Regular Participation Tips
Read these 6 Regular Participation Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Survey tips and hundreds of other topics.
Facts about Participating in Online Surveys
•Participating in surveys offers the
consumer a valuable opportunity to
share their opinion about the products
and services that they buy. These
opinions are gathered by the
manufacturers and can be used to
change the way products are delivered.
Facts are also gathered by government
and civic agencies to determine the
demographic make-up of our country.
Your responses contribute to the
accuracy of research studies that
could affect the lives of many people.
•Survey groups are free to join.
Legitimate companies never charge a
fee to allow you to take surveys, in
fact; they usually offer an incentive
to thank you for participating.
•Surveys usually only take a few
minutes of your time as companies try
to keep them as brief as possible. If
they will require more time, you are
told in advance.
•After receiving notification of a
survey, you will have anywhere from 24
hours up to a week to complete it.
However, after the target number of
surveys has been completed the survey
will be closed even if it is before
the deadline.
Participating in Surveys Targeted to a Niche Demographic
When you fill out your profile survey for survey companies, it is helpful to be specific about your personal information. This way you can be invited to surveys that specifically target a group of people that you might be included in, such as a study of smokers or non-smokers, divorced or married people, people with children of certain ages, people of certain ethnic backgrounds, or people of certain professions. These surveys also may compensate you better for your time because you are a member of the target group and you qualify for the survey.
How to Regularly Participate in Online Research Surveys
There are many free sites on the Internet that will provide lists of survey companies that compensate to take surveys. Research each company listed to compare the compensation plans, amount of personal information needed, frequency of surveys and type of surveys offered (i.e. online surveys, phone surveys, in-person surveys, or focus groups). When you find one or more that match up to your needs, fill out the online application providing your e-mail address to be contacted. After you sign up you may be contacted as often as every other day or as infrequently as every few months depending on the amount of surveys offered through the company you chose. When you are selected for a survey, you will receive an e-mail asking you to either follow a link to the survey or log on to the company website to take the survey. If you have opted in your application to accept phone surveys, in person surveys, or product testing surveys, you will also receive specific instructions about these through your e-mail.
Attract More Suitable Surveys through Household Questions
When you spend a good part of your day participating in surveys for various companies, it can be discouraging to take the qualification surveys only to find out you were not qualified to take the whole survey. One way to avoid this and only receive surveys that you are qualified for is to log on to the company's website and follow the links to update your household information. The questions will ask about all the products and services used by people living in your household as well as the profile information for you and your household members. Although filling in this information can be time-consuming, it will save time in the future by allowing the survey company to screen which surveys you receive. Of course, the more qualified surveys you receive the more likely you are to be compensated or earn prizes and rewards.
Regular Participation Equals More Opportunities for Surveys and Incentives
If you check your e-mail for surveys often and respond promptly to requests for surveys, you become a reliable survey-taker. This will lead to more survey requests. The more requests you receive, the more opportunity you have to qualify for a survey offering a large incentive. In other words, if you are regularly available for the small, no compensation surveys, you are more likely to be available for the large incentive surveys when they become available.
The more surveys you take, the better your chance of making money, winning prizes, and keeping products. Additionally, the more survey companies you are signed on with, the more opportunity you have to qualify for different surveys. With regular participation, surveying could become a part-time job.
Types of Surveys Available
Survey sites can offer many different types of surveys to participate in that will fit into your lifestyle and schedule. Some of the different types are:
•Online Surveys- received in your e-mail up to every day. You just
follow the link in the e-mail to complete the survey. This can be done
from any where that you access a computer- home or at work.
•Phone Surveys- can be done at home or on-the-go when you provide the survey company your home or cell phone number to call for a survey. These are
usually preceded by an e-mail invitation to get your permission to
call at a certain time.
•In-Person Surveys- require you to live close enough to a facility to travel to them at a certain time on a certain date. You will be well compensated for these surveys as they may require that you spend a good part of the day there participating in surveys or focus groups.
•Online or In Person Focus Groups- require that you be available to meet
with several other people for a group discussion either online or at a
facility to discuss certain products or services. These also are very well compensated because they require more time to complete, usually several hours.
