Ecount News & Press Releases

National Study from Ecount Reveals Sales Pros Prefer Prepaid Cards for Incentives

Survey of sales professionals with checking accounts reveals strong preference for prepaid cards as opposed to direct deposit, paper-based checks, or cash

Conshohocken, Pa. - July 28, 2004 - Ecount, the stored value and prepaid experts, today announced the results of a national telephone survey that found sales professionals overwhelmingly prefer to receive their commission and incentive payments on prepaid cards, as opposed to direct deposit, paper-based checks, cash, and other payment approaches. Ecount's prepaid programs enable businesses to easily and cost-effectively deliver incentive payments to their sales personnel through highly visible and company-branded Visa® and MasterCard® prepaid cards, in lieu of paper-based 'spifs' checks or cash.

The telephone survey, conducted between April 15 and May 15, randomly sampled sales professionals with bank checking accounts who received commissions or other incentive payments in the form of Ecount's Visa and MasterCard prepaid cards. It found employees strongly prefer prepaid cards over other payment means:

• 90% approved of their employer's prepaid card program.
• 90% preferred the faster payment afforded by prepaid cards.
• 59% preferred to use prepaid cards instead of direct-deposit and checks.
• 55% preferred to use prepaid cards over all other payment methods.

The research also revealed an overwhelmingly high level of acceptance and utilization for Ecount's Visa and MasterCard prepaid cards among incented employees:

• 72% used their prepaid cards for day-to-day purchases.
• 58% used their prepaid cards for luxury purchases.
• 33% used their prepaid card to pay bills.
• 21% used their prepaid cards for long-term savings.

"As our survey results show, sales professionals who have bank accounts prefer Visa and MasterCard prepaid cards over other payment methods by a tremendous margin," says Matt Gillin, CEO of Ecount. "It's well known that prepaid cards are an effective way for employers to electronically pay employees who don't have a bank account, and this survey shows that it makes perfect sense to motivate and reward banked salespeople as well, by paying incentives and commissions using prepaid cards, instead of direct deposit or paper-based spifs checks."

Overwhelming employee acceptance and incredibly high utilization are some of the many reasons why Ecount has seen use of its Visa and MasterCard prepaid cards skyrocket. Other reasons include instant payment without having to cash a check or wait for a direct deposit to hit, online account access, 24 hour customer service, online reporting, and cost-effective pricing.

Complete results of Ecount's survey of sales professionals with bank accounts are available upon request, along with other market, product, and service information.