quickwise.co.uk

~ UPDATED MAY 2007 ~

** Sadly, Quickwise seem to have closed down. Their accounts appear to have been taken over by another market research company called www.opinionbar.com. If you were a member of www.quickwise.co.uk, then your account (and earnings) should have been automatically transferred to www.opinionbar.com. Please see http://www.opinionbar.co.uk/uk/helpdesk.​asp for additional help **

The review below relates to Quickwise whilst it was still operating:-

***WHO ARE THEY?***
QuickWise Ltd are a subsidiary of a Scandinavian family owned company called Ikano, registered in Luxemburg. QuickWise were set up in UK in the year 2000 and offer paid online surveys to their registered panel members. They have branches in both Nottingham and London. QuickWise specialise in quick turnaround responses and surveys so they need quick respondents. In their words: "QuickWise enables effective consumer marketing by supplying rapid and high quality market research information and analysis, through the aid of new technologies."

***WHERE CAN I JOIN UP?***
If you want to register then go to www.quickwise.co.uk. However, please note that you will need a mobile telephone number if you want to join. This won't be a problem for the majority of people nowadays. However, if you're like me and one of the few people left in UK without one, you might want to ask a friend. I have registered my partner's mobile telephone number and he is sporadically irritated by text messages from QuickWise, which he forgets to tell me about… Luckily, the email notification is sent almost simultaneously so you get the message somehow. More on that later…..

***WEBSITE***
The website is very professionally laid out in mainly burgundy, white and grey. It's easy to navigate and the pages load quickly and easily. The home page is broken down into:-

~ Home - follow this link to register with them and join the QuickWise panel
~ Operations - aims of QuickWise
~ News - subscribe to their quarterly newsletter
~ Facts about QuickWise - brief history and background to company
~ Contact us - contact emails and addresses
~ FAQ - informative and well laid out

Underneath this is the section you can log into once you become a panel member.

***REGISTRATION***
So you've read through the FAQ (OK - skimmed it then), and you've decided to sign up with them. You have to be 16 or over and resident in UK. It's the usual form to fill in giving name, address and email address. You also have to give them a mobile telephone number. They also want to know about your income, household (children, pets and partners), age, income, occupation, qualifications and so on. Finally they want to know about your internet connection and what sort of packages you have on your computer (speakers, Windows Media Player and so on).

After you've completed all this, you will then be asked to complete a rather lengthy survey on your likes and dislikes, product preferences, hobbies and suchlike. It does tend to go on a bit so make sure you have allowed yourself plenty of time to register. Pay some attention to the answers you give at this stage, as this will effect your suitability for future survey work. It is a worthwhile exercise though, as they give you a rather generous 300 points (or £3) upon completion.

Once registered you can log on using your mobile telephone number and your chosen personal password. Once logged in you will be welcomed by name and you now have a rather bewildering choice of options:-

~ Answer survey - respond to your email or text message invitation
~ Messages - tell QuickWise what you think of them
~ My Points - check the balance on your account
~ Payments - preferred method of payment (cheque, BACS or donate to charity)
~ My details - can be updated and amended as necessary
~ FAQ - detailed and informative
~ Leave Panel - if you decide to terminate you account
~ Log Out

*** HOW DOES IT WORK***
For each survey, QuickWise make a random selection from their panel members. Initial contact is made by a text message to your mobile telephone. The text will inform you that there is a survey they would like you to complete once you have logged into the site. However, don't worry if you have your mobile switched off during the day (or someone forgets to tell you….), as they also send you an email telling you about the survey as well.

Emails always come from Fredrick Meurling the Managing Director of QuickWise. The email will ask you to log into the QuickWise website to take their survey. It also tells you how much you will earn for taking part in the survey they are currently offering and the closing date and time. It also gives you your username (your mobile phone number) and your password. What the email or text won't tell you is the topic of the survey or how long it will take. Most surveys stay open for at least 24 hours so there is plenty of time to respond.

***WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?***
Payment is made in points and most surveys reward you with 100 points, which is the equivalent of £1.00. You can claim a choice of rewards as shown below when you reach a minimum of 900 points (although some need a miniumum of 1,800 points before you can claim them).

~BACS payments ~
Once you reach 900 points (or £9.00) you can request a BACS payment into any UK bank account (no admin fee for this). This process is done once a month.

~Cheques~
If you don't like gving out your bank details, you can wait and request a payment by cheque at 1800 points (or £18.00). However, be aware that they will charge you a rather hefty admin fee of £2.00 for this privilege.

~IKEA gift vouchers~
One other option is to choose to be paid in IKEA gift vouchers - Quickwise will give you £20 worth of IKEA vouchers for the equivalent of 1800 points.

~Charity~
If you are feeling benevolent, you also have the option of donating your points to a choice of different charities (British Red Cross, Oxfam, Unicef and so on).

*** THE SURVEYS ***
QuickWise don't seem to do those nasty pre-screener questions - I have been paid the full amount offered every time I have responded to their messages. To date all the surveys have been very quick and easy to do - every single survey has taken less than ten minutes to complete. A couple of them have only taken two minutes to complete yet I still got £1 for my time. The points are credited to your account as soon as the survey is completed.

The surveys themselves are quick and easy to follow with the images loading quickly. Some of them have played a short advert and asked for your comments on it. QuickWise will ask you what format you want to view the advert in (Windows Media Player or Quick Time) at the start of the survey.

**MY EXPERIENCES**
In the eighteen months since I joined, I have received 19 surveys paying a total of £23.00. The surveys tend to be on new products about the hit the market place so I have undertaken a lot of questionnaires on new beauty products, financial products and new food/drink packaging and ideas. I have received two BACS payments from them, both of which have been paid into my bank account within 2 to 3 weeks of my request without a problem.

***RULES & REGULATIONS***
QuickWise promise that they won't give out your details to any third parties. In eighteen months I have received no spam, no unwanted phone calls or texts, nor any third party emails - just survey invites.

***REFERRALS***
There is a referral programme but you do not earn anything from it. It is purely a "Tell A Friend" section where you give QuickWise a name and email address so that they can contact your friend.

***RECOMMENDATION***
I would recommend joining QuickWise. Yes, the surveys are rather thin on the ground and you won't make a fortune fast. However, when you do get some work, it is easy, quick and well paid. A huge plus point in their favour is the very generous 300 points just for joining as this puts you 33% of the way to your first payout. The surveys are usually on new products about to hit the market so they can be rather interesting. You've got nothing to lose by registering with them as you will only ever hear from them when they have some work for you.

Highly recommended. Thanks for reading.

***CONTACT DETAILS***
QuickWise
18 Soho Square
London
W1D 3QL

Telephone: 0870-990 8858
Email: fredrick.meurling@quickwise.com
Website: http://www.quickwise.co.uk