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Survey companies are looking for good, solid consumers and people with
common problems and concerns. They want Mr. or Mrs. John Q. Consumer to
answer their surveys because these are the people buying products and services.
Sometimes people with certain ethnic or racial background will find it easier
to be selected to complete a survey because they are less represented among
survey takers than, let’s say, a white middle class retired woman of age
60. If you are a white, middle- or lower-class retired woman of age 60
be prepared to be rejected from a lot of surveys because your demographic
is either over-represented in the population of survey takers, or your opinion
is considered less desirable from a consumer standpoint.
There are, of course, specialized surveys that will particularly be directed
at people outside of the average demographic. For example, someone who
is about to retire may be an ideal candidate for a survey on retirement
savings. Someone with cancer may be ideal for a particular medical trial.
But the bread and butter consumer surveys are looking for bread and butter
consumers to respond to them. The ideal survey taker, the one who wants
to make a supplemental income from paid surveys, will fit the demographic
of a middle-income consumer with a wide variety of interests and needs.
It will help to be of Latino or other ethnic origin in many cases because
these are growing consumer categories, at least in the U.S., and marketers
are very interested in learning how to respond to the needs of this population.
Often there are not enough people representing these groups in the pool
of survey takers. So, someone with an ethnic background may see a lot more
survey activity than others with demographics that are more commonly represented
by the average survey taker.
If you fall out of the “normal” consumer demographic it does not mean
that your opinion is not needed, it just means that you will need to be
quicker to take new surveys as they come up before the quota is met for
your demographic, and you must be prepared to be rejected more frequently
from survey consideration.
If you have sworn off consumer spending until the economy gets better,
you may also find yourself being rejected from consumer survey panels.
Companies want an eager spender evaluating their products. Likewise, if
you are a professional marketer or advertiser, you will probably be weeded
out of many consumer surveys because of your knowledge and background.
Some surveys ask a series of questions at the beginning of the survey
to identify demographics. Sometimes one’s profession helps because the
survey company is looking for certain expertise; other times, it may disqualify.
Age, gender, interests, problems and other factors that are surveyed up
front may help to assess whether you’ll be chosen to move forward with responding
to the majority of the survey.
If your spouse and kids are willing to participate, some survey companies
will send even more surveys your way. Often marketers are interested in
the perspective of someone from a younger age group. Some surveys are gender-specific.
Probably the average survey taker is a female who is either stay at home
or works part time outside the home and is over 40 in age. By allowing
questionnaires to be sent to your spouse and children the survey company
increases the demographic coverage for their surveys.
Important Questions You Must Ask and Answer Before You Do Surveys
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