It is frustrating when survey providers decline surveys because one doesn’t qualify or is not eligible – especially after answering several questions. It often makes people wonder if their answers are being used while they’re not being paid!
There are several reasons why one may not have qualified for a survey. But the first thing to be kept in mind is if the answers fit in to what the survey provider is looking for. If they don’t, then these sponsored surveys can’t reward, hence, a panelist become non-eligible and thus gets dropped.
Surveys are matched to relevant people based on their profile information. The more information shared while registering along with how frequently one visits their survey panel to update their profile, is equally proportional to the opportunities given.
Some surveys are more complex than others and their screening sections may contain more questions than usual before one qualifies for the main questionnaire. Usually, survey companies try to keep screening questions to a minimum, however in some instances simple demographic questions are not enough to ensure that their clients have the right audience.
Some of the scenarios that would result in not qualifying or being eligible for a survey-
1. Immediately declined or not eligible from a survey. For example, a person enters their age, gender, income, and marital status and then gets disqualified from the survey. So, there may have been a few slots for each marital status group, and while the survey was still open, that marital status group slot was filled. In this situation, the survey quota was already over/completed for the given demographic.
2. Declined or not eligible from a survey after spending up to five minutes answering questions. For an example, the survey provider is looking for 30-year-old single females, from Mumbai, that go to the restaurants at least once a month, and ate at Pizza Hut last week. One might be 30, from Mumbai, a single female, who goes to the restaurants once a month, but has been to or eaten from Pizza Hut last week. In this case, one may spend some time answering background questions on the survey before getting declined or not eligible. In this situation, they do not fit the specific qualifications for the survey provider is looking for.
3. Declined or not eligible from a survey after spending over five minutes answering questions. This can happen for several reasons but it’s usually because a panelist wasn’t concentrating properly on the survey. Many survey providers have techniques to detect whether people are really engaged and taking the survey seriously – if they don’t feel they are, they may abruptly decline the survey taker at any time. Here are a few examples of survey quality control scenarios…
- Question number 5 said “Answer C for this question”. But one chose answer D. Questions weren’t read properly.
- The survey should have taken 6 minutes to get to question 12, but one got there in 2 minutes. Speeding through the survey.
- The survey asked, “Did you go to the movie theatre last week?”. Your answer was yes. Then they ask, “How many times did you go to the movie theatre last week” and your answer was none. Answers are inconsistent/illogical.
Why we are telling you all this, because as Online Community Panel company we care for our community, their time and want them to learn how we function. We are Xcel Online Survey, India’s leading panel community with over 7 lakh panel members taking surveys, sharing opinion and making the products and services we use, better & exciting. By being part of Xcel Online Surveys, panelists get a chance to take part in surveys 24X7 on their dashboard. Surveys are suggested based on all the information that is provided on registration.
By collecting points on completion, survey takers can redeem either wonderful gift vouchers from high-end brands like, Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon, Big Basket, etc. Or earn amazing cashbacks from Paytm. The perks of taking online surveys on Xcel Online Surveys are endless as they also ensure that all the information that is provided during registration are 100% safe and secure.
Therefore, taking paid surveys is easy and a smart way to earn money anywhere. The first step is to fill out all the required information during registration. The second item to remember is to be as real as possible when replying. Companies are paying the panelists only to give them their thoughts. If these steps are correctly followed panelists receive surveys that are appropriate for their profile and won’t be excluded.