Why Are There Paid Surveys?

In the common perception, opinions are plentiful, common and not highly valued. We hear expressions like, "Opinions are like navels, everybody's got one." (Implying: And so?) And even negative aspects such as, "She really gave him a piece of her mind!" (She forcefully told him what she thought, whether he liked it or not!)  And so it's easy to understand that many are suspicious of the idea that there are Paid Surveys.  Or that someone would actually *pay* you for your opinion.

It is true that it is easy to get the opinion of almost anyone with whom you come in contact.  Just ask, and they'll generally tell you.  But put yourself, for a moment, in the shoes of a marketing manager for a consumer products company.  You know, the kind of products you see in the supermarket.  There are usually 3,000 to 6,000 different products being sold in a good-sized supermarket.  The supermarket displays the products, the customers come in, pick out what they want, take it to the check-out lane, pay for it and leave.  It happens millions of times a day.  And the manufacturer or packer of the product has NO CONTACT with the buyer!

Take breakfast cereal for example.  How many different choices are there? 30? 50? More? And the customers pick one out and throw it in their shopping carts.  The Marketing Manager for the cereal company is dying to know why did they do that?  Why did they pick that particular one?  What are they looking for when they buy?

Of course, it is not a single transaction that counts, it's in the numbers, the percentages, the statistics.  But the point is that marketing managers everywhere need to know what their target markets think.  What they think about their products, what is important to them in making a selection, why they select one and not another. 

Not having any direct contact with the ultimate consumer, the marketing manager becomes a Survey Buyer and hires a survey-taking company (Survey Taker) to take a survey.  He specifies what he knows about the demographics of his target market: location, gender, age group, education level, etc. And he poses the questions he wants answered, such as, "Rank the following by importance in your decision to buy: flavor, fiber content, all natural ingredients,..., etc."

The Survey Taker then goes to its database and picks out say, 1,000 to 3,000 people (Survey Responders) available to fill out survey questionnaires. These people are selected because their demographics match those required by the Survey Buyer's request.  The Survey Taker has agreed to pay Survey Responders for their opinion.  He agrees to pay them because he needs speed and accuracy or replies and detailed demographic info from each so he can report to the Survey Buyer quickly and get paid. 

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