How to Make Money with Prolific Surveys: Complete Guide

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Prolific Surveys InfoBox

Prolific offers high-paying surveys and research opportunities. If you see a survey, you can take it, there are no disqualifications.

It is probably the most profitable and reputable site for surveys online.

Earning Methods: Survey
Payout Options: PayPal
Available on: Website
Country Availability:

TIME

Variable
1 minute – 1 hour per survey.

EARNINGS

£0.10 – £10.00 per survey.
£5.00 minimum withdrawal.
Instant payouts from your 5th withdrawal onwards.

TRUST

Reliable & trustworthy.
No issues found.

What is Prolific Surveys?

Prolific Surveys is widely regarded as the very best paid survey site available for those wanting to earn online.

What sets Prolific apart from other similar sites is that you will never be disqualified (DQ’d) after starting a survey. You will always be able to complete a survey assigned to you. This is because Prolific uses your profile answers to determine if you qualify before they offer a survey to you.

“You will never be disqualified after accepting a survey.”

In addition, the surveys available typically have generous payouts for the time spent. Surveys can range from £0.10 for one-minute surveys to £10 or more for longer surveys.

Money for surveys on Prolific is measured in GBP(£) but will be converted to your local currency e.g. USD($) when cashed out.

Prolific is available in many countries, but unfortunately, both India and most of South America are excluded.

Example Prolific survey showing £0.88 for a 4 minute survey — Example Prolific survey showing £0.88 reward for a 4-minute survey

How to Sign Up to Prolific

There are no sign-up bonuses for Prolific, so just head directly to the Prolific home page and sign up. Make sure to select that you want to take part in studies (surveys). Use the email that is linked to your PayPal account as this will be how you receive payment. You can actually use a different login and Paypal email, but this just keeps things simple. The rest is self-explanatory, just make sure to fill in the details honestly and correctly.

How to Make More Money with Prolific

Now the important part – how to make more money with Prolific and how to increase your profits. The goal here is two-fold. Firstly to ensure that you get as many surveys offered to you as possible, and secondly to make sure you complete them while they’re active.

How to Get More Surveys on Prolific

1. Fill in the “About You” Section

Your first task as soon as you sign up and log into prolific is to fill in your “About You” section at the top of the site. You must answer all questions in all categories until your profile shows 100% in the progress bar at the top. The reason for this is that Prolific uses your responses to qualify you for surveys, which it then offers to you. If you do not fill out this section at all, you will get no surveys and if you do not fill it out completely you will get fewer surveys.

So, simply put, answer all questions and you will get more surveys offered to you:

Prolific About You section showing categories such as basic demographic and interests — Prolific “About You” page showing some of the categories of profile questions.

Altogether there are around 200 questions, but don’t worry they’re just simple answers of yes/no or filling in a single answer. Sometimes new questions are added, so make it a weekly or monthly task for yourself to check the About You section. Similarly, if your personal situation or views change, update them here as it can alter what surveys you’re offered.

2. Answer Yes to Alternative Survey Formats

Additionally, you can also get more surveys on Prolific and by proxy increase the amount of money you make with Prolific by answering “Yes” to some alternative ways to take surveys. In the “About You” section there is a category called “Participation on Prolific”. These questions ask about your willingness to conduct surveys/research in person or via skype. There are also questions asking if you are willing to record yourself on webcam or take part in a dual survey with your romantic partner:

Would you be willing to attend an experiment in person? — Two example profile questions that can help you make more money with Prolific.

Taking part in surveys face to face or via webcam isn’t for everyone, but if you’re OK with it, simply choose yes to those questions and you’ll be given more surveys, meaning you’ll make more money with Prolific Surveys.

Make Sure you Don’t Miss Surveys You’re Offered on Prolific

So, one of the things to be aware of is that Prolific Surveys typically have a limited number of slots. This can be 10 people, or 1,000. But regardless, you must jump on the survey as soon as you’re offered it.

1. Set-up Email Notifications on your Phone

Prolific will alert you via email when a new survey is assigned to you, so your first step should be to make sure you have email notifications set up on your phone. Additionally, make sure that Prolific emails don’t end up in your spam or you won’t get notified. Setting up notifications will make sure that you see new surveys as soon as they’re available. To make this even more effective, go to Prolific and remove some of the email settings such as marketing, rejections, referrals, etc.

This will mean that if you receive an email from Prolific, you know it must be about a new survey:

Email preferences on Prolific — Prolific email preferences set-up.

As above you can see the email preference on the Prolific site. If you uncheck everything apart from New Survey (And reactivation, as we’re not entirely sure what this means…) you won’t get distracted with non-new survey emails.

2. Install the Prolific Assistant Browser Extension

The Prolific Assistant will alert you when new surveys are assigned to you. This is helpful in addition to email notifications. The extension is especially useful if you spend a lot of time on your PC/laptop.

I cannot emphasize enough how IMPORTANT it is to install this extension. Being alerted and instantly accepting surveys had increased my income on Prolific by a significant amount.

It is available as the Prolific Assistant extension for Chrome and the Prolific Assistant extension for Firefox.

The extension will pop up to notify you and also add a number on the icon to show how many surveys are available.

