Product Report Card vs Nielsen Pulse

Unlike some survey panels, Product Report Card makes support easily accessible. Should you encounter any problems, it's very easy to open a support ticket from your account dashboard. Expect a quick and courteous response to you inquiry.

They even respond to inquiries on Trustpilot which is a consumer watchdog site. You can see their forum here. If that fails, you can reach them at (303) 345-4261.

Nielsen Pulse offers email-based support for US panelists at uspulsesupport@nielsen.com. The website also includes a Contact Us page with the same email address. There's no live chat or phone support listed.

The terms also allow panel members to contact Nielsen directly to request account deletion if they choose to leave.

Given that Nielsen is a large, established company, their support infrastructure should be reasonably reliable — though response times are not published, and the absence of live chat may be frustrating for users with urgent account issues.

While there's a lot to like about this program, one drawback is the low amount of survey invites. While you may be lucky enough to qualify for high-paying focus groups or product reviews, on a day-to-day basis you will not get a lot of earning opportunities. This is partially due the fact that they have very discerning clients that seek detailed information.

You may also find some people claiming to have not been paid or paid very slowly. This is generally just people that are impatient or don't understand the process and should be ignored.

The biggest sticking point for many users will be the privacy trade-off. The app requires you to grant location permissions, notifications, and install a research VPN on your device. Nielsen uses this access to track your device usage, web activity, streaming behaviour, and purchases. The terms explicitly state that this can include sensitive personal information such as race and ethnicity.

You also won't know if you qualify until after you complete the eligibility survey. Those who don't qualify are put on a waitlist, with no guarantee of ever being admitted to the panel.

Membership is household-wide by agreement. When you sign up, you're agreeing on behalf of all household members whose devices the app is installed on — and you're required to inform them and get their consent before doing so.

People employed by TV networks, cable or satellite providers, digital media platforms, or other media companies are not eligible to join. You also must keep your panel membership confidential and are not permitted to publicly identify yourself as a participant — including in app store reviews.

Points expire after 12 months and have no cash value. If you leave the panel for any reason, any unredeemed points are forfeited. Nielsen can also modify or discontinue the rewards program at any time.