This article covers incentive management in EFS Panel, including bonus systems, prize draws, and promotional campaigns. It provides detailed information on managing panelist rewards, conducting prize draws, and running successful recruitment campaigns.

Bonus System

The bonus system allows you to manage and track incentives given to panelists for various activities. (Access to the bonus system menu is protected by the ACL right panelbonus: Read rights are required.)

Account Statement

The Account Statement tab provides an overview of all account movements in the Panel. It includes:

Additions and Subtractions

Additions and subtractions are listed in both points and currency.
Monthly details can be viewed by clicking on the specific month, with yearly aggregated values.
Total sum row displays the lifetime sum of all additions and subtractions.

Balance Section

Double-check the incentive management calculations using double-entry bookkeeping:
- Sum of additions and subtractions: Calculated by summing all account movements.
- Sum of all panelist balances: Sum of the current status of all panelists’ accounts.
These values should be identical. Report discrepancies to support.

Monthly Statement

View account history for a particular month by clicking on the desired month.
Additions: Aggregated by type with details on number of additions, total points, and corresponding currency. Types include:
- Project: Bonus points from surveys.
- Registration: Points for new registrations.
- Recruiting friends: Points from Tell-a-Friend campaigns.
- Forum participation: Points for forum discussion participation.
- Cancellation: Points credited if a payment request is cancelled.
- Moderator allocation: Points manually allocated by moderators.
- Other gratifications: Points from special programs.
Subtractions: Aggregated by type with details on number of subtractions, total points, and corresponding currency. Types include:
- Bonus: Points redeemed for bonuses, debited upon payment request.
- Moderator subtraction: Points manually subtracted by moderators.
- Points reset actions: Points reset to zero.
- Other subtractions: Points subtracted from special programs.

Current Bonus Points Distribution

Panel Status: The “Listing according to panel status” tab shows the distribution of bonus points by panel status.
Language Version: The “Listing according to language version” tab shows the distribution of bonus points by language version.

Account Statement of Individual Panelists

To access an individual panelist’s account statement, go to their account detail view and click on the Edit incentives button. Panelists can view their account balance and account movements in the internal area of the external view.

Overview of Bonus Allocation for Project Participation

Bonus points are typically earned through participation in survey projects. Incentives are often given for reaching final pages, answering specific questions, or other user-defined events.

In the People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Project list menu, all such allocations are tracked.

Bonus Allocations per Project

The table overview includes:

Projects: Project titles, Project type, Project start and end dates, Number of rewarded participants (Count), Last allocation date, Bonus points assigned, and Value in currency.

Click the Excel icon in the “Actions” tab to download detailed allocations for each project.

Bonus Allocation Within Projects per Month

Clicking on a project name shows monthly bonus point allocations, including:

Month: Months with allocations for the project.
Bonus points: Number of points allocated each month.
Value in currency: Monetary value of points each month.

Overview of Bonus Allocation Within Campaigns

Bonus points can also be earned through “canvass friends” campaigns, where new panelists are recruited.

Successful Canvassing

A person is considered “successfully canvassed” if they register and complete the master data survey.

Bonus Allocation by Campaign

The People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Campaign list menu records all campaigns with earned bonus points. The table overview includes:

Campaign description, Current status, Participants recruited but not active, Recruited participants, Added points (number of points allocated), and Money value (value of points in currency).

Bonus Allocation Within Individual Campaigns

Clicking on a campaign name shows monthly bonus point distributions, including:

Month: Months with payments for the campaign.
Added points: Number of points allocated each month.
Money value: Monetary value of points each month.

Viewing Panelists with a Specified Number of Bonus Points

In the People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Bonus points overview menu, you can identify panelists with an account balance above a preset minimum value.

Enter the desired number of points in the “Minimum amount of bonus points” field (enter “0” to display all panelists).
Optionally, restrict the selection to panelists with a specific panel status.
Click on Search.

A list of panelists will be displayed, including their first name, last name, email address, pseudonym, account, other ID, panel status, bonus points, and their monetary value. To download the list, use the Excel export or CSV export buttons.

Viewing Transactions for a Defined Period

In the People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Transactions overview menu, you can find all transactions processed within a specific period.

Define the time period and click Search.
The list will display detailed information for each transaction.
To download the list, use the Excel export or CSV export buttons.

Exporting Bonus Points of Former Panelists

In the People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Bonus points log menu, you can download a list of panelists who have quit or were deleted, including their remaining bonus points. This is important if panelists request redemption of bonus points after quitting, as contact data are deleted upon status “deleted”. The log allows you to download necessary information.

Note: Write rights for panel_log are necessary to access the bonus points log.

