You Snooze, You Lose!
You check your email, and get excited – you’ve just been sent an online survey that’s worth a lot of points for not a lot of time. You click on the link, licking your chops, ready to tackle this bad boy when, lo and behold, you get the dreaded “this survey is now closed” message. You sit there, disappointed, and puzzled as to how the survey closed so quickly. It was only sent a few minutes ago! How do you get in on the action?
A quick explanation
First off, lucrative surveys close fast, especially when the qualifying criteria isn’t too specific. Everybody wants to make quick, easy money, so these studies fill up quickly, purely do to a high offered incentive. The secret is to get notified of these surveys the second they become available. How so? Two words: push email.
Two magic words
Push email allows the transfer of an email to your smartphone. You might already be using this for your work emails when you receive notifications to your phone. If you’re not using this system for online surveys, now’s the time.
If you’re already a keener
If you have multiple email accounts and only have one account’s emails being delivered to your phone, the easiest thing to do is to log into the accounts that you have with different survey websites, and change your email to the one that goes to your phone.
If you’re new to this
If you don’t have push email set up, it’s pretty easy – simply search Google or Bing for “how to set up push email”. You can be more specific in your search by specifying your phone type and email provider (gmail, Hotmail, yahoo, etc.).
Once you’ve set this up, you’ll be almost instantly notified of new surveys that come your way (depending on device settings – ideally you should set things up so you receive emails instantly).
Apps are where it’s at
Supplementing, or, an alternative to this, is signing up with survey panels who specifically offer mobile surveys. The difference is that you usually have to install an app on your phone, and you’ll be notified of new surveys through the application itself. The surveys you receive through the app are mobile-friendly, meaning you should be able to take the survey directly on your mobile, rather than having to make a beeline for the nearest computer.
The early adopters
Although most market research companies are slow to adopt new technologies, some have already jumped on the bandwagon and have started to offer apps to their panelists. These companies include:
Toluna – if you have an Apple device such as an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, you will be able to download the Toluna app through iTunes, which allows you to answer surveys, create polls, etc. If you’re not already a member, join Toluna free of charge.
