Do you want to get paid to answer emails, working remotely? This is the topic of our blog post today!
Before I share how you can get paid to answer emails from home, you need to know there are LOTS of work at home scams out there claiming you can do this for tons of money.
Many people are interested in things like answering emails from home or getting paid to text, working from home, because it sounds like easy work. And so scammers like to take advantage of people who are looking for email-answering jobs.
To stay safe, just keep in mind that if someone is offering you lots of money for what they claim is easy, mindless work, it's probably a scam!
Additionally, be very wary of anyone trying to get you to pay them to work, and don't trust “employers” who try to recruit you over WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, or any other instant messaging systems.
Below are the best, non-scammy ways I've come up with for you to actually get paid to answer emails from your home.
Ways You Can Get Paid to Answer Emails From Home
Customer Service – Email Support
There are many, many work at home customer service positions that require responding to emails.
Most often, I do see that companies want you to not only answer their emails, but also take phone calls and respond to chats. It's kind of difficult to find a customer service job that is just email support for some reason! I haven't seen any in a very long time.
Below, I've listed some companies that regularly hire people to work at home doing customer service that will involve answering emails (although you may also be providing support through other channels just depending on the company's needs).
Marigold – Technical Support Engineer. Full-time. Remote (U.S., select states). Provide product support via ticket and phone, troubleshoot issues across email, mobile, and web platforms, and maintain high-quality documentation. Responsibilities also include monitoring software/infrastructure, contributing to best practices, and participating in on-call rotation. Requires experience with web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), Microsoft SQL, networking (TCP/IP, DNS, SMTP), Windows Servers/IIS, and APIs (SOAP, REST, XML, JSON). Must be highly organized, customer-focused, and able to multitask under pressure. Salary range is $50,000–$55,000/year (California only; varies elsewhere). Benefits include medical/dental/vision, supplemental health, FSA, EAP, pet insurance, 401(k) with match, generous PTO, parental leave, and flexible remote environment.
VIPdesk Connect – Customer Service Representative. Full-time. Remote (must reside in AR, AZ, FL, GA, IN, KY, MD, NC, NM, NV, OH, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, or WI). Provide multi-channel support (phone, chat, SMS, email, and social media) for a leading online apparel and accessories retailer, assisting with product information, orders, returns, troubleshooting, and account inquiries. Requires 1+ year of customer service experience, high school diploma/GED, proficiency with Microsoft Office, ability to type 35 WPM, and strong written/verbal communication skills. Must have a quiet home office with computer, internet, webcam, and USB headset, and be able to pass background checks. Pay is $18/hour with benefits including health, life & AD&D insurance, PTO, FSAs, and more. Preferred: call center or remote work experience, familiarity with ticketing systems (Zendesk, Talkdesk, Salesforce).
Carnival Cruise Line – Personal Vacation Planner Agent. Full-time. Remote (must live in FL, GA, TX, or NC). Outbound sales role selling cruise vacation packages and related products via calls, texts, email, and social media. Duties include prospecting, building customer relationships, managing CRM follow-ups, and achieving monthly sales quotas. Requires HS diploma/GED, 1+ year sales experience, strong communication, presentation, and closing skills, plus computer proficiency (Microsoft Office). Training is 4 weeks, Mon–Fri 9am–6pm EST; regular schedule Mon–Thu 10am–7pm EST, Fri 9am–6pm EST, with occasional end-of-month Saturday. Pay starts at $15/hr for first 5 pay periods, then $11–$13/hr depending on state plus commission. Average annual earnings $65,000–$70,000, with top performers exceeding $100,000. Includes health, vision, dental, 401(k) with match, paid holidays, PTO, sick time, stock purchase plan, cruise discounts, and free standby cruises.
Boldly – Executive Assistant (Remote). Part-time or full-time, W2 position supporting Fortune 500 companies, executives, and business owners. Duties include managing calendars, scheduling meetings and travel, handling correspondence, managing email inboxes, processing expenses, and providing customer/supplier support. Requires at least 7 years of executive assistant or administrative assistant experience, advanced skills with Google Workspace, Office 365, Zoom, and other productivity tools, excellent communication and writing skills, strong organization, and ability to multitask. Pay $27–$31/hr depending on location. Benefits include flexible schedule within business hours, paid time off, 401(k) with match, technology stipend, wellness events, and for full-time employees, medical/dental/vision/life insurance with premiums fully paid by Boldly. Must have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile to apply.
Virtual Assisting
As a work at home virtual assistant, you can specialize in email management and offer this service to your clients.
There are many, many business owners who get more emails a day than they can handle. So, it makes sense that they may want to outsource the task of answering them.
You can work for yourself as a virtual assistant, or you can work for a company who hires virtual assistants.
As a virtual assistant who works for yourself, you have more control over what services to offer your clients, which means you can be sure that answering emails is part of your services.
If you are working for someone else as a virtual assistant, there's a good chance you will still be spending time answering emails for your clients, but not a guarantee. Each client will have their own specific needs, and each company will ask you to do different things.
The following companies hire work at home virtual assistants on a regular basis:
My e-book, Your Quick Guide to Working at Home as a Virtual Assistant, has a list of 50 companies that hire virtual assistants and provides more information on working for yourself as a virtual assistant if you would prefer to go that route.
Post Your Email Management Services On Freelancer Job Boards
If you don't really think you want to work as a virtual assistant, you can always take advantage of freelancer platforms and advertise your email management services.
You can usually set your own rates on freelancer sites, but it can be hard to get the word out about your services when others are offering the same service.
The idea is that, over time, you'll get good ratings from clients you've helped, and these ratings and reviews will show up on your profile — which leads to more clients and of course more money.
Consider the following job boards for posting your email management services publicly:
Extra Cash Idea – Get Paid to Read Emails
I've posted a lot about rewards sites in the past that pay you for different tasks. Most of these sites are best known for paying you to answer surveys, shop online, do short tasks, and stuff like that.
What you may not know unless you've used these types of sites is that some of them will also pay you to read emails.
This is very, very little money and I'd only recommend bothering with it if you are someone who likes using these types of sites for fun. If you do, you might want to sign up for the ones that pay you to open and read emails.
If you happen to have a separate email from your main email to sign up with, I'd recommend doing that and using it just for sites like this — just in case you happen to get tired of all the emails you will get and no longer have interest in earning a few cents to open and read them.
The following rewards sites are known for paying people a little bit to open and read emails:
I hope this post has given you some ideas for how you can work from home and answer emails! Good luck if you pursue anything listed above!
Looking For Even More Legit Remote Jobs?
FlexJobs is one of my favorite sites to use for finding remote jobs and learning about new companies that hire remotely.
Most of what I see there when I check the listings pays well above minimum wage and are known companies.
The great thing about FlexJobs is that they guarantee ALL listings are scam-free. They list hundreds of jobs — all of which are either remote or flexible in nature — five days per week.
There are also no ads on the site!
Because there are no ads, they do charge a membership fee since that is the only way they can see a return on their job-searching efforts.
But it's cheap — you can get access for a few weeks for just $2.95 for 14 full days!
If you sign up and don't like it, it's very easy to cancel right away so you are not billed again. You can do it any point during your 14 days of checking things out.
Go here to check out FlexJobs.
Good luck to you!
Anna Thurman is a work at home blogger and mom of two. She has been researching and reviewing remote jobs for over 15 years. Her findings are published weekly here at Real Ways to Earn.