Frequently asked questions
We’re a modern, online research agency, based in the City of London. We specialise in handcrafted research; concentrating on good questionnaire design and smart analysis.
The Opinium Panel is a community of UK adults who have registered to take part in market research and opinion polls. The Panel members have the opportunity to share their opinions and experiences about everything from politics to pet food, holiday destinations to pensions, new technology to social trends.
To register as an Opinium Panellist, click on the ‘Register Now’ button on the Take Surveys section of our website. You need to complete a short survey (so we know a little about you) and agree to the Terms & Conditions and that’s it – you’ll soon be getting paid to take part in surveys helping to shape national debates.
Anyone aged 18 or over and resident of the UK can become a member of the Opinium Panel.
- You get cash rewards for each survey that you complete. The average payment is 50p and we pay you when your account reaches twenty five pounds.
- We’ll help you be heard – the results of our surveys are published in a range of national media outlets every day.
- You will receive exclusive research findings for your participation in some projects.
- You will be privy to information about emerging trends and services before they are released.
- You’ll have the opportunity to join our expert panel of WebShop analysts.
- You may be invited to attend focus groups or other special events.
- You can propose topics for future surveys that are of interest to you!
- It’s interesting and can even be fun to answer the surveys – recent research even suggests taking part in our survey is good for your mental health.
If selected to participate in a survey you will be sent a survey invitation from support@opinium.com to the email address you register with. This survey invitation will contain a unique URL which you will need to click on to access the survey.
Included within the invitation will be details of the reward you will receive for participating, a rough estimate of how long the survey will take to complete (usually 5 – 10 minutes) and when the survey will remain open until. Surveys usually remain open for 48 to 72 hours although where possible we do try to leave surveys open for longer.
The reward offered for each survey is always included in the survey invitation, usually 50p per survey, although for longer surveys we will always aim to increase the incentive for taking part. This money will appear in your Opinium account within 24 hours of survey completion.
Upon reaching £25 you’ll be sent a short payment survey asking how you want to collect the money you’ve earned. We aim to be as flexible as possible offering payment by bank transfer, Amazon voucher and/or an optional charitable donation and if none of these options suit your personal situation we will always do our best to find an alternate payment method for you.
Once you have claimed your payment, we will always aim to process your payment as quickly as possible with our typical payment time ranging from 15-20 days depending on your choice of payment method.
On average our panel members are invited to 4 or more surveys each month.
In order to accurately represent the views of the UK population we invite a random sub section of the panel to participate in each survey which means panel members won’t be invited to all the surveys we do.
Unique to Opinium however, we factor in the last date you were invited into our sampling process, meaning if you’re not invited to one study, your chances of being invited to the next increases proportionally – designed to ensure all panel members have equal opportunities to participate in our surveys.
Some of our surveys are for clients who want to keep their results confidential. However, many are published in the media. Once results are in the public domain, we make the full study results available to all members of the Opinium Panel on our website. We also send out a regular newsletter to all everyone on the Opinium Panel including details of exclusive panel research, case studies of some of the work we have done with our partners and the opportunity for panel members to suggest new topics.
A brief member profile is the only information required for joining the Panel. Your member profile will include basic contact information and vital data – gender, income, region and so on.
Your Opinium Panel profile information is NEVER sold or distributed to any company.
The Opinium Research panel is registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Opinium Research LLP is bound by the Data Protection Act 1998. All information is strictly confidential and privacy is guaranteed. Your name will never be sold, exchanged, or distributed to any other party without your express acknowledgement.
See our Privacy Policy for complete details.
Our survey software is compatible with all major operating systems and are backwardly compatible with the majority of browsers (although we do recommend keeping your browser up to date to ensure the smooth running of all surveys).
We also recommend downloading flash player in order to enjoy the benefits of our more interactive surveys, designed to improve your enjoyment when taking part in our surveys.
Visit our corporate pages at www.opinium.co.uk – we’ll be glad to help.
Although surveys are not compulsory, we encourage you to take part in all the studies we invite you to. In order to be considered an active member of the Opinium Panel we ask that you participate in at least three Panel studies per year.
When we survey the Panel, we usually select a sample of people to represent the UK population – so our surveys include responses from young and old, rich and poor and people from all regions of the UK. This means that individual Panel members won’t be invited to all the surveys we do, but should see a good selection.
You will be e-mailed a unique URL address for each survey [so PLEASE ensure that we have an up-to-date email address for you]. Simply click on that URL or cut and paste it into a web browser of your choice and complete the survey online. We try to keep all our surveys short and to the point.
To register as an Opinium Panellist, click on the “Sign-up” button on the home page of this site. You need to complete a short survey (so we know a little about you) and agree to the Terms & Conditions and that’s it.
You get cash rewards for each survey that you complete. The average payment is 50p and we pay you when your account reaches twenty five pounds.
We also offer prize draws for some survey activities.
You will receive exclusive research findings for your participation in some projects.
You will be privy to information about emerging trends and services before they are released.
You may be invited to attend focus groups or other special events.
You can propose topics for future surveys that are of interest to you!
It’s interesting and can even be fun to answer the surveys.
You can update most of your Registration data online, by visiting your Panel member’s account area. If you have any problems, our support staff can update things for you – just email support@opiniumresearch.com.
If you have passed the payment threshold and haven’t received the payment survey within a week or originally chose to defer your payment our support team are more than happy to process your payment manually.
In order to process payments manually we require some of the following details dependent upon which option you choose:
* Your bank details for a bank transfer
* The email address you would like your Amazon Vouchers to be sent to
When requesting your payment, you will also have the option to confirm if you would like to £2.50 or more of your money to our charity of choice, the Mental Health Foundation.
To contact the support team at support@opinium.com
Payments are usually processed within 15-20 days of receiving your response to the payment survey. The exact time depends upon which payment option you select. During busy periods payments may take up to 28 days to be processed however we will always endeavour to ensure all payments are made to panellists as soon as possible.
If you are ever concerned about the status of your payment, please feel free to contact the support team at support@opinium.com
You will typically have anywhere from 72 hours to one week to complete each survey. Sorry – but we can’t reward you for replies after the ‘close’ date.
You may remain on the Panel as long as you choose to participate in at least three surveys per year. Members can leave the Panel at any time by sending an e-mail request to support@opiniumresearch.com.
The Opinium payment threshold is £25. Once you have reached this payment threshold you will be sent a short survey asking you how you would like to be paid and collecting the necessary details from you for this to happen. The payment survey is sent out every week (usually towards the start of the week) to all panellists who have passed the payment ‘milestone’. If you have not received this survey within a week of passing the payment threshold please contact the support team at support@opinium.com
Our support team are always more than happy to manually process any deferred payments should you change your mind.
In order to process payments manually we require some of the following details dependent upon which option you choose:
* Your bank details for a bank transfer
* The email address you would like your Amazon Vouchers to be sent to
When requesting your payment, you will also have the option to confirm if you would like to £2.50 or more of your money to our charity of choice, the Mental Health Foundation.
To contact the support team at support@opiniumresearch.com.
Some of our surveys are for clients who want to keep their results confidential. However, many are published in the media. Once results are in the public domain, we make the full study results available to all members of the Opinium Panel.