How to Get Companies to Pay for Your Opinion

Get Focused

Focus groups get a bad rap. Whether in business or politics, they’re associated with out-of-touch executives or leaders who need to poll a room full of customers (or voters) just to form an opinion.

But they remain popular among companies who wish to formulate product-development and marketing strategies. And that means that they can pay well for customers who want to make some money on the side.

Marketing expert Martin Lindstrom, author of Brandwashed, says that a consumer can make anywhere from $100 to $250 for a single one-hour session. And people with full-time jobs can usually fit them into their schedule: He says they’re often conducted in the evenings and are rarely longer than a couple of hours.

“Some people are invited in many times a year, six to 12 times,” he says. “That could be a pretty good income.”

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Specialize

That “$100 to $250” range is pretty wide, and which end of the spectrum you land on partly depends on your location in the country, says Lindstrom. It also depends on what kind of consumer you are. Oddly enough, people with certain illnesses or conditions can cash in by hooking up with pharmaceutical companies, and we don’t mean by becoming human guinea pigs for experimental drugs.

“The pharmaceutical industry will recruit people who have very specialized insights because they have a certain disease,” says Lindstrom. “They’re looking for people from whom they can get a sense of whether they’ll need a drug.”

Let’s say you have diabetes, for instance: A pharmaceutical company that’s testing potential designs for a new insulin delivery system may ask you a series of questions about your daily insulin-taking habits and ask whether you’d purchase a number of different products to improve your experience. Not only might you contribute to the development of a new product, you’ll also get paid handsomely for your insights.

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Choose Carefully Online

Some agoraphobics may prefer to answer poll questions online rather than venture out to an in-person focus group, but be warned: The internet is riddled with pop-up surveys and questionaires that at best pay you nothing and at worse use your computer to spread the scam over your social networks.

Many scam artists will also trick people into taking small surveys so they can make off with a small commission from market research firms. We’ve profiled many of these scams on MainStreet – a Facebook post might claim, for instance, that it has a shocking video or picture, but force you to take a quick survey first. The promised media won’t materialize, and the only one getting paid for your time is the scammer who sits back and watches the pennies pile up.

That said, there are some legitimate survey websites out there – just know that you won’t get paid as much as you would for an in-person focus group.

“There are a couple sites I’m aware of, but the money you receive is very low, around $15-$20 an hour,” says Lindstrom. “That’s a fifth of what you’d get from a focus group.”

In any case, here are some of the more prominent market research firms that will pay you for your thoughts, either online or otherwise.

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Face Group

Face, a marketing firm based in the U.K., brings a unique approach to online market research. The company runs a number of online communities, including Mindbubble (for women) and Headbox (for young adults). In both cases, the concept is the same: Consumers from the target demographic are hooked up with such companies as Unilever and Google, and collaborate with the company to give insights on the kinds of products they’d like to see, a process it calls “co-creation.”

Members are, of course, rewarded for providing companies with their bright ideas, in the form of either cash or free exclusive downloads. Cash incentives vary by project; Headbox says that a small questionnaire will pay around one British pound and a two-day project could pay upwards of 300 pounds (close to $500).

Anyone can sign up as long as they’re in the target demographic: Headbox is restricted to users aged 16-24, while Mindbubble accepts only women age 25-50.

Photo Credit: facegroup.com

Global Test Market

Global Test Market allows users to take online surveys for cash; all you need to do is enter your name and contact info to join, and you’ll be emailed with opportunities. Rather than cut you a check every time you take a survey, each one earns you a given amount of MarketPoints, which varies depending on the length of the survey. Once you’ve accrued 1,000 market points, you can redeem them for $50 cash.

Emma Hrustic, director of strategy for marketing firm Interbrand, says this is a pretty standard business model in the market research world.

“You get rewarded for every survey you take, but they don’t necessarily pay out all at once,” she explains.

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Focus Pointe Global

Focus Pointe Global runs FocusGroup.com, which conducts small online surveys that can earn members $1 to $10. Once a user accumulates $20 or three months have passed, they are mailed a check. There are also larger, in-depth online focus groups that can earn them up to $125, and participants in those will be mailed a check six to eight weeks after the project is complete. These online focus groups involve logging in at a given time to participate in group discussion about a product or service.

The company also offers in-person focus groups in cities like Boston, Atlanta and New York with an average payout of $65 to $200 per session. And you can even follow the company’s Twitter feed to hear about new focus group sessions across the country; if one sessions looks good to you, just click the link in the tweet.

To start taking surveys and joining focus groups, you’ll need to register for an account with the site, and then go through an eligibility and verification process for each group you wish to join.

Photo Credit: focusgroup.com

Delve

Delve runs focus groups in cities from Philadelphia to Phoenix and everywhere in between, and polls consumers on everything from food to clothing to TV shows. The company boasts a consumer database of more than 400,000 people, and if you choose to join the crowd you’ll be able to participate in phone and email surveys, as well as in-person focus group sessions. Focus group sessions have payouts in the range of $50 to $200.

Getting started is free and easy – just visit the site and navigate to the consumer sign-up, where you’ll enter your name and contact info to get put on the list.

Photo Credit: delve.com

The Direct Approach

It’s not always a marketing company that conducts focus groups and surveys – sometimes, a company will survey its customers directly.

“The vast majority of research gets done by market research pros that specialize in it,” says Hrustic. “But companies sometimes have their own survey system or panels.”

Hrustic says that this will usually be businesses that deal directly with consumers, such as airlines and fashion retailers. Getting in on the action may be as simple as approaching the customer service desk and inquiring whether such survey opportunities exist.

Still, don’t expect to earn cold, hard cash: The compensation will usually come in the form of coupon or discounts.

“You’ll probably get some discounts or a rebate here or there, but it’s not the kind of thing where you’ll take surveys six times a week,” she says.

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