Market Research: Share your opinions, make cash!
Do you know how to shop and order items online? Or surf a website? Or use a phone app? Did you know those are marketable skills?
It’s true. Every day companies and developers are paying ordinary people to give their opinions, about products and projects. These freelancers “work” remotely and are free to do as much or as little as they like.
Can you make a living giving your opinions to market researchers? In most cases, no. But in some cases, yes.
More often than not, taking online surveys and sharing your opinions is a fun and easy way to earn extra cash. Sometimes hundreds of dollars a month. But if you have tech skills, some sites pay enough for informed opinions like yours that you could live on the rewards.
Either way, if you have some extra time, it is not a bad idea to try your hand at online market research. In addition to earning you cash, these freelance jobs can help you develop and fine-tune your communication skills, which in turn can help you when applying for other positions.
What do online market research jobs entail?
Depending on the assignment, you will shop online or by phone and report back with feedback about the experience. Or you might be asked to surf a website and give your opinion about how easy it is to navigate, or what did and did not work about it. Sometimes you may be asked to give your opinion about an app or a new online game.
Depending on the assignment, you might report your findings:
Via an online questionnaire or multiple choice form.
Via answering online essay-type questions.
Via recording your thoughts on an audio recording. Sometimes you will be asked to audio record your impressions while you are surfing a site or using an app.
Via a video recording that shares your thoughts and opinions.
Sometimes you will be asked to complete an online interview with a researcher via Zoom or another meeting platform. Even when you have to record yourself via audio or video, you will still be answering set questions, so you need not worry about floundering around trying to think of something to say.
What skills do you need and how much does it pay?
Most of these jobs are considered low skill positions, but sometimes having skills can help you qualify for better paying market research projects. In fact, one of the job resources below pays as much as $500 for a single study to qualified tech professionals.
There is a wide range from that high point, but you will know, before applying, what each study pays upon completion. Sometimes it’s pocket change for a short opinion that takes minutes. The longer and more time-consuming the task, the more it will pay. You might even encounter multi-part market research jobs too.
You will need to have and know how to use a smartphone and, in some cases, a laptop or desktop computer. For some shops or studies, you will need both.
An eye for detail will help you excel. You are being paid for your opinion so the more detailed your opinion is, the better in most cases.
Good written and/or verbal communication is important. Researchers are not looking for one-word answers. Depending on the assignments, you will need to write or speak several sentences to several paragraphs. In some cases, you will do an interview, so you will need to be able to speak about your experiences and opinions.
Important to know:
Individual jobs in the secret shopper industry are referred to as “shops.” We point this out so that you won’t be confused when reading the resource websites below. Sometimes market research jobs are called “studies” too.
Each market research job requires different qualifications. The researchers might want to hear from people of certain ages, sexes, ethnic backgrounds, etc. Don’t take it personally if you are not qualified for a given study; just move on and apply for another.
Before applying, you will receive details about the study or job, including how long it should take to complete and how much you will be paid for it. These jobs can take as little as 5 minutes or so and can last up to several hours.
How to get more market research jobs
Because you will not qualify for every job, it’s a good idea to register and apply for jobs at several different places. Even if you get them all, most of these jobs don’t take all that long, so you could do them all and make more cash.
The more information you can provide about yourself, the greater your chances of being invited to participate in more shops or studies. Likewise, you should fully fill out your profile on all the platforms you use.
Completing optional surveys on the job platforms below can increase your chances of getting better jobs and increase your chances of getting more. This goes hand in hand with the more information you provide, the better. These surveys will ask you about yourself and your consumer habits and can help you qualify for more of these jobs.
Completing surveys on time, giving lots of insight and details, and generally doing a good job will get you rewarded with better jobs with many of these companies.
Always read each and every question and pay attention. Sometimes companies will insert trick questions just to see if you are paying attention. If you breeze by these and answer them incorrectly, you will be disqualified from the study and not get paid!
Fraud Alert!
Not all secret shopper platforms are honorable, and there are scams out there. To the best of our knowledge, the ones below are legit.
