---
title: Paying the right price for your survey
description: Paying the right price for your survey
image: https://www.prosapient.com/hubfs/rightprice.webp
---

[![pS logo](https://www.prosapient.com/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(84).png) ![pS logo](https://www.prosapient.com/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(84).png)](https://www.prosapient.com/)

[Log in](https://platform.prosapient.com)

- [HOME](https://www.prosapient.com)
- SERVICES 
    - ### [Surveys Trusted quantitative insights for faster, more confident strategic investment decisions.](https://www.prosapient.com/platform/survey)
    - ### [Long-term Engagements Deal advisors, embedded project specialists and standing research panels, released to work directly with you for a single fixed fee.](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/long-term-engagements)
    - ### [AI-moderated Interviews Gather expert insights at scale, faster than ever without compromising on quality](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/aimi)
- TECHNOLOGY 
    - ### Transcripts
      
      Delivering transcripts quickly & accurately
    - ### [Platform Our pioneering AI technology delivers speedy, seamless end-to-end service.](https://www.prosapient.com/technology)
    - ### [Search AI Enjoy fast, reliable knowledge delivery through our dynamic sourcing model](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/search-ai)
    - ### [AI-Moderated Interviews Gather expert insights at scale, faster than ever without compromising on quality](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/aimi)
- [EXPERTS](https://www.prosapient.com/expert-faqs)
- INSIGHTS 
    - ### [Insights Explore our articles & blog posts](https://www.prosapient.com/blog)
    - ### [Case Studies Explore our collection of case studies](https://www.prosapient.com/case-studies)
- CAREERS 
    - ### [Careers Explore our careers opportunities at proSapient](https://www.prosapient.com/careers)
    - ### [Early-Careers Add some rocket fuel to your career trajectory and join our mission to innovate expert networking.](https://www.prosapient.com/early-careers)
    - ### [Diversity & Inclusion Diversity and inclusion are more than just words. At proSapient, we celebrate, support, and champion diversity and inclusion in all areas.](https://www.prosapient.com/diversity)
- ABOUT US 
    - ### [About us Learn more about the proSapient way.](https://www.prosapient.com/about)
    - ### [Compliance Navigate regulatory complexities seamlessly with proSapient's bespoke compliance solutions.](https://www.prosapient.com/compliance)

[Insights Blog](https://www.prosapient.com/blog) » Latest Articles

 Categories

- [Interviews](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/interviews)
- [AI](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/ai)
- [Surveys](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/everything-about-surveys)
- [Uncategorized](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/uncategorized)
- [BlackHistoryMonth](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/blackhistorymonth)
- [DEI](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/dei)
- [MVP Content](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/mvp-content)
- [Software](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/software)
- [expertnetwork](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/expertnetwork)

[Surveys](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/everything-about-surveys)

 Mar 03, 2020 • [Jordan Shlosberg](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/author/jordan-shlosberg)

# Paying the right price for your survey

In Part 1, we focussed on the power of [high-quality screening](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/improving-your-surveys-screening-jordan-shlosberg-cfa/) to get the right respondents but a very important question to ask is... how much does the **right respondent** cost? Survey panels are opaque assets and pricing is extremely varied between each. Quality varies too.

> *When you receive survey quotes, how can you be sure if cheap is cheap for a reason or expensive in order to pad a bottom line?*

Conducting large surveys is a relatively expensive form of primary research but when done properly, you can generate insights worth ten times the cost. Done incorrectly and a 'cheap' survey becomes extremely costly because the cost is sunk and the time cannot be recouped.

**How much would you accept to take a survey?**

How much does your ideal respondent earn? Double it to get the contractor rate, divide by 252 to get the day rate and a further 10 to get an hourly rate.

- I want to survey IT professionals earning $100k per year
- The appropriate day rate is $800 and the hourly rate is $80.
- A 15 minute survey should, therefore, cost the panel provider $20. Add the margin and you get to **$25-$30.**

If a panel provider is offering you an IT professional earning $100k for the bargain price of $10, think to yourself, would this person spend 15 minutes of her life in the pursuit of $10 minus the margin? If not, what are the kind of respondents are you receiving?

**What's the incidence?**

Some panel providers pay respondents whether or not you use them which means the profit from the accepted respondents must offset the loss from paying the false respondents.

Panel providers work on an incidence rate, which is essentially the % of the panel that would be accepted as a respondent. The lower the incidence rate, the more false respondents and therefore the higher the cost in order to offset these false numbers.

If you are offered a cheap price for a population with a low incidence, be wary. As a rule of thumb a B2C respondent with high incidence (IE coffee drinkers) will cost around $2-3 but a B2C respondent of Uber and Lyft drivers ([0.5% incidence](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB877GB877&sxsrf=ACYBGNT6nzgMyuLuo2V3gLuYsGjS5C9ewQ%3A1581028490367&ei=ipQ8XpP_FcKl_QaAvrz4Dw&q=how+many+rideshare+drivers+are+there+in+the+us&oq=how+many+rideshare+drivers&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0l6j0i22i30l4.5471.9145..9864...2.1..0.113.2734.20j8......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j35i39j0i273j0i67j35i305i39j0i10j0i20i263.k40KPuPdEY8)) maybe $8-$10.

