Opinion Outpost

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Opinion Outpost Review

In this survey site review, we’ll take a close look at Opinion Outpost, which is one of the oldest survey communities in the US. The main task you can earn money from is taking surveys, although you might occasionally get invited to other types of gigs, such as product testing and online focus groups. The panel is only available through a browser (no app support) and is owned by the market research data giant Dynata, based out of Dallas. 

Opinion Outpost background

The Opinion Outpost panel was created in 2005 by the Utah-based market research provider Western Watts, using an original Western theme for its website design. 

opinionoutpost opinionology

Screenshot from Archive.org, showing the OpinionOutpost website in 2005 when the brand was created by Western Watts.

Western Watts, headquartered in Orem, Utah, was later rebranded to Opinionology and merged with Survey Sampling International (SSI) in 2011. SSI was later rebranded Dynata, which the company is known as now. Since 2005 the panel site has come a long way, featuring a modern, sleek design and several engaging features for members, such as multiple rewards levels.

Quick registration process

OpinionOutpost is available in major countries around the world, such as the US and the UK. The registration process is really quick, requiring email, name, address, postcode, age, and gender to sign up. You also need to confirm your email account before you can get started taking surveys.

New in late 2023, is that OpinionOutpost is asking for ID verification. This means you’ll have to submit a government-issued ID to sign up for the panel. The verification is done by a 3rd party partner called Veriff, which is a recognized company conducting ID verification for several different sectors, including banking and insurance. It’s important to note that none of your ID data will be seen by OpinionOutpost – it’s all handled by Veriff.

After the registration process, you are prompted to fill out your member profile, answering questions about things you own and activities you participate in. By filling out your profile, OpinionOutpost will be able to match you with paid surveys. So even if it’s a pain to answer all the questions, it’s worth it for the long term. Also, make sure you fill out all the questions honestly and consistently. If they spot strange answer combinations which do not make sense, they have the right to suspend your account.

opinion outpost review

Is my data safe with Dynata?

OpinionOutpost’s main purpose is to obtain data from you as a user, which can then be sold to buyers of market research data. Luckily, the owner of Opinion Outpost, Dynata, is a legitimate and serious company that will treat all your data properly. At the same time, it’s important to be mindful of the data you submit. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing details of your medical history, you shouldn’t do that. It’s perfectly fine to reject certain survey topics; they won’t kick you out because of that. All the data you submit on OpinionOutpost should only be used for market research purposes. For example, your email address cannot be sold to another company for you to be spammed by email offers.  

Low redemption threshold, but average incentives

Dynata’s panel communities are usually not the best-paying survey sites, and Opinion Outpost is no exception. Payment per survey will range from $0.20 to $3.00, but most survey opportunities will earn you $1 or less. This places OpinionOutpost among many other survey sites offering similar amounts. The positive aspect is that you only need to accumulate points worth $5 to redeem a gift card. While plenty of sneaky survey sites require as much as $20 to redeem your first reward, Opinion Outpost has made it relatively easy to get your first reward. Good on them for that. They’ve also made an effort to make the survey experience more engaging for the user by creating multiple rewards levels: 

  • Silver
  • Gold
  • Platinum
  • Diamond

You’ll move up the levels by consistently taking surveys over time and potentially earning higher rewards. This is similar to classic loyalty program schemes offered by airlines. While we applaud the efforts to make an elaborate member scheme like this, we favour more straightforward member programs. Becoming a Diamond member on a survey site will probably never have the same ring as becoming a Diamond member of an airline… From our perspective, this is overkill and only makes it more difficult for the user to figure out how much they’re actually going to earn. In our opinion, the survey payment should be as transparent and simple as possible for the user.

Lack of information 

We always value transparency when we review survey sites. We don’t like survey communities that make it seem very easy to earn money and then make it very hard to redeem your reward after you’ve taken some surveys. Opinion Outpost is not the worst example of this, but there is a clear lack of information.

Where can we find the information about redemption levels? How do the different levels work? Without visiting an external review site like HuginX, a user won’t be able to evaluate the earning opportunity by just looking at the website. We think this could be improved.

The main reason why many companies, such as Dynata, are not very open about showing information related to reward levels or rewards value is that these values can change quickly. The panel company decides how much their virtual points are worth, and if they need to reduce costs, they can increase the number of virtual points needed to redeem. Or increase the minimum redemption level. This is not only true for Dynata’s panels but also for many other panels in the industry. It’s unfortunate for the users, though, as it makes it very hard to estimate how much they can earn from a specific site.

OpinionOutpost – Pros and Cons

Here are some of the pros and cons of joining OpinionOutpost.

Pros:

– A never-ending amount of survey invitations. You will never run out of opportunities to participate in surveys, as OpinionOutpost sends you multiple invitations every day. You can choose which surveys interest you and fit your schedule.
– As promised, rewards transferred. OpinionOutpost delivers on its promise to transfer your rewards to your preferred method of payment, such as PayPal, Amazon gift cards, or iTunes vouchers. You can also donate your earnings to charity if you wish.
– Professional survey company. OpinionOutpost is a reputable and reliable survey company that has been in the market research industry for over a decade. It is part of Survey Sampling International (SSI), one of the largest and most trusted survey providers in the world.

Cons:

– Demographic questions are frequently asked. Before you can access a survey, you have to answer several demographic questions to see if you qualify. This can be tedious and time-consuming, especially if you get screened out of many surveys.
– The incentive level is low for short consumer surveys. OpinionOutpost pays you in points, which you can redeem for cash or gift cards. However, the amount of points you earn per survey is relatively low, especially for short consumer surveys that take only a few minutes to complete. You might have to complete many surveys to accumulate enough points for a meaningful reward.
– Lack of information about rewards levels. OpinionOutpost does not provide clear information about how many points you need to redeem for different rewards or how much each point is worth in cash or gift cards. You have to log in to your account and check the rewards page to see the available options and their corresponding points value.

6Expert Score
Opinion Outpost Review Summary
OpinonOutpost is dishing out surveys for money with few glitches. For the most part, respondents can expect surveys to match their demographics and interests. While the redemption threshold is low, the incentive level is very average when it comes to short consumer surveys. We're disappointed about the lack of transparency when it comes to rewards and redemption information before signing up.
Survey Experience
6.8
Survey Matching
6.8
Incentive Level
2.7
Redeeming Rewards
7.7
PROS
  • A never-ending amount of survey invitations
  • As promised, rewards transferred
  • Professional survey company
  • Low redemption threshold
CONS
  • Demographic questions are frequently asked
  • The incentive level is low for short consumer surveys
  • Lack of information about rewards levels

Specification: Opinion Outpost

What can I earn?
Paid Gigs

,

Incentive Level
Payout Threshold
Reward Options
Who should consider joining?
Consumers
Business Professionals
How do I get started?
Open Registration
Web Browser
Mobile App
Format
What company is behind this?
Company

Founded

1999

Country

United States

City (HQ)

Dallas

MR Associations
HuginX
Logo
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