Configuring Currency and Conversion Factor for Incentive Management

To configure the display currency and conversion factor:

Open People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Panel currency menu.
Define the following settings:
- Currency label
- Conversion factor (currency / bonus points): Enter the number of currency units corresponding to one bonus point. This factor is used to calculate and display the monetary value of bonus points.

Important Information:

Changes to the currency or conversion factor do not affect the unit “bonus points” on which calculations are based, but they do affect displayed monetary values in the incentive management system.
Changing the conversion factor in a live panel can alter the displayed monetary values for past payments.
It is recommended to configure the currency and conversion factor before the panel goes online.
Settings apply to the entire installation; different currencies or conversion factors for different websites or language versions are currently not possible.

Allocating Incentives to Panelists

EFS Panel offers different options for allocating incentives:

As a reward after completing registration.
With bonus points for taking part in a survey.
As a reward to panel groups.
As a reward to any pools of panelists selected via panelists administration.
As a reward to individual panelists.

Rewarding Registration with Bonus Points

Providing default values for a language version

To pre-set bonus points for registration, go to Website → {Selected language version} → Configuration tab, and enter the amount in the “Number of bonus points granted on registration” field.

Allocating bonus points depending on way of entry

To set bonus points for a specific way of entry, go to People → Panel configuration → Ways of entry, open the desired way of entry, enter the number in the “Number of bonus points” field, and click Save.
To revert to the default setting, delete the value, leave the field empty, and Save.

Rewarding Survey Participation with Bonus Points

Options for rewarding participation:

System final page: Specify the bonus points amount in Project properties → Survey messages in the “Number of bonus points to allot when reaching standard final page” field.
Intermediate final pages: Define amounts for each page in Project properties → Bonus points configuration.
Bonus triggers: Reward specific events like reaching a questionnaire page, answering a question correctly, or other events.

A panelist can receive multiple rewards in one survey (e.g., per trigger and on the final page).

Defining the reason for the allocation

Set the reason in Project properties → Survey messages in the “Entry into the panelist’s bonus points history” field. Enter a general, meaningful text for all allocations.
For multilingual projects, enter the translation in Language editor → Survey messages.

Controlling Bonus Payments

Initiating Payments

Most panels allow panelists to initiate bonus payments through a personalized homepage, such as a shop or a form to exchange points for vouchers.
Voucher sending can be handled within EFS and can be automated if necessary. Use People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Issuing of vouchers to check and issue requests.
External payment types, like mailing bonuses, can be tracked using People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Payment list. This allows checking and tracking the payment requests and external progress.
Payment requests can be checked before processing and inappropriate requests can be canceled.
Approved payment requests can be downloaded for external processing.
Register the completion of the external payment process within EFS once done.

Defining Bonuses Offered

In Website → Bonus management, define which bonuses are offered to panelists.

Sending Confirmation Mail upon Bonus Redemption

EFS allows you to set up a confirmation mail sent each time a panelist redeems a bonus via the website. This ensures you are informed of payment requests early, allowing for quick checks and processing. This function can also confirm the redemption to the panelists.

Steps to Set Up Confirmation Mail:

Create a Mail Template:
- Create a mail template of the “Standard mail” type.
- Use the following wildcards:
  - Participant variables: #u_000n# (filled with panelist data).
  - Master data: #m_000n# and #md_000n#.
  - Redemption-specific wildcards:
    - #item_title#: Bonus title
    - #item_description#: Description
    - #item_description2#: Description 2
    - #item_category_title#: Bonus category title
    - #item_selected_amount#: Value of payment
    - #item_vendor#: Manufacturer
Configure the Redemption Page:
- In the website editor, open the “Redeem points” page.
- Select the mail template in the “Mail template for confirmation mail” field of the “Bonus list and redemption” module.
- Specify the recipient(s) in the field below (separate multiple recipients with commas).
- To send a confirmation to panelists, use the wildcard #u_email# to include their email addresses.
- Click Save to confirm.

Viewing the Payment Requests

1. Aggregate View

In the People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Payment list menu, you can view and edit payment requests.

The overview lists requests aggregated by bonus type and month.
Bonus types with open requests: Click the title or Edit icon to open and process lists of requests with statuses “earmarked” and “exported”.
Bonus types without open requests: Not clickable.
Detail View button: Access a list of all payment requests, including processed ones.
Use the search function to filter by request status, bonus type and category, accounting date, and type of payment.

2. Detail View

Click the Detail view button in the aggregated view to see all payment requests, including processed ones.

