2019 Survey Junkie Review – Can You Earn Money Online with Surveys?

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There are plenty of possible ways to make money online. One question I always ask myself are whether any of these are legit or a scam.

Is it actually possible to make money using these websites or they all a waste of time? I had the same question when I started using Survey Junkie recently. I decided to put the website to the test to see if I could actually make any real money.

In order to do that, I signed up for a Survey Junkie account and spent a couple of hours trying to do surveys.

The goal was to answer a few questions. The main one, “could I actually get paid doing this?” This Survey Junkie review is a result of that experience.

This review is a lengthy dive into Survey Junkie. If you want the cliff’s notes review, scroll down to the bottom.

What is Survey Junkie

Survey Junkie is a website that connects brands and users who want their opinions heard. Their slogan is simple, “Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Get Paid.”

How does it work?

On one side they partner with a variety of companies, brands or even political parties that are looking to get the opinions of every day folks. These companies pay Survey Junkie some money for facilitating the gathering of these opinions for the purposes of market research.

On the other side, users like us sign up for an account to share their opinions and receive some compensation for it.

Users earn points by completing surveys and can exchange those points for cash or gift cards to a variety of stores. These surveys can be about a variety of topics but generally ask for your opinion on one item or another. In my time with Survey Junkie, I’ve given opinions about political candidates, car commercials, movie trailers and more.

These surveys are generally pretty simple. Often, they’re targeted at a certain population which means you won’t qualify for all of them.

Each of these surveys has a point value and an estimated time it’ll take to complete. The nice thing about Survey Junkie is the clarity of the value of each survey. Points are clearly marked as is the expected amount of time you’ll take to fill out a survey.

How Do You Make Money

Survey Junkie is a platform that is easy to use and clear. They certainly got the website right. There’s no messiness to deal with and it’s a simple, spartan design that simply lists the available surveys. The mobile app is also similarly easy to use and simple.

After you sign up, you fill out some initial information about yourself. This will help the company determine which surveys might be best suited to you and then you can start taking surveys.

It’s not surprise that surveys are the primary way to make money on Survey Junkie. Each survey has a point value that can be anywhere from 5 points to 350+. Points are simple in that each point is worth one cent.

That means a survey that gives you 100 points is worth $1 and a 350 point survey puts $3.50 into your account.

One thing to remember is that survey complexity and points often go hand in hand. A survey worth 10 points may take you a few minutes while one worth 350 points may take you 30+. However, these values are not set in stone and often you’ll find high paying surveys that don’t take too much time. That’s the key to making decent money on Survey Junkie but more on that later.

Another thing to remember is that there is a minimum of $10 earned before you can cash out. That means you have to spend a bit of time on the site before you can cash anything out.

As far as the money rewards go, they’re OK but nothing to write home about.

This is by no means a get rich scheme.

One thing I appreciate is how up front they are about this on their website. They state and I quote “You will NOT get rich by taking surveys. The rewards for each survey will vary but with commitment and regular participation, you’ll have the opportunity to earn extra cash each month.”

I like how upfront they are about that fact and it certainly gives some legitimacy to their business model.

This is not something that you can do full time as a job. However, if you have some extra spare time, a few surveys here and there might lead to some extra spending money. That’s what their slogan is about. You take surveys, get points and turn those points into cash.

There are also other ways to make money on Survey Junkie. These include joining focus groups or giving feedback on products via telephone. Those can offer better rewards. However, they are also rare but can be more lucrative for those that qualify for them. The vast majority of people will only see the survey part of the website so that’s what I’ll focus on in my Survey Junkie Review.

My Experience with Survey Junkie

I wanted to run a few tests as a new user of Survey Junkie.

The first was to see how the sign up was and whether the website was easy to use or a mess.

The second was to spend a full hour doing nothing but surveys and see how much money I could earn.

The third was to actually cash out and see if I could actually make real money using this website.

Sign Up Process

The sign up process is very easy. You can either use your email. That requires you to provide them some information or you can sign up using Facebook. I used an email but I’ve also read that those that sign up with Facebook do not get their feed spammed so either works.

Immediately upon sign up, you get some points for a variety of tasks. There’s a bonus for signing up, a confirmation email reward and some points for setting up your profile.

