Get paid for your opinions with online surveys

There are lots of ways to earn extra money on the side to boost your income. However, there aren’t many as easy as taking surveys. If you’re willing to offer up your opinion on everything from your opinion on a new retail product to what you wash your laundry or your general likes and dislikes, you can certainly earn money from surveys.

So, let’s get started, work out what you need to consider and where you need to go to get the ball rolling.

If this is your first foray into the world of online surveys, it might pay to have a few tips to turn to. We’re here to help with these gems of advice:

• Only take surveys you’re eligible for: Don’t be like Joey from Friends and enter a study for identical twins when you’re not one. It’s really important that you only take the surveys that apply to you. These companies check answers and if in one survey you’ve said you are 55 and in another you’ve said you’re 18, you’ll quickly be found out. Take surveys honestly and you’ll reap the benefits.
• Withdraw cash as soon as you can: Many of these sites have payment thresholds – we’d advise to withdraw your survey money once you hit that threshold. Leaving your cash in the account you have with the survey company means you run the risk of losing it if there’s a problem with the site down the line. Once you’ve earned it, claim it
• Keep checking your emails for opportunities: In order to earn decent money from taking surveys, you need to keep on the lookout for opportunities. This means regularly checking your emails for surveys relevant to you – and some may be time-limited. Make it part of your routine.

How much cash do people earn from surveys?

While some sites might be better than others with the amount of money they pay out, it makes a lot of sense to sign up to more than just one. Having multiple sites to use will mean you can easily increase the amount of money you earn for the surveys you’re taking.

People that devote a large chunk of their spare time to filling out surveys across multiple sites can earn up to £800 per year. Those doing it casually still pocket totals of around £200, though, so it’s certainly worth parting with a little of your spare time.

1. Swagbucks

Even if you’ve not researched surveys yet, you’ve probably heard of Swagbucks because it’s a great free money site helping with everything from cashback to surveys. With this site you earn daily points by doing polls and surveys and you can get paid via PayPal. You’ll earn about 50p per survey so you have to put in the time, but it’s certainly a great site to sign up with and every bit of free money counts.

2. Panelbase

Another great site offering frequent surveys and with each survey you take you’ll rack up account credit. You can receive your cash via a bank transfer and you’ll earn anything from 25p to £10 per survey. You can cash out each time you earn £10, so this is a great way to keep topping up your side hustle.

3. Panel Opinion

With Panel Opinion, you can also cash out each time you rack up £10 worth of credit via a bank transfer, PayPal, or even a cheque if you’re feeling old school. As with Swagbucks, you’re likely to earn about 50p per survey but sometimes up to £5 – these surveys are also short and therefore not time-consuming so you can get a decent return from a small amount of free time.

4. Crowdology

You’ll earn anything from 40p to £10 per survey with Crowdology, and the payment threshold is an extremely low £4 so this site is fantastic. There’s no points structure with this site, you’ll just earn a cash amount for each survey you take, and when your total hits £4, you’ll be able to redeem your money. As with Panel Opinion, Crowdology’s surveys are mostly swift, so the effort to reward ratio is certainly appealing.

5. Branded Surveys

Our final site of the bunch is Branded Surveys – another low payment threshold hero. Once you hit about £7.50 you’ll be able to cash out with PayPal, and with its daily poll and quick surveys, you’ll be able to build up to this amount in a very short period of time. The average survey pays around 35p and they take roughly 10 minutes.

What about focus groups?

If you’re interested in not only looking for surveys for cash, focus groups are another, similar way to earn extra cash. These aren’t only in person anymore, either – they also operate via video call, on the phone and in online forums so you might have more chance of being able to get yourself involved.

The positive thing about a focus group is that you’ll be able to earn larger amounts of money per time – sometimes up to £200 – but focus groups happen more infrequently than surveys and last much longer when they occur.

Check out the following companies if focus groups sound appealing to you:

• Saros
• Research Opinions
• QMR
• Angelfish Opinions

Many of the sites we’ve spoken about here also offer gift cards and there are some survey sites that exclusively offer gift cards. Probably the most popular survey site out there is i-Say, which offers some of the best rewards for your time. You might find that this is a great option for you as these vouchers are for an amazing range of retailers including:

• Amazon
• eBay
• Starbucks
• Google Play
• iTunes
• Uber

We’ve put together a guide to surveys you can take for gift cards, so check it out and expand your possibilities.

If you’re looking to get truly savvy with your spare time, there are lots of ways you can add to your earnings – and we can help you find them. For instance, do you spend lots of your down time scrolling through your phone or watching videos? You could literally earn extra money for doing this by watching ads. We’ve even put together a guide to get you started.

Check out everything our website has to offer to find the financial boost that will work best for you. From using cashback sites to giving your opinion in a survey, we’ve got you covered.