Quest for Quiescence

I’d like to wrap up the survey experiment that I conducted from mid August through to mid September. I learned a lot about taking surveys and I’ve spent some time doing some data analysis that I’d like to share with you. I’ll show you how the three survey panels tested stack up against one another, how much money I made from them, and which one is my top pick. Finally I tell you my opinion on whether participating in online surveys is worth while.

Generally speaking, taking surveys was a good experience. I spent just under 8 hours taking surveys in total during the course of the month. Some of the surveys were interesting, and some were a waste of time. In the end, I’ve learned a lot about what can be expected of online surveys as an alternative income method.

Quantity

I received 50 surveys in total. Only a few came from Survey Lion while a little over half of the remainder came from Greenfield Online and the rest coming from Opinion Outpost.

Time Spent

By far I spent the most time completing surveys for Opinion Outpost. Despite the large difference in the number of surveys received, the time spent completing surveys for Survey Lion was actually very similar to the time spent on surveys from Greenfield Online. One important thing to note here is that Greenfield Online only offered compensation on about half of their surveys. This puts the surveys from Greenfield into two distinct categories… Compensated and Uncompensated (To be fair, Greenfield online does provide sweepstakes entries for completion of what I’m calling “Uncompensated” surveys). The graph below indicates the time spent completing surveys (in minutes) from for each of the three panels.

You can see in the graph above that by skipping the Uncompensated surveys from Greenfield Online, you can significantly reduce the time spent filling out surveys. Since no true rewards are offered on  the Uncompensated surveys, this strategy does not have a negative impact on your earnings.

Compensation

This is the most important part to me.  How much money can be earned completing surveys online? Which survey panel offers the best compensation? Before we tackle these questions, take a look at the graph below. This graph shows how many surveys were completed for a cash reward (Credited) vs how many did not provide a cash reward (Not credited) either because the survey could not be completed, or, in the case of some Greenfield Online surveys, because no cash reward was offered.

Now on to those questions above. How much money can you make by taking online surveys? Well, In my one month completing surveys for these three panels I managed to earn a total of $41.50 in return for my 8 hours spent completing surveys. Not great, but not bad considering the effort required. Lets be honest, it’s not difficult to sit at your computer and answer a couple of questions. Lets take a look at how the earnings break down.

The graph above portrays the earnings I received during the course of the month. Perhaps the most interesting is the difference between Survey Lion (only delivered 3 surveys) and Greenfield Online (delivered 26 surveys). Despite Survey Lion delivering less than 1/8th the surveys, I actually received 2.5X the reward. Opinion Outpost’s surveys provided the most compensation but they also required the most time to complete. The best way to do an apples to apples comparison is to compute the effective hourly rate for each panel. To do this, I divided the total time spent filling out surveys by the amount earned from each survey panel.

Notice that I’ve once again split up Greenfield Online into two categories. The first one considers the effective hourly rate if all surveys are completed, while the second one indicates the effective hourly rate assuming the “uncompensated” surveys are not attempted. In this comparison, Survey Lion is the clear winner at just under $10/hour. Opinion Outpost and Greenfield online came in pretty close with Greenfield online taking the edge when uncompensated surveys are omitted.

Conclusion

Survey Lion takes first place in this comparison. Even though their website design wasn’t the prettiest, and they only delivered a small number of surveys, they gave me the opportunity to complete them all. They didn’t play any games like making me spend several minutes filling out a survey only to tell me I didn’t qualify (both the others did this). Even with only three surveys, I still managed to earn nearly as much cash as from the highest payer, Opinion Outpost.

Opinion Outpost receives second place. Opinion outpost had the best website design without question. In terms of effective hourly rate, Opinion outpost came in ahead of Greenfield online by about a buck and a half an hour but only if the unpaid surveys from Greenfield Online were omitted. Opinion Outpost also provided enough surveys to make it possible to earn a larger reward relative to the other two panels.

Greenfield Online comes third. The poor effective hourly rate was disappointing. After omitting the unpaid surveys from the results, the effective hourly rate only slightly beat out Opinion Outpost (by $0.12/hour). Combine that with the minimal number of compensated surveys that I was actually able to complete and it’s apparent that this panel just wasn’t worth my time. Only 6 bucks for the hole month. To Greenfield Online’s credit, the paypal compensation delivery method is a great feature. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to out way the points above.

Are online survey panels worth the effort? Maybe. Sorry for the weak answer but it really depends on what you’re after. If you enjoy filling out surveys and want to earn a couple bucks while having a little fun, then absolutely!  If you’re intention is to bring in a bunch of extra money to pay the bills or generate some extra spending money, probably not. You’d probably do better by picking up some overtime or taking on a second job. The effective hourly rate and quantity of surveys do not offer lot of income on a monthly basis. That said, I am pleased that I decided to give online survey taking a go. I now Know what online survey panels have to offer. I’ve proven to myself that it’s possible to earn money online, which will have a huge impact on my mindset going forward with other forms of online income. And finally, I’ve earned a couple bucks to help me bootstrap my Quest for Quiescence. I’m trying to do this with little to no money out of pocket. The money from completing surveys during this experiment will cover the few bucks I’ve spent to start this website plus leave a bunch left over to spend on something else. Will I continue to complete online surveys going forward? Probably not. There is no recurring or passive aspect associated with this method of making money and it takes up a significant amount of my time. I’d prefer to invest in something with the potential to be a little more passive.

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