Participant recruitment for research studies
Does your study need more participants?
Send us your study details. We’ll assess who can be reached, how we would recruit them, what may be difficult, and what you should budget – before you commit to a campaign.
No obligation to launch a campaign. Analyses can also support grant applications, study budgeting and provider comparisons.
Relevant experience
Participant recruitment experience across 175+ research projects.
Wayturn has supported clinical and academic research across multiple countries, languages and study populations, including addiction and substance use, behavioral health, nutrition, cancer, PTSD, vaccines, asthma, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Chances are we have experience with many of your eligibility criteria in one form or another.
Research teams we have supported
175+
research projects
21+
research institutions
9+
years of experience
How OUR participant recruitment works
Our Process
Wayturn builds and manages the participant-facing recruitment process. Your research team retains control over approved materials, final eligibility decisions and enrollment.
01 — STUDY REVIEW
We analyze your recruitment requirements
We review the population, location, inclusion and exclusion criteria, compensation, deadlines and enrollment targets to assess how we would approach recruitment before you commit to a campaign.
02 — APPROVAL MATERIALS
We prepare the recruitment materials
We create ad texts, headlines, images, landing-page copy, prescreening questions, disclaimers and recruitment-flow materials for review by your study team and IRB or REB.
03 — DIGITAL ADVERTISING
We show the study to relevant people
Campaigns can use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube and Reddit. Targeting depends on the study, audience and permitted options available on each platform.
04 — ONLINE PRESCREENING
Interested people complete a prescreener
Respondents complete a mobile-friendly questionnaire based on the approved criteria. Branching logic can stop apparently ineligible respondents and collect contact details from people who meet the agreed referral criteria.
05 — FRAUD PREVENTION
We screen for duplicate and suspicious responses
Controls can include SMS phone verification, duplicate phone and email checks, cookies, IP and device signals, completion-time review and open-text verification.
06 — REFERRAL DELIVERY
Your research team receives the referrals
Potentially eligible referrals can be delivered through REDCap, a restricted Jotform table or another agreed method. Your coordinators then review the responses and contact participants.
Wayturn finds and prescreens potential participants. Your research team makes the final eligibility and enrollment decisions.
Online screening is designed to reduce unsuitable responses and provide useful information before contact. It is, however, not informed consent, a clinical assessment or a guarantee that a respondent will qualify or enroll.
Flexible by design
Recruit when you need it. Stop when you don’t.
Our referral-based pricing is designed to keep the commitment low. You do not need to buy a large recruitment package upfront or keep advertising after your study no longer needs participants.
If we find nobody, you pay nothing.
We agree on a price per referral before recruitment begins. If the campaign produces no billable referrals, there is nothing to pay.
Fraudulent referrals are replaced.
If a referral is fraudulent or a duplicate under the agreed referral rules, we replace it rather than leaving your study to absorb the cost.
Stop whenever you have enough participants.
If your study enrolls faster than expected (or you find the remaining participants through other recruitment sources) we can stop advertising. You are not locked into referrals you no longer need.
The analysis and recruitment materials cost nothing upfront.
We can assess the study, recommend an approach and prepare the promotional materials needed for recruitment without charging a separate analysis or creative fee.
✓ Free recruitment analysis
✓ Recruitment ad materials included
✓ Referral-based pricing agreed in advance
✓ Campaign can stop when recruitment is complete
Send us the study details first. We can assess the study before you decide whether to proceed.
Request my free recruitment analysisCase study
How MSU found nearly 300 enrollments within 7 months.
Michigan State University ran a nationwide digital-intervention trial recruiting pregnant women aged 18–35 who screening positive for alcohol risk. Before working with Wayturn, the study had spent approximately one year reaching the first 30% of its enrollment goal.
Michigan State University
The campaign by numbers
Wayturn managed the participant-facing recruitment process, from advertising and online prescreening through delivery of potentially eligible referrals to the study team.
