The Online Survey

The online survey business is a multi-million dollar a year industry. There are thousands of people that get paid online just for taking surveys. Why is it such a big business? Here's how it works: Company X comes out with a new website, but they need to know what the average Joe thinks about it. Company X then goes to a survey panel company and pays them $20,000 to get detailed opinions from 1000 people. The survey panel company has been collecting names for just such an occasion. On average, a survey panel has at least 50,000 members, all people that are waiting to get invited to take a survey and get paid real money. So the survey company selects maybe 5000 people with varying demographics to take this new survey. They offer to pay each of their members $15 for ten minutes of their time. The 5000 members are very pleased because they are essentially making $90 an hour. The survey company is still getting paid $5 for every survey or $5000. The first 1000 members to respond to the survey company's invitation will then be taken into the survey. A survey usually consists of a series of multiple choice and rating questions. For example, Company X will want to know on a scale of 1 to 5, how appealing is their website? Would you spend money on their website? Would you revisit their website? Surveys vary in size and time, but they all have one thing in common. They all want to know what you think.

Sometimes a company uses surveys to gather data before they release a new product. Company Z may need to know what kinds of electronic regulators doctors prefer in their exam rooms. In this case, the survey panel would invite all of the doctors in their database to participate in the survey. The doctors then get paid to give their thoughts and feelings about existing equipment and Company Z has valuable survey data to consider while developing their new product.

The exciting thing about taking surveys online is that average people can make money just for sitting at their computer and giving their opinion. One drawback to this method of survey research is that Company Z has no idea who the survey taker sitting at the other end truly is. The survey taker might not be a doctor, but a 16 year old kid posing as one in order to make some easy money online. There are many other variations to the online paid survey including online focus groups, phone surveys, and product testing. There are dozens of survey companies to choose from online. A lot of people sign up with all of them in order to increase their chances of receiving invitations and making money. There are plenty of websites that offer free listings of these survey companies. EarnSurveyMoney is one such website. Another alternative is to purchase a list of survey companies. Many people consider this an investment worth making. The average cost of a survey company list is about $40.