An incentive is any type of payment or reward provided to creators for their participation in a campaign.

Incentive functionality enables you to easily manage the different forms of payment you may provide, and to calculate campaign costs and cost-based performance metrics, like cost per engagement (CPE) and cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM). 

Incentive Setup Methods

Incentives are created within campaigns and are always associated with a specific creator. There are three general ways to set up incentives:

• Campaign-level: Create the same incentives for all creators in the campaign.
• Creator-specific: Create individual incentives for specific creators.
• Rates: Allow creators to submit or negotiate their own rates.

Campaign-level

Use this option when all creators in a campaign should receive the same reward.

How it works

• Add a single incentive during campaign setup.
• Each creator automatically receives the same incentive when added to the campaign.
• Incentives update automatically as creators move through workflow stages.

How to create

1. Open your campaign in Draft mode.
2. Go to Setup → Incentives.
3. Click the + icon to create a new incentive.
4. Choose an Incentive Type (Cash, Product, Promo Code, Gift Card, or Other).
5. Fill out required details (value, cost, fulfillment stage, and delivery method).
6. Click Save.

Creator-specific

Use this option when you want to customize rewards per creator — either in addition to or instead of a campaign-level incentive.

How to create

1. Go to your campaign’s Workflow tab.
2. Find the creator you want to edit.
3. Click the |← arrow next to their name to open their profile.
4. Select the Incentives tab, then click + Add Incentive.
5. Choose the incentive type and fill in value, cost, and fulfillment details.
6. Click Save to confirm.

Rate & Concept Incentives

Use this option when you want creators to propose their own fees.

How to enable rate-based incentives

1. Go to Setup → Application within your campaign.
2. Add a Rate Question (e.g., “What is your standard rate for a TikTok post?”).
3. When a creator applies, their response becomes a pending incentive.
4. Once accepted, it appears in their Incentives tab for tracking and fulfillment.

You can learn more here: Rate Incentives

Incentive Setup Fields

All incentive types use the same creation process, but the fields shown on the setup form vary slightly by type.

Fulfillment

When creators reach the workflow stage you select in the Fulfillment field (for example, Pre-Payment or Post-Payment), their incentives automatically update to Ready.

This helps automate incentive management and ensures payouts or deliveries occur at the right time.

For a complete overview of fulfillment options, see Incentive Fulfillment.

Cost & Value

Some incentive types — such as Product or Offline Gift Card — include both Value and Cost fields.

• Value: The retail or face value of the reward (e.g., product price).
• Cost: Your brand’s actual cost to provide that reward.

When both fields are present, only the Cost is used in Later’s cost-reporting and ROI calculations, ensuring accurate financial metrics.

Cost values are always US dollar amounts. For a complete overview of currency options, see Incentive Currency Details.