Tips for completing surveys

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I regularly write about survey companies here. I’m a bit of a fan of surveys as I can pick them up as I want. I don’t have to worry that if I miss surveys for a day or two that I will be penalised. I do not have to worry about being disturbed if the phone rings. Also I can complete surveys while I’m on the move, completing a few chores at home or even just waiting at the hospital for an appointment.

These are my top tips for completing surveys that will hopefully help you earn a few more pounds each week!

Fill in your profile surveys

Profile surveys store information about you, and your household, to save you answering repeated questions. By keeping your profile surveys updated you will cut down the amount of survey disqualifications you receive.

I personally aim to update mine twice a year, this is usually sufficient. If you have any big changes to your household then you’ll want to update more frequently. New job, new car, another child etc, will be really helpful to update into your profile surveys.

Only open one survey from each website at a time

This is probably the most important of my tips for completing surveys. I have noticed that sometimes opening multiple sites gives me an error. This seems to be linked to opening more than one survey at a time. When I have a LifePoints survey open I don’t open any others.

Open more than one survey at a time (but only one per company)

By doing this I am able to tab through and answer a few questions on each survey at a time. By using keyboard shortcuts I waste just seconds doing this. This means that I can be fast answering the questions but not worry that I’ve completed the survey too fast. For example, if I have three surveys open they may take me 15 minutes to complete, rather than each one being done in just 5 minutes.

Some survey companies will disqualify your answers if they think you are speeding through. By opening one survey per website at a time I am able to tab through and zoom through them all a few questions at a time. This relieves some of the boredom and makes it slightly easier for me to complete lots.

Take time to select the highest paying email surveys first

Sometimes more than one company will offer the same survey. By ensuring that you start with the highest paying surveys you can cut down on missed income. I personally start with the highest paying surveys from Prolific Academic, and PopulusLive. Then I move on to the likes of Valued Opinions and Clixsense. I finish off, if I have time, with other companies. I personally find that I can make quite a reasonable hourly rate by opening one survey from each of the higher paying firms and working through.

Delete the lowest paying surveys

If you have a vast amount of surveys and not a lot of time then prioritise. Follow my tip above to select the highest paying surveys first. Have a small list of points to pound ratios for websites such as LifePoints.

Surveys are typically quite low paid, as online work goes, but if you stick to the higher paying ones you can make a nice amount of money per year. I delete surveys where the pay is very poor. For example recently I was offered a 15 minute survey that would have made me just 32 pence!

Now I know that I complete surveys in around half the quoted time but that is still too little money. My time is important and I like to condense my surveys into just 1-2 hours per day now. This works very well for me and means I make a nice hourly rate.

Be truthful when answering questions

This has to be the most important of all my tips for completing surveys. If you are truthful you won’t have to worry if you are asked a duplicate or similar question. If you choose to lie about your survey demographics, you’ll want to stick to one story. I’m not suggesting that you lie, but it certainly happens.

Some companies have test questions within their surveys. You may be asked which sports you play. At the end of the survey you’ll be asked when you last played specific sports. If your answers don’t match you don’t get paid.

Honesty is the best policy and at least you’ll remember the right answers!

Do completing surveys actually work?

Yes, definitely! I’m not saying you’re going to become wealthy from completing surveys for cash but it all adds up! I like to use some of my survey money for saving for sinking funds and emergencies throughout the year and it really makes a big difference to our cashflow.

Are completing surveys safe?

In my experience yes. I mostly use survey companies where I can request an Amazon voucher, to Paypal payment, to stay safe. I have shared my Bacs details with YouGov, Populuslive and a few others, but these are all websites I’ve been using for years and they’re registered with the relevant market research body in the UK.

Some of my favourite survey websites are Prolific Academic, LifePoints, SurveyNetwork, MintVine, Pureprofile, ValuedOpinions, YouGov, NewVistaLive, PopulusLive, Mingle, OpinionWorld, MyVoice, YourSayPays, Opinium Research, PineCone Research and YourWord.

I hope that my tips for completing surveys have been useful. If you want to make some more money please check out my favourite websites. LOTS of ways to make cash there!

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