Virtual Prepaid Cards as Survey Incentives: Why are they better than Paypal

Virtual prepaid cards offer a smarter way to manage survey incentives—enabling instant, secure, and global delivery. Learn how they outperform PayPal by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and providing a better reward experience for participants.

Written by Neha Surana , 7 May 2025

Leave your feedback! Tell us what you think of our product! Help us improve our service! These are a few common surveys we all must have received at some point or the other, either online or in-store. But ever wondered what’s driving people to take up those surveys?

Well, it’s the ‘rewards & incentives’ behind. A survey reward is that ‘hook’ that market researchers, academic researchers, health clinicals, and businesses use to attract their survey participants and increase the response rates to sky-high.

While there are different types of rewards you can think of giving your survey respondents, monetary incentives still tops the list.

If you are using PayPal services to incentivize your survey respondents and have been facing quite a bit of challenges, then it’s time to rethink your reward fulfillment strategies.

Why choose virtual prepaid card as Paypal alternative?

When it comes to online payment services, there are multiple alternatives to PayPal. One of the crucial decisive factors for businesses or market researchers is how widespread the financial service is.

This is where virtual prepaid cards come into the picture. Virtual prepaid card is a card that’s produced, sent, received, and redeemed digitally.

While you may think you know what they are, do you truly understand their maximum potential? We connect the term ‘virtual’ to various products these days that we often tend to forget how it actually applies in this context.

In the case of virtual cards, it is vital to note that ‘virtual’ does not mean “simulated.” Instead, it means instantaneous and digital. For a business, it represents flexibility and accessibility to an efficient, convenient payment solution.

A virtual prepaid card works just like a plastic payment card. It has a unique 16-digit number which is delivered to the recipient via email instantly. It can be used anywhere and everywhere that accepts the network. And a good example of this is Visa or Mastercard.

For businesses, virtual prepaid cards offer a cost-effective and secure way to make payments, which can be delivered – as well as redeemed – instantly globally without any hassle. From incentivizing clinical trials to rewarding market research panelists and everything in between, virtual prepaid cards provide an ultimate flexible solution than PayPal.

Payment providers like Visa and Mastercard are still ahead of Paypal when it comes to flexibility and data protection.

Minimal transaction fee

Unlike PayPal, that charges a hefty fee per transaction, virtual prepaid cards, especially from renowned networks such as Visa and Mastercard offer a low convenience fee when you load the respective money.

Pay faster without any hassle

You won't have to make your survey respondents wait for the card to arrive via post. Not to mention, the additional layer of PIN generation. If convenience and speed is what matters to you while sending monetary incentives, then virtual prepaid cards make an ideal financial companion.

Pay discreetly and securely

Virtual prepaid reward cards are one of the most effective and secure ways to send payments digitally. The payments you make with them are not linked to the recipient’s bank account.

Global access

The beauty of using virtual prepaid cards is that they are 100% secure and can be received as well as redeemed by the recipient in minutes, wherever the network is accepted. A cardholder can manage his/her account easily from anywhere across the world, and with any device.

Instant delivery 

With survey respondents located remotely, there’s no better way to incentivize or reward them than through virtual prepaid cards. The convenience of instant funding and instant delivery enables recipients to spend it right away too.

Environmentally conscious

With virtual card programs in place, there’s less use of plastic cards that end up in the landfill. They don’t harm the environment in any way.

Multiple currencies with auto conversions 

Virtual prepaid reward cards give you the flexibility to send the monetary incentive in the currency you prefer—USD, EUR, GBP, PLN, INR, CHF, MXN, CAD, etc. Not just that, even the currency conversion at the recipient’s end is automatically taken care of.

Saves on cost

When compared to plastic cards, virtual prepaid cards provide significant savings on cost because there isn’t a need for physical card production, packaging, or shipping.

Why choose rewards platform like Xoxoday Plum for sending monetary survey

Here is a clear comparison between reward platforms like Xoxoday Plum and Paypal when sending monetary incentives to survey respondents:

Plum’s Virtual Prepaid Cards

PayPal

Enables you to send virtual prepaid cards from popular networks like Visa and Mastercard instantly to anyone, anywhere

Takes at least 5-7 business days for the transaction to go through

Allows you to send payments upon completion of survey/feedback immediately

Takes at least 7-10 business days to send payment to the recipient post a survey completion

Helps you save on processing fee and manual costs. Lets you avail good discounts on bulk purchases.

