Tips for completing surveys

Affiliate links in this post will be clearly marked with a * and if you click one of these links I will earn a discount or receive payment.

Today I am going to share with you some of my top tips for completing surveys.

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.

Fill in your profile surveys

I’ve wrote about profile surveys and what they are used for before. Basically a profile survey stores information about you, and your household, to save you answer repeated questions. By keeping your profile surveys updated you will cut down the amount of disqualifications you receive. I personally update mine at least twice a year, this is usually sufficient. If you have any big changes to your household then you’ll want to update more frequently.

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 My Survey sometimes gives me an error. This seems to be linked to opening more than one survey at a time. When I have a My Survey survey open I do not open any GlobalTestMarket surveys as these can lead to the same one. This helps me avoid errors and cuts down on the chance I won’t get paid for completing a survey.

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, GlobalTestMarket, PopulusLive and *NewVistaLive. Then I move on to the likes of Valued Opinions, OpinionWorld 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 GlobalTestMarket.

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 today 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!

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!

If you enjoyed this post I’d love it if you could pin it on Pinterest!