How Paid Marketing Research Surveys Work

Paid marketing research surveys are often touted as a way to work at home online and make lots of money by sharing your opinion about products and services. Some of this is true, to a certain extent. Marketing research surveys are not designed as a source of income. The purpose of these surveys is to learn about consumer trends to better market products.

Purpose of marketing research surveys

Companies conduct marketing research surveys to learn more about the needs and desires of consumers. Surveys are designed to test shopping habits, see if a product concept is interesting to consumers and find out which type of advertising is most effective, among other things.

How paid surveys work

Paid marketing surveys often advertise on websites like Craigslist.org or use a company that specializes in conducting market research. These companies advertise online to find consumers who qualify for the study. Since companies target certain demographics, the marketing survey company must assure that the person completing the survey is part of that demographic. For instance, if you are a 34 year old single mom with three children, then you would not qualify to complete a survey that is seeking responses about video games from teen boys. To make sure the correct demographic is completing surveys, the company has test questions that everyone wanting to take the survey must answer. This typically takes three to five minutes, at which point the survey taker is either qualified for the survey and permitted to continue or disqualified. Survey takers who are disqualified do not receive any compensation.

Participating in paid market research surveys is a neat way to share opinions about products and services, but is not a way to make a living. Survey takers may spend hours attempting to qualify for surveys without any compensation. If qualified, then the compensation is rarely commensurate to the time spent on the survey.