The higher the price, the more likely the panel is of good quality but conversely the more likely the panel provider is taking a larger margin from you. If you follow the rules set out above, you will likely find a quote somewhere in the middle. When it comes to decision time, regardless if you choose the $20 cost per complete or $25 cost per complete, a thousand-person survey still costs over $20k. Is $5k additional saving worth taking the risk that the cheap provider provides low-quality respondents the invalidates your entire research?

**At proSapient,** we think about quality and price. Every single person on our panel has been interviewed and their extensive CV is known beforehand. We supplement our own panel with partner panels which we have extensively quality tested. Our platform can reach millions of professions and hundreds of millions of consumers.

We also provide consulting support on your survey design with [intense focus on the survey screening questions](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/improving-your-surveys-screening-jordan-shlosberg-cfa) to ensure you always receive valid data.

Please feel free to contact hayley@prosapient.com if you want to learn more!

Share [![Share on Facebook](https://www.lean-labs.com/hs-fs/hubfs/LLv2/images/icon-blog-facebook.png?noresize&width=24&name=icon-blog-facebook.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prosapient.com%2Fblog%2Fpaying-the-right-price-for-your-survey%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on LinkedIn](https://www.lean-labs.com/hs-fs/hubfs/LLv2/images/icon-blog-linkedin.png?noresize&width=24&name=icon-blog-linkedin.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prosapient.com%2Fblog%2Fpaying-the-right-price-for-your-survey%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dlinkedin) [![Share on Twitter](https://www.lean-labs.com/hs-fs/hubfs/LLv2/images/icon-blog-twitter.png?noresize&width=24&name=icon-blog-twitter.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prosapient.com%2Fblog%2Fpaying-the-right-price-for-your-survey%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prosapient.com%2Fblog%2Fpaying-the-right-price-for-your-survey%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=Paying%20the%20right%20price%20for%20your%20survey)

Published by [Jordan Shlosberg](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/author/jordan-shlosberg)  March 3, 2020

[![](https://www.prosapient.com/hubfs/screener.png)](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/improving-your-survey-screening-quesitons)

[Surveys](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/tag/everything-about-surveys)

 03.3.2020 [Jordan Shlosberg](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/author/jordan-shlosberg)

### [Improving your survey screening questions](https://www.prosapient.com/blog/improving-your-survey-screening-quesitons)

[![prosapient-logo-black](https://www.prosapient.com/hubfs/prosapient-logo-black.svg)](https://www.prosapient.com)

- Solutions 
    - [I need to find higher quality experts](https://www.prosapient.com/platform/find-better-experts)
    - [I want to run surveys with vetted experts](https://www.prosapient.com/platform/survey)
    - [I want to find advisors for long-term engagements](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/long-term-engagements)
    - [I need higher quality transcripts](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/transcripts)
- Technology 
    - [Core features](https://www.prosapient.com/technology)
    - [Search AI](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/search-ai)
    - [Transcripts](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/transcripts)
    - [AI-Moderated Interviews](https://www.prosapient.com/technology/aimi)
- Company 
    - [Careers](https://www.prosapient.com/careers)
    - [Privacy](https://www.prosapient.com/privacy-policy)
    - [About](https://www.prosapient.com/about)
- [Expert](https://www.prosapient.com/expert-faqs) 
    - [Expert Hub](https://www.prosapient.com/expert-faqs)
- Insights 
    - [Relationship case studies](https://www.prosapient.com/case-studies)
    - [Blog](https://www.prosapient.com/blog)

© proSapient 2026  
All rights reserved

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "Organization",
  "knowsAbout" : [ "Expert Network", "Primary Research", "Expert Calls", "Call Transcripts", "Artificial Intelligence", "Private Equity Due Diligence", "B2B Surveys", "Market Research" ],
  "logo" : "https://www.prosapient.com/hubfs/prosapient-logo.png",
  "name" : "proSapient",
  "offers" : [ {
    "@type" : "Offer",
    "itemOffered" : {
      "@type" : "Service",
      "description" : "Direct 1-on-1 calls and consultations with highly vetted global industry experts.",
      "name" : "Expert Consultations"
    }
  }, {
    "@type" : "Offer",
    "itemOffered" : {
      "@type" : "Service",
      "description" : "High-quality, searchable expert call transcripts featuring automated insight extraction.",
      "name" : "Transcripts & Insights"
    }
  }, {
    "@type" : "Offer",
    "itemOffered" : {
      "@type" : "Service",
      "description" : "Custom quantitative B2B surveys targeting niche, high-level industry professionals.",
      "name" : "B2B Surveys"
    }
  }, {
    "@type" : "Offer",
    "itemOffered" : {
      "@type" : "Product",
      "description" : "Proprietary AI-moderated expert interview and primary research platform.",
      "name" : "AIMI"
    }
  } ],
  "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/prosapient/", "https://twitter.com/prosapient" ],
  "url" : "https://www.prosapient.com"
}
```