Today I have a review of one of my favourite survey sites in the UK – PopulusLive. Populus Live is the online research community created by Populus. They carry out research and polls on a variety of topics including politics, current affairs and social issues to name just a few.
Since 2010 over £5 million has been paid out to Populus Live panel members so let’s get into the full review and find out what Populus Surveys is all about.
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- Is PopulusLive Legit?
- How Do Populus Surveys Work?
- Is Populus Live Worth Signing Up for?
- Populus Surveys Sign Up Process
- What are PopulusLive Surveys Like?
- How Many Surveys Do You Get?
- How Much Can You Earn with Populus Live?
- How Do You Get Paid?
- Who can Sign Up with Populus Live?
- Pros
- Cons
- My Verdict
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- PopulusLive Rating
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Is PopulusLive Legit?
Yes, Populus Live is 100% legit and a lot less shady than several of the other survey sites out there. In fact, I only use 2 survey sites (Populus and Prolific Academic), and one Survey App – Streetbees. I just found most other survey sites a bit of a waste of time and effort due to pitiful pay rates.
How Do Populus Surveys Work?
Once you’ve signed up and filled out your profile, you’ll start receiving surveys by email. You then just click the link and answer the questions.
You do get screened out though occasionally, so this is something to bear in mind. This really annoyed me to start with as I got screened out of the first few surveys about 10% into them. This was really frustrating.
However, this seems to happen less and less the longer I’m with them which has meant I’ve grown to be a big fan of PopulusLive. Plus, having signed up to a number of survey companies, all of them (apart from one) screen candidates out. A lot more than Populus I might add, and offer much lower rates of pay to boot (ahem Swagbucks…)
Is Populus Live Worth Signing Up for?
Put simply, Yes!!! Populus Live is the highest paying survey site I’ve found. To quote the website it pays you 1 per 5 minutes of your time. Work that out as an hourly rate and you get a rate of 12 per hour for giving your opinion on interesting topics.
That’s why it’s my favourite survey site by some margin – despite getting annoyed with it in my first few weeks.
The rate of pay crushes every other survey site going. Prolific Academic is often touted as the best paying site in the UK. But, their pay rates start at around 5 per hour upwards.
But, the bulk of the surveys are around the 5 minimum unfortunately. You just get a lot more of them and never get screened out which is a plus for Prolific Surveys.
But, for 12 an hour for a survey, I’m happy to get screened out occasionally. I probably get screened out about once in every 5 surveys now which I’m happy to live with.
On the plus side when you get screened out, you do get entered into their monthly prize draw with a chance to win 250. That being said, I’ve never won so can’t validate this!
If you have a win on a prize draw, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Populus Surveys Sign Up Process
The sign-up process is really quick and simple. You simply click on this link and follow the on-screen instructions. By completing the registration process you are “opting-in” to receive surveys by email. Congratulations, you’re now a fully-fledged member of the Populus Live Community.
What are PopulusLive Surveys Like?
I’ve taken loads of different types of surveys on PopulusLive and have to say they’re usually interesting and varied.
The surveys are sent straight to your email, so you just click the link and start. Most of them can be completed on either your smartphone, tablet or laptop. But, you do get the occasional survey that you can only complete on a laptop.
I’ve taken surveys on all kinds of topics such as political views, how I voted at elections, who I use for my utility bills, giving my feedback on new packaging for big brands, as well as some rather interesting moral question-based surveys.
As I mentioned earlier, Populus pays at a rate of £1 per 5 minutes of your time. Due to this, all the surveys either pay £1 for a 5-minute survey, £2 for a 10-minute survey of £3 for a 15-minute survey. I’ve even had a couple that have paid £4 for 20 minutes too.
How Many Surveys Do You Get?
This can vary hugely depending on your demographics to give you an idea over the last month I’ve had 15 surveys sent to me. The total value of these surveys was £27 so that’s pretty good I think for one site.
On that basis, if I had completed everything they sent me, I could have hit the £50 cashout amount in 2 months.
How Much Can You Earn with Populus Live?
The pay rate is good, but the surveys can be a bit sporadic, so Populus Live is a bit of a slow burn. You’re not going to be making hundreds of pounds every month with Populus.
I signed up October and I’ve recently had my first pay-out. I could have reached the £50 threshold sooner but there have been a fair few surveys I didn’t get around to completing due to being busy with other things.
How Do You Get Paid?
You’ll like this… They pay by cheque which gets sent out about a week after you hit the £50 threshold.
This is a little bit old school to say the least for my liking. But, when you’re getting £12/hour for surveys, I’m happy to take it… It would be great though if they offered the option to get paid straight into your bank account or via PayPal. I mean, who the hell uses cheques these days anyway?!!
Who can Sign Up with Populus Live?
Populus Live is open to all UK residents over the age of 16 (providing you don’t work for or are affiliated with Populus.
Pros
- First and foremost, the pay rate on Populus Live is pretty unbeatable. No other survey site really comes close to the hourly rate offered by Populus.
- The surveys are usually interesting and varied so they’re quite fun to complete.
- Receiving the surveys by email is actually a positive for Populus Live. As they’re relatively infrequent it prompts you to complete them rather than having to log on every day as you do with Prolific Academic. You don’t get bombarded as you do with a lot of other survey sites either. Some of the survey sites that pay you a very low rate send tons of emails which gets annoying very quickly. That’s why I stopped using most of them…
Cons
- As I mentioned earlier, while the surveys pay well, you don’t get huge amounts of them. They tend to pretty sporadic so if you’re wanting a site that gives you huge volumes of surveys to complete then Populus isn’t it. I’ve got very limited spare time so getting relatively infrequent surveys that pay well suits me down to the ground.
- Screening out can be frustrating. This was especially the case when I first signed up as it felt like I got screened out of nearly all of the first 5 I was sent. This has improved massively over time though and it’s quite rare for me to get screened out now. This could still be improved though, by increasing the amount of information they store on your profile. So, if anyone at Populus Live is reading this, there’s some feedback for you!
- Payment threshold and method of Payment. The £50 payment threshold is pretty rubbish to be honest and I can imagine a lot of people lose interest and never hit it. Getting paid by cheque is also a bit of a pain as I could really do without having to go and pay it into the bank as I do pretty much everything online these days.
My Verdict
Populus Live is a winner in my eyes. If you’re looking for a great paying survey site that won’t scam you and waste your time, then look no further. It has the highest rate of pay of all the survey sites I’ve tried in the UK and I plan to keep using Populus Live.
It’s also one of the best ways to make extra money in the UK. Granted you aren’t going to make a ton of cash but when you’re combining it with other well-paid side hustles like website testing or survey apps then it’s a great way to make some hassle-free extra cash.
I prefer it to Prolific Academic (my second favourite survey site) as the pay is better. I also find myself regularly completing Populus surveys when I get them which differs to website tests from the likes of UserTesting and WhatUsersDo (I have to be in the right mood to speak into my laptop for a website test!).
If it wasn’t for the high cashout limit of £50, the screening out and payment by cheque I’d give it 5 stars. As it stands though, it gets a well-deserved:
4.5 / 5
So there, you go my full review of the Populus Live Survey site, I hope you found it useful. If you enjoyed this post and it sounds like something you’re interested in, why not take a look at my Prolific Academic review, Streetbees review or guide to website testing for more ideas to make money from home.
Are you using survey sites to make extra cash each month? Do you have any other great paying websites that you use? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.
