Apex Focus Group-Is It Worth Your Time? (2022)

Have you ever thought of making a little extra money online by doing surveys and participating in online focus groups as a side hustle? These surveys take very little time, and can be a great way to earn some extra cash. Various online survey sites, such as Apex Focus Group, say they can help you to earn points and rewards.

Apex Focus Group is a popular online survey site which is a paid focus group. In this Apex Focus Group review, we’ll do a step-by step analysis of this market research company.

But first, let’s talk about one of the biggest complaints people have about focus group studies: spending a lot of time on surveys and online studies without getting paid.

Warning about survey panels

However, sometimes it becomes quite difficult to know whether a survey job is fake or legitimate. Legitimate focus group opportunities can be quite lucrative and you can have a great experience. Fake ones can end up being a waste of time, if not worse.

You can end up not getting paid despite working on a survey for the whole day. These online survey groups come with lucrative payment schemes that inspire you to earn a lot of free stuff the easy way.

But the only thing that happens is that you give these survey companies a lot of your personal information, and you don’t get paid for the study. There are enough stories of people getting swayed by such scam survey companies. So make sure you don’t let this happen to you.

About Apex Focus Group 

The Apex Focus Group website indicates that it introduces people looking to earn extra money to market research companies and paid focus groups. That begs the question of what exactly a focus group is.

What are focus groups?

The first question that can pop into your mind is about what focus groups are. Focus groups are almost like online survey groups but slightly different. Instead of answering individual surveys, focus groups give you have the opportunity to express your opinions about the release of a product or trend. 

Depending on what a particular study expects to accomplish and the needs of the focus groups, a member may be asked to help with new product testing, participate in group discussion or user interviews, or give their feedback on specific consumer products that are already in the marketplace.

Apex Focus Group’s origins

Apex Focus Group was established in 1988 in Philadelphia, PA. Focus Pointe Global (now Schlesinger Group) was the main mind behind creating Apex Group as a way to introduce individuals to market research companies looking for groups of people to provide valuable insight on behalf of consumers.

This company currently has over eighteen focus group companies, where in-person focus groups are running and are coordinating with the remote focus groups globally.

Apex Focus Group lists two addresses on their website. The first office operates from the United States, in Marietta, Georgia. Apex Focus Group also has an overseas office in Singapore.

What does Apex Focus Group do?

Apex Focus Group helps you to earn extra income by offering to connect you with a wide range of market research groups. You can influence the decision-makers in the market research industry on various consumer products and services. Apex Focus Group companies conduct surveys on a wide variety of topics, from consumer goods to healthcare advancements to entertainment.

The interesting thing about such surveys is that you get paid for all the surveys you conduct and then get a chance to join a focus group. It works by collecting data and then analyzes opinions from users and finds which works the best. Apex focus group then groups interested people together via the internet with mobile phones to start a group discussion.

After visiting the website, you will come across a button labeled as “Join A Focus Group”, where you can have a look at the ongoing surveys. 

Apex focus group surveys have specific criteria, so not everyone can join each survey. Surveys may be restricted based upon the personal information you fill out in the contact form, such as age, gender, or physical address. These restrictions differ based upon the needs of the focus groups.

You have to wait for the company to contact you and verify your account. From there, the company will explain to you the procedures and the payment techniques.

Thus you can choose from a wide variety of survey opportunities. Here is a partial list of areas where your valuable insight might be requested:

• Pet products
• Women’s clothing
• Business travel
• Internet access
• Entertainment

What types of surveys does Apex Focus Group offer?

Currently, the Apex Focus Group seeks participants in National and Local Paid focus groups, clinical trials, along with telephonic interviews. They have kept open the option of online participation or in-person participation.

Currently, the group requires participants for child-related topics (where 18 years and above can participate), entertainment-related topics (about TV shows, movies, and video games), electronics, and pets.

Focus group expectations

The focus group also lays down certain expectations from the very basic participants.

First, participants need to be present at least ten minutes before the discussion starts.

Second, they must complete the written survey which has been provided for each panel. The focus group asks participants to use the new products or services if provided. The reason for this is that opinions about a product or service cannot be given without actually using the product or service in question.

