Taking surveys is a fun way to earn. If not sharing your opinions for a day makes you feel inflated like a balloon, online polls are an excellent way to let it all out while making money at the same time. Sweet deal, huh? However, if you want your ideas to influence global and local trends, you’ll need to go the extra mile and polish your skills as a panelist.
Some people like to fool around with questionnaires — for them, they’re just infinite columns of boxes to check randomly. But you, a trendsetter behind the screen, have a different outlook. With a few tips about answering surveys successfully, you can shape bits of the world with your genuine opinions.
What Makes a Successful Online Survey Taker?
Becoming excellent at grinding polls has much to do with honesty, creativity, and insightfulness. You don’t want to tackle questions with false, superficial responses bordering on dry texting. Also, providing wordy answers won’t do either you or the brands publishing surveys any favors. Too much beating around the bush isn’t the equivalent of giving substantial feedback.
The information above outlines the standard procedures for finishing online quizzes. However, if you want to be a living legend among survey takers, we must get down to the details of what it takes to slay one questionnaire after another. It’s survey-taking-tips o’clock, so buckle down and start taking notes.
Tips for Taking Online Surveys
Fortunately, becoming a survey master doesn’t need to feel like pulling a stunt on a bike made of Play-Doh. Although it may take some effort and isn’t precisely children’s play, earning the necessary skills to thrive in this quest is not impossible. Ready to start your journey? Here’s what you need to do:
1. Enable Alerts on Your Phone
Answering surveys comes with two main challenges. First, no human can stay on top of the glut of quizzes that are published daily, which smells like missed opportunities. Second, most of these polls are on hot, current topics — the past is often taboo in the survey space. That said, allowing your cell to alert you whenever a quiz pops up helps you be an avid, trendy survey taker.
Notifications are a product of the fast-paced life that, for many, is an everyday reality. They’re tailored to the needs of fierce nine-to-five soldiers with too much on their plate to self-interview themselves non-stop. If this is you, a quick message about a new survey can also prompt you to set a reminder to go through it whenever your busy schedule has mercy for you.
Smartphones are one of the best inventions of the modern era, and they can also be excellent for increasing your exposure to polls. The world is changing by the minute, with hundreds of companies interested in getting the public’s feedback about new goods, services, and ideas. You can, however, access and get notified about numerous trending questionnaires through your slender mobile. Alternatively, if you’re more of a PC user, you can permanently activate notifications on your laptop or desktop to ensure you don’t fall behind.
2. Read Instructions and Questions Carefully
Being up your eyeballs in work could even turn you into a multitasker of the wrong kind. You might simultaneously read and answer a survey, finish it as you’re movie marathoning, or, in the worst case, complete it with a few scrambling answers without even reading it. However, polls require your attention. All questions are important, so you should read them thoroughly and not just scribble responses off the top of your head.
Also, not understanding and still answering a question is equally dangerous as skipping it. While businesses are eager to know what’s on your mind, they’re looking for accurate responses that give them valuable insights. It’s unfair to them to receive anything other than that as they try to conduct research to improve their offering. Therefore, you must ensure you write something relevant in the text boxes.
If a specific set of lines makes your head spin, rereading them slowly is your best bet. You can even pace around your place during action time if you wish — some motion might make your neurons fire a little faster. And if the survey creator is not anonymous, you can ask them for clarifications to solve the polling-related mystery.
3. Answer Thoughtfully
A great thing about surveys is that there is no right way to answer them. At least you don’t have to be sweating it out whenever you’re scrolling through a multiple-choice poll, phew! However, your answers must reflect your honest stance about a particular good or service, so you must pull up your socks and pamper companies with thoughtful answers.
When someone genuinely answers a questionnaire, the firms responsible for it gain a more accurate understanding of their product’s appeal. As a result, they can develop more effective strategies that help them capture and maintain their clientele. Additionally, as surveys start giving results, brands remain motivated to use them for gathering data when introducing a new concept to the market. The inevitable outcome: greater the potential earnings for individuals like yourself!
