Recruitment is a critical aspect of clinical trials, and budget-related challenges can heavily impact the recruitment process.
There are several strategies that can be used to manage the cost of digital advertising when recruiting participants for clinical trials:
- Use a dedicated advertising agency: Using a dedicated advertising agency can help to keep costs low when using digital advertising to recruit participants for clinical trials. A dedicated advertising agency can provide a range of services to help with the recruitment process, including developing and executing an advertising strategy, managing the ad campaign, and tracking and analyzing the results.
One of the main benefits of using a dedicated advertising agency is that they have expertise in advertising and can help to optimize the ad campaign to maximize reach and minimize cost. For example, they can help to select the most effective targeting criteria and choose the most cost-effective ad formats. They can also provide insights and recommendations to help improve the ad campaign and increase its effectiveness.
Another benefit of using a dedicated advertising agency is that they can help to manage the ad budget and ensure that it is being used efficiently. They can help to identify opportunities to optimize the budget and make recommendations for how to allocate the budget in the most effective way.
Wayturn advertises only clinical trials, and has experience from 150+ successful trial recruitment assignments over the past few years. - Analyze a study well in advance. Ideally before applying for funding, you would outline all relevant factors contributing to the cost of digital advertising for recruitment. These include the number of participants needed, the area, your full eligiblity criteria and more. Wayturn offers this type of analysis for free, in hopes of securing long lasting partnerships with clients of all sizes.
- Use targeted advertising: By carefully selecting the targeting criteria for the ad, it may be possible to reach the specific population that is eligible for the clinical trial and minimize the number of impressions or clicks that are needed to reach your target audience. This can help to reduce the overall cost of the ads.
- Use a cost-per-action (CPA) pricing model: With a CPA pricing model, you only pay for the desired action (e.g., a click on the ad or a registration for the clinical trial). This can help to minimize the cost of the ads. For our clients, we often recommend that they compensate us only based on results (actual eligible people to call) for the same reason.
- Use conversion tracking: Conversion tracking can help to measure the effectiveness of your ads and identify any areas where you may be able to optimize your ad spend. Wayturn of course takes care of this for you.
- Utilize multiple recruitment strategies: Digital advertising may not be the most cost-effective option for recruiting participants for clinical trials. It may be helpful to use a combination of recruitment strategies, such as partnering with patient advocacy groups, reaching out to healthcare providers, or utilizing organic social media.
Overall, managing the cost of digital advertising when recruiting participants for clinical trials requires careful planning and the use of strategies such as Using a dedicated advertising agency, using targeted advertising, using a CPA pricing model, using conversion tracking, and utilizing multiple recruitment strategies.
Other than recruitment costs, there is a broad variety of budget-related challenges that clinical trials may face. These include:
Limited funding: Clinical trials can be expensive to conduct, and funding may be limited. This can make it difficult for clinical trials to cover the costs of all necessary activities, such as recruiting and compensating participants, purchasing supplies and equipment, and conducting the study.
Unexpected costs: Clinical trials can be unpredictable, and unexpected costs may arise. For example, additional participant recruitment may be needed if the study does not enroll enough participants, or additional testing may be required if unexpected results are obtained. These unexpected costs can put pressure on the budget.
Inflation: The cost of conducting a clinical trial may increase over time due to inflation. This can make it difficult to accurately predict the budget for a clinical trial and can lead to budget overruns.
Limited flexibility: Clinical trial budgets may be inflexible, making it difficult to respond to unexpected costs or changes in the study design.
Bearing all these in mind, it becomes essential that the recruitment cost of a clinical trial is managed well, and kept predictable.