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The History of Marketing Research

If you do a search in Google for the word “paid surveys” you will find some negative information regarding them. I think a lot of people talk poorly of paid surveys simply because they don’t understand where they came from. They think, there is no way someone would pay me for my opinions… this is far too good to be true. I think they might also talk poorly because they have had a bad experience with one of the companies who offer these surveys. Let’s face it, we all have bad experiences every day, I even had a bad experience today at Wal Mart, this doesn’t mean that Wal Mart is a scam, does it? If that were the case, every company, online or offline would be a scam. It just simply can’t be.

My goal in this post is to try and help everyone understand where paid surveys come from and why they are a legitimate way of making money on the internet.

I studied marketing research a lot when I was in college and it really has a fascinating story that all started in the late 1920′s. The idea of marketing research was developed by a man named Daniel Starch. During this time, advertising was just barely getting its start in the United States. The process of advertising back then was a lot different than it is today. At that time, copywriters would write what they thought an ad should be, publish the ad, and then they would hope that their readers would like the ad and then act upon the information provided.

A few years after advertising started, Daniel Starch came up with a theory… in order for advertising to be effective, it first had to be seen, read, believed, remembered, and then acted upon. Shortly after he developed this theory, he developed and launched the first marketing research company that would poll people in the streets. He would stop people and ask them if they read certain publications. If they did, he would then show them the magazine and asked the people if they remembered or recognized any of the ads found within them. After collecting this data, he then compared the number of people he interviewed with the circulation of the magazine to figure out how effective those ads really were. This was pretty much the birth of surveying also known as marketing research.

As the years past, many marketing research companies began to emerge. They would follow Daniel Starch’s example of polling people in the streets and over time, they worked to improve his techniques. Some time later, a man by the name of George Gallup developed a system that rivaled Starch’s system, it was called the aided recall. This system was different in such that is prompted people to recall the ads seen in publications without actually showing them the ads. This system went on to help measure the effectiveness of radio and television ads, not just ads in printed media.

In the late 1980′s, a Utahn named Ronald Lindorf founded what would grow to be the largest marketing research companies in the USA. This company was named Western Wats. What made Western Wats and grow at a rapid pace was the leveraging of current technology, the telephone, to conduct survey research. At this point there was no longer a need to go out on foot and interview people in the streets. Representatives in a call center, or in the beginning, Mr. Lindorf’s basement, can collect all of this data by simply making a telephone call. Because of this great efficiency, the number of surveys collected each year could help businesses really gain an understanding of their target market and ultimately improved the marketing research model again.

Over the last ten years, marketing research has taken yet another lengthy stride in terms of how data is collected. Yes, data like this is still collected via survey research, however, it is mostly collected via online surveys that are emailed to their recipients. Western Wats (renamed to Opinionology and recently merged with SSI) is now one of the largest marketing research firms in the world and collects a fair amount of their data via their online survey panel called Opinion Outpost (one of the companies we endorse at Survey Inferno). Instead of their agents having to cold call individuals, anyone interested in participating in these surveys can sign up for free to receive them and freely share their opinion. This method of collecting data is much less intrusive and the quality of data collected is much higher since people can participate on their own schedule.

So the last question is, where do these companies get the money to pay for completed surveys. It is actually quite simple, Fortune 500 companies all over the world, pay these online marketing research firms to collect the data. In turn, these firms “spiff” their participants with a monetary incentive for a completed survey. Each survey is typically worth a few bucks up to $15 or so. I’ve even completed a survey worth $50. It took about two hours, but well worth it.

I hope this helps you understand how paid surveys came to be and why they are legitimate so you give them a chance. It will be very interesting to see what marketing research evolves into over the next 5-10 years. Whatever it ends up being, I’m positive that it will be easier to collect and there will be more paid survey opportunities than ever.

If you are interested in getting started with paid surveys, we recommend starting with the following companies: Opinion Outpost and Global Test Market. We also recommend signing up for our 100% free, ten step email training to help you learn how to maximize your earnings from paid surveys. You can sign up here.

