Surveys – they’re a popular online side-hustle, and a major way for you to earn rewards here at ySense too…
From Mumbai to Madison Heights, if you have a computer, smartphone or tablet and some spare time, you can quickly get extra money trickling in by sharing your opinions for rewards.
This kind of paid work is popular because you can start immediately, with no previous experience. There are no right or wrong answers, only your feedback and opinions.
And to thank you for your time, at ySense we reward you with a wide choice of goodies: from cold, hard cash (PayPal, Skrill & Payoneer), to all kinds of gift cards and gift vouchers (Amazon, iTunes and many top retailers).
The key to making the most of these online earning opportunities is to learn the tricks of the trade. Even though paid surveys are casual ways of making money, the more you take a professional approach, the more you can earn.
Here are the pro tips and survey secrets that will maximise your earnings on ySense…
Tip 1: Grab Surveys Quickly
You can find all of your available surveys in your survey dashboard.
Each survey has the name of the provider, a unique survey ID, the approximate time to complete the survey (called LOI or Length of Interview) and importantly – the reward.
Treat both the LOI and reward as guide values. A survey can be shorter or longer than stated, but not usually by much. The time given is a guide, based on others that have taken the survey already.
The good news is that the reward is very rarely lower than shown. Treat this as a minimum reward, which can end up being more, depending on your answers.
Your list of available surveys in your dash is always changing. That’s the nature of online surveys – they generally run for a limited period of time, or until the survey provider has collected all of the responses they need.
That means the surveys listed in your dashboard won’t hang around forever – it’s first come, first serve, so pros recommended to check in often and grab surveys whilst they’re there.
The bigger, busier survey partners generally have somesurveys you can take at any time, but it’s still best to make hay while the sun shines. If a survey is there for the taking in your ySense account, click it and begin it before other people do.
To ensure you’re paid for a survey, make sure that you complete the survey until you reach a ‘Thank You‘ message. If you don’t reach the end, you may not be credited for your work.
You can quickly and easily check your survey history to see a 90 day snapshot of all your surveys, their status (clicked, started, completed, screened out or quota full), along with your earnings.
We recommend logging in to your ySense account and checking the available surveys at least once a day. Top survey earners normally log in several times each day or use the ySense Browser Addon.
The addon only works on laptops & PC’s, but it helps you maximise your earnings with instant alerts whenever a new survey or task is available in your account. It’s free, takes up next to no space and won’t slow your device. You can read more about it can help you earn more in this blog post.
Tip 2: Find Surveys That fit Your Needs
Are you short on time and need a quick survey to complete? Or maybe you’ve got a little longer and looking for a survey that pays more?
At ySense we know people prefer to do surveys that fit with their schedule. As everyone has different needs, and usually fit online surveys around their existing work and family life – we give you a simple filter in the top right of your survey dashboard.
As standard, we’ll automatically show your best-matched surveys, but you’re free to change that. Simply select your priority (highest paying or shortest surveys) to show surveys that match your time and needs.
HINT: Survey pros often sort by reward, then pick the best-paying surveys that fit within their available time
Tip 3: Honesty is Key
Filling out online surveys is easy, but it certainly isn’t mindless.
To ensure your answers are legitimate and meaningful, survey partners build in quality check mechanisms to ensure you’re properly concentrating, and not just speeding through the questions or selecting random answers.
It’s important to be honest with your answers. This means they should always match your survey profile e.g. your date of birth is fixed, so it should always be the same, your ethnicity won’t change from one day to the next, etc.
If you answer one survey and state your age as 26 years old, then the next survey you say your age is 62, even though it may be a typo, it sends a flag to survey partners that your answers are potentially invalid and untrustworthy. You need to be careful, diligent and truthful.
You’ll soon find the work drying up if you continually make mistakes and fail the sporadic attention checks, and you could even find yourself blocked from taking surveys entirely – which will really harm your earning opportunities.
That’s often the cause of finding yourself with a message like this in your ySense account:
“We’ve noticed that some of your responses are not being provided as directed or are inconsistent with previous responses. While our Quality Assurance Team reviews your responses, we’re restricting your access to Surveys.
