What if you could make some pocket change, in your spare time, from the comfort of anywhere?
You can with Survey Junkie.
Tawnya here, and today I’m going to give you an honest Survey Junkie review. Lucky for you, I’ve spent the last month and a half trying the site so you don’t have to.
I’ve tried several survey sites since I was in college, each with slightly different interfaces and payout systems.
You won’t get rich with Survey Junkie, but it’s definitely the best of the survey sites I’ve tried so far.
But the big question is, is Survey Junkie right for you?
Read this Survey Junkie review to find a thorough description of what Survey Junkie is, getting set up and using it, and most importantly, whether Survey Junkie is right for you.
What Is Survey Junkie?
The Survey Junkie site professes to “open the window of communication between you and the brands you love.”
While that’s a nice sentiment, the core of what Survey Junkie does is facilitating market research.
Market research is a constantly evolving and revolving door, with millions of dollars being spent every year to try and better understand consumer behavior.
To understand consumer behavior, all those researchers need consumers, and a wide range of consumers from different demographics at that.
Survey Junkie helps to bridge that gap between researchers and consumers.
Survey Junkie is the venue through which researchers can find qualified candidates for their studies, and with 10 million members, researchers have a lot of potential candidates to choose from.
In exchange for your opinion, Survey Junkie pays you a certain number of points for each survey, which can then be redeemed for gift cards or cash via PayPal.
Points are dispersed in cents, so that 20 points is equal to $0.20 and 185 points is equal to $1.85. Points received per survey range from 10 for 1-minute quick hitters to several hundred for longer surveys.
However, the amount paid for the survey doesn’t necessarily correspond to the amount of time that’s estimated to complete it. Sometimes you have shorter surveys worth more, and sometimes longer that are worth less.
I’m assuming it depends on the brand backing the survey and what knowledge they’re trying to attain.
Getting Started
Getting started with Survey Junkie is easy.
Membership is free, and all you need to sign up is to be at least 13 years old, have a valid email address, and to live in the U.S., Canada, or Australia.
There are a couple signup options, as you can use your Facebook or Google+ accounts, or simply an email address.
Once you sign up, you’ll receive an email that will validate the email address you used at sign-up. After your email is validated, you can login and begin filling out your profile.
You begin earning points right away for signing up, confirming your email, and completing your profile. The initial points breakdown is as follows:
- Sign-up – 25 points
- General Profile – 50 points
- Email Confirmation – 25 points
- “How it Works” tour – 5 points
- “Survey Tutorial” tour – 5 points
- Profile Surveys – 10 points each
As you can see, you’ll earn points for completing the setup steps, as well as for taking tours and completing profile surveys.
You’ll want to complete the profile surveys soon after you open an account, as these help Survey Junkie better match you to other surveys and can potentially unlock higher paying surveys.
Once signed up, you can earn points with surveys and by completing profile questionnaires. However, the main way for earning points is through completing surveys.
You’ll typically receive a few emails a day containing new surveys, but you can sign in at any time and work on the surveys waiting in your dashboard.
You can redeem points as soon as you reach 1,000, or $10.00. Redemption options include PayPal (all countries), e-gift cards (U.S. only), and direct bank transfers with Dwolla (U.S. only).
You can let your account sit for stretches, but know that your points will expire after 12 months of inactivity or if you close your account. Furthermore, once you cancel your membership, you’ll need to use a different email if you decide to rejoin.
Last but not least, U.S. residents earning over $600 a year will receive a 1099 for tax purposes and will need to fill out a W-2 form. Those in Canada and Australia will need to refer to the tax rules of their countries for tax information.
My Month (And a Half) With Survey Junkie
I signed up for Survey Junkie on October 4th, so I’ve been trying it for about a month and a half as of this writing.
In that time, I have attempted to take 152 total surveys, including the points from sign-up and profile surveys.
While my survey numbers look impressive, I’ve only qualified for and completed 53 out of the total of 152 that I’ve tried to take. This ratio is actually higher than expected, as one of the tutorials mentioned that members typically qualify for 1 out of every 4 surveys.
Luckily, even when you don’t qualify you are rewarded with 2 or 3 points for trying, and those points do add up after a while.
