Tracking Your Surveys

Once you have begun filling out surveys you will quickly realize that you need to keep track of all of your work. You should already have a separate email account that is solely used for survey requests and submissions.

While most email programs allow you to search them fairly easily it is also a good idea to maintain a spreadsheet of your work. If you have this sheet you can look back every couple of weeks to see which surveys you have completed an whether or not you have been paid for your work.

By the same token you can note how long it typically takes a company to submit payment, so you spend less time tracking down your pay. If you know that a company usually pays right away, and you have not gotten paid you can begin by researching why, and making sure your survey was received. If you know that a company tends to lag with payment then you will not waste time trying to figure out if your survey was received, you will just have to patiently wait.

Survey Spreadsheet Data Essentials

Name of the survey company - There are many survey companies out there, but you will probably only work with a handful of them. List each one that you actually do a paid survey for on your spreadsheet. Be sure to list the full name of the company, as many of them sound similar which can lead to confusion down the road.

Title of the survey - Each survey that you take will have a unique name attached to it. List the name, and any other identifying information, possibly a survey number for use when tracking.

Account number - When you register to fill out surveys you may be given a unique account number, list it each time you submit a survey to that company.

Date of submission - Always list the date you submitted a form. If you need to enquire about it the research company will need the date to help them search for it easily.

Rate of pay - Whether it is one dollar or one hundred dollars, always keep track of how much money you will receive for successful completion of a survey.

Method of payment - Some companies will send you a check in the mail, some will use PayPal, and some might send you a gift card or products as payment. Keep track of how you will be paid for each specific survey. If you have to reach a certain amount before a company will send a check, be sure to note and track those earnings too.

Date and amount of payment - Listing the dates and amounts you were paid will help you maintain the integrity of your list. It will also help you should you earn enough money to have to pay taxes on the income.

Solid account keeping is a must in any kind of self-employment. If you are taking your online business seriously you will also maintain good records of your work and earnings. It is important not only for tax purposes, but also for morale. When you can look back at your spreadsheets to see how much work you have actually done and how much money you have made it is incentive to keep working harder to earn more money.

Your data is also valuable in helping you choose between future surveys. Obviously you will not want to do surveys from companies that do not pay. Once you are doing a lot of surveys you might also want to avoid those who are slow to pay or who pay only in gift cards or products. As we said before, getting paid cash is really the best way to go.