You’ve been reading our website trying to decide which side hustle you want to try first. You see we’ve divided the information into categories: mystery shopping, micro jobs, and website testing. What you don’t see is a section for surveys. So now you’re wondering. Why don’t we like online surveys?
Approach:
When we began this website, we had tried a lot of different ways to make a little extra money. One of the biggest factors for us was finding things that would not interfere with a full-time job. Or interviews for full-time jobs.
But there were a lot of other factors too. And another big factor was the amount of money that could be earned for the amount of effort. Let’s consider our primary categories.
Mystery shopping:
The different mystery shopping service providers have different types of shopping missions. They also offer different levels of earnings.
Sometimes you might be making telephone calls to evaluate products and services. At other times, you might need to visit stores and describe your experiences onsite. You can see the details of the shop available and decide whether you want to apply.
This gives you some variety with the way you interact with others: in-person vs. by telephone. And the onsite shops are at different locations so you can choose the neighbourhoods you prefer.
Also, as long as you follow the instructions for the shop, you know exactly what you’ll be paid for your efforts.
Micro jobs:
Micro jobs are usually much faster than mystery shops. But you also get paid less.
You still have a variety of jobs to choose from and you can still choose the neighbourhoods that work best for you.
In many cases, you don’t even need to interact with other people. For example photos of menu boards, scavenger hunts at Costco, etc.
Most micro jobs do require you to leave your home.
Website testing:
You can perform website testing without ever leaving your home.
You don’t need to invest in a lot of special equipment, you can use your existing computer or smartphone.
Although the work is similar, you have a lot of variety in the types of sites you test. We’ve even learned a few things from the interesting sites we’ve tested!
Some tests do require you to complete a “screener” of some sort. That means you answer a few questions to confirm you’re a good fit for the test. The questions are usually short and quick.
Surveys:
So why don’t we like online surveys? For us, it’s all about the cost-benefit analysis.
We have tried a few survey sites: Swagbucks, AskingCanadians, InboxDollars, Opinion Outpost, etc.
We even made a bit of money – or more often, the site’s special points which can be redeemed for prizes.
Originally, we figured we could spend some time online browsing and, on the side, take some surveys here and there and earn a bit.
It just didn’t work out the way we had hoped. After spending days trying to make this gig work, here are our big issues with surveys.
Screening:
Surveys have very specific criteria.
You need to answer quite a lot of questions to determine whether you’re a good fit for that survey. And we mean a LOT of questions. You often answer more than 10 questions just to see if you’re a good fit.
Often, we felt like the screening questions were really the survey questions. But by using them as screening questions, we didn’t get paid for our time.
Points systems:
Most of the survey sites allow you to earn points, not actual money.
They use their own rewards system that requires you to reach a certain minimum number of points before you can redeem them. That minimum number of points for redemption is usually rather high.
And you often can’t redeem for cash but rather prizes. Some survey sites do have a decent selection of prizes but others are very limited. Think Amazon gift card or Starbucks vouchers.
Security:
Something that surprised us with the surveys was the level of personal information they wanted to collect.
We expected some basics like gender, age range, and even where you lived.
What disturbed us were questions about our health, date of birth, and sexual activity.
One survey site even wanted us to upload an image of our driver’s license to confirm our age.
Now, maybe these are questions you don’t mind answering but we urge you to be careful.
How is your information being used? If someone has your name, your address, and your date of birth then they might be able to obtain some sort of ID in your name. And from there, a driver’s license. And with that… it’s a short jump to identity theft.
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Summary
We don’t believe online surveys are worth the effort required.
You simply don’t earn enough for us to recommend them as a side hustle.
Not to mention, the hours you might spend trying to qualify for the surveys.
We are also very uncomfortable with the amount of personal information you need to provide. Online surveys have become a haven for internet scammers.
We recommend you try other ideas we outline on this site for extra income.
Have you tried surveys?
What were your experiences?
Do you agree with this evaluation or have some suggestions of your own?
Click [Submit Comment] below to let us know!
