iap-interactive.com

'''~~ UPDATED OCTOBER 2008 ~~'''

Ipsos Access Panel Interactive (or www.iap-interactive) is yet another site offering paid online survey work. They really are well worth joining as they offer rather a lot of reasonably well paid survey work……..but therein lies the snag. For anyone wishing to join the Ipsos Access Panel, finding the joining link will be the hardest part of the whole sheebang. For those of you who enjoy a paid online ...
...in that there is no recruitment link via their website. Recruitment takes place via invite only, so you need to track down one of their banner adverts….and that, I'm afraid, is the hardest part. However, do please read on, as I will attempt to point you in the right direction.

'''~~~ WHO ARE THEY ~~~'''
Ipsos Group is a European market research company who claim to be one of the top ten market research companies in the world. ... more

~~ UPDATED OCTOBER 2008 ~~

Ipsos Access Panel Interactive (or www.iap-interactive) is yet another site offering paid online survey work. They really are well worth joining as they offer rather a lot of reasonably well paid survey work……..but therein lies the snag. For anyone wishing to join the Ipsos Access Panel, finding the joining link will be the hardest part of the whole sheebang. For those of you who enjoy a paid online survey or six, Ipsos operate very much like Pinecone Research, in that there is no recruitment link via their website. Recruitment takes place via invite only, so you need to track down one of their banner adverts….and that, I'm afraid, is the hardest part. However, do please read on, as I will attempt to point you in the right direction.

~~~ WHO ARE THEY ~~~
Ipsos Group is a European market research company who claim to be one of the top ten market research companies in the world. They operate in 35 countries worldwide and have four offices employing 100 people located in UK, France, Germany and Italy. Ipsos conduct online survey work and feed the information back to the manufacturers/product developers that employ them. The Ipsos Access Panel is made up of 225,000 consumers who give their opinions via an online survey format. In the UK alone, there are 55,000 panelists. Membership is limited to one application per household, and members need to be 16 years of age or older.

~~~ WEBSITE ~~~
This can be found at www.iap-interactive.com and being truly European, it's available in English, French or German. It's not a particularly well laid out website - in fact, it can be downright confusing. It's mainly white and blue and can be decidedly slow and non-responsive on occasion. It's a bit "busy" - there's a lot of information and it's not that simple to navigate. However, with a bit of searching it does tell you everything you need to know…apart from how to join the Ipsos Access Panel.

~ Home = Welcome
~ About Us = Aims/European map of where panel members are located
~ Data Protection = Assurance of privacy being protected i.e. no spam
~ Winners = Past prize draw winners
~ FAQ = Comprehensive (but still no clues as how to sign up)
~ Contact Us = Email and postal addresses
~ Member Centre = Log into your account once you're a member of the panel

In my opinion, there is a lot of useful information there if you are already a member of the panel, but absolutely zippo if you want to find out how to join the panel. A simple line or two explaining that recruitment is not available at the website, and some hints on how it all works would not go amiss.

~~~ SO HOW DO I JOIN? ~~~
This is the tricky bit, and it's going to sound wishy washy however I put it, as I cannot offer you any certainties on being able to sign up with Ipsos Access Panel. I'm afraid that this bit will really sort out the skimmers amongst you, and I hope I don't get a load of comments saying "looks good, I'm off to sign up at their website". Wrong! You cannot sign up at their website. Like Pinecone Research, Ipsos recruit solely on the internet though banner adverts on high traffic sites. Sometimes they will enter into a partnership with high traffic sites (like Greasy Palm or My Offers) or special interest ones (i.e. mother and baby sites). Similarly they will use other online survey companies to offer membership of the Ispos Access Panel to specific targeted members.

When I first started doing online survey work, Ipsos was on my list of sites to join. Try as I might, I could find no way of signing up for their panel. In the end, I sent them an email asking if I could join. I'm afraid I received a swift response saying "thanks, but not thanks. Panel membership is by invite only". Tail between my legs, I slunk away to lick my wounds and cry over the rejection. About seven months ago, out of the blue I received an email from another survey site (www.goZing.com - a now defunct US site swallowed up by Ciao Surveys), which contained an Ipsos Access Panel invite. I was finally in..

If you do strike gold and end up with the Ipsos Access Panel link, it's a really simple online form to complete. They ask for your name, age, gender, region and e-mail address. Within a week to ten days you will receive a second more detailed questionnaire which takes longer to complete (about 15 minutes) on your interests and hobbies. Ipsos Access Panel are keen for you to register the whole family, which should result in surveys for everyone you sign up.