• Sign up bonus – 25 pts
• Confirm email – 25 pts
• Learn how it works – 5 pts
• Set up general profile – 50 pts

These are very simple things that take a few seconds. The only one that may time a bit more time is the general profile which asks you a variety of questions that will help Survey Junkie pick which surveys you may be qualified to answer.

Remember, since each point is worth one cent, that means the sign up process itself already puts me at $1.05 in earnings.

After I finished out the general profile, I had six more questionnaires from Survey Junkie that gave me 10 points each. These were simple ones about technology, shopping, health, household, interests and travel.

Again, I think they use these to tailor surveys to your account. After this and maybe 10 minutes into my journey, I had $1.65 in my account and was ready to take surveys.

All in all, the sign up process was a breeze and I was ready to do some surveys.

Surveys on Survey Junkie!

The Survey Junkie home page is simple. It lists all the surveys, an estimated time to complete them and the points you’ll get for doing them if you qualify.

One thing I really like here is the transparency on the website. Going in, you know exactly how long a survey will take and what your reward might be. That’s important in maximizing the amount of money you make from Survey Junkie. In doing these surveys, I’ve found that the time estimates are relatively accurate.

When I first started, I did two random surveys that had a short time on them just to get an idea of what the website was about.

I qualified for both and 20 minutes into my journey, I was sitting on 252 points or $2.52 in income. Not too shabby. When do I retire?

I was done with the first test. The result is that the sign up is very easy and the website is easy to use.

Now, it was time to actually test the product and see how much money one could actually make on this website.

I sat down for a full hour and did surveys. There was no specific strategy.

I just accepted anything that had a good point to time ratio.

In essence, the goal was to maximize profit in the time I had. If you look at the home page above, you can see that some surveys are really nice(100 points for 15 minutes) and others are pretty bad(75 points for 30 minutes). It’s clear which one you’d rather do and that’s the 100 point one!

Now the problem with a strategy that focuses on these higher point surveys with a short time is that others also follow it. That means there’s more competition for good surveys. These surveys usually have a certain amount of allowed respondents. In essence, the good point to time ratio surveys will often fill up quick. You can find yourself getting sent back to the home screen if a survey fills up too quickly.

Another problem is that some of these better surveys are looking for specific demographics. That means you won’t qualify for them which also sends you back to the home screen. Luckily, Survey Junkie gives you a few points for the attempt. However, it’s a small amount and it’s still annoying whenever you get kicked back from a survey.

In this first hour, I tried my best to pick surveys that seemed solid but pretty much took anything that was available since I only had an hour to work with.

So here’s the meat of this Survey Junkie review. What was the payoff for this hour of work? Luckily, I tracked it closely and the results are below by survey with points and the time it took.

• • • 1st survey – 65 points – 10 minutes
    • 2nd survey – 55 points – 5 minutes
    • 3rd survey – 3 points(130 points didn’t qualify) – 2 minutes
    • 4th survey – 30 points – 7 minutes
    • 5th survey – 50 points – 8 minutes
    • 6th survey – 40 points – 8 minutes
    • 7th survey – 3 points(90 points didn’t qualify) – 1 minute
    • 8th survey – 3 points(90 points didn’t qualify) – 5 minutes!
    • 9th survey – 2 points(50 points didn’t qualify) – 1 minute
    • 10th survey – 110 points – 8 minutes

I was left with 5 minutes but couldn’t find anything that fit the time frame so I ended my hour slightly early.

In the end, in about 55 minutes, I was able to pull in 361 points. That came through six surveys and a few surveys I didn’t qualify for. Often, the DQs were some of the higher paying surveys and were mainly due to me not being the right demographic. Do they not care about my 35 year old guy opinion?

Those disqualifications were a bit annoying but most of them told me right away that I didn’t qualify. Plus, I was tossed a few points for my trouble. However, one survey pulled me along for 5 minutes before it told me I didn’t qualify. I was quite annoyed with that one.

Still, after my hour of surveys, I was sitting in a decent spot and only a few bucks away from being able to pull out my money.

The good part about this was that I was actually enjoying some of these surveys. It was fun to give my opinions. In fact, some of these surveys were designed in a fun way with some interactive options. However, one the other side, there were a few that were somewhat confusing with weird questions or just generic bubble hell scenarios. Those are less fun.

