Are you running a bit short on your bills this month? Do you need a way to bring in some extra income without getting a second job?
The introduction of the internet changed the way we communicate. Today, it’s possible to pick up your cellphone and get in touch with anyone, anywhere in the world. The internet also presents us with new ways to make money as well.
Do You Want to Earn Money Taking Surveys?
Marketing firms spend millions of dollars on research and development when testing new products before launching them to market. A focus group is a tactic that marketing companies use to expose a segment of the target market to the new product, before releasing it for mass consumption.
Marketing firms want to get as much data as possible from focus groups. The internet helps these companies find people in target demographics, providing a platform for interaction between marketers and prospective customers.
Marketers use online surveys to gather data they can use to enhance and improve marketing campaigns, and they’re willing to pay you to participate. Online surveys are a great way to make some extra cash, and you can complete most of them on your commute to or from work.
How Do Companies Pay You?
When you sign up for a survey site, they’ll ask you qualifying questions during the signup process. These questions help the marketing firm understand your demographic. With this data, they can select the best surveys to send you to get the results they need in campaign testing.
After signing up, the site will start sending you surveys to complete. To incentivize you to complete the survey, the company will pay you for your efforts. Surveys range in the time they take to complete, and the type of questions or tasks they require you to do.
These factors also impact the amount the marketing company is willing to pay you for completing the survey. Some surveys might only offer a reward of as little as $1, while others could net you $30 or more, depending on the research firm and the type of survey.
Most survey companies won’t pay you cold hard cash to your bank account. Many of the companies payout through gift cards, with only a few paying you out through PayPal. Some firms might also send you a monthly check in the mail as well, but those examples are few and far between.
How Much Can You Make with Surveys?
Using surveys to set yourself up a secondary income stream is a great way to earn extra money, but it won’t make you rich. However, you can supplement your income in your spare time when you would otherwise be doing nothing or a task that’s not bringing you any money.
With the right survey site and enough time, you could earn $200 to $300 in a month with the best paying surveys. That’s not exactly enough to let you quit your job, but it gives you some breathing room in your monthly budget.
Can You Join Multiple Survey Sites?
Of course. Nothing is stopping you from signing up to as many survey sites as you want. The only limitation you’ll have is the time you have available to you to complete the surveys. Also, when you sign up for multiple sites, you can select which surveys you want to take and avoid the low-paying jobs.
Best Paid Survey Sites
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of paid survey sites online. So, how do you know where to sign up? We decided to take the hassle out of your due diligence. Here is a list of the best-paid survey sites to earn extra income in 2020.
Swagbucks
Sign up for traditional surveys and other money-making opportunities with Swagbucks.
This popular site has a huge following, and they have a solid reputation in the market. When you complete surveys through the site, you earn “Swagbucks” for your efforts. You can cash your Swagbucks out through PayPal, or redeem them for Amazon gift cards.
When you sign up for Swagbucks, the platform gives you a bonus of $5 into your Swagbucks account. Swagbucks is one of the largest rewards sites, and they pay you out for participating in a variety of activities on the platform.
Take offers, play games, search, watch videos, or make online purchases to earn your Swagbucks. If you decide to complete polls and take surveys for Swagbucks, you can expect each of them to take around 10-minutes to complete. At the current pay rate offered by Swagbucks, that means you earn $6.50 per hour.
That’s far under minimum wage, but these surveys don’t take much brainpower, and you can complete them at any time of the day when you get a gap. If you commit to an hour of surveys a day, 5-days a week, that’s an additional $45,50 per week or $182 per month that you can add to your budget.
Officially, there are 11-ways you can make money through using the Swagbucks site. The straightforward user interface makes navigating the platform a breeze, and there’s plenty of affiliate links on offer for your online shopping.
If you click on the Swagbucks affiliate link when making your purchase, you get points on all purchases that you can redeem in your Swagbucks account. There are plenty of premium retailers participating in the affiliate program, including Nike, Amazon, and Wal-Mart.
If you choose to switch to the Swagbucks search engine instead of relying on Google, the company will even pay you for your searches. You can also earn money by playing games on the Swagbucks site. Wheel of Fortune and Scrabble are some of the top favorites on offer, and with Swagbucks TV, the platform pays you for watching videos.
The website also runs many special offers throughout the year as well. The platform also provides you with daily targets to hit, issuing you bonus points if you meet your day-to-day objectives. Swagbucks also recently launched an app, and they also offer a referral program where you can earn more Swagbucks for introducing your friends and family to the platform.
Since its founding, Swagbucks paid over $600-million in rewards to its members all around the globe. If you’re looking for a great place to start your paid survey career, then we highly recommend the Swagbucks platform.
InboxDollars
Unlike other survey sites, InboxDollars pays you out with cash, making them a top choice on this list as well. The company has a solid reputation in the market, with millions of users.
