Have you ever been paid (fairly) to answer market research questions?
April 28, 2020 10:22 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to help out-of-work people make some $$ by putting together a vetted list of market research firms that compensate their panel/respondents fairly (rather than big "panel farms" like SurveyJunkie who outsource their panel to other companies and pay their panel like crap). If you've had a good experience giving your opinions on products/brands/life, can you share the company's name and the (ballpark) compensation? I know it varies by person, but it's still helpful to know the range.
For context... I've been reading/hearing a lot about how difficult things are for single parents right now, especially those with young children who have lost their jobs or their childcare (especially those that worked off the books who can't claim UI). I know that market research gigs are attractive to parents because they can get paid a) without needing expertise b) remotely and c) with more flexibility around scheduling. There are a ton of google-able lists of companies that will pay you for your "answers", but those companies are crap and do not pay fairly. Lots of them are just panel "farms" (e.g. Surveyjunkie) that outsource panel to other companies who will in turn sell their answers to other companies. The more middlemen, the crappier panel respondents will be paid for their answers.
That's why I'm trying to put together a list of the market research firms that actually pays people fairly. So if you've had a good experience getting paid to answer questions about brands, products, or just being you, please share.
For context... I've been reading/hearing a lot about how difficult things are for single parents right now, especially those with young children who have lost their jobs or their childcare (especially those that worked off the books who can't claim UI). I know that market research gigs are attractive to parents because they can get paid a) without needing expertise b) remotely and c) with more flexibility around scheduling. There are a ton of google-able lists of companies that will pay you for your "answers", but those companies are crap and do not pay fairly. Lots of them are just panel "farms" (e.g. Surveyjunkie) that outsource panel to other companies who will in turn sell their answers to other companies. The more middlemen, the crappier panel respondents will be paid for their answers.
That's why I'm trying to put together a list of the market research firms that actually pays people fairly. So if you've had a good experience getting paid to answer questions about brands, products, or just being you, please share.
User Testing had seemed like one of the fairest payers in my experience. I was fairly active on the platform in 2018 and my average pay was about $10 for anywhere from 10 - 20 minutes of feedback that got recorded via their software. Payment might also occasionally be in the form of an Amazon gift card. These weren't surveys but generally was usability testing for websites or software products. Had to install some software and have a working webcam/mic on my laptop, which might be a barrier for some.
posted by missmobtown at 10:44 AM on April 28, 2020
posted by missmobtown at 10:44 AM on April 28, 2020
I answered a posting on respondent.io and was paid $150 to meet some market-research folks for coffee and talk about smartphones. I thought that was more than fair, but that's also a bit of an outlier for them.
posted by adamrice at 11:00 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by adamrice at 11:00 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
I tried signing up with 20|20 Research twice. Despite ostensibly being in a sought after demographic, my experience was that I spent quite a bit of time filling out pre-surveys (some of which were long enough they felt like they were the actual meat of what the company was trying to get - like 20 minutes or so of questions to answer) and going through phone interviews without any compensation, only to get turned down every time for the paid part.
In general, I don't think you're going to find a lot of decent paying opportunities for folks with this. I don't know if the online transcription market has dried up with the virus, but that might be something they could look at for some income.
posted by Candleman at 11:31 AM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
In general, I don't think you're going to find a lot of decent paying opportunities for folks with this. I don't know if the online transcription market has dried up with the virus, but that might be something they could look at for some income.
posted by Candleman at 11:31 AM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
If they have a chronic illness, Rare Patient Voice provides good compensation for most of their studies.
posted by hydra77 at 11:40 AM on April 28, 2020
posted by hydra77 at 11:40 AM on April 28, 2020
I've tried a bunch of these, since I use these panels as a client, and in my experience Intellizoom (which is the recruiting arm of Userzoom, a user research software platform) pays the most fairly. Usertesting seems to only give me surveys for under a dollar, which is a non-starter, but Intellizoom offers between $8-10/study. The studies take up to a half hour to complete, and require some attention -- and they do have multiple ways of catching "speeders and cheaters," i.e. people who are trying to get through the study as quickly as possible to get the payout. (People do this all the time, as though we won't notice that "yes" is not an appropriate response to "what did you find frustrating about this process." You'll get blacklisted right quick.)
Dscout is another one, that pays up to $200 or more for an ongoing research engagement; again, I've seen both sides of this one and it does pay reasonably well although it requires some ongoing attention.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:51 AM on April 28, 2020 [5 favorites]
Dscout is another one, that pays up to $200 or more for an ongoing research engagement; again, I've seen both sides of this one and it does pay reasonably well although it requires some ongoing attention.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:51 AM on April 28, 2020 [5 favorites]
I haven't done any business with them in years, but Decision Analyst has a number of consumer and industry panels that compensated pretty fairly for the market at the time.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:57 AM on April 28, 2020
posted by Lyn Never at 11:57 AM on April 28, 2020
I've done quite a few studies for Respondent and their clients pay anything from $20 to $200 for participating in studies, depending on length and complexity.
posted by Chairboy at 12:12 PM on April 28, 2020
posted by Chairboy at 12:12 PM on April 28, 2020
I've done quite a few studies for Respondent and their clients pay anything from $20 to $200 for participating in studies, depending on length and complexity.