Payouts

Each survey or focus study has different payments. You will find the payout section on the website itself just beside the gender column. Payment methods vary as some payments are made through prepaid Visa cards, Amazon gift cards, or disbursement to a Paypal account.  

Website opportunities? More like red flags.

At the time of this article revision, it appeared that there were a lot of expired studies (from 2019), spam links, or unsafe links.

I saw exactly one survey opportunity open. It appeared to pay between $35 to $75 per one hour session, or $350 to $750 for multi-session studies. Presumably, those multi-session studies would be at least 10 hours, if not more.

This really appears to be a red flag to me.

Who is eligible to participate?

Anybody and everybody is eligible to join a survey provided they are 18 years and above. The requirements are also quite minimal as you only need a smartphone/laptop, a steady internet connection, an ability to read, write and understand and some spare time.

That is all you need for conducting such surveys through which you can join a focus group.

Another great thing about being a part of the team is that you might not have to commute. You can do this from the comfort of your home. It was a great option during the COVID-19 lockdown as people were mostly in their own homes.

Apex Focus Group also offers various other market research studies. You can even try these options if you want to experience something different.

Apex Focus Group reviews

While surfing through the internet about Apex Group, I found mixed reviews. Some users are blindly praising the group as they have been successful in earning money. However, there is a large crowd giving loads of negative opinions about the group.

The first place to look would be with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Is the Apex Focus Group BBB Accredited?

Well, before that, you should know what the BBB is. The Better Business Bureau helps to determine that a particular business meets certain accreditation standards. This accreditation standard includes a commitment that companies have to make to gain trust and have good faith.

Therefore it is a platform that helps resolve marketplace issues between businesses and their customers. BBB has not yet credited Apex Focus Group.

Secondly, Apex Focus Group is unable to classify the whole list of companies associated with them. Now, this makes the terms and conditions a little unclear.

As the number of fake online surveys increases, Apex focus group legitimate questions can pop up in your mind. Legitimacy is an important factor that includes transparency. A company that has got all the policies, terms and conditions, payments, FAQs answered are transparent in their approach. This means that the company is legitimate.

Does BBB accreditation matter?

Most legit websites, like Swagbucks and Survey Junkie, are BBB accredited. So you could say that you’d be better off pursuing those online opportunities before you start off with Apex.

As Apex Focus Group fails to get a BBB accreditation, this poses another question of legitimacy. But technically, we can say that Apex Focus Group is legit because they do not lure you into spending a lot of money in the first place.

However, you should always be skeptical about a company until you read its policies and terms and conditions. Various independent websites put up customer reviews. Therefore you can check into those. 

As the coronavirus pandemic has not ended and the cases are rising again, people have again started choosing to work from home. So, if you are someone who is planning to join the focus group work from home, you definitely can. Apex focus group work from home reviews is pretty good as many people around the world are doing surveys just sitting at home.

Customer Sentiments

Is Apex Focus Group real?  The Apex Focus Group is a real group, or it is just another fake group? Many people are working in Apex Focus Groups and conducting surveys. The website claims that they have 824 active participants with 1000+ market pieces of research.

People conducting the researches seem to be quite satisfied as they get paid regularly and find the survey and focus group quite interesting. 

However, after analyzing Apex Focus Group reviews, certain pros and cons have been listed below.

Pros of Apex Focus Group

• Payments range from $45-$200.
• The schedule is highly flexible.
• You get plenty of other focus group opportunities listed.
• They will pay you by cash or through gift cards. 

Cons of Apex focus group

• Your payments might be late.
• Customer service isn’t good.
• People waste time on surveys without getting qualified.

Final Thoughts

Well, it would be wrong to say that the Apex Focus group is a scam. However, it is also not very well-recommended. As users have complained about payments and other contract issues, it would be better if you have a look for yourself before trying it.

Most people claim that even after doing 20-30 surveys for a long stretch, they never qualify to be fit for any focus group. This also questions the transparency of the company about its work ethics.

This also points towards a hope that this might not be a scam! It can also be that the company does not have a maintenance team to look into the website, and it’s working. Therefore, it fails to provide exposure. Well, nothing comes with perfection, and you can, therefore, expect some flaws.

Try your luck somewhere else, then come back to Apex Focus Group if you’ve exhausted every other opportunity.