Effectively (and ethically) participating in online surveys for fun and profit

My wife enjoys Starbucks.  Following the pinch of furloughs and the like, though, she has held back on Starbucks — especially after they discontinued offering free soy with her gold membership.  (Apparently a lot of people took advantage of it.  Duh!)

With MyPoints, though, I've been able to get a $25 Starbucks card once every few months or so, through a combination of clicking on a few e-mail links to visit websites, and cashing in on good point deals for magazine subscription renewals that make them almost free after the points.

Along with the e-mails, they offer online surveys to earn points toward gift cards.  Since the surveys take more time than simply clicking on a link in an e-mail, they're worth more points.  Clicking on an e-mail link, when points are offered for the link, is almost always 5 points.  (It takes around 4,000 points to get a $25 gift card.)  Surveys, though, are usually worth 50 to 75 points if you qualify.

Qualifying for surveys is pretty tough

Notice that the surveys are worth 50 to 75 points if you qualify.  When companies conduct a survey, they're usually looking to sample a very specific population.  It might be that the company wants to sample people of a particular gender, income, state of residence, occupation, number of children … or all of the above.  Or with even more specific characteristics than this.

So, they structure the survey to first ask some “weed-out” questions — questions that will determine whether you, the survey taker, are in the population that they want to sample.  If you answer these questions, and you don't meet what characteristics they're looking for, the scripting of the survey will (usually) politely thank you for your time, say that you didn't qualify, and end the survey there.  They won't pay MyPoints or whomever is administering the full survey for data that doesn't serve their needs.  (They may get demographic information on everyone who started the survey, though.  I don't know for sure.)

In my experience, I rarely qualify for the surveys that are offered on MyPoints.  Or, if I don't qualify, then they've already gotten all of the respondents of my type (whatever that is!) and they don't need any more.

Not qualifying for a survey is pretty easy … and there is a reward for that

The good news is that MyPoints does give you 10 points if you start a survey, but do not qualify for it.  This makes business sense all-around:

• The survey-takers get something for their time, and directly related to the time they put into the survey (more if they complete the survey, less if they're kicked out early).
• MyPoints keeps the survey-taking activity high.  If word got out that qualifying was so difficult, and that there was no reward if you didn't qualify, then participation would drop.
• The companies offering the surveys get a fresher pool of survey-takers.

Your mileage may vary.  You might have the right “make-up” for surveys such that you qualify all the time, and they love to survey you.

I just know that I'm not that kind of person.  And frankly, that's all right!  I'd rather take a quick 10 points for not qualifying anyway.  They're getting my answers to the weed-out questions in any case.

If you're the same kind of person I am — one that is likely not to qualify for a survey — then I have a trick that seems to help make that happen a little faster, without lying about anything.  (No survey administrator likes you poisoning their results, and they'll put a stop to it if they suspect you are.)

My trick, given that I rarely qualify for surveys anyway, is that I will “prefer not to answer” any question that allows me to do so.  Most of these kinds of questions usually deal with race, gender, income, or age.  Not every survey will give questions with a “weasel choice” like this, but a good number do.  The less the survey can pigeonhole me, the less likely that I will be identified as being in the population that they want to sample, and the more likely they will pass on giving me the rest of the survey.

But, regardless, I always answer honestly.  If they're “paying” me for my time, I should at least give them what they're looking for.  That way, no one is cheated out of anything.  If I get shown the door on the survey quickly, great.  If not?  Well, then I found the one survey in 40 or 50 that I was a good match for!

There's plenty of ways to make money that are honest.  Taking surveys is one of them if you answer honestly.