I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Survey Junkie, especially about how much it pays and whether or not it’s legit.
I get it – getting paid to take online surveys seems too easy to be true. But Survey Junkie is one of several legitimate survey sites that will pay you for your opinions, which will help brands create better products and services.
You’re not going to get rich taking online surveys, but it’s a little extra cash in your pocket.
Today’s Survey Junkie review is going to explain how this site works, how it pays for your opinions, and more. I’m also going to share a couple of ways to maximize your earnings.
Quick Links
- How legit is Survey Junkie?
- How Survey Junkie works
- 1. Take surveys with SJ Opinion
- 2. Share your browsing behaviors with SJ Pulse
- How much can you earn on Survey Junkie?
- How to make more money with Survey Junkie
- Product Testing: Extra $5-$50
- Online or In-Person Focus Groups: Extra $25-$150
- Phone Surveys: Extra $5-$100
- Don’t forget…
- How to sign up for Survey Junkie
- How Survey Junkie pays
- Survey Junkie Review: Pros and cons
- The final word: Is Survey Junkie worth it?
- FAQs about Survey Junkie
How legit is Survey Junkie?
Survey Junkie is a 100% legitimate way to make money. I’m asked this question a lot, and I get it. Do companies really pay people to sit on the sofa and take surveys? The answer is yes.Survey Junkie is a free site and really does pay you to answer short surveys on their website or app, and they do it to collect market research for companies. You’re getting paid to answer questions about products and services, and there are already over 10 million people getting paid to take online surveys.Listen, you’re not going to get rich taking online surveys, but you can make a few extra bucks in your spare time taking surveys on Survey Junkie.Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s get right into this Survey Junkie review…
How Survey Junkie works
Survey Junkie pays for market research about different products and services – brands use this information to reach customers and create a better experience overall.
There are two different ways this works on Survey Junkie:
1. Take surveys with SJ Opinion
SJ Opinion is the survey side of Survey Junkie, and this is the most popular way for people to use Survey Junkie.
Before you can take surveys and get paid, you need to fill out a profile to determine whether or not you’re a good fit for the survey. Profiles only take a couple of minutes to fill out, and you’ll earn points for completing them.
Profiles are meant to match people with surveys that are relevant to their interests. You’ll be asked questions about who lives in your house, your annual income, whether or not you have pets, where you live, your education level, etc.
The more profile information you fill out, the more accurately you’ll be matched with surveys. But only eligible participants can complete the surveys and get paid.
If the profile says you’re eligible to participate in specific surveys, the survey shows up in your Survey Junkie dashboard. Before you take any survey, you’ll see:
- How many points you can earn
- The expected time it will take to complete the survey
- The survey number – this is like an anonymous name for the survey
You don’t have to take every survey that shows up on your dashboard, but you only get paid for surveys you complete.
Occasionally you’ll start taking a survey and midway through you’ll get a notification from Survey Junkie saying that you aren’t a good fit. This can be frustrating, but you’ll still earn a few points for trying.
Points are how Survey Junkie pays participants. The points you earn for taking surveys can be converted to cash or gift cards one you have enough to cash out. I’ll explain more about getting paid in the next section.
M$M Tip: Start by taking the surveys at the top of your dashboard – Survey Junkie says that taking these increases your chances of qualifying for more surveys.
2. Share your browsing behaviors with SJ Pulse
SJ Pulse is a browser extension that you can install on your computer or laptop or use via Survey Junkie’s mobile app. SJ Pulse collects data about:
- What you search
- Which ads you see
- Websites you visit
- Online shopping activity
- The kind of content you engage with
Survey Junkie pays you extra points for installing SJ Pulse, but you’ll need to enable it for at least 30 days to earn the points. Based on the information SJ Pulse collects, you’ll see more relevant surveys show up in your dashboard.
Knowing that SJ Pulse is collecting data about you, this prompts a couple of serious questions: How is my data being used? Is this safe?
Survey Junkie anonymizes all of the data they collect – your name is never attached to any of it. Credit card numbers, email addresses, passwords, and usernames are not collected or saved in any way.
How much can you earn on Survey Junkie?
I said this in the very beginning – you’re not going to get rich taking surveys. But, it’s a really easy way to make a little extra money.
Survey Junkie pays in points that you can redeem for cash or gift cards, and 1 point = 1 cent.
Every survey has an assigned point value and estimated time, and we can use that information to get a better idea of how much money you can realistically make on Survey Junkie.
If you want to think about that in terms of hourly pay, the first survey pays a little less than $1/hour and the second is about $6.30/hour.
That’s not a ton of money and most people who use Survey Junkie only qualify for a handful of surveys each month. But this is the standard across legitimate survey sites.
Most users say they’re only eligible for 1-4 online surveys a week, earning under $20/month. I heard a few Survey Junkie reviews where users report earnings from anywhere from $20-$50/month, but that’s higher than the average.
One way to think about this is that when you cash out your first 500 points, that’s just $5. You can keep track of how long you spend taking surveys to get a better idea of how much you’re really making per hour.
How to make more money with Survey Junkie
There are a few ways to maximize the amount of money you can make Survey Junkie. You’ll want to use the mobile version or download the Survey Junkie app to have these available.
Product Testing: Extra $5-$50
If you opt for this opportunity, you’ll be asked to fill out a brief survey to determine eligibility, and then free products are shipped to your house for you to try.
You get to keep anything that’s sent to you, and you’ll be asked about your experience using the product after you receive it.