Ultimately, if everyone were to turn all questionnaires into a tissue of lies, there would be no consequences. However, if an unusual situation like that were to happen, karma would get careless panelists sooner or later. Sloppy answers might give the green light to lines of weird, unearthly creations that we’ll all be stuck with. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
4. Connect on Social Media
The average surveyee works on polls they run into by chance, but an excellent one has a survey-taking agenda to keep to. If you want to be more like the latter, you should plan which polls you’ll be filling and when you’ll be doing that. Following your favorite brands on social media can help you figure this out.
By connecting with companies on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you’ll be able to see when they post a new survey and decide whether to add it to your surveys-to-answer list. Apart from that, you’ll learn more about their mission and offerings, which will help you predict potential survey questions and prepare for them by dwelling on your preferences.
5. Stay Focused on the Question at Hand
Becoming a great surveyee often comes down to your ability to focus on one question at a time. Pondering on everything the poll asks you about at once is messy and downright impossible. Yet, some choose to do this because they want to finish what they’ve started quickly. But trust us, that may not go so slickly for them in the long run.
Like it or not, touching base with your beliefs about a good or service takes time. We’re not suggesting you dedicate your entire life to completing that one single survey. Still, you should take a few moments to think about how you want to formulate your responses. If you’re answering a particular question but thinking about the next one, you’ll get distracted and write something that will confuse yourself and the survey creators.
Another thing that can generate confusion is your inability to concentrate on the questionnaire. If you ever feel like all questions are starting to blur together, you can get some rest. The quiz will be waiting for your undivided attention once you recover from the knockout mental exhaustion it has given you.
6. Offer Complete Responses
Spending enough time on each response is also vital for expressing yourself fully. While no company expects you to turn your answers into meditations on particular goods and services, you should concisely state your beliefs in a few lines or paragraphs. Your responses should be as detailed as the survey topic, and the depth of your opinions allow them to be.
Of course, it’s impossible to get to the core of matters if most questions are closed-ended. In such cases, the “Other” option gives you a chance to write down constructive criticism or compliments. However, if you can enter custom answers, the quiz creator probably cares about your point of view, so why not treat them to it?
The more precise your feedback, the higher the odds of a company taking it into account. It might not always have a direct effect on what it has to offer. Still, it could open up the conversation about some improvements you wish for, especially if others share similar opinions with you. Shaping the world of tomorrow is as slow as molasses sometimes.
7. Participate in More Surveys
Is there a more practical way to become a better online survey taker than filling out more questionnaires? We believe there isn’t! Progress isn’t something you hope for only. It’s something you must work for, especially if it concerns honing a particular skill you have in mind.
Once you make a habit of completing several polls daily, your response and reading times will improve. And as soon as that happens, you’ll be able to answer more questions quicker, meaning you’ll finish quizzes faster. If you consider yourself a slow surveyee, this is the only way to achieve fascinating speeds.
Still, nothing is impossible when you put enough time and effort into it. If you aim to become a skilled and fast survey taker, you may surpass even light on the list of most immediate things in the universe with enough practice answering questions. Therefore, find some engaging quizzes to answer (with both open- and closed-ended questions preferably), take a deep breath, and start completing them.
Additional Strategies for Success
If you’d like to do anything that can help you answer survey questions like a pro, you’re in luck! Here are five extra tips that can multiply your chances of success:
1. Maximize Your Earnings with the Right Platforms
While some think of survey-taking as the pastime they need to unwind, most see it as an opportunity to earn a pretty penny. Life is getting increasingly expensive, so why turn a blind eye to the many available options online?
Nowadays, there are numerous apps and platforms that allow you to take surveys for decent compensation. Pawns.app, for example, lets you complete surveys for points, cash, gift cards, crypto, and more. It may require some research on your part to locate trustworthy options, but rest assured that your efforts will be worthwhile. Just ensure you read and understand the small letters before committing to anything.
