I Tried 5 Ways To Get Paid To Read Emails – Here’s What I Found
Chances are, you read at least a few emails per day and check your inbox pretty regularly.
For most of us, emails are a part of daily communication. So when I saw advertisements and content creators alike talking about ways to get paid to read emails, I was pretty interested.
As it turns out, there are actually numerous companies out there that will pay you for checking your emails and reading different content. So, I decided to test out a few of these platforms – and research some better alternatives – and here's what I found.
Why Do Companies Pay You To Read Emails?
Companies generally pay you to read emails as a form of advertising. In other words, they want a certain number of individuals to see their ads and to hopefully also visit their websites and make purchases.
Much like how advertisers purchase ad space on videos or in apps, advertisements and product info are placed in the emails in the hopes to make a sale.
So, certain companies out there let you earn money online by reading emails. And while this isn't a very lucrative online side hustle, it's a way to earn from an activity you're already doing every day – or so people say.
The Best Sites That Pay You To Read Emails
I've been testing out get-paid-to websites for over 5 years at this point. In this time, I've found several that let you make money reading emails, and I'm going to cover how they work below.
1. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a personal favorite of mine and one of the first websites I found to make money online when I was still in college.
With Swagbucks, there's a “click and earn” section where you can earn small amounts of money for receiving promotional emails. The company also pays you to answer daily polls and for shopping online.
You can redeem your earnings for free gift cards and PayPal cash. Over the last few years, I've cashed out over $100 from Swagbucks, mostly by answering cash surveys and watching videos on the platform.
What I like about Swagbucks is how many earning options it has. And you only need $1 to redeem certain gift cards and $5 to get paid with PayPal.
2. InboxDollars
Another pay-to-read-email website I've tested out in the past is InboxDollars, a popular U.S. rewards website.
Like Swagbucks (which is owned by the same company), InboxDollars pays you to read emails that contain promotions from its many brand partners. You generally earn a few pennies for receiving and opening emails, and you might get a couple emails a week.
What's nice about InboxDollars is that new members earn a $5 sign up bonus. Plus, you can also make money by answering online surveys, watching videos, shopping online, and playing games.
Again, the email offers don't really pay that much. Surveys are the main money-maker, and you can cash out with PayPal money or a variety of gift cards after earning $10.
At this time InboxDollars is available only for residents of the United States. Their sister website InboxPounds is available in the United Kingdom. Canadian residents can sign up for their region's version, InboxRewards.
3. MyPoints
MyPoints is yet another sister-website to Swagbucks and InboxDollars that has its own email reward program, BonusMails.
With BonusMails, you can earn small amounts of money for reading promotional emails. And MyPoints also has a lucrative cash-back rewards portal that's similar to Rakuten where you can get paid to shop.
I've tested out MyPoints in the past, and the paid email section never really worked for me. However, it has some pretty competitive cash-back rates and works with hundreds of stores.
You can also make money with MyPoints by completing surveys, watching videos, using coupons, and playing cash games.
Users can withdraw the points they earn on this app for an extremely large variety of free gift cards, PayPal payments, or even for travel points to use towards an upcoming trip.
4. Fusion Cash
Ah Fusion Cash; yet another gpt site that's incredibly similar to sites like InboxDollars and MyPoints.
Similar to MyPoints and InboxDollars, Fusion Cash is a way to make money doing various tasks, including getting paid to read emails. You generally earn a couple of pennies for reading a promotional email, and you can cash out for a wide range of gift cards.
You can also get paid for testing apps, taking surveys and referring your friends. Overall, it's a pretty standard gpt website with numerous ways to earn and decent rewards.
5. Paid-To-Read-Email.com
Like the name suggests, Paid to Read Email lets you make money by receiving and reading promotional emails from different brands.
The site pays you points for every email you read, and 100 points equals $1. You need $15 to cash out, and in my experience, emails pay you a couple of points each time, so it's a very slow earner.
In fact, I haven't cashed out with this site yet. And even though it has a sign up bonus of $3, it seems like it will take most people forever to ever cash out.
On the bright side, you earn PayPal money with Paid to Read Email. But again, this is a very slow earner, so set some realistic expectations.
What Are Some Better Alternatives?
After testing out some popular methods to get paid for reading emails, I've concluded that this side hustle pays a few bucks per month at most.
So, what are some more lucrative options you can consider?
Well, in my opinion, you're much better off working as a virtual assistant (VA) for someone instead. This is a very popular, legit online job, and it can generally pay $10 to $15 per hour. Plus, reading and replying to emails is a massive part of being a VA.
If you want to get started, you can look for virtual assistant jobs on various remote job sites like FlexJobs. I've found writing gigs on FlexJobs before, and it has thousands of remote, flexible positions at a given time.
Alternatively, use different microtask websites that specialize in VA work. Fancy Hands is one example, and it pays U.S. VAs to complete short tasks for its clients.
How Much Money Can You Make?
While you can make money reading emails, you aren’t going to be able to retire early with this side hustle idea. In reality, most of these websites pay pennies or fractions of pennies per email that you read.
This means you need to read a very, very large number of emails in order to earn a single minimum PayPal payment or a free gift card.
This can kind of be a form of passive income if you check your inbox during the day anyway during work. But again, don't expect to make much money.
For most people, I think earning $1 to $2 per month is the most you can expect from reading emails. The only way to earn more is to work as a virtual assistant or get some type of digital marketing job that involves email marketing.
Is Reading Emails For Money Worth It?
While you can indeed get paid to read emails for money, you won’t be able to quit your day job to pursue this unique side hustle. This online task just doesn’t pay well enough to provide any more than just occasional spending cash.
The earnings at most can help you earn some free Starbucks or some beermoney. Or, maybe some free gift cards to help out with your holiday shopping.
While each site I tested does pay, you definitely don't earn much. If you want to earn more, your best bet is to sign up for multiple sites to receive as many paid email opportunities as possible. And completing the other offers these sites offer, like playing PayPal money games or completing surveys, can help you earn even more.
Just have realistic expectations before diving into this hustle. And once again, consider roles like being a virtual assistant or some kind of digital marketing side hustle if you want to make a more serious income.
Thanks for reading, and good luck with those emails!
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