Effective Incentives in LatAm & What Really Move Participants
Proper participants' incentives are for sure a relevant element for research projects overall success. Motivated participants are prone to comply, while underpayment is highly demotivating. But what is a well-balanced incentive, and how far can motivation go?
Evidently, the amount has to be attractive enough to be worth the time and effort. But, in low and middle HHI countries, where taking part in research can help one reach the end of the month in the blue, it's pretty easy to find people willing to do it for small amounts. To raise the bar is essential to attract people beyond this convenience threshold to have enough options for the right picks. At the end, we usually screen up to 20 candidates for each position!
When it comes to true motivation, the incentive value should strike the person with the feeling that he/her is truly valuable for the study. The incentive will vary according to each candidate's social class and profile prevalence, taken into account to define the figure that informs how much the client/sponsor appreciates the respondents’ participation.
In Brazil and Latin America in general, the costs for engaging good respondents vary a lot depending on social class and the region where they live, due to significant social and regional inequalities. So eventually we work with a value range instead of fixed amounts within the same project.
As a result, GigaHertz, GHz's local recruiting brand, is well-known in Brazil for handling significantly higher incentives than those practiced by local studies. Paying fair incentives generally has a modest impact on budgets; it turns out to be a marginal cost that adds considerable value and reliability to the process.
Still, recruitees' strong motivation is not enough for studies' success! True empathy and a deep understanding of participants' reality are needed: learning about their resources, difficulties, and daily routines; evaluating their self-confidence and tech literacy. A legit user-centric approach to recruiting makes a huge difference, and perhaps this is our most valuable asset. We call it PX - Participant Experience.
Finally, for an impactful engagement, participants have to clearly understand their role, the rules, and the instructions for each study. To guide newcomers, we publish a local website with tips, clarifications, and an overview of the research industry and its applications. And of course, there is also the need for guidance about specific apps in the ever-evolving technology landscape. We are proud of GHz having developed training routines before these became a staple within market requirements as it is now.
Eitan Rosenthal
