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Page updated:
1 February 2000
Getting paid to read emails - does it work?
Yes, some of these programmes really do pay money. But some "don't pay yet" and some only pay in the USA. We look at how they work and the points to watch for.
Getting paid to read email - does it work?
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Yes, some of these programmes really do pay money, in exchange for receiving and responding to advertising messages that are sent to you as emails by the service. The amount per email is small, and the flow of messages is usually also small. but there are ways to multiply the amount you receive by referring other people to your favourite scheme. We look at how these schemes work and how - in many cases - what they say can be very misleading.
If you join one of our "tested and selected" programmes (and if it really works!) you will be helping to sustain and further develop European Telework Online European Telework Online has investigated nearly thirty "get paid to read email" and "get paid to read email" programmes. |
and Getting paid to read mail
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Click here for a summary of our selected programmes.
Read on below for an overview of Get paid to read email programmes and our approach to selecting the ones that work.
Many of most heavily promoted schemes are not yet operational - they invite you to "sign up now" on the basis of great things to come, but in some cases with no real indication of when they will start. Others are operational but "not paying yet". Usually this means they haven't yet convinced enough advertisers to pay them, so they cannot yet pay their participants. Some of the ones that are operational and paying only pay to USA citizens.
- How do "get paid to read email" schemes work?
- What rates do "get paid to read email" schemes pay?
- How can you multiply your earnings?
- Isn't this pyramid selling?
- Where does the money come from?
- How to avoid being fooled!
- Our selections of "get paid to read email" schemes that we believe really do work
- How to make it work for you
- What are the issues and risks?
How do "get paid to read email" schemes work?
Although "get paid to read email" schemes vary a lot there is one basic formula:- To join, you provide details of yourself, including an email address (many will not accept "hotmail" types of addresses).
- The service sends you emails that include advertisements.
- You have to respond in some way: either by replying to the mail (to show that you have read it) or in some cases by visiting the web site of the advertiser or the sending service.
- Each time you respond the service credits your account with a small amount
- When you have "earned" enough, the service sends you a cheque (USA = "check").
What rates do "get paid to read email" schemes pay?
This varies quite widely, but in the most usual quoted rate is at or above $0.05 per transaction. For higher rates the ads are more closely targeted (meaning you may receive few or even none!) and you do more to earn the money. Not a lot of money, but the argument is that you do little extra to earn this, all you do is use the Internet in your normal ways and either respond to all the mail (to maximise your payments) or to onlu those ads that interest you. All the programmes make a big thing of how you can earn much more, see below.
How can you multiply your earnings?
This is really the focus of almost all these schemes. To attract advertisers they need very large numbers of participants. To attract participants, they reward each participant who introduces another participant. They usually call this "referrals". When someone you have introduced uses the service and earn payments, they get paid at the standard rate, but you also get paid an amount related to their usage, as well as being paid for your own time online. If the person who was introduced by you in turn introduces another person, you get paid an amount for this third person's activity level. Generally, this "pyramid" of introductions continues to generate payments for you through to the fourth level.
Here is an illustration of how it works, taken from one of our "tested and selected" services, HT Mail:
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HT Mail pays US $0.08 (or UK £0.05) for each mail read and acknowledged, plus for each advertised web site that you visit an additional US $0.16 (or UK £0.10), total US $0.24, UK £0.15. For referrals (people you introduce) and who visit an advertised site, HT Mail pays you US $0.016 (UK £ 0.01) (about 7% of what they are paid). If you were to receive 10 mails a week and you had introduced 40 people who also received 10 mails a week, your monthly payment would be:
Direct: 4 x 10 x US $0.24 = $9.60
Of course, if over time you referred a larger network of people the payments would increase pro rata - 100 people in the same pattern would generate $64 a month.
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Note that in order for this to work for you three things have to happen:
- You have to find ways to introduce the programme to other people (see below, How to make it work for you)
- You have to "stay with the programme": if you stop accepting the messages, you get no further money from any of your referrals; usually you have to be an active user (ie respond the messages) in order to keep being paid for your referrals' activities
and - The programme has to stay in business: in our investigations we have looked for programmes that have been around long enough for the multipliers to start to work, since this is the real test of viability. (See below, What are the issues and risks?)
Isn't this pyramid selling?
In the broadest sense, yes, though its advocates prefer to call it "multi-level marketing"! The main difference between this and the kinds of pyramid businesses that get marketing a bad name is that we as individual participants are not asked to provide any money. In that sense there are no risks, except the risk of disappointment if you join a scheme that doesn't work out or if your efforts fail to generate any multiplier referrals.
Where does the money come from?
The money to pay participants comes from advertising. If the programme is able to generate a large enough number of participants it can tell advertisers, "We can deliver your advertisement by email direct to XXX thousands of people - and we can tell you how many people actually read your mail or visited your website". Also, by collecting information from the subscriber at the point of joining, they can tell the advertiser what kinds of people these are, where they live etc. And by analysing information about what ads we respond to, they can start to target particular ads at particular kinds of people, or people who live in particular places.
How to avoid being fooled!
The answer is that you have to look round the web site of the programme very carefully. This is how we have done most of our investigation of programmes, plus we have asked the promoters questions when the information we needed wasn't visible. Here are some of the key things we have looked for (and on which we have been reasonably satisfied for the tested and selected services):- Is the scheme operational?
