10 Things To Do To Make Money From Answering Surveys

Answering surveys for a little bit of extra cash each month is something I have been doing since 2020. I always call this hustle the ultimate marmite hustle as people either hate it with a passion or love it. I’m firmly in the love camp only because I have had moderate success with it over the years (see exactly how much I’ve made here) and it was my first online side hustle.

Now I will admit there are some scammy survey sites out there that just want to collect your data but there are a few good ones which you can make decent money off. It’s been nearly 4 years since I started answering surveys so it’s safe to say I’ve picked up a few tips and tricks along the way.

Disclaimer – this post contains affiliate or referral links which means I may make a small commission if you follow the link and make an account. This comes at no extra cost to you!

Let me share them with you…

1. Use a separate email address

Some of the survey sites can get very spammy with survey invites so do yourself a favour and set up a separate email address for all your hustle related things. This way you can keep you primary inbox nice and clean but it also means you are more likely to see a good opportunity email rather than blanket deleting them all because it looks like junk. You can create a free gmail account in seconds. Just make sure you regularly check this so you don’t miss out and the unread emails doesn’t become thousands.

2. Keep track of your passwords

There is nothing more annoying than spending 5 minutes resetting your password when you go onto a survey site you haven’t checked in a while. Complete waste of time you could be spending getting paid. Keep track of all the different passwords for each site. I do this very easily in a notion sheet.

3. Save the sites as favourites in your browser

Another way to save tonnes of time and streamline the process is my having a favourite folder full of your survey sites bookmarked on your browser. This way you can very quickly load all the sites you want to check.

4. Take your time

Surveys sites can and will black-list your account if you fail too many attention checks or your answers are rejected for lack of quality. Don’t miss out on what could add up to thousands because you are rushing to complete a 20p survey. For the first couple of months take your time with each and every study, make sure your answers are consistent and get your accounts in good standing. Once you’ve answered a tonne the process will naturally speed up but your quality will stay the same.

5. Not all sites are made equally

Some surveys sites are truly shite and not worth the time and energy BUT they’re a few hidden gems out there. Try a few and then once you have your favourites focus your energy on them. Read this post to see a breakdown of all the sites I’ve tried and how I would rate them out of 5.

6. Cash out the minute you can

These sort of online side hustle sites have the tendency to disappear overnight and they take any balance you may have with them. Don’t get caught out by cashing out as soon as you possibly can. The only exception to this rule is sites where you can get more for your money if you let the balance build and you know you can do that easily. But as a general rule there is no point hoarding points, claim the cash or voucher before you miss out.

7. Take the easy points

A couple of the survey sites out there have a daily poll feature where you can get a point or two for answering one question a day. These are easy points which take seconds to claim each day. It’s very surprising how fast these can add up and become cash in your back pocket.

8. Look for the bigger opportunities

One of my favourite things about answering surveys is the potential opportunities that can come from them. I once got paid £45 to watch two episodes of a new show off the back of a 10p Branded Surveys survey. Don’t dismiss the potential answering surveys has!

9. Set up alerts

Remember that new email address I told you to make, well you’re going to want to use that baby to it’s full potential. Turn on alerts for the sites you love so you don’t miss out on potential money making opportunities. My favourites, Prolific & YouGov both send me email invites for surveys. Responding to these is a great way to keep my balance building without much thought or effort on my part.

10. Keep your profile up to date

My biggest pet peeve with answering surveys is getting screened out! Nothing I hate more than answering 20 minutes worth of questions and then the screen goes… “Unfortunately you have not qualified”. Infuriating! Keeping your profile up to date is one of the best ways of reducing the chances of this happening. So is using sites that prescreen you like Prolific. Swagbucks even pay you points for keeping your profile up to date – these are easy win points!

So there you go my top 10 tips for answering surveys as someone who has made over £1k from this easy side hustle.

Do you answer surveys in your spare time? Share your favourite tip in the comments…