Be Picky About Survey Panels
Many people new to the world of paid surveys often question if there is a magic number of panels to sign up with. If you type in a query of “paid survey” or “online survey” into your web search bar, literally millions of results will appear. This can be completely mind boggling and cause confusion about how to sort out the legit sites from the more questionable survey sites. This is why belonging to too many survey panels in the beginning of your survey career, isn’t necessarily better. A better option is to check out an online database of validated survey sites, such as Survey Adventure, and register with no more than 5 to 10 in the beginning. This keeps your workload focused on survey sites with the best reputations and prevents your inbox from being inundated with “surveys” and special offers from lower-rung survey sites.
When visiting survey databases, peruse through the listings of top survey sites often set aside in a special list. These “best sites” are can be ranked in several ways; by those most popular with panelists, those with the largest payouts, or those that offer the most frequent invitations, or those that are just generally good all-around. Take the time to click through the links for each survey site and read through the home page and FAQ of each program to completely understand the survey site’s preferred demographic panelist, specific requirements, and compensation system. After you feel well versed with the options, pick out the online survey providers (5 or 10) that appeal to you the most and begin creating a profile on each web site.
After you have set up your profiles, invitations to take surveys will arrive through email. Act on these emails as soon as possible to show the survey sites that you are a conscientious worker, ready and eager to work. If you let an invitation languish in your inbox, you are sending the message that you are not a dependable participant. This is one of the major reasons to limit your survey panel memberships to 5 to 10 to not become overburdened with surveys that you can’t keep up with, even if you wanted to. After a few months, when you are in the swing of taking paid online surveys and are familiar with how often each sends invitations, you can add new sites, one at a time, to fill up any extra free time you may have.