Respondent User Testing Details
If a company needs help in conducting a market research study such as surveys, product testing and website usability testing, one website they seek is respondent.io. Respondent user testing helps companies determine what services and products will really make their customers happy and loyal. It also helps people like you, who are looking for interesting online gigs to earn extra cash.
Respondent acts as a recruiter that connects companies to qualified individuals who can take part in their marketing studies. It is a platform where researchers can distribute qualifying surveys, invite qualified participants, schedule studies, verify attendance of participants and issue payments to participants.
In May 2016, Jack Pratten, Harri Thomas and Pierrick Ganon founded Respondent in Brooklyn, New York. From then, it has earned the trust of many leading brands worldwide, such as Intercom, IBM, Intuit, Oracle, Dropbox, SendGrid, GoDaddy, Airbnb and Microsoft.
How It Works at Respondent
Let us look at Figure 1 to see how the Respondent platform works.
Figure 1
1. You need to first apply and create a profile to take part in the studies you think you qualify for. There is a qualifying survey that you need to complete before each study. You will not receive any payment for this.
2. Respondent has an algorithm that will match your profile to research studies. Researchers or study sponsors review respondents’ responses and send invitations to those that they find qualified for their specific studies. You may also browse the platform to look manually for studies you can participate in.
3. After receiving an invitation, you can select the time when you can participate in the study.
4. Respondent will automatically send your payment through PayPal. Keep in mind that Respondent will collect $1 0r 5% (whichever is higher) fulfillment fee from your incentive.Qualifications
Any industry professional, parent or student aged at least 18 years old may join Respondent. There are projects requiring US citizens and international participants. You need a PayPal account since this is where you will receive your payment. A prerequisite which I think is unique to Respondent, is a Facebook or a LinkedIn account. They require a social account for verification of your employment and of your demographic details. The researchers will view your linked social account and will review your information to ensure that they will contact their target audience.
You must supply a working phone number that can receive SMS messages that Respondent might send. You must provide a profile photo, too.
Participation In Studies
You might find yourself to be completely qualified for projects, but the ultimate decision on your participation to a study lies on the researcher or sponsor of the study. Each study has a specific set of requirements set by the researcher. Besides, projects can fill up quickly so you must act quickly when you receive an invitation to take part.
Figure 2
From Figure 2, you'll see that there are two types of studies on the Respondent platform.
They distribute general population studies through the daily digest email. The system will match you to these studies based on your age and geographic information. Invitations to these studies have a 3-day loop cycle, so the studies will appear every 3 days in your digest unless you have already taken part and completed the screener survey for each study. A study that a researcher marked as “closed” will also not appear in the daily digest.
There are also industry professional studies with distribution through highly targeted emails. These are the studies that strictly match a respondent’s professional expertise.
Screener Surveys
Just like other user testing websites, such as TryMyUI, Respondent also has screener questions or surveys for you to answer. These surveys ensure you can take part in studies that are ideal matches to your background and qualifications.
At Respondent, there is a limit of 3 screener surveys for you to answer in 24 hours. Researchers will look at your survey responses and assess if you are a good match. Then, they will send you the invitation via email and SMS with instructions on how to proceed.
Increase Your Chances Of Selection
While it is the decision of the researcher if you will get an invitation to take part or not in a study, there are some ways you could help to increase your chances of getting selected for the study.
1. Complete and update your profile, especially your contact, employment and demographic details.
2. Boost your social account profile. In your LinkedIn account, be sure to post your detailed work history, your connections and latest profile photo. If you link your Facebook account to your Respondent account, be sure that the profile picture is also the latest. There must be no inconsistent details in your Respondent profile and in your social account profile.
3. Take screener surveys often.How To Apply/Join
To apply as a Respondent, visit https://app.respondent.io/signup.
Check the box for “I am a research participant.”
You could sign up either through Facebook, LinkedIn or by providing your email address. I signed up through an email address. Then, I provided my complete name and set up a password.
The next step involved indicating my gender, ethnicity and educational background. The steps that followed involved providing location and employment details.
Provide a working phone number.
Confirm the connection to your social media account.
Complete and save your profile.
Once you complete these steps, you may already start taking screener surveys.
Potential Income
After verifying your email, you may already browse through your dashboard. You can also start browsing projects. As you can see from Figure 3, the pay for each project is much higher than the payment for other microtask gigs like paid surveys.
Figure 3
You can also see here that there are different projects available, but remember that there are screener surveys to answer so focus first on passing these screener questions before counting how much money you will receive.
Work Schedule
You may think you have a flexible schedule as a Respondent since you need to wait for an email and SMS invitation before participating in studies. Each study will have a specific amount of time for completion. Some may last 30 minutes while others take more than an hour to complete.
This flexible schedule is beneficial if you want to look at other online money making opportunities. You may create with a list of websites to join where you could earn money from testing websites and apps and regularly check if there are available studies to take part in. Since the pay from these gigs are low, you may also look for other opportunities that the internet offers.
You may start looking at Cashcrate for microtask platforms. Other jobs that accept freelancers and part-timers include web research, data entry and paid juror. You could also use your spare time completing tasks in brick and mortar stores using your smartphone with apps like Field Agent and Gigwalk. You could also earn money offering your creative and unique talents on Fiverr.
Benefits / Bonus/ Increase/ Training Provided
Respondent will supposedly let you make extra money. Look at Figure 4.
Figure 4
This image shows the referral program of Respondent. You will get $50 bonus. The catch, however, is that your referral should first take part in a study and receive the payment before you get your bonus.
You could come across reviews from some people who did not receive their referral bonus. Thus, this is one thing to be wary of.
There is one factor about Respondent that you might favor, and this is the messaging feature. Apparently, you may contact the researcher in charge of a project you will take part in if, but only for valid reasons like if you are not sure what you need to do or perform for the study.
Navigate through your account to find the messaging feature.
Conclusion
PROS
CONS
I suppose patience is the key when waiting to receive an invitation, take part in a study and receive payment. While patience is a positive trait to possess, I think I will expand my patience in applying to other worthy online jobs instead of dedicating more time than necessary on possible Respondent projects. Since I have already registered as a Respondent, I will maximize the 3 screeners per day and just wait for the invitation to arrive in my email or phone - although I will not be too hopeful I could earn extra money from it.