Reduce Panel Incentive Payouts Without Sacrificing Your Panelists’ Engagement

Market research panelists have often received checks or PayPal cash as their incentive payments over the years. The incentive budget is the first to suffer when a client’s survey project budget is limited. While it could appear like the simplest and most economical approach to maximize money, is it really the case?

Panel managers and market research experts are increasingly aware that in order to actively engage panelists, they must use incentive payment technology and marketing strategies that are easy to use. Today, panel managers can use technology and benefit from the idea of “Reverse Preference.” Reverse Preference allows the panelist to choose their own reward while the check remains the primary option. Other options include VISA Prepaid Cards, Gift Cards, Digital Rewards, and Gamification (all of which are at a lower cost).

By choosing alternate incentives over checks by even minor percentages, panelist incentive expenses are decreased, and in the case of point-based systems, a liability is removed from the company’s balance sheet. As more and more panels start to provide different incentives, those that do not offer them will lose popularity, which lowers the lifetime value of the panelist and reduces panelist participation. 

Market research is left questioning how they can afford the technology to provide a more comprehensive range of rewards, but once you look at the facts, you’ll wonder how they can afford not to. In truth, they may cut their panel reward costs by 18–28% by offering a blended incentive option( while still offering the check as a choice). Checks and Paypal can cost more in the long run compared to a range of other reward possibilities.

Taking a step to embrace the reverse preference concept by offering a variety of rewards at a panelist’s fingertips is simple, as long as the right incentive and payout technology provider are selected. Anyone can say that they offer these rewards, but are they sourcing them at the right price to fit a panel’s budget?  Are the incentives conveniently integrated via APIs into a reward management solution?  Is there seamless incentive event processing for the panel management team?  Do they make it easy on the panelist to navigate on the platform? Can they improve engagement? Can you measure it?  Conducting research on the right company to run an Incentive Payout Program for Market Research Panel is crucial.

All Digital Rewards offers excellent and budget friendly solutions for Panel Incentive Payouts. When clients implement our SaaS with STACK reward management technology and use our agile API for single sign-on integration to an existing system, they are instantly connected to ADR’s 200,000+ incentives; everything is all in one place, easy to manage, proven to boost engagement and within budget!

For more insights on important considerations when planning or implementing a successful incentive payout program we recommend reading our case study Cash vs. Blended Incentive Model: What Performs Better? to get a better understanding who to lower incentive costs without sacrificing panel engagement.

For more information on reducing panel incentive payouts without sacrificing engagement call us now at 866-415-7703 or click here to schedule a demo.