How You Can Profit from Paid Focus Groups

• Tweet

• Tweet

Paid focus groups are huge money makers for anyone who regularly participates in them.  You may or may not have heard about these, but these are discussions that take place in a group setting or one on one via internet or phone.

For the most part however, these are small social gatherings where you participate with your thoughts along with other selected individuals and get paid for your opinion.  Paid focus groups can easily pay over $100 per half hour to an hour session.

Many of these don’t even involve commute to a specific location. As long as your background fits what the market research or survey company is looking for, you have a chance to participate and earn extra money.  Many focus interviews are conducted over the phone or internet.

Why are you paid so much for these? Because market research companies are looking for a very specific profile and are interested in your specific thoughts and opinions.  Depending on the profile they are looking for, these companies can get pretty desperate to find the right individuals and therefore are willing to pay BIG BUCKS for your valuable time and feedback.

Most times you get to walk away with free stuff as well.  If the paid focus group is about a new beverage, you might get a six pack to try out, or a free make-up set, pack of condoms, vacuum cleaner, you name it.

How do You Sign Up for Paid Focus Groups?

In my experience with them, paid focus groups are difficult to come by initially. You have to have been doing paid surveys for quite some time. In addition, you have to ensure that your profile with each program you have signed up with is as complete and accurate as it can be.

Focused groups are specific and targeted. For example, they wouldn’t want your opinion if the research discussion is about air travel and you have rarely traveled in your life.  The only way they know about you is from what you tell them.

You can tell them as much about you by filing out your profile as well as accurately responding to surveys.  If you are dishonest on surveys, companies will find out through their data tracking and analytics.  As a result they will stop sending you quality surveys and not invite you to paid focus groups.

I have written a few posts on some high paying survey companies that also offer paid focus group opportunities. If you are interested in making money by participating in paid focus groups, make sure you read my discussions about paid surveys.

How do you know whether the company offers paid focus groups?  When you are signing-up with paid survey companies, you will sometimes be asked if you would like to participate in paid focus groups. Always answer yes to this (check the box).

Once the companies are comfortable with your identify and profile, they will offer you opportunities to participate in higher paying group discussions.

Doing just a couple paid focus groups a week can bring an extra few hundred bucks in your pocket.  I have been paid up to $200 for one hour focus groups.  Can you see why these are very popular?

One thought I will leave you with here is that knowing what your spare time is worth to you makes it easy to decide whether to take a focus survey group offer.  Although earning potential is relatively higher, at the end of the day, getting paid to participate in paid focus groups is still trading hours for dollars.

Knowing when to pull the trigger is key to ensure you are not trading valuable time you could be using doing something more productive, profitable or personally important.

What are your overall thoughts on paid focus groups?  Any personal experience? Are focus groups something you’d like to hear more about?

Here is another post of mine on paid focus groups.

2 Responses to “How You Can Profit from Paid Focus Groups”

1. Andy Hough says:

   May 2, 2011 at 5:50 pm

   I actually participated in one of these last month. It paid $30 for an hour. There is a local company that has these from time to time. I just have to wait for them to call me with an opportunity.

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     May 3, 2011 at 5:08 am

     Welcome to the blog Andy – yes local companies do these in various pockets. Best bet is to sign up with a bigger National player. These guys often “contract out” the task to smaller local survey shops. Once your name is in their database, they will reach out to you with relevant opportunities.

     All the best – Hope to see you more on the blog

     Reply