I must admit that I’ve inconsistently utilized Survey Junkie. The first several weeks I dedicated more time to completing surveys during my downtime.
I haven’t spent as much time completing surveys in the last month due to life getting busy. As a result, I’ve probably earned less in the last month and a half than I could have had I spent more time taking surveys.
With that being said, Survey Junkie isn’t going to be a lucrative side hustle and I have not treated it as such. I’ve only tried to take surveys during downtime (watching TV, breaks at work, waiting periods) when there wasn’t enough time to do anything else more productive or because I was in a situation where I was able to multitask.
A month and a half worth of some of my downtime yielded me $26.17, which I redeemed on 11/21 with PayPal.
While it took a while to build up that stash, it didn’t take long at all for me to cash it out. In fact, once I chose the PayPal option and connected my email, the funds were transferred almost instantly. I was then able to send them onto my bank via PayPal where it’ll arrive in a day or so.
Although Survey Junkie won’t make me rich, every little bit helps.
So far, I’ve made $26.17 in 1 ½ months. Extrapolate that out over a year’s time, and if I keep on this pace, I’ll have made roughly $209.36 (12/1.5 = 8, 8×26.17 = 209.36).
A couple hundred bucks isn’t a ton, but it’s better than nothing, especially as a space-filler for my down time.
But, is it really worth it?
Is It Worth It?
The short answer: it depends.
Whether Survey Junkie is worth it depends on how you utilize it. If you use it to make a little chunk of money in your downtime, then it’s worth it, and every little bit helps.
However, if you are dedicating hours upon hours a week taking surveys as a main side hustle, then Survey Junkie will not provide a good return and I don’t recommend it, at least not for that purpose.
The reason is that the payout you receive for the time you put in is not a good ratio. The return on your investment (ROI) is poor with Survey Junkie because you could be making far more money in the same amount of time as other pursuits.
You can easily see the truth in this simply by comparing the points you would earn to the estimated time it will take to complete a survey.
In most cases, you’ll earn anywhere between 20 – 90 points for 10 – 20 minutes of work. Even on the high end for points and the low end for minutes, you’ll only be pulling in around $5.40 for an hour’s worth of work (90 points x 6 10-minute surveys).
That’s much less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Survey Junkie themselves state in their facts section, “You will NOT get rich by taking surveys. The rewards for each survey will vary, but with commitment and regular participation, you’ll have the opportunity to earn extra cash each month.”
Clearly, you’re not going to get rich with Survey Junkie. Therefore, you shouldn’t spend the time necessary to make any serious survey money when there are many other better options for making money.
However, that doesn’t mean that Survey Junkie isn’t a useful platform, it just means that it’s only valuable if used in very specific circumstances. In other words, it is useful as a byproduct of your downtime.
So when should you use Survey Junkie?
Survey Junkie will yield a reasonable investment for your time if used:
- During downtime (watching TV, movies, etc.)
- During commutes (train, bus, carpooling, etc.)
- During breaks at work
- During waiting periods (appointments, etc.)
- As a replacement for non-productive time spent (video games, social media, surfing the internet, etc.)
When used as a replacement for non-productive time or when nothing else is available, Survey Junkie can give you a reasonable return on your investment and is a nice and easy way to earn a few hundred extra dollars a year.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a way to make more substantial money in an efficient way, Survey Junkie isn’t your answer.
Drawbacks
As I mentioned before, Survey Junkie is the best of the survey sites I’ve tried so far, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
I’ve run into a few drawbacks in the last month and a half, and while most of them are minor nuisances, they are worth mentioning.
Surveys Fill up Fast
Although there are typically several potential surveys sitting in your dashboard at any given time, I’ve noticed that many of them fill up very fast.
This has especially been true for survey opportunities sent to my email, as well as quick 1-minute surveys. Even if I click an email for a 1-minute survey the moment I receive it, more often than not it has already been filled.
While this is merely annoying for me, I can see this becoming an issue for some users. In their attempt to not miss out on surveys (especially short time commitment and high-paying ones), some users may begin checking their account frequently, which would not yield a good return on your time investment.
If you become a member of Survey Junkie and miss a few surveys, my advice is to just move on and wait for the next one.
Some Surveys Can Only Be Taken on a Desktop/Laptop
This is another drawback I’ve run into, and is sometimes the cause of missing out on surveys sent via email.
