An astonishing 6 hours and 42 minutes a day — that’s the average amount of time people all over the world spend online. On a long-term scale, that translates to about a quarter of their lives!
In the US alone, mobile internet usage has risen — 20 minutes more in 2019 than in 2018. In 2019, adults in the US spent an average of 3 hours and 30 minutes a day on mobile internet alone.
Sounds familiar? If so, then why not consider taking surveys online for money? By spending some of your time answering these surveys, you can earn some cash that you can then keep as savings!
The big question now is, which sites should you visit to get paid for surveys online? How do these paid survey sites work in the first place, anyway? This post will cover all the bases, so be sure to stick around and keep reading!
What’s The Goal Of These Survey Companies?
It’s all about market research, which, by the way, is a $22 billion global industry in 2020.
Market research involves figuring out what makes consumers tick. Researchers look at consumer behavior, such as what it’ll take to make them spend money on a product or a service.
Since it’s all about the market, these companies need to get in touch with the masses. That’s why they pay survey companies to connect with consumers. In turn, a survey company will roll out these surveys to find out what consumers have to say.
As a consumer, surveys give you a platform to tell companies how you like your potato chips. They provide you with a way to say to media companies the kind of songs that make you dance. Surveys even let you rant about lousy food, healthcare, or travel experiences you’ve had!
Survey companies (and their clients) know that your time is valuable, though. That’s why they’ll compensate you for answering their surveys. Their compensation can either be cash or points that you can redeem as cash or as free gift cards.
How Do These Sites Work?
They only ask you to answer questions about various topics. You can share your experiences and opinions about products, services, and places. The topics themselves are so broad that you should be able to answer a lot of them.
Are They Worth It?
Some are but set your expectations — paid surveys are a creative way to make money online, but they do take time to pay off. You’ll get paid for each survey, but depending on the site, you need to rack up a set number of points before you can cash out. Some sites also require a minimum number of payments before you can redeem them.
Also, some sites pay more than others, while some have higher bars on the minimum required points. They also have “disqualification” systems, usually based on age, location, or marital status. Some sites are better in filtering ineligible offers, but they’re not always 100% spot on.
That said, most paid surveys are easy and short — they can take 5, 10, or 20 minutes. You can squeeze in a few of these as you wait for a bus or a cab, or while taking breaks between your cooking activities.
Surveys can be worth it if you spend a lot of time online, just perusing or browsing sites. For only a few minutes each day, you can earn extra cash that you can build up in the long run.
The Best Sites to Take Surveys Online for Money
To start getting paid for surveys, you’d need to sign up with each survey site using a valid email. Provide them with some details about yourself, like what you do for a living and your interests. What’s important is to be honest, as this will help filter out surveys you don’t qualify for.
What you should not share, however, is your social security number or credit card info. Legitimate survey sites would never ask for that personal information.
On that note, here’s the ultimate list of survey sites you can join to make extra cash now.
1.Opinion Outpost
The site boasts of an intuitive and user-friendly platform that makes it easy to take surveys. You simply hit the button that says “Take a Survey”, and then feed the form your answers. It uses a point system that you can convert into rewards like PayPal cash or gift cards for Amazon and iTunes.
Aside from that button, you can also answer more surveys by accessing them via emails. Opinion Outpost sends these emails every day, so if you have more free time, check them out. In addition to surveys, you can also get rewarded for watching new advertisements. If you qualify, you can even test out upcoming product prototypes!
2.Survey Junkie
The site tells you that you need to be in the US, Canada, or Australia to become a member. As with all other sites, Survey Junkie has various payouts for each survey — about $1 to $3. Still, the longer the survey is, the more compensation you’ll receive. As for the number of surveys you can complete, the most common is one per week or four per month.
Once you earn at least 500 points, you can cash them out via e-gift cards, PayPal, or direct bank transfers. This depends on where exactly you are, though, as there are geographical restrictions. gift cards and bank transfers are only for US residents.
3.Swagbucks
Swagbucks caters to more places, such as North America, Australia, and the UK. Some Asian countries also qualify.
What makes this survey company a good option is that they offer various ways to earn points. Aside from paid surveys, you can also rack up “Swagbucks” (SB) by playing video games and watching ads! You also get cashback rewards by using your SB points to shop online or in-store.
Most rewards are in the form of gift cards, including those for Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart. If you earn 2,500 Swagbucks points, you can convert that to $25 via PayPal.
4.InboxDollars
InboxDollars, like Swagbucks, also reward through surveys and playing games. Moreover, you can rack up cash by watching videos and shopping on-site. There are also various other online tasks that you can complete to earn money.
One feature of the site is that they have a straightforward survey qualification. For instance, some of their surveys say that they’re for students, while others are for seniors. This helps to trim down late disqualification, which can be annoying.
As for rewards, InboxDollars use an actual cash-based system and not points. You can then “withdraw” your cash via PayPal, cash check, or convert it to gift cards. However, do note that most surveys on this site pay about $0.50 to $5.00 per survey. So, your actual earnings will still depend on how many surveys and activities you finish.
5.Toluna
Toluna has significant rewards (up to 50,000 points per survey), but it also has the lowest at 15 points. Of course, the longer surveys take a lot more time, so they come with higher rewards. Still, not everyone will qualify for the big prizes, so it may take you much longer to get enough points to cash out.
However, you’ll get 100 points for every personal profile you fill out to help you build points. Doing so will also help you qualify for future surveys. At the same time, this will help reduce your risks of getting disqualified in the middle of a survey.
Toluna offers many types of rewards, including the usual PayPal and Amazon gift cards. However, it also has more interesting ones, such as their “Plant a Tree” rewards! For as little as 10,000 points, you can have a tree planted in Peru, Uganda, or Thailand.
Earn Extra Cash by Answering These Surveys Now
There you have it, your ultimate guide on taking surveys online for money. As you can see, they can be extra money-makers for some, especially those who spend hours online. They don’t pay a lot, but if you can do at least one or two of them a day, you can earn a few bucks each week or month.