NewtonX scales global research incentives with Tremendous

Highlights

• NewtonX is a B2B market research platform that connects clients with hard-to-reach expert respondents across online surveys and high-value consulting engagements.

• With respondents spread across 20+ countries, NewtonX needed a platform that could deliver flexible, globally accessible incentives at scale.

• NewtonX switched to Tremendous for its modern interface, global reward catalog, and  pricing model that eliminated $24,000+ in annual platform fees.

• Today, Tremendous powers two distinct payout programs, automated survey incentives and manually issued consultation fees, through a single platform.

The challenge

NewtonX runs two incentivized B2B research programs: high-value consultations and quantitative surveys. Surveys make up the majority of NewtonX’s total payout volume, so having a reliable, scalable incentive platform is critical.

Dominick DiFiore, Senior Finance Controller at NewtonX, supports the finance side of research  operations. When his team started shopping for a new payout provider, a few frustrations were pushing them to look elsewhere.

A slow, outdated interface

The previous incentive platform was clunky and noticeably slow, which really showed during end-of-month reconciliation when the team needed to pull reports fast.

"It ran very slow," Dominick says. "When we were looking at the payments we sent out and our reward reports, it was just taking too much time. There's too much that we had to dig into, and it just wasn't performing how we wanted."

Limited incentive options (and the support tickets to prove it)

The platform's catalog wasn't broad enough, especially for international respondents. When an incentive wasn't available in someone's country, or quietly disappeared from the catalog, experts would write in to ask why. Every one of those emails cost the team time.

"The problem was twofold," Dominick explains. "We were unable to send from a diverse catalog of rewards that people actually wanted. When we're not able to do that, experts will reach out, and that takes time to address."

Platform fees that just kept coming

The previous provider charged a recurring platform fee that had climbed to more than $2,000 per month before the switch. That's over $24,000 a year, with nothing to show for it on the respondent experience side.

The solution

After looking into other platform options, NewtonX picked Tremendous for its clean interface, global incentive catalog, and a pricing model that actually made sense for their payout volume.

NewtonX kept its old platform running for a few months as a safety net while the team got comfortable with Tremendous. But the transition went smoothly, so NewtonX cut the old contract and didn't look back.

Tremendous benefits for NewtonX

An interface that's easy to use

The previous platform felt overwhelming. Tremendous is the opposite: a clean layout with simple navigation. 

"When you click a button, you know what you're getting,” says Dominick. “It's just very straightforward and efficient."

For a three-person finance team distributing, on average, over $1 million per month in incentives, it matters that the software is easy to use.

An incentive catalog that covers the world

NewtonX works with respondents globally, from experts in Western Europe to remote specialists in niche markets. Tremendous' international catalog means the team can offer popular payout options in virtually any country they recruit in.

The clearest sign that it's working? Fewer complaints. Since switching, the number of experts writing in to ask for different payout options has dropped. 

"Since we switched to Tremendous, it has been a very small minority of people actually reaching out asking for options like that," Dominick notes.

End-of-month close that doesn't take all day

Dominick estimates that Tremendous saves him at least one to two hours per month during end-of-month close, which is the most hectic time on a finance team's calendar.

Campaign-level reporting lets him cleanly break out survey incentives from consultation fees and referral bonuses. That separation matters beyond just bookkeeping: NewtonX uses it to distinguish client delivery expenses from internal project costs and marketing partnerships, which feeds directly into more accurate project margin calculations. 

"We're able to break out that these costs aren't associated with certain projects. That helps our margin because that cost shouldn't be allocated the same way."

No more platform fees

Tremendous doesn't charge any platform fees. For NewtonX, making the switch saved them over $2,000 a month. The program is noticeably cheaper to run than it used to be.

"If you do the math, it's a pretty strong amount,” says Dominick. 

Consistent support 

The team’s previous incentive provider ran support through a ticketing system with two to three business-day turnarounds. Not a great experience when something goes wrong with respondent payouts.

With Tremendous, NewtonX has a dedicated customer success manager who responds fast. "If we ever have a question, we email our CSM and she gets back to us right away," Dominick says. "A lot of the time, our monthly check-ins get canceled because we have nothing to touch on."

The impact

Since switching to Tremendous, NewtonX has an incentive operation that runs reliably in the background. Most payout volume flows automatically through the API, manual orders take minutes, and the finance team has one less thing to stress about during month-end close.

• $27.3M+ in incentives sent across 551,000+ payouts since 2023

• $24,000+ in annual platform fees eliminated

• 1–2 hours saved per month on end-of-month reconciliation

• 20+ countries reached with regional payout options

• Significant reduction in team and respondent support requests

Ready to streamline your research incentive process? Sign up now or schedule a demo to see Tremendous in action.