need to read the details on each site that you sign up with.

When taking surveys paid online, you will find yourself answering lots of questions on a variety of different topics. Some surveys may be multiple choice, others may be yes or no questions. Some may be a combination of types of questions. You will find surveys that take only a few minutes and those that may take up to an hour. Another form of online survey is the focus group, where you are sent a product and asked to evaluate it in detail. Focus groups are a bit harder to get into but can be worth the effort because they pay substantially more than surveys on average.