Surveys are an excellent way to earn money online. However, there are a few points that you need to beware of to ensure that you are not a victim of any scam.
This article has been written after vast experience in the online survey for money market and if you follow these tips, it will help you to make money online effortlessly.
The tips given here are insider secrets and will help you to stay away from scams, increase your income and also reduce the time you spend in taking each of the surveys.
First, go through these 15 golden tips that will help you to stay away from scams and earn more income as a survey taker.
Although online surveys are a great way to make money online, most of the people lose more than earning due to the scams. Also, to earn well as a survey taker, here are a few tips that you will have to consider.
Surveys will not make you rich
Despite the hypes and promises, you will definitely not make a wealth by earning few dollars. Accept the fact that you might not even make as much as your day job pays you by taking surveys. However, you can make a fair amount of money each month by taking surveys.
Do not pay to sign up
Legitimate survey sites will never ask you to pay a registration fee to sign up for their website and if a website prompts you to pay, stay away from it as it is definitely a scam.
Do not pay to get a list of survey sites
Certain sites will sell you a list of hundreds of survey panel sites for a certain fee. However, you can get the same list for free if you research for a while and you will also have researched to know about its credibility.
Read Reviews
Before signing up for any website, make sure that you read their reviews from other sites and you will get to know more about what other people have to say.
More Ads do not mean that the site is legitimate
If you see the ads of a particular survey site repeatedly, it does not mean that the site is genuine. Scam websites will also advertise heavily to lure you.
Be a part of multiple legitimate survey panels
To earn considerable amount of money each month by taking surveys, sign up for multiple websites to receive more invitations, so that you can choose from the sites that pay you more.
You can read here about taking legitimate surveys while taking it at home.
Read the Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions
They might appear to be lengthy. However, take time out to read the privacy policy and terms and conditions to make sure that the site is legit. It only takes a few minutes, but is worth every minute you spend on it.
Create a separate e-mail id for surveys
Use a new e-mail id to sign up for surveys. This will help you to stay organized and your personal content will also be kept safe. You can also use secondary inbox to make sure that you do not mix your important mails with the spam mails from surveys. Read more about the heads up in starting to take surveys in here.
Use Auto-fill tools
To save your time in filling the same information multiple times for every survey you take, it is best recommended that you use auto-fill as it will save time.
Receive Payments on PayPal
Gone are the days of check and it is better to use PayPal to receive your payments. Creating a PayPal account is free and you will not have to pay bank charges either.
Keep your SSN confidential
Legitimate survey companies will never ask for your SSN and it is not required as long you do not earn over $600 during a financial tax year. Hence, do not fill in your SSN details unless you have earned more than $600.
Keep the E-mail invitation
When you receive a survey invite, make sure that you retain the e-mail as you might need the unique reference id if you run into problems later. Start a new label in your inbox for Survey Invitations so that you do not delete it accidently.
Maintain a track of the surveys you complete
You should maintain a history of all the surveys you take so that you can raise a claim if the money is not credited to your account.
Keep your profile complete
Usually, survey companies check for the profile before sending out a survey. Hence, make sure that it is complete so that you receive the maximum invites form survey companies.
Check your e-mail regularly
Survey companies will prefer sending invites to people who respond quickly. Hence, make sure that you respond to any survey mails you get.
- There are several multiple survey sites that offer legitimate surveys and pay you. Make sure that you are a part of several such panels.
- Do not keep any secrets from the survey.
- Companies use these surveys for research.
- These surveys help companies to know what the customer wants and hence, they will design the product based on your review. Provide precise feedback.
- Certain survey panels also invite members as young as 13 years old to participate in the survey.
- Surveys can be taken at any time based on your convenience from any remote location, as long as you are connected to the internet.
- You need to provide a certain amount of personal information to participate in a few surveys. Make sure that you provide your personal information only to trusted companies.
- Generally, companies do not prefer reviews and feedback from professionals. So make sure that you do not project yourself as a professional reviewer. There are chances that the company pays differently for the same survey through multiple survey sites. Choose the best one.
- Do not expect to make a wealth out of it. By spending 2-3 hours daily, you can ear $300-$600 monthly.
- The paid survey invitations are sent out based on your demographics. Make sure that you fill it properly.
- Complete all surveys that you get invites for.
- The compensation and reward of the survey will also be mentioned in along with the survey invite mostly.
- A few surveys will give you entry to sweepstakes rather than paying you for it.
- Surveys that give you sweepstake entries as rewards are easy to complete and will not take much time.
- Some surveys will pay you higher once you complete the sweepstake survey that was sent before it.
- Once you have placed all the survey sites you have signed up for in a particular folder, keep visiting it daily as you just have to click and drop. This will make sure that you are marked as an active member.
- Navigate to the profile page or member’s area of the survey site so that you are familiar about the details you have filled in.
- Few survey sites will ask you to fill in details regarding your job and also about the products you use. Fill in a minimum of 3 products you use and select your job as ‘None of the above’.
- If they ask you for details regarding your income and postal address, be honest and fill it in as it is only used for verification.
- Be truthful about your feedback and give your opinion. There is no right or wrong answer.
- Put in your efforts when your opinion is required.
- Be careful while answering questions based on your opinion as survey sites blend in questions in the survey to make sure that you are paying attention to the questions.
- Market research companies will require your feedback to a great extent. Make sure that you support the feedback you provide.
- A few surveys will ask if you have participated in surveys relating to a similar product. Make sure that you answer in negative.
- Although taking surveys will never make you rich, it does serve as an additional source of income which will definitely help you lead a better lifestyle.
- Stay updated about the ongoing market trends. Market research companies will ask for surveys related to the news in the market.
- Dedicate a certain amount of time daily for taking surveys and stick to it.
- Survey sites that are less popular will pay you more for every survey you take. However, the total surveys they offer monthly are less.
- Sign up for more survey site
- Stick to a group of paid survey sites that exclusively send out surveys based on a single topic. This will help you to answer the questions better and you will also earn more.
- Stick to sites that have better quality of survey. They often pay you more compared to other sites.
- Once you complete a survey, attach a note to the survey invite that the survey is complete, so that you have a track.
- Survey sites might also ask you to be a part of focus groups at times. Make sure that you sign up for focus groups as they pay you well ($50-$200).
- Survey sites might also ask you to take part in product testing. Even they pay fairly well for testing their product.
- Survey sites prefer to have a large panel and hence, pay you for referring your friends. Try signing up your friends for surveys, as you will earn better.
- After you earn $600+ from a single survey website in a single financial year, they will send a 1099 tax form for income. Be aware of it.
- Previously, survey sites used to pay using checks and gift cards. However, they are now sticking to PayPal for transferring funds.
- If you are on a vacation or will not be able to take surveys for a few days, make sure that you keep the survey site informed about the same. If not, they will suspend your account due to the inactivity. By doing so, you can prevent your account from being flagged inactive.
- If you receive a product testing invite, follow the instructions mentioned precisely so that you get more such invites from the survey sites.
- Keep telling yourself that survey sites will not make you richer and you can only treat it as a supplement to your regular income.
- Surveys usually make a nice source for additional income and keep yourself active in a few survey sites to attract more.
Summary
We have covered almost everything related to surveys in this article find out more in here. If you have any further queries, feel free to drop a comment and we will get back to you.