Many surveys can only be taken on a desktop/laptop, not a mobile device. Since I use my cell phone for a good chunk of my online work, especially during the day, not being able to use a mobile device means potentially missing out.
However, just like the drawback above, it’s important to not obsess over completing every survey. I would recommend logging in from a computer in the evenings to complete any of these surveys, and if you’ve missed some, then so be it.
You May Be Given the Same Survey Multiple Times
I’m not sure why this happens, but there have been several occasions where I’ve been given the exact same survey twice.
On the bright side, you’ll likely receive the points multiple times, but I found it to be pretty annoying.
Take whatever surveys you’re given, just know that you might encounter one you’ve already taken on occasion.
Some Surveys Take You Down the Rabbit Hole
Another downside of Survey Junkie is that there are times when you’ll be caught in a loop of sorts.
Many of the surveys will take you to another platform, and if you don’t qualify for the original, this platform will attempt to find another survey for you. The problem is that you can get stuck going from survey to survey trying to qualify rather than being redirected back to Survey Junkie to collect points for trying.
I’ve had this happen to me multiple times, and have even clicked out of the loop and forgone my points because I was so frustrated.
It does appear that Survey Junkie or their partners are trying to remedy this issue, as more recently I’ve been asked if I want to continue looking for surveys or leave. If you click leave, you are then redirected back to Survey Junkie and can collect your participation points.
However, know that there may be times where you’re drawn down the rabbit hole as a partnering platform cycles through multiple surveys trying to find one you qualify for.
It Takes a Long Time To Earn a Significant Amount
The last major drawback to Survey Junkie is that it takes time to earn a significant amount of money.
Of course, you can’t expect to make a part-time living from taking surveys, but even with the consistent effort, it takes a while to earn anything worth redeeming.
One area where I think Survey Junkie could improve upon is having more correlation between the time it takes to complete a survey and the payout. Right now, some short surveys are worth more while some longer surveys are worth significantly less.
It would make more sense for the points earned to correspond to the length of time it takes to complete surveys.
Tips for Getting the Best ROI for Your Time
Although you won’t get rich with Survey Junkie, and you shouldn’t be investing a significant amount of time trying to make money, there are some things you can do to maximize the return for whatever amount of time you do decide to dedicate to it.
First, make sure you fill out all the information surveys about yourself so you can be matched to better opportunities with higher payouts. You’ll also earn some quick and easy points by filling out your profile.
Second, when on the dashboard make sure you attempt to do the highest paid surveys with the shortest estimated time first. Again, points earned do not necessarily correspond to the time needed to complete the survey, so you’ll be better off targeting surveys with the highest payout for the lowest time invested.
Finally, make sure you ONLY use Survey Junkie as a time filler and not when you could being doing something more productive. You will not get a good return on your investment with Survey Junkie, so it’s important to use it as a space filler and not compromise other areas of your life to take surveys.
Some good times to take surveys might be when watching TV, if you commute on a train or bus, when waiting for an appointment, or during other non-productive times.
Moral of the Story
Survey Junkie is a site that connects consumers to market researchers and pays you for taking surveys.
I’ve personally tried several survey sites since college, and Survey Junkie is the best of them all. The platform is easy to set up and use, and the payouts are in cash or gift cards.
I’ve made $26.17 in the month and a half that I’ve been trying Survey Junkie, all by taking surveys in my downtime.
However, it’s important to remember that Survey Junkie will only be useful to you if you use it correctly.
Survey Junkie should be used as a way to make a few bucks during your downtime when you are not otherwise being productive. Taking surveys should not be used as a side hustle or part-time income, as you can easily make more money in the same amount of time pursuing other endeavors. While all survey sites offer a similar return on investment, Survey Junkie stands above the rest because they pay their members in cash or gift cards.
To get the best return on your time investment, make sure you fill out all the profile questions to unlock better matches and higher paying surveys, target the highest paying/lowest time surveys first, and only use Survey Junkie during your downtime.
You shouldn’t quit your day job to take surveys nor sacrifice a valuable hour of your life for a mere $5.40, but Survey Junkie can definitely help supplement your savings for the year when done in your downtime.
Hey, $200 bucks is $200 bucks.
Savoteur 