Canonical URL: https://giftcard.news/research-trends/virtual-gift-cards-found-to-increase-respondent-engagement-in-research-s-acad4e378d1e/ --- description: An August 2017 recap discussed North American reward preferences, mobile survey participation and digital reward delivery. title: Virtual Incentives Research Recap Highlights Virtual Cards for Survey Rewards image: https://giftcard.news/images/social/v1/virtual-incentives-research-recap-highlights-cards-survey-rewards-375d22f47ca6676c137559ef823cc6e2.jpg --- 1. [Home](https://giftcard.news/) 2. [Research & Trends](https://giftcard.news/research-trends/) # Virtual Incentives Research Recap Highlights Virtual Cards for Survey Rewards An August 2017 recap discussed North American reward preferences, mobile survey participation and digital reward delivery. By [Oliver Reed](https://giftcard.news/author/oliver-reed/) August 10, 2017 1 min read Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fresearch-trends%2Fvirtual-gift-cards-found-to-increase-respondent-engagement-in-research-s-acad4e378d1e%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Virtual%20Incentives%20Research%20Recap%20Highlights%20Virtual%20Cards%20for%20Survey%20Rewards "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fresearch-trends%2Fvirtual-gift-cards-found-to-increase-respondent-engagement-in-research-s-acad4e378d1e%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Virtual%20Incentives%20Research%20Recap%20Highlights%20Virtual%20Cards%20for%20Survey%20Rewards%20https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fresearch-trends%2Fvirtual-gift-cards-found-to-increase-respondent-engagement-in-research-s-acad4e378d1e%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "WhatsApp") ![Virtual Visa Gift Cards](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/virtual-incentives-research-recap-highlights-cards-survey-rewards-visa-gift-w1280.webp) Photo: Source: virtualincentives.com Virtual cards were the preferred research participation reward among North American respondents in a study recapped by [Virtual Incentives](https://giftcard.news/company/virtual-incentives/) on August 10, 2017\. The company said it had co-sponsored the research with Greenbook and other industry participants. According to the recap, nearly half of respondents participated in research studies to earn a reward or prize. The finding about preferred rewards described respondents’ choices; the article did not set out a measured increase in engagement attributable to a particular incentive. Virtual Incentives argued that digital cards offered operational advantages over cash distribution, including faster delivery and flexibility for recipients. These were the company’s explanations of why the preference mattered to research programme operators. Mobile access was another theme. The recap cited smartphone ownership among 77% of Americans in 2017 and said nearly one-third of study participants preferred completing surveys on a mobile device. The company described its rewards as optimised for mobile delivery, redemption and use. It said API integration could remove the delay between earning a reward and receiving it. At the time of the recap, Virtual Incentives named [Visa](https://giftcard.news/company/visa/), [Mastercard](https://giftcard.news/company/mastercard/) and [Amazon](https://giftcard.news/company/amazon/) among its reward partners and referred to nearly 600 other brands worldwide. It presented that selection as a way to offer research participants more choice. ## Sources and documents ExpandCollapse * [Virtual Rewards Lead to Increased Respondent Engagement](https://www.virtualincentives.com/research-respondent-experience/?utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news) — virtualincentives.com ## In this article ### Companies * [Amazon](https://giftcard.news/company/amazon/) * [Mastercard](https://giftcard.news/company/mastercard/) * [Virtual Incentives](https://giftcard.news/company/virtual-incentives/) * [Visa](https://giftcard.news/company/visa/) Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fresearch-trends%2Fvirtual-gift-cards-found-to-increase-respondent-engagement-in-research-s-acad4e378d1e%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Virtual%20Incentives%20Research%20Recap%20Highlights%20Virtual%20Cards%20for%20Survey%20Rewards "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fresearch-trends%2Fvirtual-gift-cards-found-to-increase-respondent-engagement-in-research-s-acad4e378d1e%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Virtual%20Incentives%20Research%20Recap%20Highlights%20Virtual%20Cards%20for%20Survey%20Rewards%20https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Fresearch-trends%2Fvirtual-gift-cards-found-to-increase-respondent-engagement-in-research-s-acad4e378d1e%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial "WhatsApp") ![Portrait of Oliver Reed](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/oliver-reed-editorial-portrait-w320.webp) About the author ## [Oliver Reed](https://giftcard.news/author/oliver-reed/) Journalist — Industry Deals & Research Oliver Reed covers industry acquisitions, investment and market research for Gift Card News. From reading to building ## Your next move in gift cards. Tell us what you’re building. We’ll help you explore suitable providers. [Find a provider ](https://giftcard.news/find-a-provider/) ## Related articles [Research & Trends](https://giftcard.news/research-trends/) Analysis ### [AI Can Shop for You. Can It Spend Your Gift Cards?](https://giftcard.news/research-trends/ai-can-shop-for-you-can-it-spend-your-gift-cards/) [Oliver Reed](https://giftcard.news/author/oliver-reed/) September 17, 2026 17 min [Research & Trends](https://giftcard.news/research-trends/) Analysis ### [Gift Card Fraud in the United States](https://giftcard.news/research-trends/gift-card-fraud-in-the-united-states/) [Oliver Reed](https://giftcard.news/author/oliver-reed/) September 17, 2026 66 min [Research & Trends](https://giftcard.news/research-trends/) Analysis ### [Can You Cash Out Your Gift Card? A State-by-State Guide](https://giftcard.news/research-trends/can-you-cash-out-your-gift-card-state-by-state-guide/) [Oliver Reed](https://giftcard.news/author/oliver-reed/) September 17, 2026 79 min ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher","name":"Gift Card News","url":"https://giftcard.news/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/brand/giftcard-news-logo.svg"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://giftcard.news/author/oliver-reed/#person","name":"Oliver Reed","url":"https://giftcard.news/author/oliver-reed/","description":"Oliver Reed covers industry acquisitions, investment and market research for Gift Card News.","jobTitle":"Journalist — Industry Deals & Research","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/oliver-reed-editorial-portrait.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/oliver-reed-editorial-portrait.webp","width":256,"height":256,"caption":"Illustrated 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