Me too, I've been paid (not totally timely but within tolerances) for doing a few studies anywhere from $10 to $200 (minus a small fee) and it was interesting and worth it. You have to click through a lot of "We need to figure out if you are right for this" mini-surveys which are usually 3-6 questions but sometimes may be 30 questions. I skip those. I've done a few microjobs for Usertesting and they pay fine but are a lot of work for the $.
posted by jessamyn at 12:29 PM on April 28, 2020
Me too, I've been paid (not totally timely but within tolerances) for doing a few studies anywhere from $10 to $200 (minus a small fee) and it was interesting and worth it. You have to click through a lot of "We need to figure out if you are right for this" mini-surveys which are usually 3-6 questions but sometimes may be 30 questions. I skip those. I've done a few microjobs for Usertesting and they pay fine but are a lot of work for the $.
posted by jessamyn at 12:29 PM on April 28, 2020
Yes! I signed up for Cambridge Focus many years ago, and I went into an office and spent an hour trying to turn on a Sonos speaker, and walked out with $100. As a graduate student who did lots of random tasks for money, it beat the pants off everything else I tried. I still get emails from them occasionally, and I'm always impressed by how much they're offering for you to, say, come give your opinions on blenders for an hour. Almost always $100, sometimes quite a bit more. I don't live in the Boston area any more, or I would still do it, even though I don't need the cash as much - I enjoyed the whole experience.
Two caveats: all of the opportunities were local, so people would probably want to find companies in their particular area. Cambridge Focus also has an office in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, if that helps. Also, I'm pretty sure that, when I was signing up, they asked for my household income. I guessed that I'd have more opportunities if my income level was higher, so I included my live-in boyfriend's salary as part of my household income. I wonder if I'd listed only my own (at the time, minimal) income, whether they might have rightly suspected I was not a representative customer of high-end speakers, and eliminated me from the pool accordingly.
posted by Merricat Blackwood at 12:39 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
Two caveats: all of the opportunities were local, so people would probably want to find companies in their particular area. Cambridge Focus also has an office in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, if that helps. Also, I'm pretty sure that, when I was signing up, they asked for my household income. I guessed that I'd have more opportunities if my income level was higher, so I included my live-in boyfriend's salary as part of my household income. I wonder if I'd listed only my own (at the time, minimal) income, whether they might have rightly suspected I was not a representative customer of high-end speakers, and eliminated me from the pool accordingly.
posted by Merricat Blackwood at 12:39 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
I have done many studies with Respondent and a handful for UserTesting, though the latter requires a frustratingly high number of screeners that go nowhere for me. (With Respondent, you can self-select, so you don't waste effort.) Respondent takes 5% of whatever you make; UserTesting doesn't take a cut, but it takes 8 days to get paid, no matter what. I've ended up with as little as $4 and as much as $250, though it's usually on the lower end. I prefer live interviews (which I've done with both) to narrating my way through questions/answers and navigating websites on UserTesting.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 2:39 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 2:39 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Consumer Opinion Services has locations in Portland, Seattle, and Las Vegas. They pay cash for participation in product tests and focus groups. One caveat: you can only participate once every six months or so. I've been paid up to $150 for a focus group.
posted by tacodave at 4:49 PM on April 28, 2020
posted by tacodave at 4:49 PM on April 28, 2020
I do surveys for Naxion all the time, they usually compensate you in $25-50 in Amazon credit, for 20-40 minutes of your time. I'm in the IT field and the questions always relate to that.
posted by furtive at 6:38 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by furtive at 6:38 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
I work in this field! If you're looking for decent money per study (in the $100-250 range) you're going to have to sign up with some of the larger qualitative market research databases (Schlesinger, Fieldwork, 20|20, Plaza Research, L&E Research) and be prepared to answer kind of a lot of screening surveys to try to qualify for one. The problem is, though, that we really don't want "professional respondents" so we track how many studies you participate in through various panels and only allow you to participate in 1-2 per year. So it's not really steady work--just a little infusion of cash every once in a while.
posted by merriment at 8:12 PM on April 28, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by merriment at 8:12 PM on April 28, 2020 [6 favorites]
In 2011 I did an hour’s interview with Suncorp bank in my home. They filmed whilst I answered a bunch of questions about my banking needs and practices. I did no homework, divulged no details about my income or career and it was pleasant enough. They paid me the agreed $150, and at the end of the interview they gave me a surprise extra $150 cash because so many people don’t follow through with an interview after scheduling it. So, that was pretty handy for an hour’s work.
posted by honey-barbara at 9:47 PM on April 28, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by honey-barbara at 9:47 PM on April 28, 2020 [3 favorites]
Following up with an explanation about qualitative screening surveys, because filling out long surveys over and over, only to not qualify for studies, can definitely be confusing and frustrating to panel members. So I thought it might be helpful if folks understood the reasons behind it.
