OpinionWorld is not a very well-known paid survey site. In fact, I myself heard of this panel just recently and thought why not give it a try. So, I signed up and started taking surveys with them. I think its time for me to share my findings with you.
So, without further ado, here is my review of OpinionWorld.com based on what I have seen in the last few months that I have been a panel member here.
A Little Background
Survey Sampling International is the company behind Opinion World. Founded in 1977, the parent company itself is a market research company. Every year, surveys designed by Survey Sampling are used by some 1500 research companies; including 43 of the top 50 research companies internationally.
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The panel routinely sends out email invitations for surveys. Participants are required to tackle these surveys and be rewarded with cash.
The reward system is points based, so the objective is for users to accumulate these points over time and turn them into cash at the time of payout.
More than just another paid survey panel, Opinion World also actively promotes charity. Members can send points to Red Cross at the completion of individual surveys.
As far as its profile on Better Business Bureau goes, although the website itself is not listed there, the parent company (Survey Sampling International) is. SSI is actually an accredited business and it rates the highest (an impressive A+) with the BBB.
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Review of Opinion World
Most paid survey websites give the impression that one can easily makes money online by simply participating in surveys. This is undoubtedly a nice marketing message as that is what most people are thinking of doing anyway.
In the prospective members’ minds, this is easy work, as they believe they can count on their instinct, knowledge and experience to guide them check off these boxes presented at a typical survey sort of easily.
The problem is after signing up, many come to realization it is not simply about surveys.
There are all sorts of things to do, with the much-anticipated surveys only feature once in a while. For examples, there are product testing to be conducted, invitations to join other consumer panels, referrals to make, and ads to watch.
Sometimes such activities can come with a cost. Take product testing for example – if you don’t pull out your participation before the trial period expires, you could find yourself being billed for products or services which you have no use for.
Considering all these factors above, OpinionWorld is indeed one rare breed as its ultimate goal is to get you to take surveys.
Registration is free and the communication between you and the panel is essentially about survey participation, nothing more and nothing less.
Anyone who has reached the age of 14 can sign up with, no matter where he or she resides. This site is one of the few panels that accept international members.
Although they don’t offer membership to people from every single country, they do accept members from most countries, including Canada, Australia, UK, Singapore, US etc.
After you become a full fledged member (or after successful and free registration), you will start to get invited through emails to take part in surveys.
Every survey completion would be rewarded with corresponding points, and these points can be redeemed for cash or prizes later.
In addition, members are automatically included into a prize drawing every 3 months.
I noticed the surveys I was invited to tend to vary in length but according to the website, most surveys should take participants no more than 15 minutes to complete (usually around 10 to 15).
Another unique feature of this site is that it often invites participants on shorter, and less detailed surveys. Such invitations can happen on almost daily basis, however, there is no payment associated with such surveys. Instead, the site will transfer these “earnings” to charity.
The actual paid surveys come infrequently, about once a month. You would be lucky if you get such invitations more regular than that frequency. Still, there are other means to boost your income here.
Make sure your profile is up to date. The only way to get more invitations coming your way is to have more detailed and varied description of your qualification. When you update your profile regularly, you are more likely to get invited to tackle more paid surveys.
In my case, based on my profile, I was invited to take special surveys that pay more as a “Valued Professional” (because of my self employment status and that I own my own business). Here is the screenshot of the message I got when that happened:
Because we never know for sure how profile matching is done, it may be worth your while to register any change in your life; taking on a new job, getting the first born, switching from regular to decaf coffee, etc…
Short of knowing exactly what factors could turn you from a fringe (or negligible) member to a highly desired participant, your best bet is to fill your profile page with whatever little changes happenings in your life.
Don’t overlook the “extras.” This site has a habit of sending emails and asking members to update their profiles, or may be seeking some sort of confirmation about some personal details.
Even though this may not happen regular enough, it is a nice way to accumulate points as your willingness to oblige would reward you a small point. This is a nice way to get to your redemption level quicker, in exchange of 2-3 seconds of your life!
Don’t miss all the draws taking place. OW regularly conducts random draws. The pool of candidates comes from previous prizewinners. So be sure that you qualify to go into these random drawings.
One other tactic is to give every survey a go whenever you are invited. Maybe a certain survey does not look appealing because it simply takes too long or you think your chance of qualification is not great. Just respond to every one comes your way.
If you can’t get through the qualification markers (obviously you don’t get paid then), the site would channel you to a “Thank You” prize drawing, sort of acknowledging your time to respond to these invitations and assuring that the time spent won’t go exactly wasted.
Rewards
Opinion World does not offer hard cash as reward. Their compensation comes in the form of points for every survey completed (about 100 points for individual paid survey).
As soon as you get to 1000 points (which carries face value of $10.00) you may decide to cash out.
You have 5 options when it comes to redeeming your points:
- PayPal Cash
- Amazon Gift certificate
- Donation to Red Cross
- WebShop (offering gift cards from hundreds of different offline and online stores)
- iTunes
Obviously, cash is a much preferred option but nevertheless the site has been generous in awarding the points with every survey I completed.
So, the site compensates you with points when you do survey, and the survey panel is happy to enter you into sweepstakes where there could be multiple rewards and large cash prizes for the taking.
Regardless of PayPal or eVouchers options, processing time can take up to two days. If you think I am complaining about long lead-time, this actually happens to be the short time on record for paid survey panels (well, that is the pathetic state of this industry). Moreover, if you fancy physical gift vouchers, be prepared to wait 10 business days.
Is Opinion World a scam or a reliable company?
In the bigger scheme of thing, Opinion World is a subsidiary of a respected organization like Survey Sampling International.
Operation wise, it is under direct control of the same folks who run SurveySpot and Opinion Outpost, two survey websites under the scrutiny of Survey Satrap, among the many out there. By the way, here is my review of SurveySpot and OpinionOutpost.
As legitimate as it is on my score board, its rating does not compare favorably against some of the more attractive survey websites out there.
With intimate knowledge on how this particular panel operates, making money can be easy here. This site is not a scam of any sort, and the survey panel is not interested to trade your personal information, whether to third parties or advertisers.
The good thing is that this site does not believe in spam mail. The communication line to you (strictly email) is essentially about announcements and survey invitations only.
Every member has a fair chance to enter their quarterly prize drawing, which I think is an instant attraction as the chance to win big is always there without requiring any huge effort on my part.
Bottom Line
In the final analysis, Opinion World never tries to mislead you that you could hit big money payout through surveys, they are not overly zealous to tempt you with what their partner companies offer from time to time, and most importantly they do pay, although as I mentioned in this review, sometimes it takes too long.
Having said that, because of their infrequent survey invites, I personally am not going to pay too much attention to this site. Sure, I will keep my membership and take their surveys as they become available, but I wouldn’t be checking my email everyday for their surveys.
You can sign up here for OpinionWorld if you want to give them a shot, but don’t get your hopes to high though.
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