July 2006 Archives

In an article in today's Wall Street Journal Online, author Carl Bialik questions whether results from online survey sites, specifically data findings from paid online survey site e-Rewards, are really applicable to the public at large.

E-Rewards recruits survey panel members, sometimes through frequent flier programs, with the promise of rewards for completing surveys. E-Rewards' currency can be redeemed for more consumer-oriented rewards, like free movie rentals from Blockbuster, or for rewards which presumably would have more appeal to business travellers, like airline miles and discounts at online luggage store eBags. When a new survey goes live, e-Rewards' panel members are screened in order to, for instance, get responses from people from specific industries, people who work for large companies, self-employed, married women aged 26-46 in the computer industry, etc... You get the idea.

Anyway, Bialik says that the type of business person who would participate in a survey panel like e-Rewards does not necessarily hold opinions that could be applicable to Corporate America in general. "...What they're really reporting are the tendencies of business travelers who identify themselves as executives, sign up for a rewards program and then respond to an emailed invitation to participate in an online survey."

The article goes on to suggest that because blue collar industries tend to travel less and to be working out of the office, away from a computer, those types of industries would be under-represented. So, to survey business people online, then to try to draw conclusions like, "70% of business owners say they intend to..." might not really be accurate.

How accurate really IS data from paid online survey sites? I think the problem is far more pervasive than drawing too broad conclusions from under-represented population segments. The problem is, how many people have sort of...fudged answers to survey prequalifiers in the hopes that their answers would lead to their being asked to complete the full survey for a reward? (And then, once accepted, completed the survey with fake or at least misleading information?) How prevalent is this problem, and how badly does it skew the survey results?

Of course, if you're hoping to get thoughtful, valid answers from busy businesspeople, or from any other niche of the population, you're going to have to offer some type of incentive. But that incentive alone is cause enough for the type of intelligent people that these survey panels value to falsify answers in order to receive the reward.

One research company that uses data from e-Rewards' surveys talked about how they "scrub" data in the hopes of eliminating bogus responses, like those from people who didn't spend enough time on the question, or those, for example, who answered "Excellent" for all questions. And maybe that's all the researchers can do, because after all, they're not omniscient and can't discern the truthfulness behind each individual response. But is that enough? Do survey findings really mean anything?

Whether the survey results are misleading because of the wording of their conclusions, or because of the proportion of fabricated responses, it's best to take all of these survey findings with a grain of salt. Perhaps Mark Twain said it best: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."

BondRewards recently began sending out paid emails. They're worth 5 BondRewards cents (that's 2.5 cents in current value). It's not clear how often they'll send out the emails -- I've received two in just over a week.

My review of BondRewards is here.

http://www.clubmom.com/display/264123?cell_id=6722

Click on the red Login button, then click the link to receive updates from Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

Free, non-spending point offers are pretty rare at ClubMom. Enjoy!

Last October and November, the Greenpoints rewards program, operated by S&H Solutions of Delray Beach, FL, was temporarily shuttered due to Hurricane Wilma. The company announced they now have a plan in place to avoid service disruptions in the future. They've contracted with a company that provides emergency data backup services so they can operate without interruption during hurricane season.

Just thought this might be of interest to Greenpoints members who were concerned about the site's downtime last fall.

Long-time members of the Milesource rewards program remember when it was a real player in the rewards program business, but complaints of poor to non-existent customer service, few redemption options, long redemption waits, and low rebate rates have plagued the program in recent years.

I talked with Sunny Mallavarapu, Director of Affiliate and Content Membership Operation for Ampere Media, about this in email.

"I was recently brought on to run MileSource.com as a joint effort between Silver Carrot's NY office and Ampere's Chicago based office. Over the past year MileSource had been running with little management and resources. This has absolutely hurt the site and its members. We are currently soft launching the site again, and are now making changes on a hourly basis.

As you know MileSource.com was once a large player among point sites, and we plan on being nothing less in the coming months.

As far as changes there many in the works..... I can't really explain them all, but by no means will any of them cause negative effects to members but the opposite. Members who have stayed with the program during what looks like to me as being hard times for the site, will be rewarded for their lasting loyalty.

As well new options and ways to receive points will be added very soon, so getting 50,000+ miles and getting good rewards over $100 will be available.

The negative comments were true for the most part, the site has had some hard times. Unlike other sites on hard times, MileSource.com fought through it rather than folding and abandoning its members.

I am excited to be part of a very good team, and hopefully members will be enthused with the changes as they occur."

If you're curious, Milesource's owner, SilverCarrot, acquired Ampere Media in October 2005. One can only hope that the change of management from SilverCarrot to its subsidiary, Ampere, will mean more focused attention to Milesource and an improvement in operations.

FusionCash.net has resolved their differences with PayPal, according to an email update I received from one of their owners, and it's now back onsite as a redemption option. They also are offering a free FusionCash T-Shirt with all redemptions of $90 or more, while supplies last.

Just a few notes on FusionCash's terms of service (which have been revised and clarified recently). You must be a US resident age 18+ to join (or 13+ with parental permission). You can't use a public computer to access the site (I guess this is to ensure that there is one IP address per account). Recommending specific offers to other members, based on the offers' payout or walking through how to join and cancel, are prohibited. (Note: They do monitor message boards and have deleted members based on these public posts.) You can't complete an offer on FC if you've done it before on another website. And last, please be aware that earnings must be cashed out within 90 days of being posted to your account.

Strict? Yes. But a program with offer payouts as strong as FC's has to protect its advertiser relationships, which means creating and enforcing a very strict fraud prevention program. If you can play by the rules, FusionCash pays reliably and pays well.