2. Join Online Survey Communities and Forums
Another thing that will grant you a star on the Surveywood Walk of Fame is becoming a member of survey taker groups. They’re the favorite online nooks of those willing to get first-hand info about internet polls and ask for insider advice.
Joining forums of this kind can help you generate more income per questionnaire and provide you with excellent community support. However, going through their extensive content can be time-consuming, with the risk of getting exploited by fraudsters always present. Therefore, navigate through platforms like these wisely!
3. Develop a Routine and Schedule
If practice makes perfect, habits make permanent, and the best way to achieve permanence in your activities related to answering polls is to make them a routine. Doing that will help you invest in your survey-taking skills regularly.
On the same note, you can use your routine to create a daily schedule for questionnaire-related tasks. Creating a timeline with designated hours for tasks is a recipe for success. It helps you be super precise!
4. Keep Your Profile Updated
Over time, your interests, preferences, and demographics may change. When this occurs, it’s essential to update your information. Doing so whenever needed can help you get matched with suitable quizzes.
As we previously mentioned, providing false answers to survey questions is not beneficial for both the participants and the brands conducting the surveys. By keeping your information up-to-date, you can avoid missing out on potential survey opportunities and increase the likelihood of receiving relevant offers tailored to your specific interests.
5. Be Patient and Persistent
Finally, having a meltdown three days into building your survey-taking muscle will get you nowhere. You must approach this industry with a warrior mentality, for the best of things don’t happen after your second poll.
Earning greater rewards through providing quick and detailed answers is a process that requires time and practice. With patience and perseverance, you’ll gradually achieve success. Therefore, taking slow and steady steps towards your goals will go a long way.
How Do I Get Started?
Making your first step toward becoming a successful online surveyee can be challenging. With plenty of ways to access questionnaires online, you might feel like you’ve been tossed on a busy crossway. That said, you should probably download one or more survey apps to avoid getting cold feet right at the start.
Applications like these are available on Google Play and the App Store. They’re relatively easy to use — typically, you only need to install them on your device, create a profile, and fill it with some info about your personality and market preferences. Once you do that, you can start taking surveys and earning.
Most poll apps and platforms compensate you for your efforts with cash or gift cards. Some even let you donate your prizes to charities! Remember always to give a chance to trustworthy applications only. After all, you don’t want to have anything to do with ones that don’t pay. With careful selection, you can become the best version of yourself as a survey participant. Nothing will stand in your way!
FAQs
How can I improve my chances of qualifying for more surveys?
If you’ve been having little or no luck meeting the criteria set for some of the questionnaires you’re interested in, you’re not alone. Many have to face this issue, especially if they are new to survey taking. However, the following suggestions can help you avoid problems of this kind:
- Search until you find survey apps or platforms that need surveyees with similar demographic data and work in your country.
- Fill out your profile info with truthful information and be honest throughout the qualification process.
- Don’t quit an app after a day of not getting matched with relevant polls.
- Take quizzes that are already available, and don’t just wait for better ones to pop up. Regularly check for new polls on your chosen survey apps or sites. Use more than one app or join several survey sites.
- Disable your AdBlock or VPN.
How long does it take to start earning money from online surveys?
Typically, users begin earning for taking online polls once they complete their first survey. However, different apps and sites have different cashout policies. Some offer instant payments, while others have minimum withdrawal thresholds and require you to collect a certain amount of money or points before you can cash them out.
How can I avoid survey scams and ensure I’m using legitimate survey platforms?
Online survey scams are an issue that affects both surveyees and brands. Here are some red flags to watch out for when using apps or websites:
- The app or site you’ve run into asks you to pay for some privileges.
- The qualification process is too lengthy.
- You don’t receive data privacy warnings before taking surveys.
- You’re told that completing a questionnaire can earn you prizes too good to be true.
