Support & FAQs

If you are having difficulties with our website, your YouGov membership or have general queries about our research, you may find the answer to your question here. If not, please click here to contact us. Please try to include the email address associated with your account, and any survey codes of those you are querying.

Account Issues

I have joined YouGov, what next?

How can I get invited to surveys more frequently?

I don't want to wait to reach £50. Can I have my money now?

I have reached £50, When will my cheque arrive?

I have forgotten both my username and password.

How do I change my YouGov Profile details, including my email address?

What if I change my ISP?

How do I unsubscribe from YouGov?

Can somebody access my account details or vote on my behalf?

Technical Issues

I am receiving emails from both yougov01.com and yougov.com, which is correct?

I am a WebTV user

I never receive the email reminder

I am accessing the Internet using a MAC, does this have issues?

Do I need to login more than once each time I visit?

General Issues

What will the information I provide be used for?

Sometimes surveys are closed after only a few hours. Why?

Who reads the findings?

Is YouGov a Government initiative?

Will I get spam as a result of signing up to YouGov?

Account Issues

I have joined YouGov, what next?

Once you have joined YouGov as a panel member you will be sent survey invitations to your email address. In the invitation email you will be informed of the amount you will be credited for the survey, which usually ranges between 50p and £1 and also the time for which the survey will be available. You will also be able to click on a link in the invitation email, which will take you directly to the survey. You can also access the survey by logging in via http://my.yougov.com/login.aspx and clicking on the survey code.

You may also be invited to participate in Prize Draw surveys in which one winner will be given a cash prize.

Once you have completed the survey you will automatically be credited and the amount will show up under the "Completed Surveys" tab in the "My Account" section in your YouGov account.

Where are all my details on my new homepage?

You may notice that we’ve made a few changes to the layout of the YouGov Panel pages which we hope will make this area of the panel section easier to use. There is a new payment indicator bar, and you can now find your available surveys under the ‘Surveys’ tab, all your completed surveys under the ‘Completed’ tab and the record of cheques sent and to be sent under ‘Payment History’. You can change your name and email address in ‘My Details’, and all your other profile details by going to ‘My Profile’.

How can I get invited to surveys more frequently?

YouGov actively samples for surveys, this means that only a proportion of the panel are invited each time. This is for the sake of accurately representing the particular population being researched and is based on a complex system of filling demographic quotas. Therefore it is a matter of probability how often you are invited: within sample requirements individuals are randomly chosen. To maximise your chances of being invited to surveys, you should ensure that your membership profile is complete and up-to-date. You can do this by logging into your account and going to "My Profile". If you think that you are never being invited to surveys, there could be an issue with receiving the emailed survey alert. Please see the FAQ on this subject.

I don't want to wait to reach £50. Can I have my money now?

YouGov values its members and pays out thousands of pounds to members each month. Our terms and conditions state that we only pay out cheques once you have reached the specified payout level of £50, and not before. This policy has been in place since the start of YouGov and is unlikely to change at the present time, but is reviewed regularly. We want you to be happy with the service you receive from YouGov and would like to thank you for your continuing support.

I have reached £50, When will my cheque arrive?

We aim to send out cheques to panel members within a month of them reaching the £50 threshold. You can help avoid delays by ensuring that the name and address in your profile are correct and up to date.

I have forgotten both my username and password.

If you have lost your password, please go to http://my.yougov.com/resetpassword.aspx. You will be asked to enter the email address which you use with your YouGov membership and submit the form. This will generate an email to you at this address which will allow you to reset your password. This email will also remind you of your username.

How do I change my YouGov Profile details, including my email address?

To update your YouGov Profile you must be logged in. Once logged in to YouGov you will be able to view your account by selecting "My Details" on the right hand menu. Your name and email address will be displayed here and you can amend them by making any changes and re-submitting the form. Please note - you cannot change your username here as this is set when you register. For all other profile details, such as your postal address, go to “My Profile” under Profiling surveys.

What if I change my ISP?

This will not affect your YouGov membership in any way. The provider you use to connect you to the internet has nothing to do with your account with YouGov. The exception would be were you to change to using WebTV – please see the FAQ on this subject. If you have changed your email address as a result, please see the FAQ on changing your personal account details.

How do I unsubscribe from YouGov?

To unsubscribe your account you must be logged in. Once logged in correctly you will be able to unsubscribe your account by selecting "Unsubscribe" from the left menu bar. You will ask to confirm that you wish be unsubscribed. Your account will be unsubscribed if you click on the submit button. Please note that it can sometimes take a few days for this to be processed.

