Some Sites Are The Same
I recently posted on on of the biggest survey companies in the field of online surveys, Survey Sampling International.
Just to show how intertwined SSI is with some of the online survey sites you may be using, SSI actually has different survey sites that are actually the same, although they may be named differently. Take for example Opinion Outpost, one of the better online survey sites, and Choozz.com. Sounds completely different, doesn't it? But in effect they are mirror images of each other and both are owned and operated by SSI. There are several other SSI owned and operated survey sites and if you are serious about online surveys you are bound to rub up against one or another of the SSI products. And less you think that more is better, SSI does have it's fingers on the pulse of its surveys and signing up for more than one will likely have you running up against the SSI overlords who will bump you off one if you are doing surveys on the other. There are holes in that dike, but in general they are ahead of the game when it comes to survey takers trying to double up, or triple up for that matter.
Curiously, many online survey companies will conduct surveys that you will find popping up on other sites. That's probably because the companies that do surveys - particularly the advertising-based ones - spread their so-called surveys far and wide. It's like television advertising, the more channels an ad appears on the better because it will get more people watching it.
While all this is not terribly relevant to anyone but the serious online survey aficionado, it is interesting to realize that online survey taking is a big business and the biggest company in the game is very serious about what they do.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Why The Small Buttons?
One of the most frustrating complaints about taking surveys is that the design of the surveys are so irritating. I mean when surveys ask you to click on a box or a radio button they are often so small that they make you feel like you are trying to thread a needle.
There's a reason for this. Survey companies want you to take your time on a survey - particularly if the survey is really an ad disguised as a survey. So, having to be careful when you point your mouse arrow on a box is part of the strategy. Of course, the survey companies don't take into account that such tactics can often turn off survey takers. They don't have to. There's a whole lot of people out there and they are more than willing to put up with such tactics to get a prize or a few dollars.
There's not a whole lot you can do about this, except to increase the size of your computer screen so the images become larger. That may make the picture look somewhat unclear so you'll have to play around a little bit to see what works best for you.
One of the most frustrating complaints about taking surveys is that the design of the surveys are so irritating. I mean when surveys ask you to click on a box or a radio button they are often so small that they make you feel like you are trying to thread a needle.
There's a reason for this. Survey companies want you to take your time on a survey - particularly if the survey is really an ad disguised as a survey. So, having to be careful when you point your mouse arrow on a box is part of the strategy. Of course, the survey companies don't take into account that such tactics can often turn off survey takers. They don't have to. There's a whole lot of people out there and they are more than willing to put up with such tactics to get a prize or a few dollars.
There's not a whole lot you can do about this, except to increase the size of your computer screen so the images become larger. That may make the picture look somewhat unclear so you'll have to play around a little bit to see what works best for you.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Survey Sampling International - The Big Guy in the survey business
When it comes to online surveys, there are few bigger companies than Survey Sampling International. Many of the surveys you receive come via Survey Sampling, even if they don't say Survey Sampling International, or SSI, on the survey or on the survey invitation (on occasion you might see the letters ssi in the url of the website where a survey is located).
SSI has offices all over the world - from the U.S. to Spain, from the U.K. to Korea. SSI proclaims itself as the "world's largest providers of sampling, data collection and data analytic solutions for survey research. It says it reaches people in 72 countries and has 30 worldwide offices. They conduct surveys in 36 languages and says it works with more than 2000 companies to do surveys and product sampling, among other things. If there is anything being done in the survey research, opinion marketing, or data collection business it's likely SSI has a hand in it.
What does this mean for online survey takers? Not a great deal. Many of the surveys you might take or survey sites you may visit are actually fronts for SSI and it's business partners. It's also of interest that sites or surveys that offer cash rewards, how much they offer, or what other prizes may be available are determined by the clients SSI works with. If some client wants a survey but doesn't want to spend a lot, you might find the rewards for taking a survey fairly puny.
How big is SSI? They say they conduct around six million interviews (surveys) a year. How much does that ad up to. I don't know but you can bet it's a lot of money - after all it's not cheap to have offices all over the world. How much of that comes to you the survey taker? Not very much - but then again you aren't in this for the money are you?
