{"id":1646,"date":"2014-10-27T21:53:30","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T21:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/surveysatrap.com\/?p=1646"},"modified":"2014-10-27T21:54:51","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T21:54:51","slug":"pollbuzzer-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/surveysatrap.com\/pollbuzzer-review\/","title":{"rendered":"PollBuzzer Review: a Legit Site that Pays $1 for Each Survey?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of my readers email me asking me about cash only surveys. Although there aren’t many of them, most companies are moving towards cash payments.<\/p>\n

PollBuzzer, on the other hand, has been paying its panelists cash for taking surveys since the beginning. It is one of the few sites that pays $1 for every single surveys (much like Pinecone Research that pays $3 per survey<\/a>), and most of their surveys are just one question.<\/p>\n

So, today’s review will revolve around PollBuzzer and whether or not it’s a legit paying survey site.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As always, we will begin with a quick company background and a look at its profile on the BBB.<\/p>\n

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Business Background of PollBuzzer<\/h2>\n

Noah Seton is the co-founder of PollBuzzer. While working in his capacity as a management consultant, he was familiar to the high costs associated to gather market intelligence and consumer data. The work related to finding what consumers\u2019 need and want is often long and tedious, but there could be times when businesses are more concerned about a quick check about the general sentiment of the market.<\/p>\n

The emergence of Wikipedia and Google has made instant search a reality; still there was no comprehensive means to pull public opinions online in an effective way, like the way Gallup poll<\/a> does offline.<\/p>\n

This had been a challenge during his earlier career. Then an idea struck upon him that he could take advantage of the potential of Internet crowd sourcing technology, in combination of text messaging. He realized that if the technology could be utilized in a more focused way, he possibly has a solution to address the challenge. The thinking was that if he has established a broad and deep panel of respondents, who are guaranteed to be the source of any instantaneous surveys, he could be right there to give businesses the real-time opinions that they desire.<\/p>\n

That remained on the drawing board until Noah met Matt McLoughlin. The latter is a software architect providing IT solutions to real business issues. And the rest is history, as they said.<\/p>\n

The company was born with the collaboration of Seton and McLoughlin, and they wasted no time for the introduction of this new, real-time consumer research tool.<\/p>\n

\"Pollbuzzer<\/p>\n

Better Business Bureau’s Rating<\/h2>\n

I looked at PollBuzzer’s profile on the BBB<\/a>. It is actually listed under the actual company’s name, Dandel Enterprises, Inc.<\/p>\n

And although it is not a BBB accredited business (companies actually have to pay to become a BBB accredited business, so this is really not a major thing. There are tons of big companies that are not accredited by the BBB), it gets an A- rating from the BBB.<\/p>\n

What was great to see was the number of complaints against the company in the past 3 years, according to the BBB. Usually, most companies I investigate have at least a dozen or so complaints against them, but there was only one complaints against PollBuzzer in the last 3 years, and that one complaint has been solved actually. So, that is a good sign of the company being a customer friendly company.<\/p>\n

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Signing Up<\/h2>\n

Going through the entire registration process is pretty easy and quick, much like with other similar sites, say like Opinion Outpost (reviewed here<\/a> by me). What they would ask for you are: first name, last name, email, and PayPal email where they eventually could credit your payment.<\/p>\n

During the sign up process, you’ll have to go through a series of questionnaire so as to establish your profile. That helps them to push more targeted jobs to appropriate candidates.<\/p>\n

Those relevant surveys will be sent into your e-mail inbox directly. They would usually take the form of just one single question e-mail and you will be presented with multiple choices for your picking. There is no prior screening required.<\/p>\n

From my experience, I did not get to see many e-mails of such nature. Considering the fact that I have been with them for close to 18 months, that could be some indication on the kind of frequency that members will receive survey. But that is just my own experience. It will be too simplistic to assume that all members share that same experience.<\/p>\n

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Surveys<\/h3>\n

The one piece of data that greatly interests businesses is the demographic information about you, the consumer. So don’t be surprised that the market tends to be defined by age group, income bracket and gender.<\/p>\n

The questionnaire will be structured usually on brand loyalty and product satisfaction. They may also take an interest in your hobbies and day-to-day activities so that they can design products and services targeted towards your lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this exercise of polls and surveys is to facilitate marketing activities. Companies want to find the right market so that they can project the right marketing message.<\/p>\n

Think of it this way, if I happen to be an elderly with a deep interest on gardening, then I would not be considered the interested audience for a marketing campaign focusing on sexy lingerie. In a similar way, the marketing message would not be structured in a way that appeals to a demographic group that is similar to my profile.<\/p>\n

You can read more about the importance of targeting the right demographics for market research studies here<\/a> (a PDF published on the University of Michigan’s Population Studies Center website).<\/p>\n

\"PollBuzzer<\/p>\n

My first e-mail question was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

It was a lifestyle question and inside the questionnaire, I was asked this question:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are you going to be watching the\u00a0world cup final this weekend,<\/p>\n