Forthright
Forthright Review
It’s in the name; Forthright is a survey site which promises to be straight with its members. We at HuginX always appreciate transparency when reviewing online gigs, so we took a close look at beforthright.com to check how honest they really are with their participants.
Andrew: Andrew is one of our reviewers who’s been with HuginX the longest. With a background in membership support at one of the largest survey companies, Andrew has a lot of inside knowledge of the Market Research industry and has helped us refine our reviewing criteria. When Andrew is not working with reviews, he likes to go hiking with his dog Charlie.
Is Forthright a legit survey site?
Forthright is a legit survey site, run by a recognized market research agency called Bovitz Inc. headquartered in Los Angeles. This makes Forthright an in-house panel which serves mainly internal projects run by Bovitz, rather than a panel which is “rented out” to many different clients. For research participants, it can be an advantage to join an in-house type of panel, since they often take better care of their own respondents, compared to companies “renting out” their respondents to other firms. Also, the rewards tend to be higher for panels run by market research agencies.
Our mission: To give people a voice so powerful that their stories change the course of business decisions. Bovitz Inc.
Data Privacy: Any reason for concern?
Forthright is mainly aimed at US participants, which means they adhere to US privacy regulations such as California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). As a recognized market research firm, we can only assume that Bovitz will do its best to protect its members’ privacy. Just like any other survey site, you can expect that Bovitz will share your survey answers with its clients. This should come as no surprise since sharing insights is an essential part of conducting market research. Your personal contact details such as your name, email address and phone number will in general be kept confidential and not shared.
How to get started
Forthright has an easy sign-up process. Join by simply entering your email address and confirming your email. You also need to validate your account by submitting your mobile phone number. In this way, you can receive survey invitations through text messages in addition to email invitations. The site as of this moment is available only in the US, but there are plans to expand to other countries.
What about the survey experience?
Based on taking surveys for 8 weeks on Forthright, we can say that the quality of the surveys is a mixed bag. On one side, we got some really interesting Forthright survey invitations which were easy to qualify for, while the partner surveys were much harder to qualify for and/or paid a much lower amount. 3rd party surveys are usually not that well-targeted which results in a higher percentage of surveys you’ll not be able to qualify for.
How much can you make on Forthright?
Typically, Forthright surveys are worth anywhere between $1 to $5 each, while most partner surveys pay less than $1. The reward amount per survey depends on several factors, but the most important one is the length of the survey. The longer the survey, the higher the pay. At the same time, certain surveys such as B2B surveys for business professionals will pay more than generic consumer surveys.
Here are some examples of survey opportunities we got through Forthright:
- Survey on software solutions for business professionals – $4 – 35 minutes
- Medical ailment study – $3 – 24 minutes
- Survey on coffee brands – $1 – 15 minutes
- Survey on trainer brands – $1 – 12 minutes
Here are some examples of partner surveys:
- Survey on shopping habits – $0.5 – 10 minutes
- Gas station preference study – $0.75 – 12 minutes
- Bread-maker machine survey – $0.30 – 8 minutes
As you can see from the above examples, Forthright surveys are a lot better paid than partner surveys. On the other hand, Fortright’s own surveys are a lot less frequent.
Extra bonuses
Forthright also offers additional bonuses if you stay loyal and take multiple surveys over time. As an example, you can get $2 after accumulating 3 loyalty credits. You don’t get loyalty credits for partner surveys.
Reward options
- PayPal: The most popular reward option, which pays instantly as soon as you’re done with the survey.
- Amazon: You can choose to redeem through Amazon gift cards.
- Tango Card: By getting your reward through a Tango gift card you can choose between a long range of online retailers.
- Bitcoin: If you have a Coinbase account, you can transfer your survey rewards into Bitcoin.
What can prevent me from cashing out?
Like a lot of other sites, Forthright will crack down on participants trying to cheat the system. If you enter inconsistent answers and gibberish, the algorithms will quickly mark you with a low quality-score which either means you’ll stop receiving surveys, or your account will be permanently suspended. Also, make sure to verify your account as soon as you become a member. In this way, you won’t have to wait for verification when the time comes and you’re ready to redeem your rewards.
Top Rated Panels
- Transparent payment system
- Low redemption level
- High incentives compared to regular consumer survey sites
- Good selection of payment options
- Interesting survey opportunities
- High qualification rate
- Simple user interface
- Surveys are not always mobile-friendly
- Complex questions which can take a lot of concentration and time to fill out
- High quality survey experience
- Interesting surveys on trending topics
- You always qualify for surveys (once signed up)
- Well paid survey opportunities
- Tablet and free internet service offered to households without internet access
- Not possible to sign up without a special invitation
- Not too many survey opportunities (2-5 per month)
- Free to join
- Earn referral commissions
- Fair incentive level
- Good survey experience
- Professional MR company
- There is no signup bonus
- The minimum payout threshold is high
- PayPal and bank redemptions can take up to 30 working days to process
- Owned by one of the largest market research companies
- Above average payout per survey
- A low threshold to redeem rewards
- Easy to qualify for surveys
- Low volume of survey opportunities
- Technical glitches using the Pinecone Research app
- No payout threshold
- Gives loyalty credit if you do not qualify for a survey
- Above-average incentive levels
- Limited earning opportunities
- Hard to qualify and low pay for partner surveys
This is how we review gigs
Disclosure: While HuginX is editorially independent, we may earn commissions on sign-up links.
Our Values
We built HuginX around our core principles of openness, honesty and transparency. Your trust is of the utmost importance to us, which is why we’ll always be straight-up about how we review sites.
When it comes to running our website, we want to be entirely upfront about how we operate, how we make money, and how we keep the site a free resource for our millions of visitors.
We don’t accept payment to provide positive reviews, and providers will never have a say in how we choose the best sites. Our aim is to put you, the reader, first and foremost at all times.Â
A list of practices we never engage in:
- We will never accept money to review a product
- We will never accept money to change a product review
- We will never accept money to turn a blind eye to an issue or flaw
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