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Today I’m going to review one of the more popular survey sites – Branded Surveys (formerly MintVine surveys). If you aren’t very familiar with them and you’re trying to find out what they’re all about, I’ve got you covered.
Because here’s the thing. With surveys, not all of them are created equal. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t have time to waste on surveys that are unreliable or don’t pay.
So hopefully in this interview, I share some info that helps let you know if branded surveys, formerly MintVine, is worth the time.
Ok, let’s go.
What is Branded Surveys?
Branded Surveys is an online market research company. It uses a growing community of individuals from all walks of life to provide insights on certain products and services.
To corporations both large and small, Branded Surveys is a key source of data. To its members, Branded Surveys is a convenient way to make some extra. It allows them to make money by simply taking surveys.
When Was Branded Surveys Started?
I wasn’t able to uncover the exact origin of Branded Surveys. But I was able to find out that the platform is owned by Branded Research Inc, a marketing firm that is under the European Society of Opinion and Market Research umbrella.
Branded Research is a large and well-known company. The platform was initially called MintVine. In 2017, they re-branded the company, claiming that their new name provided a more accurate description of their services.
How Does Branded Surveys Work?
The main objective of Branded Surveys is to conduct surveys on behalf of other companies. Those companies use the data collected on this platform to create effective sales and marketing strategies.
The members of this platform are expected to give their honest opinions on a wide variety of topics. The company will match individual members with surveys depending on the information they have shared in their profile.
The company’s goal is to ensure that the right surveys reach those users that Branded Surveys’ partners are actually interested in polling.
As a result, some members might receive more offers for surveys than others. Especially during certain seasons because their unique experiences make them the perfect polling target for the companies demanding research data.
It is also important that individual members take surveys as soon as they become available. Otherwise, they could miss out. The average survey takes 20 minutes or less to complete.
Every so often, certain companies will offer Branded Surveys members free products to use in exchange for an honest opinion.
A large number of the complaints about this platform are from members who believe that the number of available surveys declined drastically when MintVine re-branded to Branded Surveys.
Ways To Earn With Branded Surveys
Similar to survey sites like Survey Junkie, Branded Surveys is not a charity. They make money by polling the members of their community and selling this data to their partners. And as a member you also get paid for sharing your thoughts and opinions.
There are rewards attached to every single poll and survey you take. The amount of money you ultimately make will depend on the number of polls and surveys you complete on a daily basis. But as I mentioned, you don’t necessarily control the number of surveys you receive.
Some people will get disqualified from surveys that they have already started taking. In such cases, you still earn points.
Local Deals
Besides the surveys, the platform offers local deals. If you go after local deals, such as making a purchase at a particular location, you will receive extra points.
The same applies for their 3rd Party offers, which get members to sign up for certain services to earn points.
Referrals
As with most survey sites, Branded Surveys will reward you for making referrals. But the people you refer to the site must participate in activities as well (taking surveys and polls).
How to Join Branded Surveys
Joining Branded Surveys is free. To get started simply visit the Branded Surveys website. In order to join you must be older than 13 and a citizen of the UK, US, or Canada.
You have to provide some basic information to create your account. Branded Surveys doesn’t ask for any particularly sensitive information.
Once you complete this process, you must activate your new Branded Surveys account by verifying your email address. At this point, you can start a profile survey that will give the company a clear understanding of the types of polls and surveys that are the best fit for you.
You can skip the profiling survey. But this is not a good idea. If you do, you’ll end up wasting time taking surveys only to be disqualified.
How Much Can You Make With Branded Surveys?
Branded Surveys runs a point-based system. The activities you perform earn you points. Once those points accumulate, you can exchange them for cash payments, gift cards, and other rewards.
You get $1 for every 100 points you accrue. But you need a minimum of 1000 points to make a withdrawal. 1000 points equate to $10.
That sounds like a lot of points for a little amount of money. But the nice thing is earning points isn’t that hard.
Simply completing your profile gets you 100 points. The average survey can earn you anywhere between 50 points and 400 points depending on how long it takes to complete it.
Partner Offers
There are also partner offers to consider. With partner offers you can earn:
- 10 points for signing up to a partner survey site
- 1 point for watching video ads
- 11 points for subscribing to a travel website’s newsletter
- And more…
Paid Offers
The above offers that I mentioned are examples of free offers. There are also paid offers that encourage you to sign up for subscription services and memberships. These offers can earn you as much as 400 points.
Branded Elite Program
The Branded Elite program will reward you with points for your consistent participation.
Earnings Estimates
Your earnings will depend on whether you fall in the Bronze, Silver, or Gold tier. As with most survey sites, it’s tough to say how much the average user earns.
In a perfect world, you could earn $9 per hour. But only if you are doing surveys consistently.
How Do They Pay Out Members
Branded Surveys pays you through PayPal, Branded Pay, and gift cards. Payments take about 2 business days to process and hit your account.
Pros and Cons of Branded Surveys
Pros
- The company is B rated with the Better Business Bureau.
- You still get rewarded with points when you are disqualified.
- In 2016 alone, their panelists completed 2.8 million surveys making them one of the biggest market research firms in their field.
- Easy work and not too time consuming to earn extra money.
- The company has over 2 million panelists.
- Fast payments (2 days) through PayPal and gift cards.
Cons
- You can be disqualified for surveys and waste time attempting surveys.
- It’s hard to qualify for surveys, which members have complained that there aren’t enough to go around.
- Probably not high paying enough to earn a full-time income at around $9 per hour.
- They only operate in the US, UK, and Canada.
Conclusion
Surveys sites offer an easy way to make some extra cash without a lot of effort. With any site like this, I recommend you weight the pros and cons and if it makes sense for you, give it a go.
In the end, you probably won’t earn a full-time income, but Branded Surveys is definitely one of the better survey sites. Given the fact that the pros seem to outweigh the cons, it might be worth your while.