YouGov Paid Survey Panel Review: What’s It All About?

YouGov has been around the market research world for 18 years, founded in 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare (CEO) and Nadhim Zahawi (former CEO).

They are a well-known market research company with 21 offices across the globe.

With their headquarters located in London, they are part of the British Polling Council.

In 2006 they acquired Siraj, and market research firm out of Dubai, and Polimetrix, an online polling company founded by Stanford University professor Douglas Rivers.

Then, between 2009 and 2011, the company began to make its mark in the United States by scooping up Harrison Group, Clear Horizons, and Definitive Heights.

Their fast growth and ability to make such huge acquisitions early in their existence is a testimony to their legitimacy in the market research field.

A Different Vision

The most distinguishing factor between YouGov and other survey sites is their purpose.

They are set up to collect information from the general public about how they feel about what is going on in the world around them, rather than to collect information about products, though this sometimes happens too.

Most often, you will find polls to be answered about current events, and the company has a distinctly political spin. They market the information they collect to both companies and governments.

Signing Up

The sign-up process is probably the easiest I have seen. All that is required is a name and an email address.

You can actually sign up with Facebook as well, which is even quicker and easier. I was in less than 30 seconds.

Once in, you are asked to take a quick survey that basically fleshes out your profile. It was one of the more interesting of these I have taken for a survey site.

The first questions were about the country I was from and the year I was born.

Then, I was asked to identify the animal in a picture. Mine was a fish. I am assuming this was to ensure I was human and not a bot.

After a few more demographic questions, there was a change to questions about voting information.

I was asked if I was registered to vote (I am), and then if I voted in certain elections, and if so, who I voted for.

This is likely to turn some of you off. Most feel it taboo to discuss who you voted for.

While the company is very clear that your privacy is important, there is, of course, no requirement to answer.

The survey police will not come get you for not revealing this information.

Again, the political spin makes this site a little different from the rest

About the Site

The website is extremely easy to look at and user-friendly. There are tons of polls to answer, and tons of poll results to look at.

I found these very interesting to take and read, and I could check it out every day to see what it new.

The Facebook page posts poll results too. This is the opinions of the masses on the things going on in the world, and you can add yours to it.

The only thing is, while this is great, it doesn’t pay. There are only two options for earning points that can be cashed in for rewards, surveys, and referrals.

Referrals

The referral program is straightforward. If someone signs up on your referral link, you both get 2,000 points after they complete 4 surveys.

This is easy enough, so it seems. In reality, it may not be as profitable as it seems at first glance.

Surveys

The thing about taking surveys on YouGov is that surveys are not their main purpose.

There is, on average, one survey per day available. This isn’t much, but the surveys offered are easy and fun.

A bonus is that you get to rate the survey when you are done, which is another variance from other survey sites.

Does YouGov Pay?

The surveys they offer are paid. However, as already mentioned, there aren’t that many surveys offered.

In addition, other than the 2,000 points awarded for the first profile survey, most do not pay more than 500 points.

After I took my initial profile survey, I was offered the opportunity to take another for 100 points.

There was no indication of how long it would take, and I was curious as to whether or not it was worth my time for the money.

I did some math. The minimum cash out is 25,000 points for a $15 gift card. This means that my 100-point survey was worth $ 30.

I skipped it. Does it pay? Yes. Is it worth it? It depends on you, your goals and time restraints, and what is offered at any given time.

Remember there is an opportunity to earn points with the referral program also.

However, in light of the fact that points are only rewarded after the person signing up on your link completes 4 surveys, there is only about one survey per day, and 2,000 points isn’t as much as it sounds like, it takes a while to rack up points even with referrals.

Rewards

There are rewards available at several different point levels. The $15 Amazon gift card is the only one available for less than 30,000 points.

There are several $25 and $50 gift cards from most of the major retailers you are used to seeing on these sites including Target, BestBuy, and more.

These require 30,000 and 55,000 points respectively.

In addition, at the $50 mark, there is an option for a prepaid Visa. If you have 100,000 points, you can trade it for a $100 prepaid Visa. This is the only reward offered at that point level.

If you are doing the math you are seeing that the more points you earn, the more they are worth. That’s a good thing.

Mobile App

Another thing that makes this site stand out among other sites is that it has a mobile app. These are not necessarily common among survey companies, although others do have them.

With this app, you can answer polls and surveys easily on your mobile device.

Better Business Bureau

Whenever I review survey companies, the first thing I do is check out their rating on the Better Business Bureau. YouGov is listed there as YouGov America, Inc.

They are not BBB accredited, and they have an F rating.

This isn’t good, of course, but I have found that it is always important to look deeper. Sometimes it is simply user error that people are complaining about.

Sometimes the company is making an effort to correct mistakes, and that is apparent in their responses to complaints.

In this case, it seems to be a little bit of both. There were 42 complaints filed against YouGov America, Inc. in the past 3 years.

You cannot be in this business and not have some complaints, and in light of the huge number of panelist they have, this isn’t that bad. It sure looks bad though.

Most of the complaints had to do with technical difficulties relating to cashing out. Of these, 25 had been resolved successfully.

Is YouGov Legit?

The short answer is yes. It is not a scam.

They are not taking money from anyone, and they are serving the purpose of the business, which is to collect the opinions of the masses.

Rewards are redeemed, and there are no complaints about their privacy.

[wps_conclusion-with-button title=”Conclusion” style=”card-success” btn_style=”btn-primary btn-shadow” btn_url=”/gotosite-yougov” btn_text=”Sign Up Here Now” btn_target=”_blank” btn_position=”text-center”]

YouGov is what it is, and what it is is a market research company first. They are not looking to offer work from home jobs.

They offer some surveys, and these surveys have incentives attached to them. They are a reputable company for what they do.

If you enjoy sharing your opinion, comparing your opinions to others, and have fun taking surveys, this is a great site to be a part of. The incentives are just icing on the cake.

However, if you are looking to make money taking surveys, and that is your main goal, this may not be the place to do it.

Your time could be better served on one of the many other surveys sites that offer more opportunities for higher paying surveys.

If you need money, even the most entertaining survey in the world isn’t worth your time if it only pays a few cents. [/wps_conclusion-with-button]

Have you been using YouGov for a while?

We would love to know your experience.

Survey Frequency	High
Rewards	Cash
Minimum Age	14+
Business Name	YouGov America, Inc.