Filed Under: Market Research Tagged With: Daniel Starch, George Gallup, marketing research, Opinion Outpost, opinionology, Ronald Lindorf, ssi

Opinionology Merges With Survey Sampling International (SSI)

I’m not exactly sure where I’ve been over the last few months, but I was on LinkedIn last night and saw that a an acquaintance of mine who used to work for Opinionology (Opinion Outpost) now worked for Survey Sampling International (SSI). At first I wondered if he left Opinionology and went to work for a competitor, but upon further research, I found out that the two biggest marketing research organizations in the world actually joined forces to create the largest and most powerful marketing research company on this planet.

The companies received approval to merge in July 2011 and Opinionology merged into the SSI brand. Their goal was to create the most innovative and comprehensive marketing research organization by collecting survey data via phone interviews and online survey panels. They also have offices in every time zone so they can provide world class support to both their research clients and survey respondents 24/7.

For many survey takers, the question has been asked, what is going to happen to Opinion Outpost? As of right now, it will continue to run as Opinion Outpost, but under the brand SSI. They recently underwent a site redesign to make the look and feel more in line with the SSI brand, but nothing has changed other than increasing the number of paid survey opportunities as they are now able to tap into SSI’s client base.

If you have ever been thinking about joining Opinion Outpost, now is the time!

You can read the full press release of the Opinionology and SSI merger by clicking here.

Filed Under: Market Research Tagged With: Opinion Outpost, opinionology, Paid Surveys, ssi

$6.7 Billion Spent On Marketing Research Each Year

casro I thought this was interesting and wanted to share it with you today.

According to CASRO (Council of American Survey Research Organization), spending on marketing research in the United States has reached $6.7 Billion. If you look at spend world wide, it is closer to $18.9 Billion.

This is money that fortune 500 companies (and of course smaller companies) spend to collect data from people like you and me, either via phone surveys, or online paid surveys.

A large percentage of that money is paid to the marketing research firm conducting the survey. This goes to pay to set up the survey, the management software that manages the survey, the collection of the data, the storage of the data collected, and interpretation of the data, and delivery of the data to the client.

Lastly, a good chunk of that money goes to pay people like you and me for taking those surveys. This is either awarded in cash, points that convert to cash or other merchandise, or rewards.

Needless to say, there is a ton of money being put into marketing research and a ton of money to be made by taking paid surveys. If there is ever a time to get involved, now is the time!

Here is a link to their report

Filed Under: Market Research Tagged With: casro, marketing research, online paid surveys

Christmas Is Coming – - Do You Need Extra Cash?

We are just about six weeks away from the 2008 Christmas holiday. As a parent myself, I know that cash can be very tight when it comes time for the holidays. Not only that, but in addition to the current economy, money is even tighter. All the more reason for you and I to be taking free paid surveys so that we can afford an awesome Christmas for each of our children and family members.

I read an article yesterday about all these over the phone market research companies that are going out of business. They specifically said that the online panels are where there money is at, both for the client, the research company, and those who are involved in taking these paid surveys.

There has never been a better time to start taking paid surveys than today! It doesn’t matter if you want to compeltely support yourself and your family from paid surveys, if you want extra cash for the holidays, if you want to suppliment your current income, or if you want some extra spending cash.

Go right now and sign up for the top ten survey companies and have checks coming to your home well before Christmas.

Filed Under: Market Research, Paid Surveys Tagged With: Christmas, Market Research, Paid Surveys

Are You Frusturated With Online Paid Surveys?

One of the negative things I hear most about online paid surveys is the fact that some people just can’t qualify for a survey for the life of them. I can completely understand and relate to everyone of you who feel frusturated because of this. You see, marketing research companies are looking for a very specific demographic (traits of an individual) to take certain surveys. Because of this, if they are looking for hispanic females who are pregnant, those who aren’t hispanic females who are pregnant will not qualify.

So, what is there to do? As we talk about in our free training, you need to take about an hour and fill out every profile and bit of information that these paid survey companies are asking for. You might be asking yourself why? Isn’t this dangerous? NO! They companies are restriced by law from sharing your information. They need this information to have more accurate records of who is interested in what so they can send you the exact surveys that you will qualify for. So, if you want to avoid the frusturation, you need to put in some extra effort.

One free paid survey company, Global Test Market just recently launched something called Survey Shuttle. This is a very innovative tool that they have provided their members to help alieviate some of this frusturation you are feeling due to closed and non qualified surveys. Survey Shuttle immediately re-directs you to another survey if you do not qualify or the study is closed. By doing this, they allow you to make even more money than you can with their competitors.

