Should you use gift card incentives to book sales demos? We tested it.
By Amy Rigby●5 min. read●Oct 21, 2025
Quick answer: Yes, demo incentives work. Companies offering $50-100 gift cards see 3x higher demo booking rates, 81% lower cost per lead, and better lead quality when proper targeting and qualification are used.
Key takeaways:
Gift card incentives for sales demos improved lead quality while cutting costs
Cost per lead decreased by 81% when offering demo incentives
Response rates more than doubled with any incentive amount
$50-$105 gift cards generated 3x higher conversion rates from LinkedIn to CRM
Proper targeting and qualification are essential to attract valuable leads
Marketers have strong opinions about demo incentives. Just search "gift cards for demos" on LinkedIn and you'll see the debate. But actual data? That's harder to find.
You've probably seen the ads. A company offers a $50 gift card for booking a sales demo. This raises questions. Does paying for demos signal product weakness? Will you attract low-quality leads who just want free money?
The biggest question: Do demo incentives actually work?
We tested it ourselves, with some help from our sales team. Here's how we did it and what we found.
How companies use gift card incentives for sales demos
What are demo incentives? Demo incentives are rewards (typically gift cards) offered to prospects for participating in sales calls. Companies send these rewards regardless of whether they purchase.
A successful example of demo incentives is how marketing software provider Metadata ran LinkedIn Messaging ads offering $100 DoorDash gift cards for demo bookings. Result: 230% more demos within one month with 60% less spend.
Our gift card demo incentive experiment: Method and results
We wanted to investigate whether offering gift cards would increase demo bookings with qualified prospects. As a rewards platform that helps companies send digital incentives at scale, we had the perfect opportunity to test this strategy on our target audience.
Goal: Test if gift cards increase demo bookings with quality prospects
Setup:
Target audience: Marketers at companies sending $50K+ in annual incentives
Platform: LinkedIn Sponsored Messaging
Control group: No incentive offered
Test groups: $50, $100, or $105 gift card incentives
Process:
Sent targeted LinkedIn messages with gift card offers
Qualified leads with screening questions about incentive volume
Vetted submissions against ideal customer profile
Added qualified leads to CRM
Sent gift cards after demo attendance
We tailored the copy for different verticals and tested various amounts. Subjects in our experimental groups received targeted messages offering gift cards for their time.
When recipients clicked "yes," we sent a qualifying question about their annual incentive spend. Recipients could only book a demo if they indicated sending more than $50,000 yearly in incentives.
Even with ad targeting and qualification questions, some spam can slip through. We put LinkedIn leads through our vetting process to ensure they fit our ideal customer profile. Qualified leads entered our HubSpot CRM for tracking.
Account executives sent gift cards through Tremendous after demo attendance. We only withheld them for no-shows.
The results: Do gift card incentives actually drive quality leads?
The data was clear from the start. Offering gift card incentives didn't just improve our metrics — it transformed them across the board.
Any incentive outperformed no incentive.
We split results into two groups:
LinkedIn leads: Those who submitted the form on LinkedIn
CRM leads: LinkedIn leads who passed our vetting process
LinkedIn Lead Results:
118% higher form submission rates with incentives
53% lower cost per lead (ad spend only)
38% lower cost per lead even including gift card costs
$50 incentives performed best with 145% lift in submissions
Prospects were more than twice as likely to submit the LinkedIn form when offered a gift card. Including gift card costs, the incentivized cost per lead was $332 — still 38% lower than the $536 no-incentive group.
CRM Lead Results (After Vetting):
236% increase in LinkedIn-to-CRM conversion
81% reduction in cost per qualified lead
3x higher conversion rate for incentivized prospects
By offering gift cards, we tripled conversion rates and acquired higher-quality leads at lower costs.
8 best practices for getting valuable leads with gift card incentives
Not all demo incentive programs succeed. The difference between attracting quality prospects and gift card seekers comes down to execution and strategy.
1. Target Your Ideal Customer Profile Precisely
Focus your incentive offers on prospects who match your buyer personas. Use platform targeting features to reach decision-makers in relevant industries and company sizes.
2. Set Clear Qualification Criteria
Add screening questions before booking demos. We required prospects to send $50K+ annually in incentives. This filters out people seeking free gift cards.
3. Choose the Right Incentive Amount
Our data shows any amount works better than nothing. Start with $50 for initial tests. Higher amounts ($100-105) may improve qualified lead rates.
4. Use Multiple Vetting Layers
Platform-level targeting
Qualification questions
Manual review before CRM entry
Demo attendance verification
5. Track ROI Metrics Carefully
Monitor both volume and quality metrics:
Form submission rates
Platform-to-CRM conversion rates
Cost per qualified lead (including incentive costs)
Pipeline value from incentivized leads
6. Pick Universal Reward Options
With Tremendous, you get instant access to 2,000+ reward options from popular brands in 230+ countries, all with zero platform fees. We handle currency conversion, tax compliance, and delivery tracking automatically — features that would cost thousands to build in-house.
7. Send Rewards Promptly
Deliver gift cards immediately after demo completion. Quick fulfillment builds trust and positive brand association.
8. Test Different Messaging Approaches
Experiment with how you position the incentive. Lead with value proposition or mention the gift card upfront. Test what resonates with your audience.
What's the best gift card amount for demo incentives?
Based on our results, the specific amount matters less than offering something.
The $50 incentive generated the most LinkedIn form submissions. The $105 offer produced the highest LinkedIn-to-CRM conversion rates after vetting.
Key insight: Offering any incentive significantly outperforms offering nothing.
Integrating demo incentives into your lead generation strategy
Some argue that paying for demos signals weak software. Our data disagrees.
Gift card incentives attracted our ideal customers who already needed our solution. The incentive provided the nudge to prioritize a demo in their busy schedules. It made setting aside time worthwhile while they discovered a rewards platform that was actually easy to use.
What we learned:
Demo incentives improve response rates and conversions
Lead quality actually increased with incentives
Acquisition costs dropped by over one-third even after incentive costs
Proper targeting and qualification prevent low-quality leads
Targeting and qualification really matter in B2B marketing with incentives. Because leads get rewarded for participating, it's easy to attract people who just want money.
We mitigated this risk two ways:
Used specific targeting in the LinkedIn ad dashboard
Further qualified LinkedIn leads through our vetting process
The success led us to continue these campaigns permanently. Now gift card incentives are a core part of our lead generation strategy, consistently delivering high-quality prospects at lower acquisition costs than traditional outreach methods.
How to start using gift card demo incentives with Tremendous
Ready to 3x your demo bookings? See how Tremendous makes sending gift card incentives instant and automated — free to use with no fees, setup costs, or minimums. Scale globally with instant delivery to prospects in 230+ countries.
Send your first reward in under 5 minutes or book a demo with us to learn how we simplify incentive payouts.
