r/usertesting • u/sauciestcoconut • Sep 13 '22
DETAILED review of my first 30 days on UserTesting
Long time follower, first time poster here. This is kind of long so skip down to "THE GOOD STUFF" if you don't want to read the whole thing.
A little bit about me - I'm fairly new to UT and I wanted to share my personal experience in the event it could help others who are just starting out. I also wanted to give this a full 30 days before sharing my thoughts. I started following this subreddit (from a different account) almost a year ago because I wanted to see the ways people were earning a little extra cash, but didn't sign up for the User Testing site until last month. I have a 9-5 that pays just fine, but my raise just wasn't what I thought it was going to be this year and I'm trying my best to keep up with inflation like everyone else. So I figured it was time to give this (along with a few other methods) a try.
SN: I decided to create a new reddit account to start posting because I didn't realize how similar my old username is to my UT name (silly I know, but it was kind of an afterthought and I use that name for everything).
Here's a summary of my first 30 days:
I registered for UT on 8/11 and was approved a couple days later (for some reason reddit won't let me write the exact date, but it ends with a 3 and starts with a 1).
They make you take the practice test through the app and don't make you test your PC before starting the web screeners. This kinda came back to bite me on my first test detailed below. Try not to make the same mistakes I did.
I passed my first screener on 8/15. Your first test gets reviewed and rated by UT in order to make sure you're doing what you're supposed to.
My very first rating came back as a 4 because they said I took too long (lol in hindsight at the tests that take 30+ minutes). Mine was like 34 minutes long only because I didn't have a clue what I was doing and my browser picked a swell time to have issues. Long story short, I just bought a new PC and needed to make some updates for Chrome to run smoother (apparently it hates Windows 11). So yeah make sure that's up and running before you start! You can also pause the test if you're having issues, but I didn't realize this at the time as I was still trying to figure out how to use the site.
It took 4 days for them to review my test and I was finally able to access more screeners on 8/19. You're not able to complete any screeners during the review period.
THE GOOD STUFF:
I earned a total of $553 and completed 53 tests in my first 30 days. As of 9/12, I have been paid out $328 with $225 pending (I completed 4 more today not included in my total).
I average about 3-4 tests a day, not including weekends (those tend to be slow for everyone from what I hear).
I have never gotten more than 6 tests (not including live discussions) in a single day.
I've completed 2 live ($30) sessions. They didn't take the full 30 minutes to complete either.
I had one test fail after not uploading properly. I messaged customer service and apparently their policy is to release half of your payment so I did receive $5 for that one. They're pretty slow to respond but good about resolving issues.
I've had quite a few work related tests (I work in an HR related field).
There's LOTS of shopping related tests, and yeah, I shop a lot.
There's also a ton of IT related tests. I usually just decline all of those straight away unless they're somehow related to what I do.
I think it's worth mentioning that I do NOT check the site or app all day. I could probably average more in that case but I really have to focus on work during the day and I've seen that people get burnt out. If you're eager and motivated then by all means, keep the site open. But I can't be distracted that long from my job and I also use other sites/apps which can become time consuming. The majority of my tests are completed first thing in the morning, during lunch or in the evenings.
I wanted to include some advice in here, but this is getting pretty long, so happy to answer whatever questions you have in the comments!
Happy Testing!!
edit: typos and added additional context