To avoid this from happening, just take your time to read and respond to each survey question truthfully with accurate information.
Tip 4: “Quota Full” or “Screened Out” doesn’t mean down and out…
When you take surveys, the companies behind them are often looking for the opinions of particular groups of people – perhaps parents of young children, people who regularly travel by train or online gaming fans…
It depends on the criteria of each survey, so it’s not at all unusual for you to answer a few questions and then be told you don’t qualify for the survey.This is known as being “Screened Out” and is a normal part of paid online research.
In other cases you may fulfil the criteria of the survey, but they’ve already collected enough responses from other people in your age, gender or demographic group. In this case, you’ll see “Quota Full“.
You’re not doing anything wrong if you’ve been screened out or hit a full quota. That survey just wasn’t a match for you. Survey pros know this happens and just move on to the next survey opportunity and try again.
Very important: If you’re screened out of a survey, DO NOT change your details to try and match the type of person you think the survey is looking for. Although it may be tempting, survey partners are paying you for genuine responses (see Tip 3). They’re getting ever smarter against this kind of survey manipulation, and will quickly block your survey access altogether if they detect this happening.
Tip 5: It Makes Sense to Understand ySense
If you’re serious about making money on a survey site, learn it inside-out and make sure you know about all the different ways to cash in.
At ySense we have an active forum where new members and long term online earners mingle, share tips and help each other make the most of their time online. It’s an invaluable resource of insider tips that help you hit your earning goals quicker than going it alone.
One great forum post that I thoroughly recommend to new ySense members is Survey Tips from a $10 a Day Earner. That advice has been shared by Valerie. A long time ySense member with years of survey experience. It’s well worth a read!
Then there’s ways to hit your daily checklist bonus (you can find that on the ySense homepage), tips on getting to know about new surveys first, friendly chat and lots, lots more!
As well as members posting how much they’ve earnt in the Payment Proof thread, you’ll also be the first to know about any new developments, updates and competitions!
Tip 6: Refer Your Friends
Share ySense with your friends and watch your earnings grow! Did you know that you can earn up to 30% ongoing commissions on anything that your referrals make?
Known on ySense as an Affiliate Program, you’ll also earn up to $0.30 when your friend completes their first survey, PLUS another $2 as soon as they reach $5 in earnings.
Then you’ll keep earning up to 30% of everything they earn, all the time they use ySense! That’s right, ySense has one of the most generous “refer a friend” schemes going, so you can earn some extra money just from having your friends, family, colleagues or neighbours sign up using your affiliate link (which you can find right here)
When your referral clicks your affiliate link and joins ySense, every time they earn money, you earn too! It’s our way of saying thankyou for bringing them onboard, and it’s a great way to earn a passive income.
There’s many ways to refer friends using your affiliate link – some of the most popular are:
- Sending an email to your friends/family with your affiliate link, explaining why they may like ySense and how they can earn extra money
- Sharing your affiliate link on your social accounts – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc
- Documenting and sharing your earnings on finance & lifestyle forums/blogs
The internet has opened up so many more ways to share your story and earn. Be as creative as you want, but remember to share your link responsibly. Nobody likes being spammed with messages that aren’t relevant to them.
Bonus tip – No Surveys in Your Dashboard?
Survey availability will change with demand. Things like your country, age, gender or languages you speak all play a part.
In some cases you may find there are no surveys available in your dashboard when you check. If that’s the case, you’ll see a message like this:
If this happens, it’s usually on temporary, so we suggest taking a look at other sections of the site where you can still earn some money and keep your daily checklist bonus rolling over.
The Offers section is a great way to discover new sites, freebies and services, and earn a reward for doing so!
You could sign up for a free trial or test out a new product or subscription service. From competitions & sweepstakes to great value subscription boxes and free games – there’s something for everyone!
Then there are Tasks. These are short, simple micro jobs that pay modest rewards. You could be checking if a list contains certain items, or finding a person on Linkedin & confirming their job title. These tasks are short, snappy and earn some members can be snapped up quickly, so don’t hang around!
You’re now on your way to becoming a ySense survey pro! Head to your survey dashboard to see what surveys are available for you today!
Or have you got your own tips or survey schedules that work for you? Share in the comments…