Alternative Recipient Address:

Optionally, panelists can specify an alternative recipient address (e.g., workplace or friend’s address). This feature requires special programming.
The alternative address is stored during redemption and listed in the “Altern. recipient” column in the detail view and export.

Search and Export:

Use the search function to find individual panelists or restrict the list by request status, bonus type and category, accounting date, and type of payment. You can also display deleted panelists.
Download the list using the Excel export and CSV export buttons. Exporting changes the status of all “earmarked” records to “exported” to prevent duplicate export and payment.

3. Payment Statuses in Detail

The request statuses describe whether a payment request has been processed and the result.

Status	Meaning
earmarked	This status is automatically assigned to all new payment requests. It is changed as soon as an administrator exports the data for external processing or changes the status to “paid” resp. “canceled”.
exported	As soon as you export the data from the detail view, the status of “earmarked” payment requests is changed to “exported”. Thus, payment requests which have been exported for external processing can be recognized easily and you can prevent duplicate export and duplicate payment.
paid	This status is assigned to payment requests when an administrator has applied the “write off” action. Usually, this happens once the request has been processed outside EFS, i.e. once you’ve sent, for example, a bonus to the panelist.
canceled	This status is assigned to payment requests when an administrator has applied the “cancel” action.

To process payment requests efficiently, follow these steps to merge data export and status changes into a single step:

Open Detail View:
- Click on the Detail view button.
Use Extended Search:
- Restrict the list to payment requests with status “earmarked”.
- Optionally, further restrict the selection by specific bonus type and time period.
- The list will show earmarked (not-yet-processed) payment requests from the selected time period.
Export and Change Status:
- Click the Excel export or CSV export button and save the exported file.
- During export, the status of selected earmarked requests will automatically change to “exported”.
- This ensures exported requests are easily recognized and prevents duplicate export and payment.
Process Requests Outside EFS:
- Use the exported file to process requests, such as sending bonuses to panelists.
- All necessary data is contained in the exported file.
Log Results in EFS:
- Tick the “Actions” checkbox for the processed requests.
- Select the action taken (e.g., “write off” or “cancel”) from the drop-down list.
- Confirm with Execute.
- The status in EFS will change to “paid” or “canceled”.
Recognize New Requests:
- Next time you enter the payments administration, new requests will be assigned the “earmarked” status, while processed requests will have at least the status “exported”.

Processing Payments by Bonus Type or by Individual Request
Alternatively, you can process payments by bonus type: If you click on the title of a bonus type or on the Edit icon in the aggregated view, a dialog opens, in which you can view all open payment requests of the respective bonus type and month (i.e. all payment requests with statuses “earmarked” and “exported”). After processing the payment requests outside EFS, use the “Actions” checkbox and the drop-down list to enter the result (“write off” or “cancel”) into EFS.

Prize Draws

In the People → Incentive management → Prize draws menu, you will find a complete list of prize draws set up for the panel. The table includes:

Short description, Date of creation, Last change, Status, Number of prizes, Participating group

You can display or hide columns using the View function and search the table contents using the standard search functions.

Actions Available:

Create Prize Draw: Click to open the dialog for creating a new prize draw.
Edit Prize Draw: Click the icon to open the dialog for the selected prize draw.
Archive: Appears once winners have been paid, allowing you to archive the prize draw.
Delete Prize Draw: Click to initiate the removal of the prize draw.

Note:

Access to the Prize draws menu is protected by the ACL right panelgrat. Read rights are required to access or create new prize draws.

Properties of Prize Draws

Status of the Prize Draw:

Indicates progress of the prize draw and allocation of individual prizes.
Changes to “Winners paid” once the first winner is assigned this status.

Status	Explanation
Created	The prize draw has been set up, but prizes have not been defined yet.
Prizes defined	The prizes which can be won have been set.
Winners drawn	The prize draw has been played out.
Winners informed	The winners have been informed.
Winners paid	The prize draw is over.

Conducting a Prize Draw

1. Creating a Prize Draw

Click on the Create prize draw button.
Enter data in the fields “Title of prize draw” and “Description”.
Select the group category and participating group from the drop-down list.
Confirm by clicking on the Save button.

2. Defining Prizes

On the 2. Prizes tab, enter the name, number, and price per unit for each prize.
Click Save to confirm entries.
To add more prizes, click on the Add row button, enter data, and Save.
If necessary, delete redundant rows by activating the “Delete” checkbox and saving.

3. Drawing the Winners

Go to the 3. Prize draw tab.
Review all details carefully.
Click on the Assign winners button to draw winners.
The status changes to “Winners drawn” and the 4. Winner tab opens.