I had no sooner signed up with one of the companies below when I got a scammer text message. Ignore these and ONLY work through the legit platforms. It must be a serious problem as each of these sites has disclaimers warning consumers about potential scammers.
Here are more things that should raise red flags for you:
You should NEVER be asked to pay to be hired or for information about a position.
Never give out personal information such as credit card numbers.
Run, don’t walk away from anyone who offers to pay you in advance. This is a scam to gain access to your bank account.
Never give out your social security number unless you are hired, in which case you will be required to provide it for tax purposes.
Check that the email you correspond with matches the company you are dealing with.
Be suspicious of messages or phone calls from countries other than where the employer is located.
When in doubt about anything, verify independently with the company.
Learn more about how to spot job scams here and how to avoid being a victim of job scams here.
How to find remote secret shopper and market research jobs
There are tons of online services where you can find these jobs. We have listed somevbelow but there are many others.
Most of these services will require you to complete a short survey to register, then another test to see how you do at the freelance job.
Details are key, and so is honesty. These companies are looking for detailed opinions, what you like and don’t like, and most importantly, WHY you feel that way. Use your communication skills!
The best-paying services I found are listed below. I did not include any that pay in gift cards or that pay so little as to hardly be worth your time. Good luck!
Remote Secret Shopper Resources
Gig Spot: Consolidates information from lots of Mystery Shopping orgs to connect you with mystery shopping and market research companies. Offering you tens of thousands of job opportunities, you decide which jobs you want, where, and when.
Checkealos: Get paid for your opinions online on topics as varied as online banking, to e-commerce, to virtual reality. Pay varies depending on assignments, but generally it is in the range of $10 for 30 minutes.
Cloud Research: Take quick surveys for money. Not enough for a job, but not a bad way for to make some extra cash.
Conversion Crimes: Review apps and websites and provide in-depth research. Receive $10-$100 depending on the number of questions and criteria.
Dscout: This app offers lots of different “missions” that you can complete for pay. Most require you to answer questions and upload a short video sharing your options. Missions typically pay between $20 and $100. Once you join the platform, you will answer short questionnaires for each mission you want to participate in. There are no right or wrong answers, but these short qualifying questionnaires will determine if you qualify for that mission. If not, try another!
Gridspace Mixer: This company helps reach the latest in AI technology. Tasks include testing AI bots, roleplay exercises, and transcription.
Prolific – An international company that offers market and academic research studies of varying lengths and compensations. Studies pay a minimum of $8.00 an hour but some studies take just minutes to complete, so you can complete a lot of short ones in a small amount of time.
Probe Market Research: How would you like to get paid for your opinions about a new TV commercial, beauty product, or soda bottle design? Probe Research constantly hosts focus groups to get feedback for clients’ new advertising campaigns, products, or services. Focus groups normally pay between $50 and $400. Many are in person, but in some cases, you may not even need to leave your home! Interviews are conducted in groups, by phone, or online—depending on the amount of time assigned to that particular study.
Recruit+ Field: This company places participants in both in-person and online focus groups and market research.
Trymata: (formerly TryMyUI) Trymata pays testers to test websites and apps for usability. Tests pay between $5 to $30 a piece, depending on the assignment. You share your screen while surfing the website/app and record your thoughts while doing so. This gives programmers and developers insights into the user experience and where it might be lacking.
User Testing: A quick and easy way to make extra cash using your phone or computer. Surveys fall into 3 categories: online surveys, recorded tests with audio or video where you speak your thoughts aloud, or live online conversations about the things you are testing
Userlytics: Offers realtime testing of websites, apps, and other digital assets, freelancers are paid between $5 to $20 for each test.
Utest: The more technology skills you have, the better you will do with Utest, which hires freelancers to test new technology before it hits the market. However, if you don’t have skills, this is also a good place to learn them as they have various trainings available. Utest does not publicly post rates, but according to internet threads, testers are paid between $50 and $500 per test (this is where those technology skills come in), with some testers turning Utest into a full-time, well-paying job.