Incentive recipient claim reward flow

When Ethnio sends emails to your recipients, depending on if you locked country/currency or decided to use global detection, they might be asked to verify their country. Here’s how global detection works.

1. Country & Language - We automatically verify what country your participant is in, so they will only see available methods within their country and in their currency. If you've setup translations, they should automatically see their correct language according to their browser, GeoIP, and more.
2. Payment methods - After selecting their country, the participant will see available options. If donate portion or charities are turned on, they also see those options.
3. Confirm email - After selecting their payment method, the participant will enter their email to receive their reward. This serves as security verification as they have to receive this additional email to receive their selected payment method.
4. Selected payment method email - The participant will receive their reward link in their email inbox.

If none of the methods suit your recipient

The options on the redemption page are the methods selected for that study that are available in the recipient's detected country, so the list can be shorter in some countries than in others. If none of them work for a recipient, they can reply to the email they received, and you or our rewards help team can check which methods are enabled for the study or ask rewards support about other options in that country.

Enabling an additional method for a study later does not change a reward link that has already been issued. Once the extra method is in place, you or our rewards team can sometimes cancel that reward, and re-issue a new reward so the recipient gets a new link showing the updated list of options.

The same applies to a gift card that turns out to be valid only in another country. If a recipient selects a gift card and then sees that it can't be used where they are, they should stop at the redemption warning and not continue past it to collect the code. As long as the code hasn't been collected, you or our rewards team can reopen or re-issue that reward so the recipient gets a new link and can select a method available in their own country.

Some rewards have more steps

If the payment method has additional steps, sometimes participants may get a separate email from the rewards provider rather than from Ethnio, so it can look different from the Ethnio emails the recipient received earlier.

That email goes to the address typed on the redemption page, which is not always the same address the original invite was sent to. If it hasn't shown up, it's worth checking spam and promotions folders and confirming which address was typed. A recipient who still can't find it can reply to the email they received from the research team, who can check the status of that individual reward in Ethnio and ask for it to be sent again.

If the recipient selects bank deposit 🏦

Bank deposit works a little differently than gift cards. After selecting it, the recipient receives a second email from the rewards provider with a secure form for entering or updating their account details. Those details are collected and processed by the rewards partner, so they are never entered in Ethnio or visible to you or your team.

This second email usually follows shortly after redeeming. If it never arrives, check spam and promotions folders and confirm the address typed on the redemption page, then ask the research team to have it sent again.

If a deposit is later returned as invalid – for example because the account details were mistyped or the account can't accept the deposit – the reward isn't lost. The research team can reopen the redeemed reward so the recipient gets a new link and can re-enter their bank details or select a different payment method instead.

If the recipient selects a physical card 💳

In some countries the only prepaid option available is a physical Visa card that is mailed to the recipient, so it appears on the redemption page instead of a digital card. After redeeming, the recipient provides a mailing address and the card provider ships the card.

Shipping is handled entirely by the card provider, so delivery timing and any tracking information come from them rather than from Ethnio, and we can't look up where a card is once it has been sent.

If a recipient would rather not wait for a card in the mail, they can reply to the email they received from the research team. As with bank deposit, the research team can reopen the redeemed reward so the recipient gets a new link and can select a different payment method instead.

If the recipient selects a peer-to-peer payment method 📱

Peer-to-peer methods such as Venmo need a mobile number or account handle, and that detail is not entered on the Ethnio redemption page. After redeeming, the recipient receives a follow-up email from the rewards provider asking for it, and the provider collects and processes that information rather than Ethnio.

That email goes to the address typed on the redemption page and can land in spam or promotions folders. If it never arrives, the recipient can reply to the email they received from the research team, who can ask for the reward to be sent again or re-issued.