Still, after this hour, I was sitting at 613 points. $6.13 for about an hour twenty of work is nothing to write home about but it’s extra cash so I wasn’t complaining.

One thing I noticed next was that there were some really high point surveys. I’m talking 300+.

I wanted to see if I could qualify for one of those. I saw one for 350 points and jumped in there like a boss. After 25 minutes, I was done and greeted by this wonderful screen.

While I was in the groove, I did a few more surveys and I was ready to cash out! All in all, I’d say it took me just over 2 hours to reach my first 1000 points and I was able to reach it on the same day as I signed up.

Cashing Out

Survey Junkie allows you a variety of ways to cash out. You can either connect your bank account and make a transfer, cash out with Paypal or get a e-gift card to a variety of stores including Amazon.

I went with the simplest option and tried to get an Amazon gift card.

Before they pay you, they require identity verification. This involves two steps. First, you’ll fill out some information about yourself including your phone number then they’ll call you to confirm your identity.

I assumed this would be somewhat annoying. Here came the hoops you have to jump through to actually get your money!

However, it wasn’t that at all. I filled out my info and got a call from someone really quickly. The guy on the line asked me a few questions to confirm that I was who I said I was and then told me I was ready to cash out.

I did the identity verification online on 6/1, a Saturday, the day I signed up. The call from Survey Junkie came in on Monday, the first business days. Best of all, I was able to redeem my money the same day.

It really was a seamless process and I found it very easy to deal with.  The email with the gift card code to Amazon came right away and I was able to claim it without a hitch.

Overall, cashing out was easy although you do have to go through an identity verification phone call. I think some may find that a bit off putting. However, for me it wasn’t a big deal.

Making Money on Survey Junkie – My Strategy

This review wouldn’t be complete without some advice on how to maximize your Survey Junkie experience(as far as I know it know). I may update this later if I find a better strategy!

After my 350 juggernaut, I decided I wanted to focus on larger point surveys. The theory behind this was simple.

If I have a survey that takes 15 minutes and pays 40 points, I can only do four of those in an hour. That means an hourly wage of $1.60/hr.

However, if I target a survey that takes the same amount of time but pays 100 points, I’m making $4/hr if I can qualify for those.

That doesn’t mean that you should never do surveys that have low points. It’s all about how much they pay out in relation to other surveys that are available and the time it takes to do them.

The simple way to figure out how surveys relate to each other is to do the following calculation in your mind; 60/time X points.

Imagine a 10 minute survey paying 50 points. 60/10 = 6 X 50 = 300 meaning you get 300 points per hour. That’s not bad.

Now, imagine a 75 point survey taking 20 minutes. It’s more points but it’s a worse survey because it takes longer. After all, 60/20 = 3 X 75 = 225. That’s less per hour than the survey above.

With that calculation in mind, I started to target surveys that pay at least 300 points per hour. After all, I usually only had a bit of time to do surveys and I wanted to maximize my time. I don’t always have a boring twenty minutes at work to do a survey. However, when I do, I’d like those twenty minutes to get me the most points possible.

Now the problem with this strategy is that these higher point surveys are rarer and also harder to qualify for. That means you’ll get disqualified more often or they’ll fill up faster. I started following this strategy after my 350 point monster and found that the disqualification rate went up significantly.

In my initial 10, I qualified for 6 and didn’t make 4, a success rate of 60%.

In the next 70 following the above requirements, I qualified for 16! That’s a success rate of 23%, not too great!

However, now I was only picking surveys that paid out 75+ points and took less than 15 minutes. That meant I was getting more points when I did qualify.

The saving grace with all these disqualifications is that you’re told you don’t qualify pretty quickly. Plus, you get a few points for your troubles. Afterwards, you can just jump onto the next survey that meets your criteria.

Naturally, if you want to maximize the amount of points you’ll get, you’ll just want to do every survey. However, if you’re the type of person to just check the app and see if anything is worthwhile then this strategy is the way to go in my opinion.

Now the question you’ll ask is how common are these nice surveys? Actually, they’re pretty common.

Here’s a picture of my home screen right now.

