One of the major reasons that surveys are so popular is because there’s little much to them.  You’re given a topic and asked lifestyle questions to help companies develop new and existing products.

Surveys usually pay a flat rate, and although there’s potentially an infinite supply of them, this doesn’t mean you’ll get them all at once!

You might qualify for one, two or if you’re lucky three surveys per week, and other than completing each new survey there’s little opportunity to earn more.  Because of this it can be difficult to increase your earnings beyond a few dollars per week.

While you can’t increase the amount of surveys you get from one survey panel, the next best thing you can do is to register to multiple survey websites, allowing you to potentially double, triple or even quadruple your earnings.

Different survey sites specialize in different industries and so while one survey might have no new surveys for you this week, another website may have instead.

Tips to make the process easier, faster & more profitable

Managing multiple survey companies can be a tricky task and presents its own set of problems.  In this article you will learn some helpful tips to keep in mind to make sure you get the most amount of money for your time.

It is recommended that beginners to paid surveys sign up with 4-5 survey panels to start. More experienced users may wish to consider as many as 10-15 at a time for a regular influx of survey invitations.

Whether you’re new to surveys or have already started signing up to a range of sites, here are some top insider tips to managing these multiple sites and making the most from each of them.

The ideas covered in this article include:

• Don’t miss out
• Eliminating the time wasters
• Making the process faster
• Extra considerations

Don’t miss out..

This is certainly the most important tip to consider.  If you’re spreading your attention across different places it can be hard to keep track of them all, so it is a good idea to put steps in place to make sure you don’t miss out.

For example you might have trouble remembering your different account usernames and passwords, or even the individual sites you have signed up to.  More likely you will forget which sites you have checked in on each week, so you could miss a new survey!

Actions to take:

• Use the same password for all panels.
• Turn on email notifications – A very good idea to make sure you always get your survey invites on time is to turn on email notifications.  This is not always set up by default so check your account settings on each site to make sure you’re getting them..
• Bookmark the sites you register to – If possible create a specialized folder in your bookmarks to keep your survey sites all in one, easy to use place.
• Create an excel sheet with each website you register to and mark off when you have checked your account each month

o   If the site offers sweepstakes etc..consider adding this to your excel sheet to make sure you don’t miss out..

• Create a folder just for surveys in your email inbox; this will seriously help you keep on top of your new invitations so you don’t lose out on any money!

Eliminate the time wasters

One of the best parts about trying out different survey sites is deciding onthe thosethat don’t live up to your expectations.

It’s better to put more of your time into a few good sites than wasting your time and losing motivation with low-paying sites, especially if you spend a lot of unpaid time not qualifying for surveys.

It is important that just because a panel may not give you a new survey each week, doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time.  What matters is consistency, whether this is weekly or monthly.  So long as you know you’re going to get new opportunities you qualify for regularly, then it’s worth your time.

Some users will have a better experience than others depending on the site.  This tends to come down to your individual life experiences and if they match up to the topic of surveys the panel focuses most on.

If you don’t have kids for example, then you may not qualify for many of the surveys for some sites, whereas the next site you try might have little preference on whether you have kids or not.

Steps to take:

• Focus on panels with surveys you qualify for (If you find yourself consistently disqualified from taking surveys then it could be time to move on..)  It may be worth creating yourself an excel table to track things like this so you can easily compare one website against another.
• Try to find out the types of people survey sites are looking for – You can save yourself a lot of time and disappointment by finding out the types of people survey sites are looking for.  That way you won’t find yourself constantly turned down for new surveys.
• Compare the length & rewards of survey sites – After you start receiving more survey invitations in your inbox, it becomes much easier to see which sites reward you the best for your time.  For example one site may pay you $3 for a 20 minute survey, whereas another may pay you $2 for a 10 minute survey.  It is clear to see here that your time would be much better spent completing more of the 10 minute surveys.

Making things faster

Surveys aren’t supposed to take place of a full time income, so most people complete them in their spare time.

The problem however is that they don’t all pay a huge amount for your time; so you want to be sure that the time you do takeis well spent, especially if you’re going to be putting lots of effort into more than one survey site.

Steps to take:

• Take notice of conditions set in survey invitations – You can save yourself a lot of time by clearly reading and understanding the conditions set in the survey invitation.  If you don’t feel confident in being accepted than it may be worth moving on to the next survey.   Often you will find that survey panels ask you “screening questions” before each survey to determine whether you are suitable.  These are not usually paid, however some panels give you points just for applying.
• Use your browser’s auto fill – Save yourself huge amounts of time when registering to new websites and filling out common information.  It can also save you time!
• Improve your touch typing – Not an essential ability but something that will surely help you, especially if you’re spending a lot of time working online.

Extra considerations

• Give each survey site the same amount of effort – It can be easy to forget about other survey sites and just focus on one or two, in reality it’s not all that difficult to manage more than one, and the rewards will surely be worth it!  You will often find that the more time you spend with each survey site, the more surveys they will send you, as well as the increased likelihood of you qualifying for these surveys.
• Don’t let on that you are member to other survey sites – Survey companies don’t like their members to be regular survey takers, which kind of defeats the point, since most people are there to earn extra money.  Either way, you may be asked questions such as “Are you member to any market research companies”, it is always best to answer no to this question.  What they don’t want is answers that are not genuine or may be biased.
• Always be honest – Over time survey sites start to build up a profile based on the questions you have given them.  When managing your time across multiple sites it can be easy to forget what response you gave to who, especially when many of the surveys are on similar topics.  For this reason it’s best to always be upfront and carefully read the questions asked.   If you are found to be giving inconsistent answers the survey site could disqualify you from surveys or even revoke your earnings from your account.