Toluna Influencers Review: Why It’s Not Worth Your Time
Are you looking to earn some extra money from an online survey site? Well, check out this Toluna Influencers review to see why this is a money maker long past its best.
Toluna Influencers review
This used to be a decent site. The pay was never amazing, but product testing helped make it worthwhile. That’s largely gone now, and you’re left with poorly paid surveys. There are better options out there.
Pros
- Get paid for completing your profile
- Choice of gift cards or cash
- Some extra ways to earn
Cons
- Surveys and tasks pay poorly
- Cashouts can take a while
- Product testing isn’t what it used to be
Reviewed by Household Money SavingToluna Influencers
Making money from home is appealing, and survey sites can be an easy, low-pressure way to top up your income. You dip in and out when it suits you, no commitments. The problem is, not all survey sites are equal. Some are genuinely decent earners. Others, like Toluna, just aren’t worth your time anymore. If you want a better option, my guide to the best paid survey sites will save you a lot of frustration.
When I first joined Toluna Influencers, it wasn’t awful. The surveys didn’t pay brilliantly, but product testing made up for it. Free products arriving at your door softens the blow of low survey pay. That all stopped in March 2018, when Toluna quietly dropped product testing. Since then, the value has fallen off a cliff.
Also worth reading
If you like the idea of getting your hands on some free stuff, take a look at how to get into product testing.
What is Toluna Influencers?
Toluna markets itself as an online community where your opinions help shape products and services. In return, you earn points by completing surveys, polls and small tasks, which you then swap for rewards.
The platform is run by Toluna Group Limited, a UK-based market research firm founded in 2005 and headquartered in London.
Is Toluna safe?
Yes. Toluna is legitimate and safe to use. It’s been around for years, and I used it for close to a year without payment issues. There are thousands of reviews online and it’s not a scam. The real issue isn’t safety. It’s value.
How does Toluna work?
You earn points by completing surveys, then redeem those points for gift cards or cash. Signing up is straightforward and slightly different to most survey sites. Instead of endless forms, you complete your profile through a chatbot, which takes a few minutes.
Toluna will ask for your mobile number so they can text you when surveys are available. That’s optional. Once registered, you’ll be prompted to complete profile surveys. These pay 100 points each and help match you to future surveys. After that, you’ll see standard surveys showing the topic, estimated time and points on offer.
There are also “wild card” surveys where you choose a time length and get matched automatically. In my experience, these are best avoided. You’re often screened out or bounced between surveys, wasting far more time than advertised.
Other ways to earn
Seasoned survey takers will know that all good survey sites provide you with lots of different ways to earn. Toluna does, but they’re a little underwhelming.
Double points – the best way to boost your points total. Some days, Toluna will double the number of points you can earn from surveys. You’ll receive an email telling you when you’re eligible.
Participate in polls – taking place daily and only seconds to complete, they reward you with 15 points. Although not all polls give points.
Daily Toluna Wheel – spin the wheel daily and earn between 0 and 1000 points. Although I must be the unluckiest person alive as I seem to hit 0 points more often than anything else.
Quizluna – once per week, you’ll be asked 4 questions on a particular topic. For each question you get right, you’ll be awarded 80 points.
Post your own content – posting in the Toluna community may reward you with points. But this does depend on whether Toluna thinks your post is particularly useful.
Contests – Toluna runs seasonal contests where you aim to win as many points as you can. The top at the end of the season wins between 1,000 and 10,000 points.
Toluna Games – play selected games on the site to earn bonus points. Although the rewards are often quite small and many of the games don’t give points.
The Toluna Influencers app
I do prefer a survey site that allows you to earn when you’re out and about and the good news is, Toluna does offer you the option to download an app to your phone. This is available on both Google Play and the Apple Store.
The mobile app lists surveys a little differently compared to the desktop site. You’ll find flash surveys, quick surveys and premium surveys.
Any downsides?
Before we get to how much you can really earn from Toluna surveys, I thought I would cover one of the big downsides to the site.
It can take up to 8 weeks for your reward to arrive, which, quite frankly, is ridiculous. Most sites send them out instantly, so there’s no reason why this one should take so long.
How much are Toluna points worth?
How much you can really earn from Toluna is quite difficult to work out as they pay you in points. Those of you who have read some of my other survey reviews will know I’m not keen on this. I’m fine when sites like Branded Surveys tell you that 1 point is worth $0.01, but Toluna makes it tough.
There is no official exchange rates for Toluna points but you can work it out by converting your points for rewards. 5,500 Toluna points is equal to £1. Or 55 points for every penny.
How much can you earn from Toluna?
A typical 10-minute survey will pay you around 3,000 points. This can sometimes be more, sometimes less, but it’s a fairly standard amount.
A £10 voucher requires you to have 55,000 points. So to get there, you must complete 18 (and a 1/3) surveys. And at 10 minutes each, that is 3 hours worth of work.
That means that the pay rate from Toluna Influencers is around £3.33 per hour. As you can see, this is quite a poor return.
In fact, it’s pretty terrible.
How can you claim your rewards?
There is one thing that I really like about Toluna, and that’s the choices you have when claiming your rewards. You can choose from
- Amazon
- iTunes
- Argos
- Costa
- Tesco
- Currys
- John Lewis
Plus many more. And if you don’t fancy a gift card, you can opt for cash through PayPal.
Toluna refer a friend
One small saving grace is that Toluna runs a friend referral scheme. But even that is pretty insulting at 500 points (around 10 pence) per person. And you can only refer a maximum of 10 people per month.
What other people say
Toluna has a generally quite positive rating over at Trustpilot, with a rating of 3.8 out of 5. There are reports of people having their accounts cancelled without notice, but this isn’t unique to Trustpilot.
But I am shocked that such a poor-paying site has so many good reviews. I have to assume that many of the reviewers aren’t members of other survey sites.
My Toluna Influencers review conclusion
This is one of the least generous survey sites I’ve used. Monthly contests attract huge numbers of users, yet prizes barely scrape a couple of pounds. Remove product testing and there’s nothing left to justify the time investment.
Almost every other survey site I’ve reviewed pays at least double, often triple, what Toluna offers. I honestly don’t understand how it still has such a large user base.
If you value your time, skip Toluna and use better-paying alternatives.
If you’re curious despite the warnings, you can still join below. Just don’t expect much.
How does a Mastercard gift card arrive ?by mail?how safe is this?
Hi Daniela, it’s been a while since I last reviewed this site, so I’m not 100% sure. However, these cards usually come digitally via email and can be used online. I know that some companies offer physical cards that come through the post, but you typically have to pay a couple of pounds for this.
Not sure if you’re interested in updating this article but Toluna has changed a lot since 2017. For starters, it moved to a different website https://www.toluna.com/group/guest/home. Secondly you can no longer select the surveys you want to do. They basically have just 1 button for ‘short surveys’ and another button for ‘long surveys’. Short surveys will give you anything between 1750 points for 1-3 min and 2500 for up to 5 min (so far). You can’t choose which one you will get. It’s random. The longer ones are from 3000 to around 8000 (but that’s rare, usually 4000). Here you can also not choose which one and it’s given randomly.
There’s no bonus points for creating content. There’s no bonus points for uploading a pic of what you bought with your earnings. There’s no product tests nor events. Contests are minimal. Quizluna is gone, but there’s a contest at least once a week where you can win 500 points for the correct answer if you’re chosen as the winner. Something like ‘guess the city’ or ‘guess the movie’. The site has gone downhill terribly.
Thanks for the update Hilde. When I have the time, I will rejoin and rewrite my review.