Learn how and when you'll receive your incentive payment

When you complete a study, your incentive is either distributed by User Interviews or by the researcher directly. This article explains what to expect for both, and how to check the status of your payment.

For more detail, see our related guides: How to redeem incentives and Are incentives taxable income?

Incentive options

Researchers can choose to have User Interviews distribute incentives on their behalf, giving you a choice from dozens of digital gift cards. Or researchers can distribute incentives themselves in a type of their choosing.

Is User Interviews or the researcher distributing my incentive?

1. Log in to your account
2. Select the My studies tab.
3. Locate your study. If it says via choice of dozens of digital gift cards, User Interviews is distributing your incentive. Once the researcher marks attendance, the status will change to Paid, and you'll see the option to redeem.
4. If the incentive type is anything else, the researcher is distributing your incentive. Once they mark attendance, the status will change to Interview completed. You should expect payment within 10 business days of your session.

What incentive types are available when User Interviews distributes?

User Interviews-distributed incentives are offered as a "choice of dozens of digital gift cards" through our incentives provider, Tremendous.

For Recruit projects, we support participants in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, South Africa, and India. Make sure to redeem the correct currency for your location.

For Hub projects, incentives are available in every country supported by Tremendous (except for cash rewards and direct payment methods such as PayPal). We offer all prepaid, gift card, and donation options from their catalog. View the countries and incentive types supported by Tremendous

To learn more about incentives and currency options, visit our Incentives and currency options guide

About Tremendous

Tremendous lets you choose from 1,000+ incentive types in over 200 countries. Note that we don't support cash options like PayPal, Venmo, bank transfer, or the physical prepaid Visa. We do offer all digital prepaid, gift card, and charitable donation options.

When redeeming, you'll apply your balance to the gift card of your choice. Options vary by country, but in the US, you can choose from options like:

• Virtual Visa
• Amazon
• Walmart
• Starbucks
• Apple
• DoorDash
• Nike
• Nintendo eShop
• Old Navy
• Airbnb
• PetSmart
• REI
• Sephora
• StubHub
• Target
• Uber
• And more

What if the researcher is distributing my incentive?

If the researcher has opted to pay incentives themselves, they choose the type for the study. This may be cash, PayPal, direct deposit, a store gift card, a Visa gift card, a check, a product, or access to a free subscription. The incentive type will always be shown on the study details page before you apply.

When will I receive my incentive?

Most incentives are issued within a day or two of your session. However, researchers have up to 10 business days after a completed session to release payment. This extra time allows them to confirm attendance, review task-based studies, and manually issue payment where needed.

If it's been more than 10 business days since your session, contact our support team. Our team isn't able to look into incentives until after the 10-business-day mark, so please wait until then before reaching out.

Note: Some researchers may have longer incentive timelines. This will be included in the study details provided by the researcher.

How can I check the status of my incentive payment?

1. Log in to your account
2. Select the My studies tab.
3. Locate the study.
4. If the status is Confirmed, the researcher hasn't marked attendance yet. Most researchers mark attendance within a few days of a session, but this can take up to 10 business days. Don't contact support until more than 10 business days have passed.
5. If the status is Paid, User Interviews is distributing your incentive and it's ready to redeem. Learn how to redeem your incentive
6. If the status is Interview completed, the researcher is distributing your incentive and has marked your attendance. Once this status appears, we don't have tracking or additional details on your payment.

How do I redeem my incentive?

You can redeem your User Interviews-distributed incentive from the My Studies tab or via email. Check your spam and junk folders for an email from compensation@userinterviews.com. For step-by-step instructions, visit our Guide on how to redeem your incentive

When can an incentive be withheld?

Researchers reserve the right to withhold payment for the following reasons:

You can review our terms for more information on our incentive and payment policy.

Can I get my incentive in a different form of payment?

The researcher chose the incentive type for their study, so we're unable to change it.

What does 10 business days mean?

Business days are Monday through Friday, excluding weekends and US holidays. An easy way to calculate it: count 2 full weeks from the day you participated, plus one day. For example, if you participated on a Tuesday, you can reach out the following Wednesday, 2 weeks later.

I completed an unmoderated task. When do the 10 business days start?

It depends on the study setup:

• If the study has a task window (a set amount of time before the link expires), the 10 business days start from when the link expires.
• If there's no task window and you've agreed to complete the study by a certain date, the 10 business days start from the study deadline.

You're welcome to submit your unmoderated task early, but please give researchers a full 10 business days from the deadline to mark attendance and release payment. The deadline will be shown on your My Studies dashboard.

Do you have tracking on researcher-issued incentives?

No. Researchers who distribute their own incentives don't share payment details with User Interviews.

My study status is "Confirmed" but it's been more than 10 business days. What do I do?

If the researcher is paying your incentive (anything other than "choice of dozens of digital gift cards"), use the messaging tool to contact them directly — they can often provide an update. If you don't hear back, or if User Interviews is paying your incentive, contact our support team

I participated more than a month ago and wasn't paid. What now?

First, log in and select My studies. If User Interviews is paying the incentive and you haven't redeemed it yet, you'll see Redeem incentive. If you've already redeemed, you'll see View gift code.

If the researcher is paying the incentive, check your inbox for emails around the time of your study. Researchers sometimes send digital gift cards from an unfamiliar email address that may land in spam. Check your confirmation email for that study too — researchers sometimes include details on how and where they'll send your incentive.

If you still can't find your payment, contact our support team. Note that we're unable to follow up on incentives for studies completed more than 3 months ago, so please reach out at the 10-business-day mark if you haven't been paid.