| Product: |
visitorfriendly.com |
| Date: |
07.08.01 (120 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: See review
Disadvantages: See review
www.visitorfriendly.com is one of an increasing number of web sites that offers paid assignments to registered members to conduct research on web sites. The site should really be examined from two perspectives:
** as an individual who carries out mystery shopping surveys on behalf of VisitorFriendly.com
** as a business that enlists the services of the site to have research conducted on its own web site.
I’m afraid I am not in a position to comment on the latter as I have never commissioned VisitorFriendly.com to do any work – I can therefore only comment as a mystery shopper.
I signed up as a “Visitor” in January of this year, prompted by an opinion here on Dooyoo. Registration was simple and I was advised that I would be mailed details of any surveys for which I was eligible as and when they occurred. There is no information on the web site regarding what surveys are currently available – so it would be no use lying about your job, income etc to try and become more “eligible” for surveys.
My first review was sent to me later on in January. All members are sent emails inviting them to complete the assignment if they think that it matches the requirements of the relevant site and/or if it interests you. This is probably an important point to make. One of the key qualities for being a good mystery shopper is that you have a keen interest in giving feedback, reviewing products thoroughly and making value-add input into the process. In much the same way as Dooyoo operates, those people who simply sign up as a means of making some cash are in for a shock – this is not a regular wage and nor should it be viewed as such. VisitorFriendly.com are attempting to offer a quality service to their clients – if surveys are incomplete, incorrect or of a poor standard they simply won’t pay you. Furthermore, members who complete good quality surveys will attract more assignments
– those who do not will not.
My first survey was on a web site for medical supplies. To be fair, this is completely outside my professional expertise, but I completed the survey based on my experience as a potential customer. My next review did not come until two months later, when I was paid to conduct a review of a number of banking web sites. Three months later, I received my next assignment - another banking web site review. As you can see, the work does not come in thick and fast – which actually quite suits me. As I am not interested in this for purely financial means, I prefer to receive surveys occasionally in order that I give the appropriate level of attention to each. I suspect that the site are having trouble obtaining clients for whom they can carry out research. Members are offered commission if they introduce VF’s services to an online business, and the monthly newsletter reiterates that they are constantly trying to find new assignments. The sporadic nature of work seems to lose members though – every time there is a new assignment I receive a couple of emails stating that they need more people to fulfil the quota (I wouldn’t say they are begging but they aren’t far off!).
Rates of payment vary wildly. Factors that will be taken into consideration normally relate to the time required to complete the assignment and the level of detail required. Pay rates for me were £2 for the first assignment, £10 for the next and £5 for the next one thereafter. Pay rates have recently increased massively through the introduction of the Visitor Elite Panel. Membership is by invitation only (I am not sure what the criteria are) but pay rates are guaranteed at £20 per review minimum – furthermore, the pay rate for non-Elite reviews is automatically doubled. The last two assignments I have received have therefore paid £30 each – which is actually a considerable amount of money (£20 per hour pro-rata). N
onetheless, these assignments were time-consuming and lengthy – something of a problem where the VisitorFriendly.com user interface is concerned…
I am a member of three or four of these types of site. All of them offer the facility to work offline or complete assignments in chunks – except VisitorFriendly.com. On my most recent assignment, time taken actually trebled simply because the relevant site I was reviewing crashed my browser – which meant I lost all the work up to that point. I would therefore recommend that reviewers print off the questionnaires (even though they aren’t always printer-friendly) and do all the online work as quickly as possible – I even type up freeform comments in Word and copy them across. To make things even more difficult, some of the questionnaires are designed poorly with incorrect pagination or extremely small text boxes for comments. Given that VF are now offering an Elite service, I think this is something they need to look into.
I am happy to confirm that you DO get paid – a bank transfer was made into my account this week. One thing that was frustrating was that the minimum payment value kept increasing – it started as £12, went up to £15 and now stands at £20 – which means that non-Elite members will probably lose the will to live before they receive payment. On completion of an assignment, payment is not automatic – the site will review your work and will then process payment within two weeks, depending on whether everything is in order. I haven’t had any reviews rejected – but then my experience on Dooyoo probably makes me go into far too much detail! Managing your account can be completed online – there is a log-in facility which will enable you to change personal details, check balances and update bank details. Rather irritatingly, all these functions are on page – yet each section is independently updated. This means that i
f you go through the page, merrily updating everything and then click the Submit button at the foot of the page you will only update the last section completed – Submit needs to be clicked for each sub-section.
I am now happy to continue working for this site, given that I have received payment for work completed, and that work seems to be arriving at a pace and of a nature that keeps me happy. As with any of these sites, you won’t become a millionaire – but it is nice to think that your input can help companies develop their services for the consumer.
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