Working from home was once a privilege for a few select people, but now, it seems like everyone is turning to remote work and freelancing. Even those who leave the house each day for full-time jobs often need side gigs to help them manage their finances or build some savings.
One of the best-kept secrets in the remote working world is paid online surveys. While this gig will not make you wealthy, it’s the perfect side-job to earn a few bucks here and there. In this post, we’ll discuss the perks of working from home, including how paid surveys work, how to find a legit survey site, some tips on taking online surveys, and more.
The Advantages of Working From Home
It was pretty tough to get a work-from-home job just a short time ago. Employers were under the mistaken impression that nothing would get done if they let their employees work from home. Then the COVID pandemic came along and forced organizations all over the globe to let their employees work virtually.
In most cases, the idea that people would just lay around and do nothing without an office to go to was debunked. In fact, employees actually became more productive a lot of the time!
Now it seems like everyone is working remotely. And that’s a good thing for many reasons. Of course, as always, it’s still hard for families to make ends meet even with a full-time job. As a result, many individuals seek out side gigs or weekend jobs to help with expenses. One popular side-hustle people are turning to is paid online surveys.
The advantages of working online doing paid surveys are numerous and include:
A Completely Flexible Schedule
With paid surveys, you can work anytime you want, night or day, and there are no time clocks to punch or deadlines to meet. You can take breaks whenever it’s convenient for you and even take days or weeks off from doing surveys, returning only when the mood strikes. If you’re trying to balance a full-time job with a side gig like paid surveys, flexibility is essential.
You Control Your Work Environment
You can work at a desk, at the kitchen table, on the living room floor, or even from your bed with paid surveys. You can adjust the heat or air conditioner to suit your needs, have a snack whenever you want, and even listen to music if you like. You’re in control.
Wear What You Like
Gone are the days of getting dressed to the nines just to spend time in a cubicle. Working from home means you can wear your coziest clothes (yes, even your pajamas) if that’s what makes you happy.
Fewer Distractions
This may be true for some and less accurate for others. For example, you’ll be less distracted by chatty coworkers, unproductive team meetings, fire drills, and the like. But you might have to put up with other types of distractions, such as interrupting toddlers. This leads us to the next point:
More Time With Those You Love
Working at home means you can be there for your family and not miss out on all the special moments in life. You can take time out for an impromptu tea party or a walk to the park without anyone breathing down your neck. And if someone is sick, you’ll be there to care for them.
No Commuting
When you work at home, there is no commuting involved. You can go straight from your bed to your desk if you choose. That also means no red lights, honking horns, traffic jams, and angry motorists to deal with. Plus, you’ll save a bundle on gas and vehicle maintenance.
Spend Less Money on Food
If you’re working from home, you don’t need to worry about stopping for a $4 coffee or getting an expensive sandwich you don’t even like. Your own kitchen is right there, where you can prepare a healthy and delicious lunch just steps away from your workspace.
Are you convinced yet that working from home has some significant advantages over a job outside of the house? Next, we’ll talk more about paid online surveys and how they work.
Survey Fatigue
You probably already know more about surveys than you care to. Yet, it seems like every store, restaurant, or business you visit asks you to fill out a survey of some type. Whether that’s a number to call at the bottom of your cash register receipt or a paper questionnaire, businesses are always looking for feedback.
Online, it’s even worse. Every time you visit a website to make a purchase, you’re inundated with requests to leave a review. In some cases, it’s hard to even close out of the site without providing some feedback about your experience.
As a result of all this, consumers have become wary of taking surveys. We barely see them anymore. They end up at the bottom of the trashcan most of the time. To solve this problem, market research companies came up with the idea of paid surveys.
How Do Paid Surveys Work?
Paid surveys were developed to compensate consumers for the time and effort spent filling out feedback questionnaires. After all, if are going to get paid to take surveys, you’re more apt to take a few minutes and fill them out instead of getting nothing in return.
The idea stuck, and now thousands of companies use paid surveys to gather data on the products and services consumers like or dislike. This information is valuable and can be used to make decisions about what to introduce to the marketplace.
To coordinate all of the paid surveys in one spot (and thus get the maximum number of individuals to fill them out), marketers developed sites specifically for hosting paid surveys. Now, many online survey sites offer consumers a way to make some spare cash in exchange for their opinions.
Scam Survey Sites
Of course, as with all good things, scammers eventually try to make a fast buck using the same ideas and methods. As a result, you’ll find a good many scam survey sites online as well. These sites only exist to collect your personal information. At best, they sell it to other companies who will spam you with ads. At worst, they use it to steal your identity.
So clearly, if you want to do paid surveys for money, you need to be able to spot the difference between a scam survey site and the real deal. Here’s how you know you are dealing with scammers:
They Ask You for Your Sensitive Financial Information Like Your Social Security or Bank Account Numbers.
Legit survey sites will ask you for some basic personal information such as your name, address, and date of birth. This is so they can send you surveys explicitly tailored to your demographics. But they will never ask you for sensitive financial information.
They Promise To Pay You $25, $50, or More per Survey.
Genuine online surveys pay between $0.50 to $3.00, depending on the length of the questionnaire. Companies could never afford to pay more since it would defeat the purpose of obtaining data inexpensively. And think about it—if you could really make that much just for your opinion, wouldn’t more people be doing it?
They Ask You for a Fee To Join.
A legit survey company will never ask you for money. It’s always the other way around. So stay away from any site that requests a fee (however modest) to be a part of their site.
They Have Bad Reviews.
Almost every product or organization has a few online reviews these days, and you should look to those first when choosing a survey site. If you can’t find any good reviews or all you come across are complaints, you’re likely dealing with a scam site.
They Have No Contact Methods.
Scam sites don’t want to be found, so they are unlikely to share contact information or have a way to reach out with questions. On the other hand, a legit site will always provide a way to communicate, whether via email, a phone number, chatbox, or a ticketing system.
Tips on Taking Surveys From Home
So now you know about how to find a legit paid survey site and what to avoid. Assuming you’re found the site you wish to work with, the next step is to sign up and start making some money!
Getting started is easy. All you need to do is fill out your basic contact information, confirm your email, and you’ll be good to go.
Here are some tips for getting the most out of paid survey sites
Be Sure To Fill Out Your Profile Surveys
When you first join a survey site, you’ll have several surveys available to you called “profile surveys.” These questionnaires are designed to get to know you better so the site can hook you up with the surveys most appropriate for your age, gender, interests, etc. You’ll get credit for profile surveys, so be sure to fill them out as they will ensure you get as many survey opportunities as possible.
Set Up a Schedule for Taking Surveys
As we discussed above, one of the best things about working from home is the ability to set your own schedule. When you do paid surveys, you can complete the work any time you want, 24/7, 365 days a year. While that’s super-convenient, it can also backfire—especially if you tend to procrastinate. The best way to succeed with paid surveys is to set aside time to do them every day. Whether that’s 15 minutes during your morning commute or an hour before bed, consistent effort means consistent payouts.
Answer the Questionnaires Wholly and Honestly
If you rush through your surveys and don’t give accurate and honest responses, it’s a distinct possibility that you won’t get credit for them. Additionally, you may not get invited to take more surveys. There are safeguards in place to ensure this does not happen, and companies know how long a survey should take. Therefore, think about each question carefully and answer to the best of your ability, leaving nothing blank.
Closing Thoughts
Paid Online Surveys go perfectly with today’s remote working movement. Even if you already have a few other side gigs, surveys can be a great way to score a little cash for some of the extras in life. Plus, in addition to being fun, surveys let ordinary people help shape the products and services of the future, and that’s pretty exciting.