When a qualitative study is commissioned, we are hoping to talk to a limited number of people who are strongly representative of a particular consumer profile, as opposed to a quantitative study, where a very large number of people across a wide variety of demographics are surveyed. So I might be looking to recruit 25 respondents, evenly distributed by generational age (18-23, 24-36, 37-48, 50+), 10 of whom are male, 15 of whom are female, half of whom have children between the ages of 2-6 and half of whom have no children in the household, half of whom make $50-75K per year and half of whom make $75K+, 6 of whom identify as Hispanic/Latinx, and all of whom are the primary grocery shopper for their family and purchase packaged shredded cheese at least once every two months or more often from a mainstream grocery store (not shopping exclusively at discount grocery stores or specialty grocery stores).
We try to send the screening surveys to a limited number of panelists who we know fit at least some of the demographics already, both to save time on our end and to reduce panelist frustration. But if you fit all the demos but don't purchase the right kind of cheese on the right schedule, you won't qualify, and we won't know that until you fill out the survey. Or if you're a qualified 28 year old male but we've just filled the Millennial male quota, you won't be able to participate. Or we're trying to find another Hispanic Millennial male and you're Caucasian. At my company, at least, we *don't* use the data from screening surveys to replace the actual research--we're strictly trying to find the right people.
It's a clunky process, but actually much more streamlined these days, with online surveys and large scale databases. In the olden days, recruiters used to just call through the phone book!
posted by merriment at 6:25 AM on April 29, 2020 [5 favorites]
When a qualitative study is commissioned, we are hoping to talk to a limited number of people who are strongly representative of a particular consumer profile, as opposed to a quantitative study, where a very large number of people across a wide variety of demographics are surveyed. So I might be looking to recruit 25 respondents, evenly distributed by generational age (18-23, 24-36, 37-48, 50+), 10 of whom are male, 15 of whom are female, half of whom have children between the ages of 2-6 and half of whom have no children in the household, half of whom make $50-75K per year and half of whom make $75K+, 6 of whom identify as Hispanic/Latinx, and all of whom are the primary grocery shopper for their family and purchase packaged shredded cheese at least once every two months or more often from a mainstream grocery store (not shopping exclusively at discount grocery stores or specialty grocery stores).
We try to send the screening surveys to a limited number of panelists who we know fit at least some of the demographics already, both to save time on our end and to reduce panelist frustration. But if you fit all the demos but don't purchase the right kind of cheese on the right schedule, you won't qualify, and we won't know that until you fill out the survey. Or if you're a qualified 28 year old male but we've just filled the Millennial male quota, you won't be able to participate. Or we're trying to find another Hispanic Millennial male and you're Caucasian. At my company, at least, we *don't* use the data from screening surveys to replace the actual research--we're strictly trying to find the right people.
It's a clunky process, but actually much more streamlined these days, with online surveys and large scale databases. In the olden days, recruiters used to just call through the phone book!
posted by merriment at 6:25 AM on April 29, 2020 [5 favorites]
Focus Pointe Global is the one I have done the most, and most highly paid groups for. You still have to fill out a lot of screeners, and often if you pass the online screener they still call you and redo some of the questions, but I've earned anywhere from $75 to $450 depending on the topic and how much work I had to do.
posted by pixiecrinkle at 6:35 AM on April 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by pixiecrinkle at 6:35 AM on April 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
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I have done a long study with Hivemind and they paid, but I had to answer questions and record videos and write paragraphs: it took real work. I believe they are a legit market research firm, and you usually need subject matter expertise to be invited beyond the initial screening. I think I have the link to their "Join our database of potential subjects" web page around.
There's a web site called G2 that will give you (I think) a $10 or $25 gift card for reviewing software that you approved and/or install -- but again, they offer enough questions and at a level of detail that filters out all but the people that actually know what they're talking about. (They have asked for screenshots of the software to prove you really use it, for example.) If anyone wants to do it, PM me and I will send you a referral code so I get five bucks. (Always be closing! :7)
There's another one called Gartner Peer Insights that does the same thing. (Again, PM me for a referral!)
Both have paid out in 2019.
posted by wenestvedt at 10:36 AM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]