Incentive calculator
Budget participant incentives for interviews and tests from session length, an hourly rate for the audience and the no-show rate you expect.
An incentive budget pays each participant an hourly rate for the session's length, and recruits enough people that the expected attendance still meets the sessions you need. At $100 an hour for 30-minute sessions, each participant receives $50; twenty sessions with a 20 percent no-show rate means recruiting 25 people, a budget of $1,250.
How to use it
Enter the completed sessions you need
Start from the number of sessions the study needs to answer its question, not the number of people you plan to invite.
Set the session length
Use the full time you ask of participants, including setup and any pre-task, rounded up to the nearest five minutes.
Choose an hourly rate for the audience
Rates differ widely by audience: general consumers need less than specialists or senior professionals. Match the rate to what the audience's time is worth to them.
Add the no-show rate you expect
Enter the share of confirmed participants you expect to miss their session. The calculator recruits enough extra people who meet the same criteria that the expected attendance still covers the sessions you need.
The formula
Per participant = hourly rate × session minutes ÷ 60. Recruited = completed sessions ÷ (1 − expected no-show rate), rounded up, so the expected attendance meets the sessions you need. Budget = per participant × recruited, which covers every recruit and leaves a margin when fewer people miss their session.
A worked example
Example inputs, not a benchmark.
- Completed sessions you need
- 20
- Session length
- 30 minutes
- Hourly rate for this audience
- $100
- Expected no-show rate
- 20%
- Incentive budget
- $1,250
Common values
| Session length | $50 an hour | $100 an hour | $200 an hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 minutes | $12.50 | $25 | $50 |
| 30 minutes | $25 | $50 | $100 |
| 60 minutes | $50 | $100 | $200 |
What the numbers show
- Session length and hourly rate move the budget in equal measure, so shortening a session is often the cheapest way to fit a budget.
- Planning for no-shows adds cost up front, and it usually costs less than rescheduling sessions or running short of participants.
- Specialist and senior audiences usually expect more per session than general consumers, which is worth knowing before a study's scope is set.
- Paying promptly and fairly makes recruitment easier next time, since participants who had a good experience are more willing to take part again.
What the number leaves out
- It covers incentives only. Recruitment fees, panel costs and your team's time are separate, and the cost per insight calculator adds them.
- It budgets the full incentive for every recruit, including the people expected to miss their session. People who do not attend are usually not paid, so at the expected no-show rate the likely spend is lower: $1,000 rather than $1,250 in the example.
- It uses one rate for everyone. Studies that mix audiences, or run in several countries, need a rate for each group.
- It ignores payment fees, taxes and currency conversion, which can add to the cost of paying participants in some markets.
Related
More free research tools
- Cost per insight calculator Add incentives to fees, recruitment and team time.
- Sample size calculator Size a survey before budgeting its incentives.
- Time to insight calculator Plan recruitment and fieldwork time alongside the budget.
- Research ROI calculator Weigh the study's full cost against the decision.