Going into the world of paid surveys, one of the very first things that you’re going to have to make up your mind about is the type of incentive that you’d like to focus on. Of course, if you want to you could just do whatever you feel like, but it would benefit you to spend a few minutes thinking about it.
Many people make the rather rash mistake of immediately jumping to the conclusion that cold hard cash is the best incentive out there. While it is true that cash is an attractive option, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the best one!
For example, which would you rather: A one-time cash payment of $50 for completing a survey, or an iPhone?
Needless to say, an iPhone is ‘worth’ a whole lot more than just $50, and so if you’re interested in getting a new mobile phone anyway, it would be a great deal to opt for it instead of the meager $50.
Even if you aren’t in the market for a mobile phone, it is still tough to decide, isn’t it?
Similarly, if you’re the kind that does spend a lot on a certain type of product, say, shoes, would you rather get $30 for a survey, or a voucher for 50% off on a pair of designer shoes of your choice. Chances are the 50% discount would work out to have more value than $30, which makes it, once again, a pretty attractive option don’t you think?
As you can probably gather by this point, the decision to opt between the various types of prizes, or cold hard cash, is not the easiest one in the world.
Truth be told, if you’re interested in gaining the most ‘value’ out of your surveys, you’re going to have to evaluate them as they come in. Whether you have very few options or you’re spoilt for choice, the way to determine the ‘best’ option is to take a look at what options you do have, and then assign a rough value to them.
Compare those values, and you should be able to easily come to a decision.
One point that needs to be made here though is that while something may be more ‘valuable’ in terms of its cash-equivalent-value, if you’re not going to use it at all, it might very well end up being completely worthless to you.
Take that into account too when you’re going about your considerations. Once you do, you should find that the choice between prizes or cash is very much simplified, and you’ll be able to easily select the option that you stand to gain the most from.
Occasionally you may even come across some other, more exotic, type of incentives. For these, the same sort of principle applies and so long as you go through the same exercise, you’ll have no issue figuring out whether or not the incentive you’re being offered is worthwhile.