Market Research Incentives Strategies That Could Save You Thousands

The challenge that market researchers face is how to engage participants while keeping costs down. Utilizing an incentive program is a proven way to increase program participation and engage your users, but how do you keep program costs down? Short answer: Gamification and diverse, demographic-specific incentives.

Take the case of one of All Digital Rewards Market Research clients. Our client had been running a cash-based incentive program for their market research panels. The program offered checks and prepaid cards, such as visa prepaid card rewards, as incentives for completing program tasks. There was consistent user engagement at least one to five times a month. Users had become habitual in their choices of the cash-equivalent rewards, and the program was proving to be expensive for our client.

To decrease our client’s costs, we worked with them to enhance their current incentive program and transform it into a more cost-effective program without sacrificing engagement. First, we introduced a wide range of incentive reward products alongside the current cash-equivalent products as part of the marketplace for the points-based incentive management system. By adding the new rewards alongside the old cash-equivalent rewards, the users were able to view the new marketplace as an upgrade, rather than a replacement – which improved participants outlook on the changes to the incentive management system.

 How did we pick the right rewards for the enhanced marketplace? When choosing rewards, it can help to take a page out of Marie Kondo’s book and offer rewards that will “spark joy” in your participants. How to pick those joyous rewards? Understand the demographics! In our work with our market research client, we chose rewards based off of their participants’ demographic information and surveys of the participants and managed those incentives via our outstanding reward management software. This resulted in improved receptiveness from the participants.

Another element added to our client’s incentive program was instant win games. Instant win games are a proven way to increase engagement. Studies have shown that 140% of website viewers spend more time on websites when a gamified app is involved. Instant win games also allowed for our client’s users to spend normally unspent pins or points, which had a significant impact on the company’s liability.

As a result of the changes made, Our client saw over 20% in savings – estimated to be between $825,000 and $850,000. There was also approximately a 26% difference in cost between the cash-based program and points-based program. On average, ADR clients who have moved to blended-reward programs have savings of nearly 21%. Additionally, when compared to a cash-based incentive program, programs can expect, on average between 24%-28% better cost outlay per person after implementing gamification and open selection.

All Digital Rewards, a proven digital reward providers and incentive management company, has the technology, incentive management software, and know-how to increase the effectiveness of your next market research panel incentive program. All Digital Rewards’ fully customized web-based solution, ResearchSTACK™, is designed to support your market research initiatives. ResearchSTACK™ is a panel engagement reward management platform utilizing ADR’s various microservices that provide PCI level security, single point integration, scalable proofing systems, complex event processing, reporting, and analytics. To speak to one of our market research incentive program experts call 866-415-7703 or click the “Schedule a Demo” button at the bottom of the page!