Legitimate
paid surveys exist so that, in order to remain competitive in their given markets,
companies need to better understand their consumers' perception of products. Surveys
that are legitimate require the surveyee to provide personal demographical info
(age, city, sex, number of children, occupation etc) so that resulting data will
more apply more accurately to the target audience of the marketing firm.
Because
marketing companies wish to understand consumer perceptions in-depth, taking up
the particpant's valuable time, they offer incentives to survey participants.
How to avoid survey scams
Do
some research into the company. Look for contact details on their site,
and look up their name with your favourite search engine. The last thing you want
is for them to close up before honouring any rewards.
A
participant will never have to pay for a legitimate paid survey. A
common method of paid survey scam is requiring you to pay up front in order to
access an online listing of paid survey offers. The listings in this case are
often out of date, inaccurate, or available for free elsewhere.
Look
for demographic requirements at the start of surveys. Legitimate surveys
are targeted to specific demographics and usually ask the participant to complete
a short pre-survey in order to make sure that they fall into the desired demographic.
