5 Types of Market Research that Pays
Jan 10, 2018 | 0 Votes
by Aethyna
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By completing surveys, you’re not only helping the companies grow and evolve; you can earn a tidy little sum for yourself as well.
Completing surveys is actually a great way to help companies in their market research and by now, we’re sure you know that being part of a market research panel pays. In fact, it is possibly among the easiest way you can earn some extra cash, or items, without needing to spend too much of your free time.
However, did you know that there are actually 5 different types of market research that you can participate in to earn an extra buck? In this article, we’ll learn more about what each of these market research does and how your paid responses and opinions will help companies grow and evolve.
Satisfaction and Loyalty Surveys
This is possibly the most popular type of survey-based market research that companies really like to use and it is also one of the most known forms of market research among us, laymen. That being said, it’s really obvious what these surveys do. They basically let a company know how you, the customer and/or consumer, feel about the product and/or service rendered and what you think could be improved.
This “feeling” along with any suggestions which you’ll be sharing through this sort of surveys, will help companies identify areas of the product or service that require improvement. Since these surveys function as a form of feedback as well, the companies can also obtain early warnings about the depreciation of their product or service when it comes to meeting their customers’ changing needs, which may eventually lead to customer defection and a loss of sales. In order words, your opinions will help a company realize that it’s no longer providing the satisfaction necessary to retain their customers and hence, they will need to change to fit your needs.
The same goes for companies that sent out loyalty surveys except, well… in this case, the main criterion they will be trying to gauge is your loyalty to said company’s line of products, services or both. These surveys function to help a company determine the factors that influence a customer’s loyalty and the drive behind repeat purchases. This will, in turn, guide the creation and development of customer loyalty programs so they could make it more attractive and beneficial to you.
Brand Awareness Survey
This is another one of the more popular market research that you might have had experienced or at least heard of. This form of surveys generally helps a company keep tabs on how effective their marketing campaigns are… after all, most companies do spend a lot of money on marketing.
As a participant in such surveys, you’ll be presented a list of brands of similar products or services and asked questions like “Which brands, do you think, are more reputable?” in which you may be required to rank the brands from most reputable to the least.
These surveys will then help the companies determine a few criteria, such as brand image and brand trust, that will subsequently let them know whether their marketing team is doing great (or not). One of these main criteria is probably brand recall in which a customer will be tested on which brand they think of first (whether the company’s or a competitor’s) whenever they think about a product or service.
So, for instance, let’s say Snickers did a brand awareness survey and asked random people in a specific location which brand they think of first when they want to buy a chocolate-covered nougat topped with caramel and peanuts. However, they get the answer “Mars” more often than “Snickers”. So, if this is the case, then maybe they might need to do some changes to either their marketing messages or their product, or both.
Pricing Research Survey
Whether you’d like to admit it or not, the price of a product or a service is one of the main driving factors when it comes to making purchases. So, it is crucial for a company to be able to gauge how much their customers (or potential customers) are willing to pay for their products, and which features will make their customers more willing to pay more when they are included.
These surveys will usually contain multiple “versions” of the same product or service, just with different added feature/s. Participants of the survey will then be asked to perhaps rate how desirable the added feature is or how much they are willing to pay for each of the slightly-different products (we’ll just go with “products” just to make things simpler).
The company will then be able to identify which feature/s their customers care most about in their product and adjust their products accordingly. This form of surveys is particularly effective for new products, but it’s also a good move to make if a company is looking to innovate their existing products.
Not to mention, when combined with some basic research on their competitor’s pricing, the company will then be able to get an advantage in pricing their products.
Product Testing Survey
Similarly, conducting Product Testing Surveys is a great market research technique for a company to understand whether their product meet their customers’ needs, despite being quite rare on most paid survey sites. The data collected is crucial to the product’s development and marketing and is important for a company to greenlight (or not) a new feature or product rollout. This form of market research is often conducted throughout a product’s lifespan.
Advertising Testing Survey
Advertising testing survey is not exactly a new type of market research but it seems to be on the rise alongside the huge increase in the use of video ads in apps. In addition to determining whether a company’s advertisements work (by helping to boost sales) or not, these surveys can help companies save time and resources by testing their advertisement campaigns and getting feedback firsthand from their customers.
If you have read our article, 6 Types of Surveys, you should probably be able to link this form of survey to the Webcam Survey Method mentioned in the article. This method of survey is quite unique although rare and is supposedly be able to let researchers gauge how well a video ad works based on your reactions and responses, much like the React video series on YouTube that is produced by The Fine Brothers. Since you will be required to have a good webcam to participate, participants will usually earn a lot more in this type of paid surveys.
Featured Surveys
SwagBucks
When it comes to paid survey sites or apps, Swagbucks is as prevalent as the internet itself and we’re not exaggerating. The site boasts of having more than 15 million members who have earned enough Swagbucks to cash out more than $380 million in free gift cards!
Survey Rewardz
Survey Rewardz is a paid surveys website that is owned and backed by the reputable company, Points2Shop. They do not provide their own surveys but instead source surveys from survey companies and offer them to you if you match the criteria.
MySurvey
In addition to being one of the oldest paid survey sites ever to grace the internet, MySurvey also claims to be the world’s Number 1 Paid Survey Site and boasts of having more than 4 million members in 40 markets across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. As of 2014, the site has paid out more than $32 million.
Shopper’s Voice
Shopper’s Voice is a customer survey site that shower you with tons of rewards from coupons to free samples that are tailored to what you like. It used to publish its surveys on paper but has since moved to an online platform.
InboxDollars
InboxDollars is perhaps one of the more popular paid survey sites that’s available both online and in a convenient little app for your mobile devices. The paid survey site itself has an excellent reputation among other online money-making sites and has reportedly paid out more than $30 million since 2006.
MyPoints
MyPoints is a primarily cashback site, though it does offer other forms of earning opportunities such as completing paid surveys and watching videos, which uses a points-based system to pay out rewards to its users. The site has a good cash-out track record despite having a rather low points-to-cash exchange rate.