Online or In-Person Focus Groups: Extra $25-$150
These are online meetings where you and other people share your opinions about specific products and services for market research. You’ll have to answer a survey to see if you’re eligible, and if you are, you’ll schedule a time to meet the focus group. You will need a webcam to participate in online focus groups.
Phone Surveys: Extra $5-$100
These are phone interviews where a market researcher from Survey Junkie asks you a series of questions about different products and services. Your eligibility is determined through an online survey.
Don’t forget…
Complete the profiles on Survey Junkie. They take just a couple of minutes to fill out, and they make you eligible for higher-paying surveys. Plus you earn a few extra points for taking them.
The profiles on Survey Junkie are for specific things like health and fitness or technology. You can see which ones you have and haven’t taken on your Survey Junkie dashboard.
How to sign up for Survey Junkie
It’s incredibly quick and easy to sign up for Survey Junkie:
- You need to be at least 13 years old and live in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., or Australia.
- Visit surveyjunkie.com and enter a valid email address.
- Confirm your email address.
- Complete a brief profile about yourself.
Survey Junkie pays you points for signing up, including 25 points when you confirm your email address, 5 points for going through a “How it Works” walkthrough, and 50 points for completing your profile.
The sign-up process takes less than 10 minutes. When you’re done, you’ll immediately land on your dashboard, which is where you’ll start seeing which online surveys are available to take. You will also receive emails when new surveys are available.
How Survey Junkie pays
Once you earn 500 points, you can redeem your points in a few different ways:
- Cash via PayPal
- Online gift cards
- Cash via direct bank transfer
Survey Junkie used to make users wait until they had 1000 points, but it only takes 500 points to cash out now.
If you’re converting your points to cash with PayPal or bank transfer, you’ll have to cash out all of your points at once. For example, if you have $13 worth of points, you’ll have to cash out all $13 at one time.
Gift cards can be redeemed in amounts of $10, $15, $20, $25, etc. These are electronic gift cards, and they don’t expire.
Redeeming your points happens pretty much instantaneously, but a bank transfer can take 2-3 days to show up on your account.
Survey Junkie Review: Pros and cons
Pros
- Anyone can start making money on Survey Junkie
- The sign-up is quick and easy
- Surveys are an easy way to make a little extra money – you don’t have to find clients, apply for jobs, or have any special training
- Survey Junkie is upfront with what you can expect to make
Cons
- Online surveys pay very little for your time
- You’ll probably have fewer survey opportunities than you expect
- You have to start taking each survey before finding out if you’re eligible for them, and you don’t get full credit for that time
The final word: Is Survey Junkie worth it?
Taking online surveys is a mindless way to make extra money. It’s mindless in the way that playing Candy Crush on your phone is mindless. There’s also a lot of flexibility – you can take surveys while standing in line at the grocery store, while vegging out in front of the TV, or while picking your kids up from school.
Survey Junkie is honestly a decent replacement for playing games on your phone or scrolling through social media because it actually pays a few bucks.
Survey Junkie is one of several legitimate survey sites, and they offer competitive payouts.
I used Survey Junkie for a while when I was trying to make money in college, and it was ridiculously easy. I didn’t make much, but it was worth it to take a survey while I was waiting for a class to start or while procrastinating on a paper.
As long as you have realistic expectations about how much Survey Junkie pays, I recommend checking it out if you’re interested. It’s legit, takes very little energy, and you’ll make a few bucks. No harm in that.
FAQs
The best way to earn more points is to fill out all of your Survey Junkie profiles. Not only do these pay you points, but they unlock higher paying online surveys.
Yes. You can open a private or incognito browser window to temporarily disable Survey Junkie’s extension.
You only need to be 13 years old to take surveys on Survey Junkie, but you need to be at least 16 if you live in California.
There might be some demographic questions that younger users will need to ask their parents about, like annual income. These kinds of questions are more likely to pop-up in the profiles section.
Survey Junkie and Swagbucks are both market research companies, but they’re very different, and I don’t think you can say if one is better than the other. Both sites pay you to take surveys and pay in points, but Swagbucks has even more opportunities to earn points.
You can make money on Swagbucks by:
- Completing surveys
- Earning cashback for online and in-store shopping
- Watching videos
- Claiming offers for subscriptions, apps, specific products and services, checking out web content, and more
- Searching the web through the Swagbucks Yahoo! powered search engine
- Playing games
- Installing the Swagbucks browser extension
- Using the Swagbucks mobile app to watch video clips and listen to music
The reality is that you don’t have to choose between the two – you can sign up and use them at the same time.
Survey Junkie bank transfers are ACH (automated clearing house) transfers that are safe and standard practice for all kinds of apps and side hustles.
You can redeem points as soon as your balance hits 500 points. How fast you get paid on how you cash out.
- Bank transfers take 3-4 business days on average
- PayPal takes less than 24 hours
- Gift cards are delivered immediately
Survey Junkie pays in gift cards to Amazon, Target, Groupon, iTunes, Sephora, Starbucks, and Walmart.
Some people give false information to qualify for more surveys, like lying about your gender, race, income, etc. This is a violation of Survey Junkie’s terms and conditions, and you can get kicked off for doing it.
Survey Junkie knows that some people will try to game the system, but you’ll be asked verification questions to make sure all of the info you provide matches up with past surveys. Remember, market research is only valuable to companies if it’s accurate.
Your account can also be deactivated if you go 12 months without taking a survey.
You might – it depends on how many online surveys they can match you with.
What some people do is to set up a dedicated email account just for survey sites. This way nothing will get accidentally moved to your junk folder, and you won’t get overwhelmed with emails going to your regular address.
Survey Junkie
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Survey Junkie