4. Paying the Winners

On the 4. Winner tab, view the overview of winners with name, email address, and assigned prize.
Use the search function to select winners.
Use the “Actions” checkboxes and drop-down list to notify winners or change their status.
Export winner data using the Excel or CSV export button.

Informing Winners:

Select winners and apply the “Send e-mail” action.
Write a notification or use a mail template of type “Winner mail”.
Use wildcards: Participant data, master data, #prize_draw# (Title of prize draw), #prize# (Prize).
The status changes to “Winners informed” after sending.

Changing Statuses:

Search for winners, activate the “Actions” checkboxes.
Select “Set status to notified” or “Set status to paid out” and confirm with Execute.

Exporting Winners’ Data:

Export contact details (first name, last name, email address), allocated prize, and status using Excel or CSV export buttons.
Read rights for “panel_email_gratification” are required to view email addresses.

Archiving Prize Draws

Click the Archive icon to archive a prize draw.
Archived prize draws can be read but not edited.
Click the Reactivate icon to reactivate a prize draw.

Campaigns

You can conduct promotional campaigns to reward subscribers who invite new subscribers. Panelists are asked to invite others during a defined period, using a predefined invitation mail provided on the panel site. They can add personal comments and send the mail to friends. Panelists receive a reward for each successfully canvassed friend who registers and completes the master data survey. These new candidates are assigned a separate way of entry to distinguish them in the system.

Overview of Campaigns

In the People → Incentive management → Campaigns menu, you can see all promotional campaigns.

Displayed Information: Participating group and current status.
Search Modes: Simple and extended search available. Extended search can filter campaigns started within a certain period.
View Options: Click the View button to activate/deactivate table columns or change rows per page.
Export Options: Download the list using the Excel export / CSV export buttons.

Actions in the “Actions” Column:

Edit: Opens the edit dialog.
Copy Campaign: Creates a copy of the campaign.
Campaign Statistics: Shows the results of the campaign.
Archive: Assigns the status “archived” to the campaign (cannot be reactivated).
Delete: Removes the campaign.

Bulk Actions Using the Drop-Down List:

Delete: Removes selected campaigns.
Change Status: Changes the status of selected campaigns to activated, finished, or archived.

Properties of Promotional Campaigns

Properties Table: Lists all properties of promotional campaigns, including details and current statuses.FieldMeaningTitle of campaignAssign a meaningful title once you have created several campaigns; this will make it easier to distinguish between the individual projects later on.DescriptionAdditional internal descriptive text.Group categoryThe main category of the group that is to participate in the campaign.GroupThe group that participates in the campaign.Upper limit of friends to be canvassedYou can specify an upper limit for the number of friends to be canvassed.Specifying such a number will make it harder to abuse your campaign: If you do not use a limit, it will be possible to dispatch an unlimited number of invitations. That would not serve the purpose of a content-related campaign.At the same time, specifying an upper limit allows you to limit the number of bonus points a panelist can receive for canvassing friends.Up to 999 friends per recruiter are permitted per campaign.Upper limit of friends to be canvassed per weekThis restriction is provided to give you another control option for a campaign.To define the starting point of the weekly intervals, select the first day of the week in the global website configuration.A practical example: You allow an active panelist to canvass 100 friends. If you limit the maximum number of friends canvassed per week to 25, that will give them the possibility to invite 25 friends every week. This has the added advantage of allowing you to plan for a fixed maximum number per week.Up to 127 invitations per recruiter are permitted per campaign in a week.Beginning / End of campaignThe campaign is automatically started and ended on the dates specified. This allows you to control its duration. You can subsequently extend or shorten the deadline.Canvassing bonus (points)Specify the number of bonus points a panelist will receive for successfully canvassing a friend.The number of points should be in a reasonable relation to the number of points assigned for other actions such as registration or participation in a survey. For example, a panelist would probably find it absurd it they received, say, 50 points for registration, but only 5 points for canvassing a friend. You can only ensure the success of a campaign by giving an incentive that will appear strong enough.Mail templateIn the drop down list you can select the mail template (see above).
Processing status

The processing status indicates how far along the respective campaign has progressed. The following processing statuses are used:

Step	Explanation
Created	The status of a newly created campaign.
Activated	The campaign has been activated. The panelists can use the campaign functions during a specified period.
Finished	The campaign has been finished. Reactivation is possible.
Archived	The campaign has beenarchived. Archived campaigns cannot be edited or copied anymore. Please mind that once a campaign has been archived, it is not possible to reactivate it.

Creating a Campaign

Creating a Mail Template

Switch to Libraries → Mail templates.
Create a mail template for a new campaign and assign it the type “promotion mail”.

