Table of Contents
Incentives 101
Incentives 101
Get an overview of research incentives, what options are available, and how to set them up in your studies.
What are incentives?
Incentives are rewards offered to participants in exchange for their time and insights. By compensating participants, you show appreciation and encourage higher participation and more thoughtful feedback. Incentives are one of the simplest and most effective ways to boost response rates and maintain positive relationships with your research panel.
Why offer incentives?
- Show appreciation for the time and effort participants give
- Increase participation rates by motivating more candidates to join
- Encourage thoughtful responses through fair compensation
Incentive options available
Gift Cards & Prepaid Debit Cards (via Tremendous)
We’ve partnered with Tremendous to make it easy to send digital incentives, including:
- Visa debit cards
- PayPal
- Gift cards (Amazon, Starbucks, and many more)
- Charitable donations
Product Gifts or Discount Codes
Offer product-related incentives such as:
- Free seats or account upgrades
- Coupons or discount codes
Swag
- Send participants branded merchandise (e.g., t-shirts, mugs).
Third-Party Incentives
- If you manage incentives outside of Great Question, select Outside of Great Question during setup. You’ll handle fulfillment manually.
How to set up incentives in a study
You can configure incentives while setting up any study method in Great Question.
Step-by-step:
- Go to the Plan tab
On the Plan screen, check the box for Incentive to unlock incentive options. - Configure incentives
In the Incentives section, choose:- Type of incentive (e.g., gift card, swag, discount code)
- Amount (for monetary rewards)
- Source (through or outside of Great Question)
- Fund your incentives
- With Tremendous: fund using your saved payment method
- With external recruitment: fund incentives and choose whether to publish immediately or later
- If you select “Submit now,” you’ll fund both the incentive and the recruitment request at once
- Choose an incentive type that matches your audience and context (e.g., B2B vs consumer research).
- Make sure your incentive value reflects the time commitment of the study.
- When in doubt, gift cards via Tremendous are the fastest, most flexible option
Troubleshooting Incentives
Issue | What's Happening | How to fix |
Unable to enable incentives in a study | The Incentive checkbox on the Plan tab is not selected | Go to Plan → Incentive and check the box to unlock incentive options |
Participants not receiving incentives | Email may be blocked, incorrect, or incentive was not triggered | Verify participant email, confirm the study session was marked attended/completed, and resend the Thanks email under Compose within the study |
Incorrect incentive amount displayed | Amount was not updated or saved during study setup | Return to Plan → Incentives and re-enter the correct value and click Save |
“Outside of Great Question” selected accidentally | Incentives won’t be sent automatically | Edit the study’s Incentives section and switch the source back to Tremendous or your desired method |
Funding bundled incorrectly with recruitment | “Submit now” funds both incentive + recruitment request | Choose Submit later during setup if funding should occur separately |
Still need help?
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