The Power of Your Opinion

There are a lot of reasons as to why a company would be willing to pay you for your opinion. I'll list a good example. Say you have a big box electronic store that is thinking of doing some big changes to their product lines. They're thinking of removing a certain section of products and replacing it with different goods or services. Companies do things by the books. They're not going to make a change until they've done intensive research to determine if their move will be profitable. No profit, no change.

This big box store is thinking of removing their printer section, as their printer sales are down by 60% in the last year. Instead of carrying printers, they're interested in replacing the section with scanners. This is what they need to know: Are you going to come in to their store and buy a scanner? What would make you come in to buy a scanner? Would you appreciate assistance from sales staff?

As you can see, this big box store needs to know what you think about their proposed changes. If enough people say that yes, they will most likely buy a scanner, then the company is that much more likely to make the changes they've proposed. The whole economy is based on your consumer habits and opinions. If a company sees the potential for extra profit in the future, the best people to ask for verification of their ideas is you. Many companies still follow the age old technique of calling you directly to ask if you're willing to take a phone survey. Phone surveys offer nothing in return. Companies know that people are far more likely to answer truthfully if they are going to see some benefit from doing so. Enter the online survey industry.

Not only is it cheaper for a company to pay you to take an online survey, the results are much, much more accurate than any other medium. People are far more comfortable in their own home, taking their time to think about a question before answering it. As such, the answers on online surveys are typically much more realistic and well thought out.

Because companies want your complete, honest opinion on their product (they abhor it when people answer only positively when clearly, no company is perfect), they'd rather pay you than a focus group, or a market researcher. The market researcher can only estimate and guess about what you may or may not think or do. Whereas you know exactly what you want, and what you like.

Like I said, taking online surveys can be a great source of extra income. Many survey companies ask for a small fee to be paid that grants you access to the surveys. Why is this the case? Because for the most part, survey companies aren't paid, or are payed very little by the companies they represent. Obviously, a site demanding four or five hundred dollars for access to their survey database is probably a scam and should be avoided. Generally speaking, most companies request a five to thirty dollar payment for access to their databases. This allows them to stay in business, so it really is quite necessary.

Keep in mind that should you purchase a member account at a reputable survey company, you'll get access to much higher paying surveys. Survey companies that don't require member payment typically only offer very low-paying surveys that very few people are willing to participate in. It's been said that you need to spend a little bit to make any real amount of money in online surveys, and for the most part, that holds true. Some free-access survey companies will occasionally have a high-paying survey available, but those are typically only offered in very limited numbers, and it can be very difficult to grab a spot before everyone else does.