Sermo Review (aka MNOW) – Scam or Legit? (Full Details)

Are you a medical professional looking to earn some extra money? There’s a site that offers an opportunity for you to earn extra money and help with research at the same time if you are a practicing physician, nurse, dentist, optometrist, pharmacist, veterinarian, or other healthcare professional.

It is called Sermo (previously MNOW). It promises to reward you for participating in medical market research studies. But is it legit, or is it a waste of time?

Let me reveal right away that; fortunately, Sermo/MNOW is a legit survey site that does pay you to participate in market research studies. But this doesn’t automatically mean this site is the right opportunity for you.

To find out, there are a few things you need to consider. This Sermo / MNOW review will reveal all the details you need to know, so you can decide if it is indeed worth investing your time into or not.

What is Sermo, and what does it offer?

Let's start by going over the name to avoid any confusion. The panel used to be called MNOW but has changed its name to Sermo.

However, many people still refer to it as MNOW, and the panel where you can sign up to take part in research studies is also still located at mnow.com, at the time of updating this review.

So whether you hear people talking about MNOW or Sermo, it is the same panel. But in the rest of this review, I will mainly refer to it as Sermo, as that is now the official name of the panel.

As explained above, Sermo is an exclusive panel for health professionals. If you are not a health professional, you won’t be able to join. I would suggest you find other sites to join instead (I will tell you later which sites you can join).

The site conducts research for leading companies in the medical industry, hence the need for medical professionals. Now, if you are qualified to join, we have to take a closer look at the earning opportunity it offers.

So, here’s how you can earn from Sermo.

The earning opportunity – Paid surveys/research studies

Sermo only offers one earning opportunity, and that is through paid online surveys. When you become a member of the panel, you will get access to the member dashboard.

To put it simply (as shown in the photo above), you will be invited to participate in a survey once you become a member. You can see the available surveys you can take if you log in to the website. They will also send you a notification email telling you there’s a survey available for you.

These surveys will be related to your medical field. So, you don’t have to worry about receiving surveys that you will have a hard time answering.

Aside from the specialization of their surveys, the one main difference in how their survey process works is you do not have to answer qualifying questions when you take a survey. So, if you receive a survey invite, that means you are already qualified for it.

Usually, with other survey sites, when you receive a survey invite, you will have to answer a set of qualifying questions first. But with Sermo, you go directly to the actual survey. This is to be expected because Sermo mostly qualifies the surveys they send to you according to your profession.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because you don’t have to worry if you qualify or not for a survey. Once you receive an invite, it is almost equivalent to getting paid (of course, you have to complete the survey to earn).

The bad thing is, in my experience, when a survey site uses a system like this, the frequency of survey invites you will receive will be pretty low. So, don’t expect to receive surveys a lot. Once you complete the survey, you will be eligible to receive an honorarium, which I will talk about next.

Recommended: Check Out the Top Survey Sites in Your Country

How do you get paid?

The beauty of Sermo’s reward system is that you don’t have to reach a payout threshold to redeem what you’ve earned. That’s because you will receive payment for every survey you complete. This type of system is very convenient, in my opinion, because you don’t have to wait to reach a threshold to withdraw your earnings.

So, for example, if you’ve completed a survey, you will receive the payment for it a couple of weeks later. They do not indicate on their site whether it will be your choice how you would like to receive your payment.

But usually, in my experience, instructions on how to receive it will be included in the email you will receive from them. The downside is that they only pay via check, prepaid credit cards, or vouchers.

There’s no option to receive your payment via PayPal. In my experience, receiving payment via check usually takes quite a long time. So, don’t expect to receive what you’ve earned right away.

If you prefer to receive your earnings online, I would suggest you check out the top sites that pay via PayPal instead.

How much money can you make?

In my experience, exclusive survey panels usually pay a lot better than regular survey sites. And Sermo does not disappoint. Based on feedback from members, the normal going rate of surveys is around $25.

That’s well above the industry standard. Most of their surveys pay around $25 to $100. And considering that it usually only takes around 30 minutes to complete, you get paid rather well.

However, as mentioned earlier, you still can’t expect to earn hundreds of dollars every month since the availability of their surveys is relatively low. That’s why I would say the earning potential of this survey site isn’t that high, even though it pays well.

But again, if you get to answer at least one survey every month, you would’ve already earned the same amount you’ve earned from answering several surveys on regular survey sites. You also get to help with research in your medical field.

So, you could say, with Sermo, it’s more about quality rather than quantity. But if you want to take more surveys, you should make sure to check out this list of the best paid medical survey panels, as it can be a good idea to then join several panels.

Can you use it on mobile?

Sermo doesn’t have a mobile app you can download. However, you will be able to access their site from a mobile device using a web browser. Just go to their website and log in. You will then be able to read all the content without having to zoom in since their site is mobile-friendly.

This is a big deal in today’s mobile-centric culture, where most people prefer to do everything on their mobile devices rather than on their computers.

At least, their site being mobile-friendly makes it a convenient option to answer surveys even if you are not in front of a computer.

Who can join Sermo?

Now, let’s get to the most important part of the review. If you are NOT A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, you have no business becoming a member of this survey panel.

As you can see in the photo above, their site is pretty strict on who they accept in their panel. You can’t just sign up and become a member of their panel. You have to request to join Sermo. And as shown in the photo, you have to provide a work number.

My guess is they will need it to verify if you indeed work in the place you indicated. Once you’ve submitted your request, Sermo will review your application, and if they deem it to be worthy, they will notify you that your request has been accepted.

You will then be sent an email with the link to complete your registration. Another way to join their panel is if you get invited by one of their trusted members.

Again, they don’t elaborate on how this works, but from what I can gather, from time to time, they grant some of their long-time members the chance to invite other fellow healthcare professionals to join the site.

If you get an invite like this, then becoming a member is a lot easier. When you click the invite link, you will then be led to the registration form to complete your registration.

Their panel is available in 80 countries, and you will see the list of countries it is available in on the request form. Just click the dropdown menu on the Country field, and you will see all 80 countries where it is available.

One thing to note with relation to the availability of their surveys, it seems like your location plays a huge part in the availability of surveys. Some countries offer more surveys than others, like the US and the UK.

Can you get support?

If you take a look at their website, you won’t get a lot of information about how their panel works. All you will get is a general idea of what they have to offer. Plus, they don’t have a FAQ page you can check for basic topics.

So, you will likely have some questions you want to ask. Fortunately, you can send them your inquiries through the contact form provided on their website. At least they give you a way to get in touch with their support.

That’s why I would say they have a decent support system in place. But their site could use more transparency in terms of what they have to offer to reduce inquiries and to attract more potential members.

Final Verdict

Sermo (previously MNOW) is a legit medical survey site that will pay you for answering medical surveys. It has a couple of interesting features and a few limitations as well.

Here’s a summary of its pros and cons to conclude this review. Hopefully, it will be able to guide you on whether you should join this site or not.

The best quality this panel has to offer, in my opinion, is that it pays pretty well, and if you are a medical professional, it can be a great way to help with research within your field.

The downside is that if there are no surveys available, then you won’t earn anything. And surveys won’t be that frequent. So, don’t expect to earn money from this site regularly.

The lack of online payment options also doesn’t help either. It would have been better, in my opinion, if they also paid via PayPal. But if you are a healthcare professional, I would suggest you request to join this site because of the good pay you can get.

But if you aren’t, I would suggest you check out the top survey sites in your country instead. The sites on this list accept members regardless of their profession. Plus, you will be able to find a site you can join regardless of where you live.

If you have any comments, questions, or experiences with MNOW, I would love to hear from you in a comment below.