~~~ YOUR ACCOUNT ~~~
OK…let's assume you've found the magic link and you're itching to sign up and want to know what you're letting yourself in for. Upon completion of your first survey you will be emailed an eight digit number and a four letter password. This will allow you to access the gift/reward area of your account so you can see what sort of rewards you can earn.

~ Change your password
~ Newsletter = issued monthly. It is emailed to you but you can also view it online
~ Gift Area = The most important part of your account. In the bottom right hand corner is an easily missed tiny display of the number of points in your account. It also shows you what rewards are on offer. You can also view any pending orders or view you order history. Unfortunately, there is no record of the dates and types of surveys you have taken. You just get a total number of points.

~~~ WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME? ~~~
Rewards for taking their surveys are paid out points and once you reach a specific number of points you can cash them in for gift vouchers. Currently they offer gift vouchers from Boots, Argos, WH Smith plus others.

350 points = £2 Argos, Boots or WH Smith voucher
750 points = £5 Boots, Argos, John Lewis, WH Smith or leisure voucher
1380 points = £10 Boots, Argos, John Lewis, WH Smith or leisure voucher

There is no expiration date on your points, so you can let them build up to a respectable level, and then cash them in for a decent wad of gift vouchers of your choice. When you do decide to cash in your points, you fill in a very simple online form telling them the type and amount of vouchers required. You confirm you mailing address, and then sit back and wait. Your vouchers should arrive in the post approximately 4 weeks later, give or take a day or two.

~~~ SURVEY FORMAT ~~~
The surveys are extremely professional and well laid out. They are easy to complete and I have not yet experienced any technical problems. All the links have worked and done what they were supposed to do.

Ipsos send survey invites by email only. The email will ask for a named member of the family to complete the survey for them and it always gives the closing date at the bottom. Timescales are pretty generous so you don't have to rush to get there in case it fills up and freezes you out. You click on the email link (they cannot be accessed via your account on their website). The email won't tell you anything about the topic and neither does it tell you how many points you can earn. Once you click on the email link they will ask you some pre-screener questions to establish whether you are part of the target group they are seeking. If you pass the pre-screener, Ipsos will then tell you how many points you'll earn, how long it will take and give you some idea what the survey is about. Ipsos are fairly good at sending email invites to the right sort of target group, so chances are you will qualify for the full survey 8 times out of 10.

Ipsos offer lots of work on new product ideas. You've be shown an image on a new concept and asked for your opinion on the packaging, price or how likely it is you'd be tempted to buy it. I've been asked to evaluate new product ideas on a variety of products from vitamin tablets to soap and painkillers. They also offer lots of surveys on your habits and behaviour. They're keen to know what sort of products you like and use regularly. I've been asked my opinion on such things as shampoos, films, banks, airlines, foreign travel, ISP's, washing detergents and tyres.

~~~ MY EXPERIENCE ~~~
I joined up just over four years ago, and have earned around £175.00 in gift vouchers, which I am quite content with. I have undertaken surveys on wide variety of topics from fast food and media websites to PC retailers, tampons and conditioners. The amount of points awarded on the surveys have ranged from 10 to 450 and have been purely dependent on the length and complexity of the individual survey. For example, a survey on a leading high street bank awarded me 450 points, as it took a long time (30 minutes), and there were lots of images to view. A shorter and quicker opinion poll awarded me 30 points as it took less than 5 minutes and only involved ticking boxes. As an average, most of their surveys award in the region of 150 points for 10 to 15 minutes work. It has to be said that some of their surveys only offer a prize draw entry, but these are few are far between. Interestingly, their prize draw surveys are actually worthwhile responding to, as I have won 1,600 points though one of them in the past, always a nice surprise.

~~~ WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD? ~~~
The worst aspect of Ipsos is that it can take ages for the points to be credited to your account, as Ipsos only update your total on a fortnightly basis. Similarly, there is no record of surveys taken and points awarded, just a total. Therefore, it's really down to you to keep accurate records and ensure you have received the right number of points in your account. If you have any doubts or feel you are missing points from you account there are plenty of ways to contact Ipsos and ask them to put it right. I must say that this is not route I have needed to take yet, as I have been awarded every single point for all the surveys I've taken so far.

~~~ CONCLUSION ~~~
Finding the recruitment banner will the hardest task you ever undertake with Ipsos Access Panel. If you do manage to find it, then please don't hesitate over joining. You'll be pleased you did, as they do offer regular and fairly well rewarded survey work. I have posted some Ipsos Access Panel green and purple logos at the end of my review so that you know what to look out for. So do keep 'em peeled for that elusive link....

~~~ FURTHER INFORMATION ~~~
Ipsos Access Panels
Kings House
Kymberly Road
Harrow
HA1 1PT

E-mail: epanel-uk@ipsos.com
Website: www.iap-interactive.com 

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