I-say Ipsos Formerly Ipsos Synovate

Ever wondered whether there are online survey sites that work? I can imagine what you are used to is your inbox filling-up with spam mails from purported survey sites who in one way or another are trying to introduce you to yet another scam site.

That was me a few years ago, or rather when I was in campus and believed; from hearsay that you could earn a living doing online surveys.

You see those flashy websites you open and they give you “crazy” figures of how many bucks you can make in a day, forget about it! It’s never true; nobody ever lived by taking surveys online. Take it from me, I have scoured the internet and concluded it’s just another big scam of growing rich overnight.

Over those years, I subscribed to a number of online survey sites; but only one has turned out to be a genuine survey site that asks for your opinion without redirecting you to other sites to sign-up there too…. They are looking for honest market and product opinions and doing research on behalf of their clients. I enjoy every bit of it!

I-say Ipsos Online Survey Site

In 2011 I joined Ipsos Synovate; and they occasionally started sending me online survey links on my email. It would not come often and I would also not qualify for most surveys because of my location and Zip Code; because they want answers tailored to the particular area of research.

But when I did qualify, it would work out fine. You would take a survey for about 30mintues and earn about 100-150 points. You would get more points if the survey was to be taken over a number of days.

 Towards the end of 2012; Ipsos Synovate was sold to I-say, not sure whether it was sold or it was just a change of trade name. But all participants were systematically moved to “I-SAY by I-psos” Three years down the line, I have redeemed $70 in total  from both Synovate and I-Say. Here are sample pictures of the redemption vouchers

 

Now clearly, you won’t live with 70bucks for three years, would you?

There  you have it, I-Say by Ipos is one online survey site that I have tested personally and found to work. So don’t believe you will get a sizeable amount of money from online surveys especially in Kenya!

   

New Look I-say Ipsos

 This is how they invite you to a survey by sending a link to your email. You are supposed to open the link and take the survey as soon as possible to be among the first respondents, other wise the survey will be full; i.e enough quota will be met and you will lose a chance to participate

This is how your account will look like when you log-in. The list can be as long as you see right now or can be empty; depending on whether there are survey requests. These are the same surveys sent to your email rest you dont have a chance of logging in to your I-say account.

And finally, this is how you get your rewards when you have enough point to redeem. Remember there are many redemption options including amazon gift vouchers, charity donations, PayPal funds and I-Say Visa cards pre-loaded  with your money! It all depends on the amount of points you have accumulated. Currently, 100 points gives you $1 

Nakumatt Smart Points Vs Uchumi U-Club Loyalty Points Programs

There’s always that one store you always find yourself into; where your loyalty can be tracked! Maybe because it’s located near your house, your workplace and is convenient for you to grab your household items on your way.

There are customers like me who hold as many store loyalty cards as there are the number of shops offering them. Some take time to move from 20-25 points owing to the infrequent visits. Luckily, most points are do not expire so you can take your time to get to a redeemable amount of points. But can we talk about Nakumatt and Uchumi Points Programs

Nakumatt Smart Points Loyalty Club

Nakumatt have started phasing- out the old Loyalty cards with new MasterCard enabled cards. This means you can use the new card as a prepaid debit card as well as a loyalty points card. You have to enroll by paying an initial amount of 1000/= to receive the Nakumatt global MasterCard.  In addition to using the new card at Nakumatt and accumulating points, you can also use it to shop in other MasterCard Branded Stores.

• One thing I really like about Nakumatt is that their points are updated immediately upon completing a transaction. This way, you are able to track your points real time.
• However, there is one annoying thing about Nakumatt Smart Points. If you do not present your card before the tiller starts keying your shopping, count those as lost points. Therefore, the first thing you give the teller before even handing over the shopping is your Nakumatt Card.
• Another not so good feature about the Nakumatt smart card is the fact that you must carry your card on location while shopping. They will not accept you giving the card number for purposes of earning points. This limits members of the same family or click to accumulate points on a common card. If another member of your family happens to be shopping; say in Nakuru, and you are with the card in Nairobi those points will be lost.

Uchumi U-club Loyalty Points

• In my opinion, the Uchumi Club Point Card is more flexible loyalty program. Number one on my list in favor of the Uchumi Cards is the fact that you don’t have to carry card every time you shop. You just need to keep the card number in your memory, phone etc and read-it-out to the till operator. This way, you can use one card in a family to accumulate points regardless of the location anyone of you is at.
• The Uchumi Club card is the last item the tellers requests from you after keying-in your purchases, this way, you don’t have to worry about not giving it on time and losing your valuable points.
• Unfortunately, for Uchumi Club Points takes a helluva whole lot of time to update real time on the receipt. It is never up to date. You may always be missing some points since the last shopping. It is possible to get your total points from the customer care desk or logging in to Uchumi Loyalty club page but who has all that time to keep asking or logging- in.
• Unlike the new Nakumatt Global Smart Card that can be used as both a loyalty card and debit card, the Uchumi card is just a loyalty card. You cannot use it in other stores, or it doesn’t have capacity to be used as a debit card.

So, whenever you want to choose your loyalty, you can decide where you want to be!

Redeeming Your Uchumi Supermarket U-Club Loyalty Points

Have you accumulated enough points on your Uchumi U-club Card and thinking of redeeming them? The best thing about redeeming points is that it feels like free money and a reward. For reward points, I personally find it gratifying to buy some small appliances that gives a reminder about loyalty to the store. 

First of all, you need to know how many points you have on your account. Checking points on your last till receipt is not advisable as it is always not up to date (not in a bad way, but Uchumi points are not updated immediately after shopping like say Nakumatt Smart Points). To get the most current points status, you can inquire from the customer care desk at any Uchumi outlet. 

Alternatively, you can login to Uchumi U Club Membership page where you can see your real-time points. Once logged-in, you can also view your earn and redemption history including what is not shown on your last receipt.  To login to your Uchumi points from the U club page, you need to retrieve your login details from the first email sent to you upon enrollment to U-club Points. Please click here to login to the Uchumi Club Loyalty Page 

Redemption Rate for Uchumi Points

The earning rate is 1 point per Kshs 100 spent on eligible shopping. Please note some shopping may not earn you points and these include cooking gas, empty bottle exchanges just to mention a couple.  Uchumi U club Points can be redeemed all year round at a redemption rate of 1 shilling /point. E.g. 100 bob for 100points. Unless on promotional offers; this is the standard redemption rate for Uchumi U club Points.
Points maybe redeemed at higher rates e.g. during back to school, Christmas and other seasons where Uchumi Supermarkets has announced higher value for points.

Upon redeeming your Uchumi Points, you will be awarded with Uchumi Vouchers with equivalent currency value. You may use Uchumi vouchers to shop or even give them to loved ones as Gift Vouchers. You if you decide to shop with the vouchers, you may pick items of higher value than the vouchers and top-up with alternative means of payment eg cash, M-pesa, Cards etc.

Have fun, redeem your points and buy something fancy