It took us a year and several thousand screenings to reach just 30% of our enrollment goal on our own. The remaining 70% came from Wayturn referrals over a 7-month period – and it could have taken less time if we’d had the staff needed to enroll faster.
We were thrilled with the Wayturn team’s work, and we highly recommend them.
Lisa Todd, MS, JD
Project Coordinator
Michigan State University
Client Reviews
Results from other research teams
Penn State University
Smoking and Brain Activity Study
Enrollments delivered
Recruitment focused on daily smokers from a relatively small local population using channels including Google, Facebook, YouTube and Reddit.
“Recruiting from a relatively small local population had been a major challenge before we connected with Wayturn. Their tailored recruitment strategy has proven highly effective, and we greatly value the partnership.”
Stephen J. Wilson, PhD
Principal Investigator, Professor of Psychology
Penn State University
University of British Columbia
Exogenous Ketones and Appetite Study
Enrollments in under one month
The campaign generated enough participants for two concurrent studies, with advertising management and REDCap integration handled by Wayturn.
“Timely recruiting for these studies would not have been possible without Wayturn. Their ability to quickly and efficiently reach a specific population far exceeded our expectations.”
Sarah Purcell, PhD
Principal Investigator
University of British Columbia
Planning ahead
You do not need to wait until recruitment becomes a problem.
Wayturn can review studies during the planning and funding stage, before participant recruitment begins.
If you are preparing a grant, study budget or procurement comparison, send us the proposed population, criteria and recruitment target. Where possible, we can provide a practical estimate for participant recruitment.
For funding and budgeting, we can provide:
✓ Recommended recruitment strategy
✓ Expected recruitment constraints
✓ Proposed campaign scope
✓ Estimated recruitment budget
✓ Formal proposal or quote where appropriate
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the recruitment analysis really free?
Yes. Send us the study requirements and we will assess whether the project appears suitable for our recruitment approach. There is no obligation to proceed with a campaign.
How long does it take?
The analysis take a few business days. Make sure to send us all available info to avoid delays. We need everything from study design to existing posters, to consent forms to analyze the study in the fastest possible way.
Can we have a meeting?
Yes. Please send over the details of your study first, and the meeting can be more efficient. If you just have a quick question before, or really want a meeting up-front, please contact carl@wayturn.com
How is sensitive participant data stored and protected?
We have zero participant data on our own servers, nor do we share it with third parties. All data lives in Jotform, where our clients can log in with an invited institutional email. On our end, a single Wayturn employee per study has access to the data. After 6 months, we delete the data in jotform by default. Jotforms security policies are detailed here: https://www.jotform.com/blog/security-protocols-jotform-follows/
Can you provide a recruitment budget for a grant application?
Yes. We can review planned studies before recruitment begins and, where possible, provide a recruitment strategy and estimated budget that can be incorporated into funding planning.
Does Wayturn guarantee enrollments?
No. Wayturn can generate and prescreen potential participants. Final enrollment also depends on eligibility, successful contact, participant availability, site follow-up and completion of study procedures.
What is considered a referral?
A referral is a respondent who completes the agreed screening process, appears to meet the predefined referral criteria and provides the agreed contact information. They have also passed our security checks like phone verification via SMS, IP address filtering, and other bot/AI checks. If a referral we send turns out to be fraudulent they will be replaced at no cost.
Can referrals be delivered directly into REDCap?
Yes. REDCap integration can be configured where appropriate. Referrals can also be shared through a restricted Jotform table or another agreed workflow.
Start with your study
Request an analysis
Send us your study details. We will review the population, eligibility requirements, recruitment goal and other relevant information and provide our assessment of how the study could be recruited.
✓ Recruitment feasibility
✓ Recommended advertising strategy
✓ Likely recruitment challenges
✓ Recommended campaign structure
✓ Budget guidance or a proposal where possible
No obligation to launch a campaign. Recruitment forecasts are estimates based on the study information available, previous campaign experience and, where applicable, campaign data.