Please keep in mind that paid surveys are hard work. They take effort and dedication, but it is possible to make money on the internet with paid surveys. You actually get paid to take surveys and you can do it from your current job, school, or at home.

Best of luck to all of you in this endevor. If you will fill out profiles, I can promise you more money!

Filed Under: Demographics, Market Research, Paid Surveys Tagged With: Free Paid Surveys, get paid to take surveys, Global Test Market, internet paid surveys, marketing research, online paid surveys, Paid Surveys, profiles, survey shuttle

Why Free Paid Survey Companies Are Legitimate!

There is a lot of negativity around the principle of paid surveys and how they are scams. These individuals and companies have no reason or evidence that this is a true statement. I, however, have been there and done that and want to share with you some very personal and detailed information about legitimate free paid surveys and how they are a great way for anyone to make money on the internet!

I believe that 99% of the websites and individuals who are promoting paid survey companies have no idea if they are for real or not. I, however, have had the opportunity to work for one of the paid survey companies that I represent. Not only did I work for this company, but I had many opportunities to work with the other survey companies in the industry and know of their validity.

Four years ago, I was fortunate enough to be hired by a local marketing research firm in Orem, UT. The name of this firm is Western Wats. When I was hired, I, along with another individuals (who I will not name) were responsible for the launch and growth of a new paid survey panel called Opinion Outpost. Honestly, we pretty much started from scratch!! When I was first hired, I had never heard of online paid surveys before. In fact, I was probably as skeptical as you are now about their legitimacy and validity. I thought, first “who in their right mind would want to take surveys for cash”, second “who in their right mind would pay someone cash for taking surveys on the internet”? Of course, being a new employee at the firm, I just did what I was told and didn’t think much about it again.

About three months into my employment, the lady in the accounting office who was in charge of printing checks for the survey takers came to my desk and dropped a stack of checks that I needed to seperate, put in enevelopes, stamp, and deliver to the post office. I thought, “WOW, this is for real! People actually make money doing this!!!”. That night I went home and signed up with every survey company that I could so I could make as much money as possible. The surveys started rolling in and so did the cold hard cash!

Shortly after I received my first check from one of the companies (if you think I can remember which company, you are insane, it was 4 years ago) I went to my boss to ask how we could afford to cut all those checks to those people. I really didn’t know anything about marketing research, how it worked, and how people made money from it. He taught me all about it that afternoon and I am going to share with you exactly what I learned.

Companies such as General Motors, Target, Sony, Apple, Blackberry, Fisher Price, and thousands of other companies need to learn how their current customers and others who are not their customers feel about their current products and possible future products that they might release. This is called marketing research. It is very obvious that we, as individuals, respect our own privacy and expect others to do so as well. In the past, we have received so many telemarketing or survey research phone calls that we have become frusturated and flat out annoyed to the point where we just hang up or not even answer the phone at all. From this was born the Do Not Call Registry which pretty much put every telemarketing company out of business. Let me be clear, marketing researchers collecting data are not restricted from calling you for research purposes, however, the industry has suffered a huge blow because people think that any phone call from any company falls under the registry.

Because of this, marketing research companies needed to evolve and provide a way for their clients to still collect the data that they need, while making it worth while for the people taking the surveys. They came up with a business plan of how they could provide value to both the client and the average person spending their time taking surveys.

So, they came up with a non-intrusive way of collecting market research data. They have people sign up to make money by taking paid surveys. These people volunteer their time for compensation. The marketing research companies charge their clients extra money for this type of research so they can reasonably compensate their survey takers for their time and effort. This is how you and I can make money by taking paid surveys!

Now that we have cleared up the legitimacy of Opinion Outpost, how about those other companies that Survey Inferno and hundreds of other survey sites represent? Well, first off, we personally test every offer that we present to our users and make sure that they provide sufficient monetary value. Also, toward the end of my employment with Opinion Outpost, we had many opportunities to work with other companies like Greenfield Online, Harris Poll, My Survey, Ipsos iSay and other marketing research companies. If they could not collect enough data for their clients, they would have us fill the rest and provide compensation for our members. This is a testimony to me and hopefully everyone reading this post that these paid surveys are legitimate and you can make money from them!

