Pay larger incentives for tests longer than 20 minutes

This article applies to: UserTesting 

On this page:

• About tests longer than 20 minutes
• Offer larger incentives

About tests longer than 20 minutes

• Unmoderated studies exceeding the recommended 15–20 minutes are considered longer tests.
• Contributors who spend more than 20 minutes should receive additional compensation.
• Offer a larger incentive to:
  • Reduce drop-offs for hard-to-reach or niche audiences.
  • Ensure data quality.
  • Sustain a healthy panel for recruitment over time.
• UserTesting currently doesn’t allow customization of compensation rates by test type. See Session rate card for more details.
  • To offer higher incentives for longer studies, the recommended approach is to invite participants to a short follow-up test after completing the original study.
  • This method uses double the amount of Session Units and automatically delivers double compensation to specific contributors.

Offer larger incentives

1. Determine the average estimated test length.
   Use the Preview test plan feature to test your study from a contributor’s perspective taken at a reasonable pace or by conducting a pilot or soft launch (n=5) of your study. 
    
2. Set expectations.
   • For studies estimated to take around 15–20 minutes — with the possibility that some participants may take longer — use the following language to avoid emphasizing the incentive or unintentionally encouraging extended participation, while still allowing for fair compensation for those that may take longer:
     
     This test may take more than 20 minutes to complete. Are you willing to continue with the test? 
          Yes, I am willing to spend more than 20 minutes to complete the test [Accept] 
          No, I am not willing to spend more than 20 minutes to complete the test. [Reject] 
     
     After completing this test, you may receive a follow-up test for additional compensation. Are you willing to participate in the follow-up test? 
          Yes, I am willing to participate in a follow-up test [Accept] 
          No, I am not willing to participate in a follow-up test [Accept – No need to terminate here, we’re          simply making participants aware they may receive another test later] 
      
   • For studies estimated to reasonably take more than 20 minutes for the majority of participants, use the following language: 
     
     This test may take more than 20 minutes to complete. You’ll be paid for completing it and invited to a short follow-up test (under 1 minute to complete) within 1–2 business days. You’ll receive a second payment after completing the follow-up test to ensure you are fairly compensated for your full participation. Are you willing to proceed? 
          Yes, I am willing to proceed [Accept] 
          No, I am not willing to proceed [Reject] 
      
3. Create a list of participant usernames.
   • After your study finishes fielding, copy and paste a list of all participants’ usernames who completed your study into another document, separated by commas.
   • This will make it easy to invite these contributors to a short follow-up test in Step 5.
      
4. Create a follow-up short test.
   1. Choose Create test.
   2. Select Think-out-loud test.
   3. Click Build audience.
   4. Under Build test plan, navigate to Create from scratch.
   5. Edit the Test plan with the following:
      1. Toggle on Short test on the right of the Study builder.
      2. Under Starting URL, select A blank page.
      3. Paste the following language into the Scenario box: 
         You recently participated in a longer study that took more than 20 minutes to complete. To receive additional compensation for your time, please proceed to the end of this survey.
      4. Add a single task with the following text:
         Thank you for your participation. Please continue to finish this study and receive additional compensation for your time.
          
5. Select your audience.
   1. Choose Select audience.
   2. Click Create from scratch.
   3. Select Specific contributors under Contributor network options.
   4. Paste your list of contributors’ usernames (from Step 3), separated by commas.
   5. Under Other requirements your contributors need to know, add a custom message or paste the Scenario text (You recently participated in a longer study…) to explain the intention of the short follow-up study before contributors open it.
   6. Launch your short follow-up test within 1-2 days of your first study.

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