Can somebody access my account details or vote on my behalf?

It is possible that somebody can access your 'My YouGov' account if you have not logged out of your account correctly. It is very important that you log out of your 'My YouGov' account by using the link on the left hand side menu. This is particularly important when accessing the Internet on shared computers such as in web cafes, universities etc.

Technical Issues

I am receiving emails from both yougov01.com and yougov.com, which is correct?

Yes this is correct. Both domains are legally registered and hosted by YouGov. We are constantly revising the way we send out alerts in order to improve the effectiveness of our services. Different ISPs have different ways of setting up their rules by which we can contact their users. Registering extra domains is one way that we have improved our mailout response.

I am a WebTV user

As yet YouGov have not yet tested the website on TV based browsers such as WebTV. Some users may therefore experience difficulties accessing their account, filling out surveys etc. We recommend that users access the website via traditional hardware such as on a PC or MAC.

I never receive the email reminder

Firstly, check that our emails are not being filtered out as spam email by your own spam filters. You should ensure that your email is set up to ensure that email from our mailer 'yougov@yougov.com' (and yougov@yougov01.com) is accepted. We believe there may be an issue for some members who are not receiving our emailed survey alerts. This is to do with the way some ISPs deal with emails being sent by bulk mailers at times of high traffic and / or the way they detect and prevent spam. We are speaking to a number of ISPs to resolve this issue and we always try to send out our emails at less busy times of day. In the meantime we would suggest either checking your YouGov account on a regular basis as live surveys can be accessed from a link on your account page or setting up an alternative email account on which to receive our alerts.

I am accessing the Internet using a MAC, does this have issues?

For those users have been waiting patiently for an update on the MAC operating system, we are now happy to say we have begun testing using a MAC. Initial tests look good, with only a minor number of pages requiring attention, more importantly logging on user accounts have shown no problems. We have also received positive feedback from numerous MAC users. Finally we will also continue to standardise the code that generates the website, which will continue to improve usability and functionality.

Do I need to login each time I visit the YouGov website?

To access your YouGov Account, Profile or to complete a survey, it is only necessary to login once. Once you are logged in, a sessionID is created which allows you to navigate the panel website without needing to login again. Whilst the same browser window remains open that sessionID will remain active. The sessionID is only ended by pressing the "Log off" button on the left hand side of the screen, closing the browser window, navigating away from the YouGov Panel website or when there is an inactive period of time that exceeds 30 minutes. If any of these occur then you will be asked to login again to interactive or member-related content.

General Issues

What will the information I provide be used for?

YouGov collects some personal data about each member for a number of reasons. Firstly, it enables us to contact you about research to take part in, any prize you have won and any incentive payments. Secondly, it enables us to contact you with just those surveys which are relevant to you. Thirdly, it helps us to analyse our survey data by for example, your gender, age, or what region you live in. YouGov takes the security of your personal data very seriously and abides by the UK Market Research Society Code of Conduct and the UK Data Protection Act 1998. This means that your data will be secure and will never passed on to third parties without your permission. For more on this, please see our privacy policy.

Sometimes surveys are closed after only a few hours. Why?

YouGov will always try to leave our surveys open for as long as we can to enable our members to have a chance to respond. However, on rare occasions we have clients who require results very quickly. On other occasions surveys can only remain open over a brief period to capture a ‘snapshot’ of opinion when events are changing quickly. On these occasions we may only a few hours to gather responses from you before closing the survey. We do try to make this clear in the email invitation or where possible, provide fore-warning.

Who reads the findings?

Who reads research findings depends on the client who has commissioned the research. Sometimes research is commissioned specially for publication. This is often the case with our media clients and you may see the results of our surveys in newspapers and on television. In other cases, research is used internally by a client for example, in order to inform a marketing or policy decision. In this case, the research is not usually made publicly available. Published results can be viewed in our published results archive.

Is YouGov a Government initiative?

YouGov is an independent research agency. It is not funded, run by, or affiliated to the Government or any Government agencies. As a research agency, we are commissioned by a wide range of clients from media, to academics, to companies, to not-for-profit organisations. YouGov therefore aims to provide accurate and high quality research to all our clients, allowing YouGov panel members the chance to voice their opinions on a wide range of topics.

Will I get spam as a result of signing up to YouGov?

No. YouGov is not in the business of selling personal data on to third parties. Your contact details will only be used by YouGov to contact you for YouGov research.

Submit a new FAQ

You may have another query or problem that is not listed above. Please fill out the following form with as much detail as you can.