Someone Forgot To Fertilize This Green Field (Online)
Written: Aug 22 '04 (Updated Sep 01 '04)
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The green field may look enticing and refreshing but inside lies piles of unwashed clothes and overflowing trashcans.
The Purpose Of Greenfield
The basics of Greenfield Online have remained the same: a reliable source of consumer survey opportunities for companies. Basically these companies use Greenfield Online as a resource center for consumer feedback about marketing campaigns and other new products being introduced into the market. These companies pay Greenfield Online to host the survey, and in turn, Greenfield Online entices consumers with small incentives to participate in the survey. In the end Greenfield Online is the middleman between consumer and company marketing research. However after being a member for only a month, you'll quickly feel like a victim of child abduction, falling for the old "get in my car I have candy" routine.
Personal Online Experience
After being a member of Greenfield Online and answering surveys every other day for nearly a month, I feel cheated in a sense. Greenfield Online may advertise as a "get paid to answer surveys" kind of operation, but I'm seeing very little payment in my account. I honestly didn't go into Greenfield Online thinking I would earn a million bucks overnight, but I did expect to see better results. Greenfield Online will periodically send survey alerts through email, letting you know about current surveys on their site. Obviously this is a great feature, since their web site is not exactly the best. However in most cases after going through the first few questions, I was informed that I didn't qualify and would merely be entered into a weekly $3,000 drawing. The few times I did happen to qualify for a survey, the project was either finishing already, or at it's maximum capacity. I guess you have to be a complete geek/loser to be one of the first 200 out of 3,000,000 members to get online as soon as the survey is released in order to qualify for the survey. Greenfield Online does offer a downloadable program called SAM:Survey Alerts Manager, which idles on your computer and alerts its members of new survey opportunities. Now I have to admit this seems like the way to go, but most people wouldn't have time to sit around waiting for an alert.
The Ugly Pros
One of the bigger pros at Greenfield Online is their survey frequency. You'll always receive new alerts through email and the downloadable program, especially surveys in which you'll be interested in taking. However 99% of the time these surveys will already be maxed out, or there is a good chance you will not qualify for the survey. The incentives for participating in a survey can range anywhere from $1 to $100, however rewards will vary from one survey to the next. But with so many people all going for the same reward on any given survey, there's not much chance of getting that reward. Even if you don't qualify for a survey you'll be entered into the Greenfield Online $3,000 weekly drawing just for answering a few pre-survey questions. Again, at this rate you'd be better off buying a lottery ticket.
The Uglier Cons
The sad truth is not everyone will be rewarded for their work, myself included. Unlike other programs that offer points or tokens for completing surveys, Greenfield Online goes all in where either you strike it rich or earn nothing at all. This is a huge turn off for anyone who wants alittle daily ego-boo or some indication that they are progressing towards a reward or redemption.
Taking a survey, or even pre-qualifying for one can also be annoying. The first 4 questions are usually the same: email address, age, sex and location. Then there are a few general questions leading up to the survey topic. If you choose the correct "on topic" answers (whether you tell the truth or blatantly lie) you'll go onto more detailed questions and eventually be entered into the project's drawing which may not end for another 4-6 weeks at which time a winner will be chosen to receive a reward. What ever happened to instant gratification? And the worst part? Even if you aren't chosen for a reward, you receive no notification about who won, and what rewards were handed out. Eventually you feel like Greenfield Online is a bunch of freeloaders who just want your opinions without the common courtesy to even notify you about anything.
The Greenfield Online web site is also not user friendly. It's fairly easy to signup, because the link is on damn near every page. The members area is lacking in details/options and merely allows you to change your personal information. Other areas of the site: Meet the winner, fun and activities, affiliate program, who we are, and privacy policy are rather generic. For being one of the best survey partners out there, you'd think these people could come up with a better site that explains everything about Greenfield Online and their services.
Is This For You?
Being a long time addict of "get paid to" sites, I've learned when to throw in the towel. In all honesty I wouldn't have even signed up if it wasn't for a relative who was also using Greenfield Online at the time. I only joined to figure out their system and experience their surveys for myself to see if it was really worth all the hassle. On a short term basis, Greenfield Online is a complete waste of time. As mentioned above, you'll definitely partake in new surveys on a daily basis, however you may not always qualify or earn a reward. On a long term basis, Greenfield Online can be a terrific way to waste time and possibly earn a few bucks here and there. I don't know who's making money from Greenfield Online, but I'd sure like to meet them and understand how anyone can honestly sit there everyday and answer mind numbing questions with little to no guaranteed reward.
It should also be known that Greenfield Online has a terrible email customer support system. I requested that my account be deleted, and for them to stop sending me alerts. However it's been over a week and I've heard nothing from them. Their FAQ section states that accounts can automatically be removed at any time from the members area, however there is no such feature. Either their FAQ section is outdated, or they aren't finished with the new site design. So I don't know what's taking them so long, maybe they just don't want to lose members!
If you have no life, then what the hell try Greenfield Online out and see for yourself what they have to offer. Otherwise don't even bother with these jokers, as I'm sure other survey programs offer better incentives where you feel wanted amongst a community.
Recommended:
No
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Location: California
Reviews written: 263
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