There are quite a few text Q&A services available in the UK. There are many to choose from such as 63336 (which I will be talking about), Bongo, Ask Ollie and many others.
For those that don’t know how it works, in a nutshell a customer will text a number (63336) with a question and get a reply back. Who provides that reply is called a ‘researcher’, they are typically people like you and me who end up finding an opening at one of these companies and apply. The researcher will look up the question, write and shape a reply and send it back to the customer via your computer. Rinse and repeat and you will be earning a decent amount of money in no time.
I have worked for 63336 for a number of months now and before that have worked for ChaCha while they were in operation in the UK so had some prior experience of this sector. They advertise their vacancies on their website (
http://www.63336.com) where they layout what is required of you.
Applicants need to be 18+, fluent in English, have excellent writing skills and tertiary education. It helps to be a fast typist. We provide computer systems that help you research answers quickly, but you also need to be able to use your own knowledge and internet search skills to help come up with great answers for our customers.
You will be working on a self-employed basis from home – all you need is your own computer with a broadband internet connection.
You will be paid pro-rata for the research you do.
As it mentioned in order to be able to use their ‘computer system’ you will need a computer of you own. It doesn’t matter if it’s a desktop or a laptop, as long as it can go on the Internet and has an up to date version of a web browser on it you should be good to go.
Once you apply you will be asked to do an exam which will involve a bit of history about yourself and some sample questions to check you understand what it takes to provide top quality answers. For 63336 content, spelling and grammar are key in everything that you do for them so a spell checker is a must. If you are employed you will have an induction with your senior researcher who will take you around the system and you will then answer a few questions before having them checked by them and if it is all OK you are set free on the system to answer and earn as much as you like.
As you answer each question you are paid 20-24p. That might not sound like a lot but some questions you can answer in a matter of seconds and others can take a few minutes. I have tried to get to around £30 a day and get at least £500-800 a month.
It is not all smooth sailing though once you start with 63336. I found the learning curve to be quite tough at the start (this could be though because I had spent 18 months answering question in the ChaCha style) and you are regularly reviewed by your senior researcher. This is a good thing as even though it can be a nervous event the first time it happens the SR is very helpful and shows you where you are going wrong with any answers you are provided. As with any job there are minimum requirements and if you fail to meet them on a number of reviews you will be let go such is the tough world of self employed freelance work.
Working for a text Q&A service is a lot like what I imagine it was like in those old exchange switchboards where women would sit at a desk plugging in various cables to transfer people to another number all day long. The main advantage in working for one of these companies such as 63336 is the same as any self employed job, it is the flexibility of the role that brings people to it. You are free to login in anytime, day or night and work whenever or indeed wherever (assuming you are on a laptop!) you want to answer however many questions you want.
63336 recently passed a huge milestone and has now answered over 28 million questions since its inception and that is all down to the quality answers that researchers are expected to provide to the customers.
63336 (or indeed any work you may do for a Q&A service) is not something you can do half heartily. It is not a background burner by end means and once you are signed in and answering questions you need to be ‘in the zone’ or else you will make mistakes. I tend to find I take a bit of a break after an hour or else my brain starts to go to mush so its important that you keep track of time or else you may find you have missed important appointments just to try and get to your daily total.
Overall I can’t recommend working for 63336 (or any other Q&A service) enough. If you are luckily enough to find an opening and get in it can stand you in very good stead each month in terms of bringing in extra income and it will bring it in at a far quicker rate then surveys and the like.