One setting to look into is the check interval in seconds. Set it to something around 60 seconds to make sure you don’t miss out on Prolific surveys:

Prolific Assistant Extension Settings - set check interval to 60 seconds — Prolific Assistant Extension Settings – set check interval to 60 seconds

Without email notifications or the Prolific Assistant extension set-up, you could miss surveys and miss out on extra cash. So make sure you’re notified about and react to new surveys asap so you can make as much money as possible on Prolific.

How to Answer Surveys on Prolific

Answering surveys on Prolific is reasonably straight forward but there are a few steps to make sure you claim the survey, complete it in time, and make sure that you’re credited on completion.

Step 1: Recieve a New Survey Notification

As mentioned it is crucial that you set up email notifications on your phone so that you are alerted about new surveys. This is because there are a limited amount of slots available. So with notifications set up, you can ensure that you don’t miss out on any surveys and money making opportunities with Prolific.

Step 2: Check your Survey List on Prolific

When you log in to Prolific you should now see your survey(s) waiting for you. The surveys will show:

A title, giving you an idea of what the study is
The reward amount for completing the survey (and what it works out as an hourly rate)
How many slots are left open

Step 3: Click the Survey and then Click Reserve Place

Once you’ve clicked the survey, you need to claim it before you can start. It’s important to note that from the point you click reserve place, you have 10 minutes to begin. Note this is NOT 10 minutes to complete it, but 10 minutes to click into the survey and start answering questions.

Survey acceptance, click Reserve Place. — Survey acceptance page – click Reserve Place to claim your spot.

Step 4: Copy your Prolific ID and Click Start Now

You will now be taken to the page shown below. Before you click “start now”, copy your prolific ID with the copy button. This isn’t always required but sometimes you will be asked for it at the start or end of the survey.

Copy your prolific ID, then click start now within 10 minutes.

Step 5: Complete the Survey

Each survey is different but will give you instructions. Answer honestly, and don’t rush! Sometimes trick questions will be thrown in to make sure you’re paying attention. Getting these wrong may lead to rejection and you not getting paid. High-quality answers can even lead to bonus payments from the researchers so money in your pocket.

Once complete, the survey will let you know you can close the current window and return to Prolific.

And that’s it! It may take a few hours or a day but your survey response will be accepted and money added to your prolific account.

Prolific Minimum Payout and How to Get Paid

Prolific Minimum Payout

The Prolific minimum payout amount is only £5 whether you’re accessing from UK, USA, or Europe. For the USA and Europe, the £5 will be converted to your local currency as set up in your PayPal account.

How do I get Paid From Prolific?

A PayPal account is required for payment as it is the only option Prolific offers. If you don’t have a PayPal account, you can easily sign up for a free PayPal personal account. Then you can either spend your money made from Prolific directly from PayPal or transfer it into your bank account.

Prolific payouts must be manually started by you. Simply go to your account page and click “cash out”. If cash out is greyed out, then you either do not have £5 (or more) to withdraw or you haven’t set-up your PayPal account. Your PayPal account can be linked on your Prolific account page – on the same page as the cashout.

After you click cash out you will see the confirmation screen below – note that there are NO fees.

Prolific cash out to PayPal confirmation. You will see your PayPal email at the top, but this is blanked out in this image.

After you click Proceed, that’s it, you’re done.

When Will I Receive my Money from Prolific?

After you click cash out, you will get the money in your PayPal account on the next payout day. Payout days are Tuesday and Friday, afternoon time (GMT).

Prolific Instant Payouts

After you have triggered 4 payouts as above, you will automatically be upgraded (for free) for instant payouts.

This means that instead of having to wait for a payout day, your cash will instantly be transferred to your PayPal account!

Prolific Golden Rules and Must-Do's

Your goal is to make sure you get as many surveys offered to you as possible on Prolific but to also make sure that you claim and complete all that you’re offered. This will make sure you make as much cash as possible with Prolific.

As with all survey sites, honesty and concentration are important to make sure you’re not tripped up by trick questions or questions designed to check if you’re paying attention.

Install the Prolific Assistant Extension

This extension will notify you via your browser as soon as a new survey is available. It is absolutely crucial to use this to increase how much money you can make with Prolific. It will allow you to snag more surveys and dramatically increase your Prolific profits.

Be honest with your answers

All survey sites require honesty. If you’re trying to game them, giving different answers on your age, situation, etc. it becomes apparent that you’re lying. Similarly frequently changing your profile answers in an attempt to get more surveys could be flagged as suspicious. In all likelihood, this will just lead to fewer surveys rather than more.

Set-up notification for emails

Setting up notifications for email means you won’t miss new Prolific surveys. They’re limited by participants and it’s first come, first served!

Cash out as soon as you hit £5

Once you do 4 separate cashouts you’ll qualify for instant cashouts. This means money will appear instantly into your PayPal account rather than having to wait until the weekly payout dates.

Don't accept a survey if you can't work on it NOW

Once you accept a survey you have 10 minutes to start it. If you aren’t able to begin in the next 10 minutes, don’t start it as you’ll lose your spot.

Fill in your profile questions

Fill out your profile questions to 100%. The more complete your profile questions are, the more surveys you will get and the more money you will make with Prolific.

Concentrate and give quality answers

If you give high-quality responses you can sometimes be given bonus funds by the researchers. Higher quality answers can mean higher payouts from Prolific surveys.

Sign Up To Prolific Surveys Today

Great earning potential for pre-qualified surveys. High paying, highly reputable and must use site for earning online.

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