Paid Surveys – Why They Want Participants From North America and Europe
For many people, paid surveys offer them financial relief on a day to day basis. This occurs mainly in North America and Western Europe, the two areas of the world that consume more manufactured goods than any where else. Between North America and Western Europe, the amount of money spent on products and services is unbelievable, marked in the trillions of dollars. Citizens of these areas are the most likely in the world to purchase a new technology as soon as it becomes available, just to have it.
In North America, it seems that the amount of “stuff” a person owns defines many factors about them – their wealth, their self worth and self esteem, what others think of them. Because of this, North Americans are constantly supporting the retail economy. Survey providers want to know how likely it is that the largest consumer market in the world will use and enjoy a particular product, and so they spend more time and money recruiting participants from North American and Western European countries, and other countries in the world that similarly value material things.
It is also more likely that panelists in North America and Western Europe have a reliable and accessible Internet connection at their disposal. These panelists tend to participate more frequently than those with slow or unreliable connections, since many surveys require at least a high speed connection to run properly.
Another reason for the desire to have panelists from these places is for compensation reasons. As reward points and gift cards become a more common method of compensation, it becomes harder to compensate people all over the world. It may be impractical to ship a large item to a foreign country, or that country may not have the retailer providing the gift cards available to them. Cash compensation can also cause hiccups when dealing internationally – the company providing the surveys might not be able to provide a certain currency, or exchange rate fees come into play. In some countries, PayPal requires a credit card in order to withdraw and exchange funds, which can mean additional service charges.
For survey providers, the fact that North America and Western Europe are highly populated regions spending extreme amounts of money on new products and services on a consistent basis makes the opinions of these people highly coveted, as it is considered most valuable in designing new goods, services and advertising techniques.