The last three months at Opinion Outpost was probably the most miserable months of my life! I hardly got any work done because I was stuffing checks for our survey takers for 8 hours a day, about 3 or 4 days a week. We literally sent out hundreds of thousands of checks a month to our survey panel members. I have created a video that is currently on YouTube that talks about paid surveys and shows a couple of the checks that I have received. This is legitimate, if you want to make money on the internet, this is an excellent way to do it!

I left this company about a year ago to pursue other opportunities including the launch of Survey Inferno. I knew first hand that this was for real and wanted to share it with people like you, that is why I compiled our paid survey directory. It has been very rewarding receiving countless emails from happy users of Survey Inferno. It has also been very challenging trying to overcome all of the negativity and lies that are surfacing about this industry.

I want everyone to know that I appreciate you visiting our site and I highly encourage feedback and suggestions. You can emails us with questions, feedback, or suggestions by clicking here.

You will probably also notice that our site has begun adding international paid surveys for individuals living outside the US. We are also providing surveys for Hispanics and teens. Over the next six months, you will also see a re-design of the website that will provide more information about each company, their contact information, and anything else that we think will make this a better experience for you.

I strongly encourage you to click here and sign up with the top ten paying survey companies on the internet today! You will start getting surveys and start making money within a day’s time.

Filed Under: Market Research, Paid Surveys Tagged With: Free Paid Surveys, greenfield online, ipsos i say, legitimate paid surveys, make money from home, Market Research, marketing research, my survey, online paid surveys, Opinion Outpost, Paid Surveys

Why Are People Scared To Give Out Information?

Fraud is the number one reason why people like you and me are scared to give out information about themselves. However, if you are looking to make money online with paid surveys, you have to work up the courage to let these market research companies pretty much know everything about you. When working with individuals one on one, they ask why they aren’t making as much money with paid surveys as they were told they could make. Folks, it all comes down to one concept and that is demographics!!!

Paid survey companies want to know as much about you as they possibly can. They want to know who you are, what drives you to act the way you do, what you like to do for fun, how many people you have in your family, etc. By knowing each of these things, they are more likely to send you surveys that are directly related to you and your interests. This will allow you to make more money because you are qualifying for more surveys. It also allows you to receive more surveys because they aren’t just shooting off the hip in guessing what you like. All in all, it allows you to make way more moneyl!

Take Opinion Outpost for instance. Once you register with their comapny, they have about ten to fifteen other “profiles” that they want to you fill out. Each one takes less than about five minutes to complete. Some people complain that they don’ want to waste their time filling out “fake surveys” and not get paid for them. GREAT!! More money for me and everyone else that takes the 20-30 minutes to fill everything out

I’m telling you people, do it! Don’t worry about the time it take or worry about your information being shared. If it is a true paid survey company, they are bound by law to keep your information safe and confidential!

Filed Under: Demographics, Market Research, Paid Surveys Tagged With: Demographics, Market Research, Paid Surveys

Paid Surveys – Hello College Life

Recently we made a few appearances at some local colleges and universities trying to help students understand the power of Paid Surveys and how they could help them earn “easy” money to help with college expenses.

I have always believed that easy money is the best money, especially when you are a starving student trying to get through school. After a few hours of speaking to students it was apparent that they were more willing to give Paid Surveys a try, now that they completely understood how they worked, that it was safe, and that it was easy…

We even had a few of them excited cause they could take them in class while their teacher was lecturing. We do not, however, recommend this.

So, if you are a starving or struggling student, give Paid Surveys a shot! What do you have to lose?

Filed Under: Market Research, Paid Surveys, Work While In School Tagged With: Paid Surveys

The Market Research Industry Continues To Grow

We have noticed over the last few weeks that the number of surveys that a user receives from each company continues to increase. The longer you have been a member of these companies and the more information you have given them in your profiles you will get more survey invitations. The market research industry continues to grow each day with many companies taking advantage of being able to collect data from the members of the survey companies. This is a multi million dollar industry and it continues generate more revenue at the months go on. Take advantage of these survey companies now, the longer you wait, the more money you will miss out on.

Filed Under: Market Research Tagged With: Market Research