When it comes to online surveys, there are few bigger companies than Survey Sampling International. Many of the surveys you receive come via Survey Sampling, even if they don't say Survey Sampling International, or SSI, on the survey or on the survey invitation (on occasion you might see the letters ssi in the url of the website where a survey is located).
SSI has offices all over the world - from the U.S. to Spain, from the U.K. to Korea. SSI proclaims itself as the "world's largest providers of sampling, data collection and data analytic solutions for survey research. It says it reaches people in 72 countries and has 30 worldwide offices. They conduct surveys in 36 languages and says it works with more than 2000 companies to do surveys and product sampling, among other things. If there is anything being done in the survey research, opinion marketing, or data collection business it's likely SSI has a hand in it.
What does this mean for online survey takers? Not a great deal. Many of the surveys you might take or survey sites you may visit are actually fronts for SSI and it's business partners. It's also of interest that sites or surveys that offer cash rewards, how much they offer, or what other prizes may be available are determined by the clients SSI works with. If some client wants a survey but doesn't want to spend a lot, you might find the rewards for taking a survey fairly puny.
How big is SSI? They say they conduct around six million interviews (surveys) a year. How much does that ad up to. I don't know but you can bet it's a lot of money - after all it's not cheap to have offices all over the world. How much of that comes to you the survey taker? Not very much - but then again you aren't in this for the money are you?
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Age Matters
Does your age matter when it comes to taking online surveys? Well, yes and no.
Certainly your age makes a difference when it comes to the surveys you are likely to receive or be eligible to take. After all, we're talking about advertising here. That's what most online survey taking is about, advertisers trying to get your opinion about their products. More specifically it's about advertisers trying to entice you into buying their products.
Advertising has become much more multi-dimensional these days. Where once an ad on television, on radio, or in the newspaper was sufficient, that's no longer true today. With the advent of technology like Tivo and DVR's advertisers are having to work much harder to get your eyeballs on their product. Online survey taking is just one more bullet in their holster.
Where does age come into this. It's all about demographics. The prime audience for most advertisers is the 18 to 30 year old. That's why so much of today's television programming is geared to them. So, advertisers are trying any means possible to reach them. It's true in online survey taking as well. All surveys will ask you what you're age is before letting you complete a survey. At the very least they'll ask you your age so they can categorize the responses they receive. If you are within the prime demographic you are probably more likely to get access to more surveys.
If you are not in that demographic you'll still be able to get access to lots of surveys, but it might be just a little harder for you to total up as much in cash and prizes if you are 40, 50 or 60 years old as opposed to being an 18, 20 or 30 year old.
On the other hand, the seniors among us may find themselves gaining access to more products the younger generation is not. These would include drugs, medical devices and procedures, health and wellness surveys, etc.
Yet, I'm betting being younger is going to get you more survey opportunities. That's kind of odd, because it's the older population that is probably spending more time taking online surveys, I suspect, either as an added income source or because they have more leisure time to spend on what is a more sedentary activity. Either way, it's nice to see the dollars pile up.
Does your age matter when it comes to taking online surveys? Well, yes and no.
Certainly your age makes a difference when it comes to the surveys you are likely to receive or be eligible to take. After all, we're talking about advertising here. That's what most online survey taking is about, advertisers trying to get your opinion about their products. More specifically it's about advertisers trying to entice you into buying their products.
Advertising has become much more multi-dimensional these days. Where once an ad on television, on radio, or in the newspaper was sufficient, that's no longer true today. With the advent of technology like Tivo and DVR's advertisers are having to work much harder to get your eyeballs on their product. Online survey taking is just one more bullet in their holster.
Where does age come into this. It's all about demographics. The prime audience for most advertisers is the 18 to 30 year old. That's why so much of today's television programming is geared to them. So, advertisers are trying any means possible to reach them. It's true in online survey taking as well. All surveys will ask you what you're age is before letting you complete a survey. At the very least they'll ask you your age so they can categorize the responses they receive. If you are within the prime demographic you are probably more likely to get access to more surveys.
