I love taking surveys, and I love money, so last month I thought: surely the internet has combined the two? Indeed it did, and companies offering online surveys for cash or other rewards abound. So I did my due diligence, which as we all know is five minutes of reading the top two search results in Google (this and this), and signed up for the three sites I judged the least shady.
The first was Vindale Research, which I quit within 24 hours because of the terrible UX. Its mobile site was atrocious, its pay rates were dirt, it kept trying to make me sign up for other survey sites, and a questionnaire I took an hour to nearly complete threw up an error message and kicked me out. It was so irritating that I didn't bother trying to resume; I just logged in the the next day and cancelled my account.
But Vindale wasn't a complete loss--it led to Pinecone Research, an invite-only site. Score! Pinecone has fun stuff, and it's already sent me a check for three whole dollars! I am truly making it rain. But seriously, the Pinecone UX is great: I only get contacted when a likely survey emerges (i.e. I match their target demographic), the mobile site is functional, the points earned are reasonable, and I can trade in for cash or items. The time:compensation ratio is acceptable.
Alas, I can't say the same for Opinion Outpost. While this site was prolific in sending me survey opportunities, it also didn't bother to check them against my profile, with 19 "not a match" results out of 35 surveys sent in my 37 days of membership. Essentially, when I clicked on something from Opinion Outpost, I would answer basic questions (e.g. "What car do you own?" or "How many people live in your household?") and more than half of the time I would get the message: "You didn't qualify for this particular survey!"
But the worst part about Opinion Outpost was one survey that I did qualify for, that asked really probing questions about our personal finances. For example, it wanted me to break down our investments by category, among other things. I was skeeved out and just closed the browser...and then Opinion Outpost sent me the same survey again, this time with more reward points. That happened twice. Help, I don't feel safe!
I did finish 13 surveys and earned 107 points, which I traded for a $10 Amazon gift card. So on average it's almost $1 per survey, if I got one that matched. And surveys take anywhere from 15-30 minutes to complete. That time:compensation ratio is decidedly unacceptable. So I washed my hands of Opinion Outpost, too.
In conclusion, I'm sticking with Pinecone for now but I'm out as soon as a red flag pops up.
TL; DR: I wasted my time trying to earn money by taking surveys. Don't make the same mistake!
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This post brought to you by a tuna sandwich, I guess.
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