YouGov Review: Why I Don’t Recommend it

“YouGov is an international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.”- As Wikipedia defines YouGov.”

YouGov was founded in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim Zahawi and is in business since then.

YouGov is available on PC(accessible via a browser) and its app is available for both Android and iOS.

Sign up Process:
I signed up through the YouGov app on my Android device and the sign-up process takes less than 3 minutes. After registration, you’ll be given a profiling survey for which you will earn 50 points.

How to Earn with YouGov:

Surveys are the only way you can earn money with YouGov. But the good thing is the availability of surveys is more than most GPT reward programs/apps.

But if you are familiar with survey sites/apps you probably know that the availability of surveys is affected by factors like region, demographics, personal information etc.

One of the pros of YouGov is that they send you an email whenever a new survey is available and you can go to the survey directly through the link the email. So you don’t have to regularly check the app for new surveys. And YouGov is mobile friendly so you can take surveys in any browser. I said “browser” because the YouGov app doesn’t have an inbuilt browser.

YouGov runs surveys every day, seeking opinion on a wide range of topics- your consumption habits, your social attitudes, what you think of brands and news in the media and so on.

First few surveys will be profiling surveys that will help them identify which studies are more relevant for you. If you decide not to participate in these surveys, your profile information may be missing, which will make it more difficult for YouGov to send you appropriate surveys.

My Experience with YouGov:

If you are a regular visitor of InfoSmush.com you already know that I’m not a big fan of taking surveys. Not because they take a long time nut because I hate filling forms. But I used the YouGov app to let you know what my options are on YouGov.

I used the app for 2 weeks. And earned 150 points out of which 50 points were a sign-up bonus and 50 for completing a profiling survey. So I only earned 50 points.

I missed 2-3 surveys due to lack of time and 1 due to a technical error.

What I’ve learned is that if you are in India you’ll mostly earn 50-100 points per survey. 16-20 minutes surveys usually reward you 100 points on completion which is not much considering how much the surveys on ThePanelStation pay.

Referral System:

YouGov has a referral program too but it is not that tempting.

For every friend or family member that you refer, you will earn 100 points when they complete 6 surveys.

Rewards at YouGov:

You can redeem your points for cash or Gift cards like Amazon, eBay, and more.

But the main issue is the redemption threshold which is 1,00,000 points!

It would almost take a year or more to accumulate that amount of points. Most of us don’t have that kind of patience. I only prefer those rewards programs that have low payment threshold and YouGov is not one them.

Complains:

Another thing that makes me hesitant towards investing my time in YouGov is the complaints against this research firm. I’ve read many users complain saying that after spending years taking surveys on YouGov to reach the tiresome threshold-they encounter an error every time they try to redeem their points. Their support staff didn’t resolve their issues even after sending several emails..

I’ve found these complaints on many review sites and blogs.

So this is obviously a big concern for anyone especially considering how long you’ll have to wait and how much time and effort it would take to reach 1,00,000 points.

Pros:

• Availability of surveys. 
• You’ll be notified through email every time a new survey is available for you. 
• You can take surveys on any device. 
• Customer support service is good. You’ll get replies within a couple of hours. 

Cons:

• The biggest drawback of YouGov is their payment threshold. You will have to earn 1,00,000 to request your first withdrawal
• Complaints against them

Final Words:

YouGov has been in business for a long time and no doubt they have paid many of their survey takers. But that doesn’t make it better than other survey platforms and obviously, we can’t ignore the complaints. But the biggest let down for me was the payment threshold. It’s way too high.

I don’t recommend using YouGov unless you need another survey platform and are prepared to wait for a year or more to redeem your earnings.

But if you are looking for a survey platform with low redemption threshold try ThePanelstation