Online Surveys and Focus Groups: Sell Your Opinions

 Your opinions are more valuable than you might think. Countless companies pay handsome sums to learn more about their target audiences’ motivations and preferences.

Online Surveys

You can take online surveys in the comfort of your home whenever you please: during working hours, over lunch or dinner, when you have a free moment in the evening, or in the sleepless wee hours.

Time Investment

Although your answers must be honest and make sense, you don’t need to devote your full attention to online surveys. That’s no doubt music to multitaskers’ ears. And you can invest as much or as little time as you like. Individual surveys can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to 20 or 30 minutes to complete, and you can do as many or as few as you want in one sitting.

Earning Potential

Online surveys will help you make money online, but they won’t make you rich. If you sign up with multiple survey companies and diligently complete your allotted tasks, you can earn a bit more than minimum wage — perhaps $10 an hour. But that’s nothing to sneeze at, particularly if you’re able to accomplish other tasks while you’re logged into your survey accounts.

Reputable Online Survey Options

The online survey landscape is pretty crowded. These are among the most reputable and potentially lucrative opportunities for U.S.-based consumers:

  • Branded Surveys. Branded Surveys specializes in consumer surveys from major brands — names you probably encounter in your day-to-day anyway. Its surveys are easy to complete in your spare time, and compensation is fair, delivered via cash and gift cards. With over 2 million existing members, they’ve paid out more than $17 million since 2012. Plus, they have a 4.5 Trustpilot score with 40,000+ reviews.
  • Survey Junkie. Survey Junkie is a popular online survey site with lots of survey-taking opportunities. You’ll earn points for each successfully completed survey and can cash out your account balance once it reaches 1,000 points ($10). Learn more about Survey Junkie in our Survey Junkie review.
  • American Consumer Opinion. American Consumer Opinion sends users one screening survey per month and roughly one full-length survey per quarter. Screening surveys pay less than full-length surveys — no more than $0.50 apiece. Full-length surveys can pay up to $50 apiece.
  • Opinion Outpost. Compared with American Consumer Opinion, there are generally more opportunities on Opinion Outpost. However, the overall earning rate is lower.
  • Swagbucks. Swagbucks offers multiple opportunities to earn extra income online, including paid surveys. Narrowly targeted, time-intensive surveys can pay pretty well, but some of the more basic opportunities — which take only a minute or two to complete — pay next to nothing. Learn more about Swagbucks in our Swagbucks review.

Other opportunities abound, but be sure to do your due diligence before signing up. Be wary of companies that require you to pay to join their panels.

Online Focus Groups

Online focus groups are closely related to online surveys, and in some cases, the same companies administer them.

Like in-person focus groups, online focus groups require more time and concentration than online surveys. Configurations vary, but you generally have to join a panel and engage on a certain number of issues per week or month. Online focus groups are often more selective than online surveys — if you don’t meet specific demographic or income criteria, you may not qualify.

The upshot: The pay is much better, as are the opportunities for prizes and free stuff. With effort, you can earn $500 and possibly more per month in cash or in-kind awards.

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