In today’s competitive landscape of clinical trial recruitment, finding the right participants is key to a study’s success. With new advertising formats continually emerging, clinical trial recruitment companies are evaluating the performance of different ad types to optimize participant engagement. Among the most promising formats are video and panel ads, which have consistently outperformed more traditional advertising options like text or banner ads. Let’s dive into the specifics of why these formats are leading the way in participant recruitment.

1. The Power of Video Ads

Video has become a cornerstone of digital marketing, offering an engaging way to convey complex information quickly and effectively. In clinical trial recruitment, this is crucial since potential participants often need to understand complex eligibility criteria and study protocols.

Key Advantages of Video Ads:

• Visual storytelling: Video allows companies to tell the study’s story — what it aims to achieve and why participation matters — in a compelling way. This helps build emotional connections, which can encourage people to sign up.
• Higher engagement rates: Video ads are 1200% more likely to be shared than traditional text or image ads, creating the potential for organic recruitment beyond paid reach.
• Detailed targeting: Platforms like YouTube and Facebook allow hyper-specific targeting based on user behavior, location, demographics, and interests. This allows for the efficient placement of recruitment ads in front of highly qualified candidates.

Performance Insights: Studies show that video ads can increase click-through rates (CTR) by 27% compared to static image ads. For clinical trial recruitment, this can mean more clicks on your landing pages and more potential participants completing eligibility surveys.

2. Why Panel Ads Are a Game-Changer

Panel ads, also known as carousel ads, allow recruiters to showcase multiple messages or images within a single ad unit. This format is ideal for clinical trials, as it provides an opportunity to explain different aspects of the study or highlight eligibility criteria in a single ad.

Why Panel Ads Work:

• Versatility: Multiple panels mean more space to highlight various elements like study benefits, eligibility criteria, or key details about the research institution, all within one ad.
• Engagement: Panel ads are interactive by nature, encouraging users to swipe through the different cards. This format often leads to higher engagement and interaction, as it provides more information in an engaging manner.
• More Room for Creativity: You can include a variety of images, infographics, or mini-video clips, offering a dynamic experience compared to a single-image ad.

Performance Insights: Panel ads typically see up to a 25% higher conversion rate than static ads, thanks to their interactive nature. This is especially beneficial for clinical trial recruitment where providing comprehensive information is key to participant understanding and interest.

3. How Video and Panel Ads Outperform Traditional Ads

When compared to traditional ad formats like banner or text ads, video and panel ads stand out for a few key reasons:

• Better information delivery: While a static ad might provide only a short message or image, video and panel ads allow recruiters to include more detail, addressing common questions and concerns directly in the ad. This can reduce drop-off rates and improve overall conversion.
• Stronger emotional impact: Video ads, in particular, can create a more personal connection with potential participants, which is harder to achieve through text or image-based ads.
• Greater engagement: Both video and panel ads encourage users to interact with the ad content. More engagement leads to better brand recall and a higher likelihood of completing the recruitment process.

4. Maximizing the ROI for Clinical Trial Recruitment Campaigns

For recruitment companies like CliniContact, understanding the best ad formats to drive participant enrollment is essential to maximizing the ROI of marketing campaigns. Video and panel ads offer clear advantages, but it’s important to align the ad format with the platform. For instance:

• Video ads perform exceptionally well on social media and video-sharing platforms like YouTube.
• Panel ads thrive on Instagram and Facebook, where users are accustomed to scrolling through multiple images and interacting with visual content.

A mixed media strategy — combining both video and panel ads with traditional formats — may provide the best balance, ensuring that different segments of the target population are reached through their preferred media channels.

Conclusion: Elevating Clinical Trial Recruitment with Smart Ad Choices

For clinical trial recruitment companies like CliniContact, leveraging the unique strengths of video and panel ads can significantly improve engagement, increase click-through rates, and ultimately drive better recruitment outcomes. By embracing these dynamic ad formats, clinical trials can reach their target participants more effectively and with greater efficiency, helping to bring innovative treatments to the people who need them most.

‍