If you are not in that demographic you'll still be able to get access to lots of surveys, but it might be just a little harder for you to total up as much in cash and prizes if you are 40, 50 or 60 years old as opposed to being an 18, 20 or 30 year old.
On the other hand, the seniors among us may find themselves gaining access to more products the younger generation is not. These would include drugs, medical devices and procedures, health and wellness surveys, etc.
Yet, I'm betting being younger is going to get you more survey opportunities. That's kind of odd, because it's the older population that is probably spending more time taking online surveys, I suspect, either as an added income source or because they have more leisure time to spend on what is a more sedentary activity. Either way, it's nice to see the dollars pile up.
Monday, February 20, 2012
NEED FOR SPEED ... BUT
If you've been reading this blog you know that I often preach the "need for speed" when taking surveys if you have any hope of making any money. While survey companies don't want you to speed through at all, it really is a must if you are going to be an active online survey taker.
Of course, the survey companies do try to put some speed bumps in your way. The threat of ending a survey or kicking you out of a survey panel is made by all survey companies, but few if any of them actually follow through on the threat.
Yet, there is one thing you have to be aware of as you speed along, and that is the question that will pop up occasionally that will ask you to click a particular box or question as a test. Clicking incorrectly on these questions will end your session immediately. Sometimes the survey will say "click on 'not applicable' here", or something like that. If you miss it and are speeding along checking off random answers you'll be trapped and kicked out of the survey.
So, by all means speed along but try and stay focused on answering the questions correctly - or at least watch out for the "gotcha" questions.
If you've been reading this blog you know that I often preach the "need for speed" when taking surveys if you have any hope of making any money. While survey companies don't want you to speed through at all, it really is a must if you are going to be an active online survey taker.
Of course, the survey companies do try to put some speed bumps in your way. The threat of ending a survey or kicking you out of a survey panel is made by all survey companies, but few if any of them actually follow through on the threat.
Yet, there is one thing you have to be aware of as you speed along, and that is the question that will pop up occasionally that will ask you to click a particular box or question as a test. Clicking incorrectly on these questions will end your session immediately. Sometimes the survey will say "click on 'not applicable' here", or something like that. If you miss it and are speeding along checking off random answers you'll be trapped and kicked out of the survey.
So, by all means speed along but try and stay focused on answering the questions correctly - or at least watch out for the "gotcha" questions.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Toluna Alert
Toluna.com is one of the survey sites I frequent often - on a daily basis actually. While it has a plethora of surveys to take, plus the ability to post my own surveys and respond to other Toluna members who post their own surveys for which points can be gained, there's something fishy going on with Toluna.
Over the past few months points have been harder to get and turning completed surveys into points is more difficult. When it comes to the latter, for example, I've completed a great many surveys that seem to be stalled in the "pending" file, meaning Toluna is acknowledging that I've completed the survey but has yet to transfer them to points that I can cash in. The only thing Toluna will say is that it has to wait for the companies that post the surveys to verify the completion of a survey before points can be awarded. I find this a lame excuse aimed more at delaying payments as long as possible.
This was not always the way Toluna worked. It used to transfer surveys to points quite quickly, sometimes as fast as a number of days. That's not the case now.
Another strange thing going on with Toluna is the high volume of repetitiveness. I've seen the exact same survey being offered a dozen times or more. What's up with that? I guess the survey host is gaining some interesting data but for the survey taker it's a real pain in the you know where.
Stay tuned - maybe Toluna will wise up and realize that it's members are not enjoying this experience at all. Then again, Toluna has not been all that responsive to its members in the past.
Toluna.com is one of the survey sites I frequent often - on a daily basis actually. While it has a plethora of surveys to take, plus the ability to post my own surveys and respond to other Toluna members who post their own surveys for which points can be gained, there's something fishy going on with Toluna.
