YouGov Panel
YouGov survey site review
UK-based YouGov is a high-profile market research company frequently featured as a source of polls and statistics in the media across the world. But how well does it treat its panel members? We’ve taken a deep dive to check how life is as a panel member in YouGov.
Andreea Stan – Our UX Research Expert: Andreea is from Timisoara, Romania with a background from user experience (UX) research. Her UX knowledge comes in really handy when reviewing survey experience. Originally joining HuginX as a freelancer, she is now a regular contributor to site. When Andreea is not working with panel reviews, she enjoys old classic movies and she has a passion for baking.
Signing up with YouGov – how to get started
To start earning points, you simply need to register on the site. Then, after you’ve verified your email address, you’ll get a bonus for filling in your profiling information. Each survey and poll you complete earns you points, which you eventually can redeem for cash or gift cards to various online stores. When you have collected enough points to meet the redemption threshold, you can request a payment through bank transfer.
What about my personal data – are they safe?
YouGov is a high-profile market research firm, and would never do anything to risk breaching data privacy regulations such as GDPR. However, keep in mind that their business is all about sharing data. All the answers you provide in surveys and polls will be shared with YouGov’s clients anonymously, excluding your personal details such as email address and phone number. They will never sell your contact details for other companies to contact you with offers. If a client requires any of your personal information as part of the study (for example to send a product test to your home address), they will ask for your explicit consent before sharing your information.
What we like about YouGov is the fact that they’ve made it very easy for users to select their preferences when it comes to special categories of personal data:
By allowing panel members to select potential sensitive survey categories, you’re given more control over what is shared about you. As an example, if you would like to keep your health conditions confidential while taking surveys, you can de-select “Data about your health”, which means you’ll not receive surveys asking for your medical history or ailments. This is a great step in the right direction to give survey-takers more control of their own data, and something we would encourage other panel providers to replicate.
How much can I make taking surveys with YouGov?
You’ll get only 50 virtual points per YouGov poll. To redeem you need 5000 points, so you’ll have to take 100 polls before you’re able to get your hands on your hard-earned cash…
YouGov Amazon Gift Voucher
You can expect to earn between 50 and 100 points for most surveys and polls with YouGov. It takes 5000 points to redeem £50, which means each point is valued at £0.01. Getting paid between £0.50 and £1 per survey is not bad compared to similar survey sites. Still, considering the high redemption threshold of £50, it will take ages before you actually see any cash in your account. Unfortunately, this means only the most professional survey-takers will see any benefit of staying signed up as a member of YouGov in the long run. If you’re an occasional survey-taker, you’re much better off looking for panel sites with a lower redemption level.
YouGov Payment Proof
Additional earning possibilities
By sharing data from online services, such as streaming and shopping services you’ll be able to earn additional points. As an example, giving YouGov access to your Disney+ account in order to download your viewing history will earn you 75 points (£0.75) as a one-off bonus. Knowing how valuable your earning habits are for market research companies, we think £0.75 is quite disappointing in terms of reward size. It should at least be £0.75 per month of having access to your account.
You’ll only get £0.75 to share your complete viewing history per streaming channel…
Is YouGov a legit panel company?
YouGov is a legit survey site and not a scam. It’s easy to register, and you can participate in surveys on the fly on any device. While survey taking is not a full-time job, it can be a flexible way to earn extra cash in your spare time, and YouGov has made it easy with its intuitive mobile app (available on the App Store and Google Play). Their rewards program is simple and transparent, and the rewards are valuable to those who take surveys regularly.
“YouGov operates an online panel of 17 million registered members across 50 markets covering the UK, Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. These represent all ages, socio-economic groups and other demographic types which allows us to create nationally representative online samples and access hard to reach groups, both consumer and professional. “
The company has a high profile and frequently mentions syndicated reports and political polls in the media. You can earn money and access exclusive offers by participating in the survey program. The rewards will allow you to earn money while participating in research and influencing the development of future products and services.
Summary of YouGov’s surveys experience
YouGov’s survey interface is clean and minimalistic, making it easy for panellists to navigate the website. Their data policies are very transparent, and they’ve made an effort to give panellists more control over sharing sensitive data. YouGov is the highest-profile market research provider in the UK, and it’s fun to participate in political polls knowing that your answers might influence a news article appearing in the papers the next day. In terms of the rewards level, they are on par with similar panel companies, which usually means a payment of £0.50 – £1 per survey.
Our only really negative comment is for the 5000 points/£50 rewards level. Forcing panellists to take 50-100 surveys before being able to redeem their hard-earned rewards is, in our opinion, unethical and not in line with our otherwise positive image of YouGov. Only obsessive survey-takers are able and willing to take up to 100 surveys before getting their reward. As a professional market research company, YouGov should understand that setting a high redemption level could compromise data quality. As a consequence, some panellists will undoubtfully become desperate to redeem, resulting in potentially inattentive or dishonest answers to get to the 5000 points threshold more quickly. In our opinion, YouGov should take inspiration from successful panel sites such as Prolific, setting the redemption level to a maximum of £5.
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