Lightspeed Panel is an online market research company that when you have registered with them, invite you to participate in surveys for which you earn 'Lightspeed Points'. These points can then be converted into vouchers or money.

The website address to find out more about Lightspeed is WWW.LIGHTSPEEDPANEL.COM which gives you all the info you will require about the site and their objectives. The only problem I found with the site is that there is no direct link to actually join Lightspeed through their website.

For those interested in joining the way I did it was to send them an email. On their website it gives the email address for their customer service lady Lauren. I sent her an email asking how to register and she then emailed me back with the link. I believe the link can also be found through other websites like Money Saving Expert.Com.

I am a member of a few survey sites to earn some extra cash but so far I have found this one to be the most effective and quickest at earning money. You are invited to participate in surveys via your Email address so this needs to be checked on a daily basis to ensure you don’t miss out on any surveys as places can be filled up on surveys rather quickly.

I have been a member of Lightspeed now for around 4 months and have made just over 3000 points (£30.00) so not bad in comparison to others. Generally each survey will take you between 20-45 minutes to complete. You are notified at the start of each survey how long it is due to take. You are advised to have a computer with sound on as you are often asked to listen to adverts and give your opinions on. Each survey will generally earn you between 50 and 120 Lightspeed points. Sometimes it can be more if it is a lengthy survey. On a couple of occasions I have been asked to test products too at home. These surveys are generally done in two parts, meaning you get two lots of points for them. I have been asked to test Max Factor foundation and some new chocolate bars by Kinder. Each are delivered to your doorstep within a couple of days of applying and you then have around a week to sample them, before you are invited to complete the surveys on them.

Each point earned is worth a penny, so for example if you have 1000 Lightspeed points, then you have £10.00 to spend in their shop. You don’t completely get your moneys worth from the shop though as for example if you want £20.00 in vouchers or cash, you actually have to have 2300 points redeemable. I presume this is to cover costs such as processing and postage too. Their shop explains in great details though how many points you need for your purchases so it’s worth paying a visit.

Most of the surveys I have completed so far tend to be about branded products already on the market. For example products such as bread, biscuits and alcoholic drinks appear regularly. I have been shown adverts and asked my opinion on them as well as voicing which products I use on a daily/weekly or monthly basis and my opinions on them.

When you have accumulated a decent amount of points you can visit the Lightspeed shop (on their website) to redeem them. Their shop is great and gives you the chance to redeem your points into cash (which is paid via Paypal directly into your bank account) or convert them into vouchers. Vouchers are available for pretty much every high street store imaginable. Many are posted as paper vouchers. I recently redeemed my points for voucher and was told this could take up to six weeks. To my surprise it was on my doorstep within the space of 10 days, which I thought was great service.

I have only once not been credited the points on my account for a completed survey and sent Lauren an email. Within a week I had the points credited to my account so their customer service is pretty good too.

The only problem I have found so far is that you can be invited to participate in a survey and spend around 5-10 minutes answering questions only to be told you are not a suitable candidate to complete the rest of the survey which can be rather annoying!

There are also mini-surveys and questionnaires to be completed on their website. These take just a few seconds each and are worth completing as it can lead to participation to the larger surveys. You do not earn Lightspeed points for these smaller surveys, however you are awarded a small amount of entries per survey into their quarterly Lightspeed raffle to win £2000.

In summary I believe this is the most productive Market Research site I have found. Although you do need rather a lot of time on your hands to complete a survey you tend to only be invited to 2 or 3 a week maximum. The surveys are quite interesting, though can be a bit repetitive. Generally if a survey is supposed to take around 30 minutes, I can get it done in 20 minutes.

This site is never going to make you a huge amount of cash in a short space of time. I have worked out that if surveys carry on at the same rate that they are at present then I should make around £120.00 a year, which isn’t bad and is an extra bit of pocket money for me. For this reason I recommend the site highly. It is simple to use, has a wide range of stores in which you can redeem your points for, and is reliable.