How to send research incentives with Tremendous

Research incentives play a crucial role in attracting participants and collecting high-quality data. They've been shown to increase response rates by up to 19% while improving participant retention and response quality. Whether you're conducting market research, user experience (UX) testing, medical research, or academic research, the right incentive can improve response rates without breaking your budget.  

Choosing the right incentives and sending them at scale can be tricky. But setting up a research incentive program using Tremendous is straightforward and cost-effective. And you only pay for the value of what you send. 

Here’s a quick look at how you can attract the best possible participants and easily send research incentives with Tremendous.     

Step 1: Determine the length of your study

Start by figuring out how long your session(s) will be. A usability test, for example, can range from 15 minutes to an hour depending on the product's complexity and the number of tasks you’re asking research participants to complete. 

We teamed up with The Decision Lab to find out how much participants want to be paid and found that:

• For a 15-minute task, participants expect about $26.40, or $1.76/minute.

• A 30-minute task jumps to $48.00 

• An hour-long task is valued at roughly $70.

Surprisingly, the cost of each additional minute to go from 15 to 30 minutes is just $1.44. And the price of every minute from 30 to an hour is just $0.71. Turns out, the perceived value of each minute decreases for longer experiments. 

The big takeaway: Study length can have some impact on participant motivation, but it won’t necessarily break the bank.  

Step 2: Identify your target participants

Before diving into incentives, it's crucial to know exactly who you're trying to reach with your research:

• Determine the characteristics of your ideal participants (age, profession, etc.)

• Define any specific experiences or expertise required for your study

• Consider the estimated income range of your participants  

Remember, different participant groups may have varying expectations for incentives. 

Our research shows that students are generally the most cost-effective group, requiring only about 80% as much compensation as other groups. And those earning $200K+ per year expect larger incentives — about 46% more than lower-income earners.

Step 3: Select incentives that will motivate participants

In addition to monetary value, you should also consider how participants want to get paid. In general, participants prefer cash transfers — they offer at least $9.50 of additional perceived value over other incentive types like mailed checks. Still, direct money transfers tend to come with fees. 

As a researcher looking to save time and money, your best bet is to offer a wide range of payout options, including prepaid cards and gift cards.  

Step 4: Build your incentive strategy

Now, it’s time to account for the different variables that go into choosing the right research incentives. The duration of your test, the nature of your study, and the demographics of your target population will all play a role in your incentive strategy.

Pro tip: You can use our research incentive calculator to learn how much money will satisfy participants, from monetary transfers to gift cards.

Step 5: Send research incentives with Tremendous

Tremendous is the simplest way to send incentives. It’s also the best way to attract participants with more than 2,000 redemption options in over 200 countries.

First, create a campaign template. Select the rewards you’d like to make available to recipients. Then, brand the message with your logo, and add a message to recipients. A simple, ‘thanks for participating, here’s your $X incentive’ will suffice.

You’ve built a campaign, and you’re ready to send. Click into your campaign and you’ll be prompted to add recipients – it’s easiest and fastest to bulk upload your recipient list with a CSV file. 

Format a spreadsheet of recipients to include the required columns, upload it to the Tremendous Dashboard, and click send.

That’s it – you’re all set. 

Ready to set up your research incentive program with Tremendous? Schedule time with our team or sign up in minutes.