There’s a 350 point survey right now that absolutely kills. I’d probably do it if I wasn’t in the middle of writing right now. On top of that, there’s a nice 190 point survey and a decent 225 point survey. There’s also a few other surveys that meet my criteria and would be worth doing if I had the time.

Overall, the strategy works for me. I was able to get my 2nd redemption done within a few days of randomly doing surveys.

I was seven days into my Survey Junkie journey and had already cashed out $20; not too bad. I had spent a few hours doing surveys but it mostly during times when I had nothing else going on. It was either stare at wall at work, surf the net or do a survey. Might as well try a survey.

The Pros and Cons

Having spent a few weeks on the platform, I want this Survey Junkie review to have a quick view of the pros and cons of the website.

The Pros of Survey Junkie

• The sign up process is a breeze and the interface is simple and very user friendly. I love how you can see exactly what a survey pays and it’s not some mystery.
• The app is easy to use and as good as the desktop interface which makes it easy to do the surveys on the go.
• The point system is straight forward. How much you actually get paid for your time investment is easy to figure out. 100 points = $1, easy.
• Cashing out is simple and you can choose Paypal, a transfer to your bank account or gift cards. Cashing out also has a low $10 minimum threshold.
• The surveys can be fun and even if you don’t qualify, you get a few points for your troubles which is rare on these survey sites.
• There’s a ton of surveys out there and I’ve never gone to the page or the app to
• It’s no scam. You get cash.
• You also get access to other potential money making opportunities such as focus groups that may pay more(I have not personally experienced this).

The Cons of Survey Junkie

• It’s a survey site and a lot of the surveys are the same old things with bubbles upon bubbles to fill out. Yawn.
• There’s a lot of surveys on your front page that you’re not qualified to do.  Once, I was 5-10 minutes into a survey before I was told I wasn’t qualified. That is really annoying.
• You have to get a phone call and provide some personal information to cash out which some may find unappealing.
• Surveys are targeted at certain demographics and interests. That means your mileage may vary when it comes to what shows up on your home page.
• The emails they send about surveys you qualify for can get annoying.
• Certain surveys are only available on the desktop.
• Points per survey vary wildly and if you don’t qualify for the good ones, the earnings for the effort given might not be worth it.
• The overall payouts are mediocre on a per hour basis. You’re earning $3-$6/hour if you’re lucky.

Survey Junkie Review – The Final Word

Overall, Survey Junkie works as advertised. It’s actual money and the work isn’t hard.

However, you have to be realistic with your expectations. My 300 point requirement means I’m basically making just north of $3/hr while doing these surveys. Now, generally the actual results actually came out better than that but it still wasn’t earth shattering money.

I had 2000 points in about 5 hours meaning a sub $5/hour average.

However, Survey Junkie is up front about how you won’t get rich from these surveys. I appreciate that level of transparency.

I know what I’m getting into when I choose to do a survey and I like that.

This isn’t meant to be a job. It’s something you can do while bored at work or out at the kid’s soccer game. The Survey Junkie app makes it easy to do these on your phone. If you’re sitting there doing nothing, might as well do a survey and get a $1.

There are some annoyances and a review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning those.

The website shows you a ton of surveys that you simply don’t qualify for. That’s super annoying.

I wish there was a better way to screen those out automatically. Going into a survey for a minute only to be told you don’t qualify after two pages sucks. I’ve had a survey or two push me out ten minutes into filling it out which is REALLY annoying.

The surveys could use some variety too. If you’ve ever done surveys before, you’re familiar with the bubble format of most. If you do these a lot, the work can get really tedious after a while. It’s certainly not for everyone and I wouldn’t recommend it to those without a ton of free time. Still, there were a few surveys that were fun. I watched music videos or movie trailers that hadn’t even come out yet and gave my feedback that I enjoyed.

Is this website for everyone? Absolutely not but it will work for some people.

At the end of the day, it’s an easy way to make money online and the mobile app is perfect for those who find themselves with nothing to do at times.

It won’t change your life but if you have a free minute here and there, you can get $10 every once in a while. Despite the low payouts, I plan to keep using it and am well on my way to another $10 payout which should hit my amazon account pretty soon. I mainly do these during work which means I earn money while I’m earning money. You can’t complain about that!

If you want to check out Survey Junkie, sign up here.