You can make money on the site doing a host of activities, from surveys to games, to watching videos. After completing your account setup, InboxDollars awards you with a $5 bonus. There’s no points system, and your account will display a dollar value.
When you sign up for email lists and free offers, you’ll also receive a cash bonus, not rewards points. Since its launch, InboxDollars provided more than $57-million in cash rewards to its 10-million members.
InboxDollars also features a user-friendly interface, and you start earning cash right from the start. It should take you less than a month to reach the minimum payout level.
SurveyJunkie
SurveyJunkie is probably the most popular website for paid surveys. As the research division of DISQO!, SurveyJunkie is a legitimate company, and they have a good reputation in the market.
While anyone can sign up for SurveyJunkie, the site focuses on members in developed markets, such as the US, EU, and Australia. If you live outside of these regions, you might find that the site does not send you many surveys because you don’t meet the qualifying criteria.
However, if you do live in the markets mentioned above, there’s plenty of opportunities to take surveys for extra cash. SurveyJunkie award you points for taking surveys on the site, with 100-points being equal to $1. The site also pays you out using cash or gift cards.
When signing up, you get a 100-point bonus, as well as a reward for watching a few brief tutorial videos about the site. When logging onto your account, you’ll notice that you have a points balance, and directly underneath that, you’ll see your dollar balance as well.
SurveyJunkie sends you email alerts when they have a new survey that meets your qualifying criteria. They also provide you with an estimate of how long it will take you to complete the survey as well.
Some of the longer surveys can end up earning you up to $2 each, and if you complete a few every day, it’s not challenging to make $10 a day in minimal time. You’ll need to accumulate at least 1,000-points to qualify for a payout, and you have the choice of receiving your money through PayPal payout, or through gift cards to sites like Amazon.
Some of the shorter surveys on SurveyJunkie don’t pay much, so we recommend you stick to those that have an estimated completion time of 10-minutes or more. Overall, the site is excellent and straightforward to use. Sign up and start taking surveys today.
Toluna
With more than 9-million global users, and a legacy of 17-years as one of the best survey sites, Toluna deserves a spot on this list. This platform provides you with comprehensive questionnaires that are easy to complete.
Similar to the other sites mentioned so far, Toluna also offers you plenty of options for making money on its website. You can play games and even receive free products for testing. You get your reward through points awarded to you through the platform, which you can then cash out with PayPal, or through gift cards for iTunes and Amazon.
Another exciting feature of Toluna is that the platform allows you to “gamble” your points for prizes. You can play with as little as 500-points. However, the site only lets you cash out when you reach a minimum of 60,000-points, which equates to $12.
If you want to see if Lady Luck is on your side, then you have the option of receiving a “giftie” which works in the same manner as a lottery ticket. When you gamble your points, you can see if you win the gift, or you lose all of your points – it’s a risk, but you might win.
When signing up for product testing, it’s essential that you’re honest with your profile information. The product testing projects typically last for up to a few months, and you’ll receive a reward for completing your review.
There are a few downsides to using Toluna. It seems to take two or three days for points to show up in your account after completing a paid task. This strategy might be a standard practice in the industry, but the other sites in this review credit your account much faster.
Accumulating 60,000-points for a minimum withdrawal also seems to take a long time, and many users end up gambling away their points before they cash out. The Toluna community is worth investigating, and they do have one of the best offerings online, even with these shortcomings.
Prize Rebel
This platform is transparent about the amount they pay to members. When logging into your account, you’ll notice the system displays a real-time payout clock showing the amount the company dispersed to its user base in the last 24-hours.
With 9-years in operation and over $9-million in cash rewards paid to members, Prize Rebel is another leading paid survey site worth considering. Prize Rebel also offers you daily challenges to complete for extra points, and 100-points equates to $1.
The site pays you out through PayPal, gift cards, and even in Bitcoin, making it the popular choice for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Ipsos
Ipsos specializes in opinion polls and market research. The company is one of the largest in the world and has an excellent reputation in the industry. Ipsos sends you surveys directly to your email inbox every week, and you can complete it and send it back in exchange for points on your Ipsos account.
Ipsos focuses on surveys, so you won’t find any other money-making opportunities on the site as you do with the others mentioned in this review. Ipsos pays you out through Amazon gift cards, and there are also prize draws for members as well.
Do Paid Surveys Really Work? – The Verdict
The survey sites mentioned in this review are the cream of the crop, and you won’t find any better. There are hundreds of sites online offering surveys, and many of them are scams or don’t pay you out as they promise.
However, if you stick to the sites on this list, you won’t have any problems getting paid. You’ll also set yourself up with another income stream that bolsters your finances through the month.
Paid surveys won’t allow you to replace your current income, but they do offer a legitimate way to bring in more money to your bank account. Sign up for a few of the sites on this list, and start taking surveys today.
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