Why-Do-Online-Paid-Surveys-Never-Work

If you’ve ever filled out an online survey, you’ve probably run into a situation where you couldn’t finish it.

You may have seen a dreadful message that looks something like this at the start, middle, or even end of a survey:

This survey is now closed.

Why can’t you always complete online surveys, and why do they sometimes “close” when you’re in the middle of them? What exactly is the cause of this all-too-common issue? Let’s have a look:


Technical errors

Online surveys are no exception. Virtually nothing works properly 100 percent of the time on the internet.

There are times when a survey panel has technical problems with their website, survey software, or a specific survey.

If you’re completing a survey and these technical mistakes occur, there’s not much you can do except try to retake the survey or contact the survey provider to explain your troubles and request at least partial compensation.


The survey is closed

This is also an unfortunate case in which enough replies were collected while you were doing the online survey, and the researcher either manually “closed” the survey or the survey software automatically closed it off.

When you start completing a survey, there is usually no warning or sign that it is nearly complete (although a few select sites do share this information with their survey takers), thus it might be impossible to tell whether the survey you just clicked on is 98 percent full or 5% full.

If this happens to you, you can chalk it up to bad luck. Sorry!


Your demographic bucket is now full

Similar to the example above, if enough people in the same demographic bucket as the researchers were looking for submitted enough responses, you may be abruptly removed from a survey.

For example, if a study requires a 50-50 split of males and females and you are disqualified as a female, the survey may still be available to men.


You’ve been disqualified from survey

Disqualifications are annoying, especially when surveys are poorly made and ask about qualifications at the end instead of the beginning, which is a big no-no in market research and wastes everyone’s time.

Even a well-designed survey will ask a few qualifying questions, and you will be unable to complete it if you do not fit the study’s criteria.

GOOD NEWS: If you are disqualified from completing surveys, these survey sites will pay you.

Tip! Complete ‘profiler surveys‘ available in your survey panel account to reduce the number of times you are disqualified from surveys.


You triggered a block

Even though most respondents (people who fill out surveys) are honest and real people, some are dishonest and others are robots.

Because these dishonest people and bots make it hard for researchers to get the information they want from online surveys, they try to keep them from taking part in studies.

If you’re filling out surveys with form-filling software, using a VPN or other type of proxy, or racing through them with low-quality responses, you can be blocked from taking them.

If you aren’t using any suspicious software and are giving sensible answers in your surveys and your account is blocked, contact the survey panel as soon as possible to resolve the issue.


What to do when you can’t complete a survey?

Sometimes the message you receive while attempting to take a survey but being unable to do so will explain why you were unable to do so. Let’s have a look at some common survey errors:

Sorry, this survey is now closed: What this could mean: As stated above, either the survey has a sufficient number of responses overall or your demographic has a sufficient number of responses.

Sorry, you do not qualify for this survey: This could indicate that either you didn’t meet the qualification criteria or you were blocked.

Sorry, this survey is no longer available: What this could mean: It could be a technical error, the survey could be closed, you could have been disqualified, or you could even have been blocked.

You might be able to figure out what happened when you were kicked out based on the text of the message.


Taking a deeper look

Closed surveys

There’s not much you can do once a survey has closed or received enough responses.

If you can tell when a survey first became accessible (for example, by checking your email), be skeptical of surveys that have been open for more than a few days for future survey completions. It could indicate that the survey is tough to qualify for or that it may close at any time.

Survey disqualifications and how to deal with them

If you are kicked out of a survey, check to see if the profile surveys in your survey panel account have been filled out.

If not, complete them to see if your survey credentials improve, or sign up for survey sites that pay you if you are disqualified, so you can at least get paid for your time.

Perhaps the browser has some issues

If you’re using any ad-blocking or form-filling software, make sure you turn it off while taking surveys.

Although form-filling software is useful when signing up for a survey panel, it might present issues when it comes to conducting actual surveys.

Be aware if you’re acting desperate.

If you’re desperately trying to qualify for multiple surveys (saying “yes” to everything like being in the market for a new car, wanting to buy a new house, and wanting to travel the world for a year), or if you’re trying to get through a tedious survey and becoming inattentive, you may be flagged as exhibiting “desperation behavior” by a survey panel’s system.

It’s something to keep in mind as a survey taker. Take a break or come back to it the next day if you’re getting upset with surveys.


Conclusion

Even though most online surveys are easy to finish or quickly kick you out if you can’t, you may still find yourself unable to finish one for no clear reason.

Hopefully, the points above shed some light on why you could be having these problems, why they occur, and what you can do about it.

Good luck making money online! 🙂

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