Try Products for Free!

May 8, 2007 (WPVI) -- Action News has found a service that will send you snacks, hair styling products and more at no cost to you.

You then get to gab about the items with other consumers and use your collective power to make change. You can influence companies to improve those products or services to your liking before they hit the market.

Adelaide Fives got to try the newest flavor combination offered by Peeled Snacks.

Megan Hillier is testing a new shine cream for hair called Silky Dirt.

It's all thanks to a new concept called SheSpeaks. Consumers become SheSpeaks members by filling out an online profile. SheSpeaks then matches them with products that are likely to interest them.

"It shows up. It's easy. It's things you select. You're not going to get things that you don't like. It's really neat," said Fives.

SheSpeaks launched in January and in just four months has grown its network to more than 20,000 women across the country who have one thing in common.

"That is, they want to have a say and influence the products and services around them. With SheSpeaks, we're putting the power into the hands of these women," said Aliza Freud of SheSpeaks.

You see you can provide feedback about the products you test by filling out a short survey. You can also chat online with other women testing the same product, but don't be surprised if you end up talking about all sorts of other things!

"We give the companies all the feedback and then the companies tell us how that feedback is going to inform their future decisions. Then we get back to our members and say here's how you've influenced," said Freud.

That is how SheSpeaks make money. The products are free to consumers because companies pay SheSpeaks for feedback provided by testers. It's a new way to do market research, although thanks to the ShePromise, SheSpeaks consumers are not required to give their opinions or do anything else.

Adelaide Fives filled out the peeled snacks survey.

"I had wished that the bag was resealable because once you open it, all of it has to be eaten at that time or you have to find a way to close it back up," she said.

Thanks to feedback like Adelaide's peeled snacks is considering changing its packaging.

Adelaide also plans to watch an episode of Tori Spelling's new reality show before it's actually broadcast on the Oxygen network. Her feedback may influence future episodes.

"I think it's pretty exciting," she said.

SheSpeaks also makes its members a promise. The company will never sell members' personal information. Consumers are not obligated to promote products or services to other people, nor do they have to listen to or receive advertising.

(Copyright 2007 by Action News and 6abc. All Rights Reserved.)

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