Top 4 Market Research Panel Recruitment Incentives and Strategies

Market research recruitment promotions are essential to getting new panelists. The rewards you use to incentivize your market research participants can make a massive difference in your promotion’s success. Digital rewards, cash-based rewards, and leveraging recognized brands, can be incredibly effective in recruiting market research survey panelists. 

There are two important questions to ask when recruiting your panelists. What can you offer that will be valued by panelists, and have your participants coming back? And, what do you need to make the incentive experience a good one for your participants? These questions, if answered correctly, will lead you to a successful market research recruitment promotion.

Here are the top 4 market research panel recruitment promotions incentives and strategies:

1: Digital rewards

Digital rewards are rewards that you can send, receive, and download online. These can include music, movie tickets/movie streaming, virtual gift card code redemptions, travel promo codes, or even fuel rewards. Digital rewards are popular because they play into the participant’s desire for instant gratification.

2: Promotions

Promotions come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Promotions can include social media games,  sweepstakes, instant win games, and more. Starting up promotions can be simple and done effectively when the right strategies are used. For example, sweepstakes are used to increase retention, increase engagement, and increase spend off in points-based programs. Sweepstakes can be scaled to a national level, or kept small. Promotions directly affect lead generation by getting a large audience interested in a short period of time.

3: Cash-based Rewards

Cash-based rewards perform amazingly among participants. While many people agree that they would rather receive cash than an actual gift, there is more to consider when putting together your market research strategies for recruitment. If you give panelists cash rewards, they will quickly forget about you once the money is spent. However, you can add a personal touch to your cash-based incentives by using customized prepaid cards. Prepaid cards have the added benefit of being able to be set up as specific gift cards to be put towards grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, retail stores, or even giving a digital wallet. For the instant gratification angel, virtual prepaid cards are an excellent alternative to physical prepaid cards. Virtual cards are quick, easy to set up, and simple for panelists to redeem. 

Through open and closed-loop recruitment, you can get these services for your customers. Open looped recruitment is having a card that is able to work at many different places. Think of a gift of a Visa® or Mastercard®. This card can be used anywhere. This would be best to tie to your partners (affiliates) and to send via direct response techniques such as email, telephone,  direct mail, or the internet. Closed-looped recruitment is by invitation only.

4: Market Research Incentive Technology

Traditionally, when implementing market research recruitment promotions, you expect to run into issues along the way. With finding the right reward management software, tracking redemption data, setting up redemption sites, managing complex shipping and distribution logistics, costs, and navigating import timelines and regulations there are so many factors to be considered when setting up your program. And of course, the larger the program, the more these challenges are magnified. However, with the right support team and technology, this can all be made simple. 

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. 

We offer the following Market research program management features:

  • Seamless experience 
  • Extensive Engaging Reward Offerings 
  • Technology to issue incentive payments 
  • Real-time payment processing 
  • Relevant supporting technology 
  • Dynamic Architecture 
  • Real-Time Analytics & Reporting 
  • Eco-System Integration 
  • PCI Compliant Security 
  • Agile API

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!

Have questions or want more info?

Send us a message or reach us by phone at
+1 866-415-7703 ext 2