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We’ve recently been mentioning popular survey sites such as Survey Junkie or Vindale Research as a great way to make some extra side cash. Yet a new contender is rapidly making its way up the rankings.
Zap Surveys is becoming one of the most popular survey apps out there, and with good reason. Most of their surveys pay quite well, and they don’t take up much of your time.
In this full Zap Surveys review, we’re going to cover how much you can make with the app, how it works, if it’s worth your time or not and if it’s a scam or legit. With that said, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
What is Zap Surveys?
Zap Surveys partners with brand research companies who need consumer opinions to help shape their products and customize their advertising.
Your time isn’t free though so Zap rewards you with cash for your opinions by depositing money into your PayPal account or sending you Amazon e-gift cards.
What sets Zap Surveys apart from many other companies in the same market is their commitment to charitable causes. Zap not only pays you, but they also donate to charities who fight child hunger worldwide.
Signing Up
Zap is strictly an app; there is only the mobile site. You can sign up through your Facebook account or with your email address. I used my email account and the only information required was an email address, first and last name, and a password for the site (not your email password).
Getting Started
Your first survey is worth a whopping $6.25! That’s pretty good incentive to get started. The survey I answered was only about ten questions long and was about texting. I finished it in less than two minutes and boom! $6.25 showed up in my account.
Ways to Earn
You can access a variety of surveys by tapping the Survey tab at the bottom of the app.
Tap Research
These are daily surveys and the highest paying on the site. For every $1 you earn, Zap will donate $0.20 to charity.
The first survey I did in this section was 15 questions in length and worth up to $7. It was a series of demographic questions, age, sex, household income, etc. I did not earn $7; I earned $0.20. But based on my demographic information, I was eligible for more surveys.
Each survey shows you many minutes it takes to complete and how much you will earn. The next one I tried was nine minutes in length and worth $2.22. Zap puts the amount you can earn in cents rather than dollars and cents which is strange to me, so I’m using dollars and cents.
For example, the $2.22 survey I was offered was listed as worth 222 cents. I suppose it’s to make the number look bigger but dire at math as I am, even I can calculate those numbers into dollars and cents.
I started this survey and was quickly told it was closed. Because it was a match based on my demographics, I’m assuming it was closed because it already had enough participants.
The next survey I tried would take four minutes to complete and earn me $0.17. This one was closed too, but I was offered a few questions to help me find another survey. I answered them and earned $0.02.
I gave up and decided to try one of the other survey options.
SaySo For Good
These are daily surveys. For every completed survey, you earn rewards, and a full meal is donated to a charity combating childhood hunger.
The first survey I tried asked me some pre-qualifying questions. I had to add some of the same demographic information that I had already answered in the Tap Research survey section. I was told there that the information would be saved so I could avoid having to repeatedly answer the same questions.
It seems that the information does not carry over to the SaySo For Good surveys. I answered just a few demographic questions and earned $0.50 so that wasn’t too bad and those answers qualified me for more surveys.
Then the app froze. I had to uninstall and reinstall it. The app opened again, but I could no longer get SaySo For Good surveys to load at all. I tried every day for three days and nada.
There is no FAQ page where I could learn if this is something known to happen and there was a fix for. There is also nowhere in the app that gives you contact information to reach Zap Surveys with a problem or question.
Peanut Labs
These are daily surveys. For every completed survey, you earn rewards, and a donation is made to a charity combating childhood hunger.
Since I could no longer access, SaySo For Good, I moved on to Peanut Labs. And again I had to enter a bunch of demographic information for which I didn’t earn any money! But it did make me eligible for more surveys.
I chose a survey that would take ten minutes and earn me $0.28. First I had to answer a qualifying question. It was about what brands of toothpaste I had heard of. Great, done. On to the survey! Only, not so fast. Another qualifying question. This one about what brands of candy I had heard of.
Now onto the survey. But the first few question were demographic questions. As I had already answered these on another section of the app, I was getting frustrated. I dutifully answered them again anyway.
Onto the survey! No. I got a message that read “There are currently too many responses in progress, please try again in a few minutes. “ I did check back about 30 minutes later and was able to participate in surveys again.
Location Rewards
These are “spontaneous” rewards. You get rewarded for being in participating stores. These rewards are available at most major retailers. You need to allow Zap Surveys to use your location to access these rewards and some people might not feel comfortable doing so.
When a partner retailer or restaurant is running a promotion, and you are near that location, Zap Surveys will send you a notification. If you open it, you’ll be rewarded with up to $0.25. There are more than 200 partners including Walmart, Home Depot, McDonald’s, and Whole Foods.
Daily Tab
This is the second tab at the bottom of the app.
Lifetime Earning
This shows the total you’ve earned since you started using Zap.
Current Balance
This shows how much money is currently in your account.
Log In Streak
For new Zap users, there is a 45-day challenge. Log into the app every day and tap the corresponding number 1-45. If you log in each day for 45 straight days, you’re rewarded with $0.75. Not a lot of money but it’s not much effort either.
Challenge Daily Pick’n Win
If you click on this section, you get a ticket for the daily drawing. The prize value is $7.50, and there are twenty winners chosen each day.
Cashing Out
You need a minimum of $25 to cash out. The rewards are paid via your PayPal account for Amazon egift card.
More Ways to Earn
If you share Zap Surveys on Facebook, you will earn $0.50 and the same when you share on Twitter. You will see a referral code in the “More” tab. When you refer someone, you earn $0.15, and they earn $0.75.
Pros and Cons
The biggest pro is earning $6.25 for your first survey which is only a handful of questions long. The app itself is very clean and easy to navigate. Some similar survey sites and apps are as long as a diner menu, and they can be harder to use.
I like that each survey shows you how long it will take and how much it’s worth. It’s also nice that Zap allows you to earn rewards and donates to childhood hunger charities. Some available surveys pay pretty well, more than $1 each but as with any survey site, the trick is that you have to qualify to participate and not everyone will.
Zap Surveys has a few cons too. I’m probably in the minority, but I prefer to do surveys on my laptop rather than with my phone. Zap is strictly a mobile app, so I didn’t have the option. Zap has no FAQ page. Again, maybe not a big deal to most people but I like to get answers to questions I might have quickly and easily.
The cash out minimum of $25 is a bit high, but I think the $6.25 you earn for your first survey negates that a bit. Of course, when you have to earn $25 just for doing lower paid surveys, it will take longer to hit the $25 mark so it will become a con after your initial $25.
In the Peanut Labs survey section, I had to answer more than one qualifying question. I don’t mean the qualifier was more than one question in length, I mean that I would answer the question and then instead of being taken to the survey page, I would be asked another qualifying question. Not a big deal but a little annoying.
Of course, the biggest con is the bugginess of the site. It was no big deal to uninstall and then reinstall the app, but I never could get the SaySo Good surveys to open up for me again.
There is also apparently no way to contact any kind of customer support either. The problem may have been a small one that was easily fixed but I had no way to find out.
Is it Worth It?
Hmmm, I haven’t quite made up my mind. I really want to like Zap Surveys, they give a big reward for your first survey, the app has a really nice interface, and they donate to charitable causes.
But the app can be frustrating; having to answer the same demographic questions over and over, having to keep answering multiple qualifying questions and obviously being locked out of one entire section of surveys.
That said, I hate to leave the $7.50 I’ve earned in only a few days just sitting there in my account so I will continue using Zap Surveys until I reach the $25 required to cash out.
After that, I’ll probably go back to Survey Junkie which is my favorite of the paid survey sites. Zap Survey is worth a try. You might have better luck than I did.
