$5 for your opinion, please! Not a bad deal.
Written: Mar 20 '01
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The Bottom Line
Pinecone Research offers an opportunity for a consumer to respond to well-written surveys with an up front $5 payment! Just don't expect them too often.
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Every now and then, I sign up for programs such as this that promise the opportunity to fill out surveys and such and get paid for doing so. I do not have high expectations, no matter what the company may promise, as I have seen very few companies who offer payment for simple services like this actually follow through. With Pinecone Research (formerly Acorn Research), I was pleasantly surprised!
I do not even remember the exact point at which I signed up for this program. I know that I followed a banner ad (something that I rarely do), and my application was accepted. But I didn't hear from the company for quite some time, so I conveniently forgot about it. Reading others' opinions, it seems that my sign-up experience was unusual, as the company isn't looking for new survey members all too often. Imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail one day asking me to fill out a survey and telling me that any day, a check with further information would arrive in the mail. It actually did! Before I even completed the survey, I received a check with a little bit of additional information about the company. (I had misunderstood and thought that I needed the information I would receive in the mail to complete the survey, so I had contacted customer service, where I was kindly told that the e-mail had all of the information I needed, but I could wait until receiving the mail before completing the survey if I wished. I did, and this was not a problem.)
I have received three surveys thus far, which has averaged out to one survey every two months. The website and initial information states that one ought to expect about two or three surveys per month... whether this was wishful thinking on their part or it has changed due to an expanded group of survey participants, I am not certain, but don't plan on using this as a source of additional income! It is nice to be able to purchase a fast food value meal without guilt on occasion, but the $5 is just a bit of a perk.
The surveys themselves are well-written and seem to be worth the time (takes me about 30 minutes, but some could probably do it in 15-20). All three surveys I completed were for possible new products that one would see on grocery store shelves. Is it something I would purchase? (One of them, in my opinion, would be a complete waste of the company's resources! But, then, you can even purchase frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches now, so I suppose that nothing should surprise me.) What ideas do I have about the possible product? What flavors would I purchase? The surveys are multiple choice, with several areas for written feedback regarding price, flavor, product presentation, and believability... (it slices, it dices, it changes your babies' diapers! Oh... wait... don't think that sounds possible?) The first page of the survey always contains a photo and description of the product that one would expect to see used in a grocery store. I have found the quality of these images and descriptions to be quite high, and only one had information that I would not buy in to enough to spend money and test out the product.
You may wonder about my vague description of my particular survey experiences. One thing that is vital to the business of Pinecone Research is confidentiality. In fact, the survey participant must type "I AGREE" after a confidentiality clause before completing a survey of any kind. I like this - that way, yayhoos who just want to click buttons and get paid must actually read directions and follow them. Harsh, I know. Along these lines, the company sent out a recent e-mail to participants warning of consequences to breaking this agreement. (Can you believe that there were users who actually posted product development information on the web? And one who called the company to ask about the product and comment verbally? WHY DO THEY THINK PINECONE RESEARCH WAS HIRED - it is not to give away company secrets or to bother development teams!) Because this agreement includes the clause that information about these products or surveys are not to be shared with anyone, I'm going to hold true and refrain from commenting (though I really would love to).
I will mention that the first product I reviewed has recently begun appearing on television commercials, using the same logo that I first saw in the survey! It is fun to think that my input might have actually had an impact on the product production. This is also a product I would be very interested in purchasing! Of course, rural Indiana isn't exactly the testing ground for new culinary products, so perhaps by the time my toddlers are in high school I will have the opportunity to purchase this product myself. We shall see.
One more note about customer service. I had another occasion on which to contact them, and I received a helpful, informed response. This occurred when, as they requested, I logged on to the site to add more detail to my personal profile. I noticed that it stated that I am the mother of one young child. Well, as you can see from the photo, our twins are very present, so I tried adding the second. For some reason, their database will not accept two individuals with the same gender and same birthdate as separate individuals. Not wanting to leave out Rachel or Emily, I e-mailed and asked about this. They found that it is a glitch in the program, and as a temporary fix, they made Rachel a day younger than Emily rather than 13 minutes. For purposes of survey demographic information, this was fine with me, and I appreciated the personal e-mail that I received about it, making certain that I would be okay with this.
Overall, as far as survey companies go, I feel that Pinecone Research has a good thing going. Unlike companies that "enter you into a drawing," you are truly compensated for your time, and you can watch to see if your product hits the shelves. When (and if) it does, you can rest easy knowing that your input helped in the product's development. Now if only the creators of those frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches had asked for my input...
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Member: Angela Knight
Location: Indiana
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 18 members
About Me: Mother of twins and teacher by trade, I love my husband, daughters, and my Lord!
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