- Any programme that has a website will say "Join now!" and give the impression that their programme is fully operational. In fact many that say "Join now!" have a little message tucked away somewhere that says something like: "You will start to receive messages as soon as . . . ". In other words the programme doesn't yet work. Others say something like: "Mail is currently being sent on a limited basis . . . . " - in other words you are unlikely to get messages; there may or may not be anyone who does get messages!
Note that all will urge you to "Join now and start building your network!" (of referrals). That's a matter of judgement, doing so might pay off one day. Or is this just a way to collect email addresses? (see below: What are the issues and risks? We have taken the view that something already up and running is a better bet.
- Is it paying?
- Some services will sign you up, and may even send some messages, but not make payments until some future date. Sometimes the date is announced, sometimes it is "very soon now". Again we have taken the view that a service already operational and paying is a better bet.
- Will it pay where you live?
- The great majority of these schemes are USA-based. Even non-US ones typically pay in US dollars. Many of the USA based ones pay only to USA citizens. This is not always obvious, since most of them say something like "We welcome members from anywhere in the world". But when you look at the small print (or ask a question and get it answered) you may find that "We will be rolling out the service to other countries soon - sign up now and be among the first to benefit!" Again this is a matter of judgement, but we have preferred schemes that are clear about where they are actually paying. Overall the more the programme is open about telling us its constraints, the more confidence we have that it is telling the truth to both us and its advertisers, and is likely to be around to pay out.
- Can you find out who is running the scheme?
- Anyone can put up a web site with lots of convincing messages and examples. Indeed the speed at which new schemes of this kind appear makes us suspect that in some cases they are merely copying another website and changing some of the colours, logos and text! So we have taken an interest in finding out who is running a particular scheme. A high proportion do not provide this information, which you would think would be standard for any company that wants people to complete forms and agree to download software. Some sites don't even provide an email address, the only way to contact them is to complete an online form.
Our selections of "get paid to read email" schemes that we believe really do work
Based on our own investigations and answers to these questions we have selected one programme that:- Is operational - you can download their banner today
- Is paying out
- Does make payments outside the USA
- Does disclose their ownership
Our current selection is:
- HTMail, which is UK based and pays in both sterling (UK £) and US dollars, to participants in any country. Payment is US $ 0.08 (or UK £0.05) for reading a message and double this amount when you visit an advertised site. For each message you have to visit either the HT Mail home site or the advertiser to earn money, but this takes only a few seconds. If you join HT Mail, quoting us as your referrer, you will be making a contribution to the future development of the site and its services at no cost to yourself. Our referrer code (email) is eto-info@eto.org.uk.
Other services are being tested or in some cases we are waiting for responses from the owners.
Note that we have also selected some "Get paid to surf" programmes. For details see our Tested and selected page. There is also a similar FAQ to this one, Getting paid to surf - does it work? and you can look at our general listing of "Get paid" programmes.
How to make it work for you
You may get some benefit from simply joining one (or more) of these schemes and responding to their messages. If they are doing their job right their ads may include new products and services that are well tuned to your needs. And you may enjoy checking their site now and again to see how much you have "earned" from this.However, if you join to "make some money" you definitely have to put effort into getting new people introduced and making sure that when they sign up they quote you as their "referrer". See above, How can you multiply your earnings?. Most of the schemes provide recommendations on how to spread the word and encourage people to join. One thing they all discourage is "Spam" or "Junk mail" - they know that this irritates people rather than motivating them. The best programmes will drop someone from their service if they receive valid complaints that the person concerned is sending out junk mail.
What are the issues and risks?
As discussed above (Isn't this pyramid selling?), there is no financial risk, since we are not asked to put in any money. However, some people will worry about certain aspects of these programmes, which is why we have taken an interest in the small print of their offers and in finding out who runs the scheme. Here are some points to ponder:- Might a particular scheme be a rip off? If so what can they gain and how would it affect me?
We think most of these schemes are well-intentioned; certainly the ones we have selected appear to us to be ethical in their approach. However its possible that some rip-off merchants are seeing these programmes and thinking up ways to benefit from them without putting in the considerable money and effort needed to bring in sufficient advertising income to make the programme work. In this case what they could be getting from just putting up a web site is a large number of email addresses plus other demographic information from Internet users, which they could then try to sell or to use themselves in junk mail campaigns. Most of us have now found ways to deal with junk mail, but if you are very sensitive to this be extra careful in choosing which programme(s) to join. - How much effort could I waste?
If you put a lot of effort into getting other people to sign up for one of these schemes you might be very disappointed if the scheme fails and you never get any money. This is why our selections are restricted to schemes that are already operational and paying out. We think some of the newer programmes are doing copy cat operations without having thought through and funded the effort needed to build up advertising revenues. - Could I suffer in other ways?
You might of course damage your reputation with your friends and contacts if you mention your chosen scheme to them, they sign up and the scheme fails to deliver. Another reason for caution in which scheme you select.
In summary . . . .
If you join one of our tested and selected programmes we think you will be safe - and you will be making a contribution to the further development of European Telework Online as a free service.
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