Notes:

Sender: Select from addresses under Mail templates → Mail senders.
Subject: Panelists cannot see the subject, but recipients will. Use a factual, self-explaining title without promotional slogans like “Make money now” to avoid spam perception.
Text:
- Include a link to the panel site using the #url# wildcard.
- Use wildcards to incorporate the canvassing panelist’s name and email address for credibility.
- Offer a contact address for complaints to identify misuse.
- In standard panels, use wildcards #promotion_header# and #promotion_footer# to insert panelists’ personal messages into the mail.

Designing the “Tell-a-friend” Form

The standard panel form includes two fields for personal messages.
Use #promotion_header# and #promotion_footer# wildcards to insert these messages.
If only one or no personal messages are allowed, remove the entry fields in the “func_tell_a_friend” template.

Creating and Activating a Campaign

Go to People → Incentive management → Campaign menus.
Click the Create campaign button to open the form for a new campaign.
Enter the necessary data and click Save.
The campaign, now in “Created” status, will appear in the overview table. Click Activate to start the campaign.

Editing a Campaign

Click on the campaign name in the overview table to access the “Edit campaign” form.
This form is similar to the creation form, with an added “Status” field showing the current status.
Edit the entries as needed and click Save to apply changes.

Allocating Candidates from a Campaign to a Way of Entry

For each new promotional campaign, a dedicated way of entry with the same name is automatically created to collect canvassed candidates and facilitate the creation of special groups.

Locate the Way of Entry:
- Go to People → Panel configuration → Ways of entry to find the automatically-generated way of entry.
Create a Group:
- Ensure this way of entry is used only for the specific campaign to create a group containing panelists canvassed in the campaign.

Note:

Use specific tell-a-friend links for invitations in promotional campaigns. Insert these links with the #url# wildcard, not the normal registration keys, which are allocated to specific ways of entry.

Checking the Success of the Campaign

Access campaign statistics via the icon in the campaigns overview. The statistics include:

Detailed Campaign Success Data:
- Provides detailed information describing the campaign’s success.
Promoter Participation Overview:
- Lists all participating promoters and their personal campaign results.

Downloadable Data:

List of Recruiting Attempts:
- Contains all recruiting attempts, including promoter name, friend’s email, and if successful, the registration date and master data survey status.
List of Invited People:
- Lists all invited persons who have not responded or completed the registration form, including the invitation code sent in the tell-a-friend mail.

Field	Meaning
Number of potential canvassers	Sum of the members of the selected panel group.
Persons written to	Sum of the already-dispatched tell-a-friend mails.
Registered persons	Sum of recruited persons who have completed the registration form, but who have not participated in the master data survey yet or from EFS 9.0 were screened out.
Registered persons with completed master data survey	Sum of successfully-canvassed persons.Please note:“Successfully completed” means that the recruits have reached a final page on which disposition code 31 or 32 is allocated. For these persons, the recruiters will receive bonus points.Screened-out recruits (i.e. recruits who reached a final page on which disposition code 36 or 37 is allocated), were considered “fully registered”, too, in the past, and the recruiters received bonus points. The process did not depend on the disposition code then.In summer 2012, this behavior was modified retroactively upon repeated customer request for EFS 9.0. Now, recruits who are allocated disposition code 36 or 37 remain in the “Registered persons” column and the recruiters do not receive bonus points automatically anymore.If you invite the recruits to a panel survey for which automatic master data transfer has been acticated instead of a master data survey, this will trigger incentivation as well.
Persons not registered	Sum of persons written to who have so far neither registered nor completed the master data survey.
Average number of attempts to recruit per potential canvasser	(Persons written to) / (Number of potential canvassers)
Average number of recruited panelists per potential canvasser	(Registered persons with completed master data survey) / (Number of potential canvassers)

Note:

Use specific tell-a-friend links with the #url# wildcard in invitation mails to track promoter and canvassed friend relations. Normal registration keys cannot track these relations.
Incentivation is triggered when recruits reach a final page in a survey with automatic master data transfer (disposition codes 31, 32 in EFS 9.0; any code earlier). This is typically the master data survey, but can also be a panel survey with activated automatic master data transfer.

FAQ

How are bonus points converted to currency?

The conversion factor can be set in the People → Incentive management → Bonus system → Panel currency menu. This defines how many currency units correspond to one bonus point.

Can I limit the number of friends a panelist can invite in a campaign?

Yes, you can set an upper limit for the number of friends to be canvassed per campaign and per week. This helps prevent abuse and allows for better control of the campaign.

How are successfully canvassed friends defined in a campaign?

Successfully canvassed friends are those who have not only registered but also completed the master data survey (disposition code 31 or 32 from EFS 9.0 onwards).