Over the past few months points have been harder to get and turning completed surveys into points is more difficult. When it comes to the latter, for example, I've completed a great many surveys that seem to be stalled in the "pending" file, meaning Toluna is acknowledging that I've completed the survey but has yet to transfer them to points that I can cash in. The only thing Toluna will say is that it has to wait for the companies that post the surveys to verify the completion of a survey before points can be awarded. I find this a lame excuse aimed more at delaying payments as long as possible.
This was not always the way Toluna worked. It used to transfer surveys to points quite quickly, sometimes as fast as a number of days. That's not the case now.
Another strange thing going on with Toluna is the high volume of repetitiveness. I've seen the exact same survey being offered a dozen times or more. What's up with that? I guess the survey host is gaining some interesting data but for the survey taker it's a real pain in the you know where.
Stay tuned - maybe Toluna will wise up and realize that it's members are not enjoying this experience at all. Then again, Toluna has not been all that responsive to its members in the past.
Brainjuicer
Once in a while a survey from Brainjuicer will pop up. It's a quirky kind of survey company and I find it difficult to judge them because they are so few surveys offered by Brainjuicer. But for some reason I find myself ignoring their surveys. Here's a couple of reasons - although your experience may be different.
1. Their surveys are invariably long. While this is not unusual when it comes to taking surveys, for Brainjuicer they seem to be longer than most.
2. Qualifying is difficult. I often find myself spending a lot of time on screening questions (those so-called questions asked before you are allowed to get to the "real" survey) only to be told I didn't qualify. Again this is common with surveys, but it is still annoying. There ought to be an agreed upon limit to the time or number of questions for screening purposes before you at least get some points for your effort.
So, Brainjuicer remains less than one of my favorites. But, I'm interested to hear if anyone else has similar feelings or experiences.
Once in a while a survey from Brainjuicer will pop up. It's a quirky kind of survey company and I find it difficult to judge them because they are so few surveys offered by Brainjuicer. But for some reason I find myself ignoring their surveys. Here's a couple of reasons - although your experience may be different.
1. Their surveys are invariably long. While this is not unusual when it comes to taking surveys, for Brainjuicer they seem to be longer than most.
2. Qualifying is difficult. I often find myself spending a lot of time on screening questions (those so-called questions asked before you are allowed to get to the "real" survey) only to be told I didn't qualify. Again this is common with surveys, but it is still annoying. There ought to be an agreed upon limit to the time or number of questions for screening purposes before you at least get some points for your effort.
So, Brainjuicer remains less than one of my favorites. But, I'm interested to hear if anyone else has similar feelings or experiences.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Survey Alert: Hall & Partners
Hall & Partners is a survey provider that you'll find on several online survey sites, primarily Toluna. H&P seems to offer just one type of survey - home and auto insurance. It's surveys, which show up frequently and their usually the exact same survey, appears to be hyping just one company - Farmer's Insurance.
I would avoid taking the survey. They are very long and involve multiple pages of data that will leave your mouse clicking hand feeling wasted at the conclusion. Moreover, there is some serious question as to whether completing the survey will earn you the promised reward. On several occasions I've completed the survey only to end on a final page which does not revert to the Toluna home page where points would be awarded. No amount of clicking seems to help.
I'd give Hall & Partners an F and suggest you not take their survey. It's not worth the time or the effort
Hall & Partners is a survey provider that you'll find on several online survey sites, primarily Toluna. H&P seems to offer just one type of survey - home and auto insurance. It's surveys, which show up frequently and their usually the exact same survey, appears to be hyping just one company - Farmer's Insurance.
I would avoid taking the survey. They are very long and involve multiple pages of data that will leave your mouse clicking hand feeling wasted at the conclusion. Moreover, there is some serious question as to whether completing the survey will earn you the promised reward. On several occasions I've completed the survey only to end on a final page which does not revert to the Toluna home page where points would be awarded. No amount of clicking seems to help.
I'd give Hall & Partners an F and suggest you not take their survey. It's not worth the time or the effort
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
There's a New Sheriff in Town; A Survey Sheriff That is
There's a New Sheriff in Town; A Survey Sheriff That is
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