The Lounge FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Lounge?
The Lounge is an online community where members of the public can complete online surveys and take part in in-person sessions such as online focus groups and depth interviews to monetise their time and input. We want The Lounge to be more than just surveys or cash incentives, we strive to make it more rewarding than ever. Not only will you be entered into additional free prize draws and league tables over time, but you will also be contributing to saving the planet through our tree-planting scheme.
The Lounge is powered by Vision One Research Ltd, a full-service strategic insight agency with a history spanning over 20 years. Vision One is fully GDPR compliant (your privacy matters to us) and a Certified Member of the Market Research Society. We are also ISO 20252 accredited, which is the only specialist market research accreditation, with only 100 or so agencies worldwide being accredited. The Lounge was previously known as You-Say but has now been completely overhauled.
Yes! Anyone over the age of 16 living in the UK who is keen to share their views and experiences – so there are no restrictions and we welcome people from all backgrounds of life.
There are many benefits to joining The Lounge and our community. On one hand, you’ll have the chance to influence a range of companies from start-ups to charities and international household names.
But there is more to it than helping businesses improve, you will also benefit from being part of it while earning rewards and incentives from the comfort of your own sofa! Active members have will be automatically entered into free prize draws and competitions.
Simply create an account by filling in your full name, email address, postcode, and year of birth. Once you have done this, you will receive an email asking you to activate your account. You will then be able to access your unique profile and answer different sets of questions giving as much or as little information you wish to. This will help us send you personalised online surveys and invitations to take part in in-person sessions.
If you have taken part in a survey in the period after the previous draw, you will be eligible for our regular prize draws and your name will be automatically be added. You will be notified by email or by phone and once confirmed your payment will be made into your account.
Winners will be announced on our website but full details will not be given – e.g. Only an Initial and Surname and county will be provided to ensure anonymity. As a guide the more members we have in the Lounge the more frequent and more prizes we will hand out.
If you have accumulated any points/money with The Lounge, then this has effectively been transferred over so you will not lose any points unless your account has been inactive for over 12 months and will be closed.
Absolutely not! Some panels will ask you to pay a fee for joining, but this is not the case with The Lounge.
The reward depends on the length of the survey, but you will typically receive between 50p and £4 per survey. You will also be automatically entered into our free prize draws which will take place throughout the year with the chance to win spot prizes of £25 or more. You simply need to remain an active member of our community. For other forms of research such as Focus Groups or Diary studies etc you could receive amounts of £20 up to £100 or more. To stand a better chance of being invited sign up to our community.
The amount redeemed after each survey you complete will be added to your account. As soon as you accumulate £8, you will be able to retrieve your earnings. For spot prizes and other research such as focus groups, you will receive the money electronically into your bank or Paypal account.
The incentive depends on the type of research and length of the session, but you will typically receive between £50 and £100.
We collect only the information you choose to share with us. You decide what profile information you want to complete. The three broad types of information we collect are:
- Information you directly provide us;
- Information about your use and interaction with The Lounge and;
- Information collected through the platform, application, third parties or other websites
Your profile information is stored in a cloud server system and is protected behind a powerful firewall. All sensitive data is highly encrypted and is only ever connected to your member ID to ensure high-level security for all of your information.
Your information is used to determine whether you are eligible for our research. We do not collect your information and sell it to third-party sources.
- Your information is collected to determine your eligibility to participate in the research. This information is not sold to any third-party sources.
When you participate in a survey or other forms of research, the submitted responses are provided to businesses as anonymous data. This means we never provide answers or profile information in ways that would allow you to be personally identified (unless you provide us express permission to do so). Our full Privacy Policy is on our website.
We avoid informing people of the brand we are working for until the personnel are recruited for the role. There are a few reasons for doing this. The main issue is we don’t want you to have a pre-defined opinion. The work might be for a specific company but might be looking into the sector as a whole, so we don’t want any bias coming into how people answer the screening questions. Before the research begins, you will be informed of the brand.
We ask for a range of information in our forms is to ensure you are the right for the research! We ask for basic information such as your location and contact us details as standard. The questions afterwards determine whether you fall into the correct target audience or demographics needed to qualify. Without this information, we can’t ascertain whether you meet the criteria set by the client, and unfortunately, you may not be eligible for the focus group.
Your profile information is stored in our cloud server system, protected behind a powerful firewall operated by CINT and/or ourselves. All sensitive data is highly encrypted and is only ever connected to your Member ID to ensure high-level security for all of your information. Our Privacy Policy ensures the responses you submit during an activity are in a de-identified format when passed to the business.
Referral Scheme Eligibility. You may invite a friend to register an account on The Lounge once you meet the eligibility criteria to refer. These are:
1. You are a member of The Lounge with a verified email address.
2. You have completed at least one survey via The Lounge in the past 30 days.
Your friend must also meet the eligibility criteria to be referred. These are:
1. They were not previously a member of The Lounge.
2. They sign-up with a valid email address which they verify upon registration.
3. They complete at least one survey via The Lounge upon registration.
Compliance With Referral Rules. The Referral Scheme is open for selected time frames which members are notified about via email. You must comply with any referral rules and regulations which we may introduce when the Scheme is open.
Referral Rewards. We will always offer incentives and rewards as part of the Referral Scheme. We will only honour incentives and rewards relating to referrals if:
1. You follow all the steps and rules specified in the notification email relating to the Referral Scheme.
2. Your friend registers an account on The Lounge and completes a survey via The Lounge before the incentive offer expires.
3. You notify us about your friend registering to The Lounge via email at [email protected]. You must include your friend’s name and email address.
The Lounge’s Rights. The Lounge reserves the rights to:
1. Perform checks on your account and your friend’s account to establish that the referral is genuine.
2. Decline any referrals that appear to be spam or false and refuse as a consequence to offer the rewards.
Restrictions On Referral Scheme. You must not invite people to register an account on The Lounge by:
1. Using spam or spamming techniques.
2. Misrepresenting the amount of money they may earn by being a member of The Lounge.
3. Displaying invitation links or messages on the websites that:
- Contain unlawful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent information or material; or
- Promote, provide, or offer unsuitable or inappropriate products or services, including but not limited to gambling, adult services, and erotic products.