How to Improve Clinical Trial Recruitment with Online Advertising
Online advertising as a strategy for improving clinical trial recruitment timelines is gaining traction in Alberta given its cost-effectiveness and ability to access highly defined populations.
94% of Canadians have home internet access1, making online advertising arguably one of the easiest ways to recruit clinical trial and research study participants in large numbers.
With 70% of patients already using the internet to search for health-related information2, research teams can leverage online advertising platforms to reach patients in places where they’re receptive and interested in learning about participating in research.
Online advertising for patient recruitment allows research teams to:
Reach audiences based on their age, demographics, interests, location, or behaviour
Access vast populations at a low cost (Facebook boasts a network of over 2 billion monthly active users3)
Successfully meet recruitment goals with automated pre-screening
Is Online Patient Recruitment a Good Choice For You?
Online clinical trial recruitment strategies are a great fit for a wide range of clinical research studies. They’re well-suited for recruiting healthy volunteers or controls, patients with chronic conditions, and studies on specific geographic populations. They’re also effective for sexual health, mental health and other studies where patients may prefer expressing their interest from the privacy of an online environment.
Online recruitment doesn’t typically work well for studies on procedures, surgeries, hospital populations, rare conditions, acute events or populations over the age of 80.
If you’re considering online tactics, you’ll want to work with a local firm that’s experienced in patient recruitment. Our team has worked extensively in life sciences and patient-oriented research, helping study teams recruit patients online with effective, empathetic messaging and tactics that meet ethics requirements.
How To Recruit Patients Using Online Advertising
Define the Audience + Develop Effective Messaging
Working with your study team, we’ll review the trial protocol and ask questions to define a target audience. This helps determine what will motivate patients to participate in your study and what barriers might get in the way. We then develop relevant messaging encouraging patients to apply to participate in your study.
Provide Study Details and Begin Automated Pre-screening
We direct interested potential participants to a website to begin informed consent and start the pre-screening process. A webpage is available 24/7 and can provide important study details that may be overlooked on a poster or advertisement. Pre-screening is done with an online questionnaire to determine participant eligibility.
Improving Patient Recruitment
A 2011 study found that a delay of more than a day in responding to patients reduced the likelihood of participation by 68%4. Online questionnaires eliminate potential delays by securely starting the screening process for you and informing the patient right away if they are likely to meet key inclusion or exclusion criteria. This tactic has been approved by ethics and is crucial to online recruitment success.
Online recruitment provides your team with a list of pre-qualified leads, allowing your team to follow-up with already engaged participants and meet your recruitment goals.
Want to know more about online recruitment?
Reach out to get pricing information or to request case studies.
Sources:
1: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/191029/dq191029a-eng.htm
2: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/100510/dq100510a-eng.htm
4: Kremidas, Jim. “Recruitment Roles.” Applied Clinical Trials Online. Sept.1, 2011.