Includes manual costs and processing fee

Lets you review and approve survey respondents individually or in bulk

There might be a possibility of discrepancy during bulk, as it’s a manual process

No possibility of repeat claims from survey respondents

There have been customer feedback about double payment issues

Enables you to set up an automated reward campaign and then attach the incentive at the end of the survey to help respondents to claim it easily and

quickly

No such option of customization

Minimal convenience fee

Higher percentage of transaction fee

No exchange rate hassles

Additional cost of 3% on base exchange rate

No upfront charges for sent rewards

Upfront wallet recharge is mandatory

Pay for claimed rewards only

Upfront fee is mandatory

Integration fee is extremely low

Includes additional interest and tax charges

No extra commission charged on purchases or redemption

Includes a commission fee on every transaction

How Kantar scaled global survey incentives seamlessly with Xoxoday Plum

Kantar, a global leader in data, insights, and consulting, operates across 90 markets, providing clients with comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior. To maintain high engagement levels in their surveys, Kantar recognized the need for an efficient, scalable, and user-friendly rewards distribution system.​

Challenges

Prior to implementing Xoxoday Plum, Kantar faced several hurdles:​

  • Manual processes: Reward procurement and distribution were handled manually, leading to logistical inefficiencies and increased operational costs.​
  • Resource drain: The manual system consumed significant employee bandwidth, diverting focus from core research activities.​
  • Data management issues: Tracking reward redemption patterns and generating analytics reports was cumbersome, hindering strategic decision-making.​
  • Adaptation to remote work: The shift to remote operations and a surge in online surveys necessitated a more agile and automated incentive system.​

Solution by Xoxoday Plum

To address these challenges, Kantar partnered with Xoxoday Plum, implementing the following solutions:​

  • Automated reward distribution: Utilized Xoxoday's APIs to automate the distribution of e-gift cards and vouchers upon survey completion, eliminating manual intervention.
  • Global reward catalog: Provided survey participants access to a diverse catalog of over 21,000 reward options across 100+ countries, enhancing participant satisfaction.​
  • Secure and instant delivery: Ensured immediate delivery of rewards via encrypted links through email and SMS, maintaining data privacy and enhancing user experience.​
  • Comprehensive dashboard: Implemented an intuitive dashboard offering detailed reporting and analytics on reward redemption patterns, facilitating informed decision-making.​
  • Rapid deployment: Achieved full implementation within 72 hours without disrupting existing processes, showcasing Xoxoday Plum's agility.​

Results

Post-implementation, Kantar observed significant improvements:​

  • Operational efficiency: Streamlined reward distribution processes, reducing manual workload and operational costs.​
  • Enhanced participant experience: Provided instant, flexible reward options, leading to higher participant satisfaction and engagement.​
  • Data-driven insights: Gained access to real-time analytics, enabling better tracking of reward redemption and informed strategy adjustments.​
  • Scalability: Delivered over $3.32 million in rewards within three months, demonstrating the system's capacity to handle large-scale operations.​
  • Resource optimization: Allowed research and business teams to focus on core activities by outsourcing reward management to Xoxoday Plum.​

Kantar's collaboration with Xoxoday Plum exemplifies how automating reward distribution can lead to enhanced efficiency, participant satisfaction, and data-driven decision-making in survey operations. By addressing the challenges of manual processes and adapting to the demands of remote work, Kantar successfully transformed its incentive program into a streamlined, scalable system.​

Transform Your Survey Incentives with Xoxoday Plum

Here’s how Xoxoday Plum stands out as the ideal rewards platform for survey incentives:

  • Instant, global delivery: Send Visa or Mastercard-backed virtual prepaid cards instantly, anywhere in the world.
  • Low to no fees: Avoid high transaction and currency conversion fees; pay only for claimed rewards with no upfront costs.
  • Secure and discreet: Rewards are not linked to bank accounts, ensuring privacy and safety for recipients.
  • Automation and scale: Set up campaigns that automatically issue incentives upon survey completion—no manual effort needed.
  • Bulk efficiency: Review and approve respondents in bulk, reducing errors and administrative overhead.
  • Environmentally friendly: Go digital with rewards that don’t require physical materials or shipping.

Multi-currency support: Send and redeem rewards in over 10 global currencies with automatic conversion.

Ready to move beyond manual processes and high fees?
With Xoxoday Plum, you can automate, personalize, and globalize your survey incentive program—without compromising on security or speed.

Schedule a free demo today and discover how easy rewarding can be!
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