TY - JOUR
T1 - A/B design testing of a clinical trial recruitment website
T2 - A pilot study to enhance the enrollment of older adults
AU - Miller, Hailey N.
AU - Plante, Timothy B.
AU - Gleason, Kelly T.
AU - Charleston, Jeanne
AU - Mitchell, Christine M.
AU - Miller, Edgar R.
AU - Appel, Lawrence J.
AU - Juraschek, Stephen P.
N1 - Funding Information:
STURDY is supported by the NIH/NIA ( U01AG047837 ). SPJ is supported by the NIH/NHLBI ( K23HL135273 ). STURDY was also supported by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research , which is funded in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) (Grant No. ULITR003098 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Introduction: Online tools are increasingly utilized in clinical trial recruitment. A/B testing is an effective technology used in political campaigns and commercial marketing to improve contributions or sales. However, to our knowledge, A/B has not been described in the context of clinical trial recruitment. Methods: Two A/B testing experiments were implemented on the recruitment website of the Study To Understand Fall Reduction and Vitamin D in You (STURDY), a response-adaptive, two-stage, randomized controlled trial. Commercial A/B platforms randomized web-users to different versions of the trial's website landing page; Experiment 1 included two infographic versions and Experiment 2 included three video versions. We compared web-user engagement metrics between each version and the original landing page. We determined the effect of each version compared to the original landing page on the likelihood of a web-user to (1) request more information about the trial, (2) complete a screening visit, or (3) enroll in the trial. Results: A total of 2605 and 374 web-users visited the trial's website during Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. Response to the online interest form significantly differed by infographic version in Experiment 1. The number of individuals who engaged with website content and pages significantly differed by video in Experiment 2. Conclusion: In a pilot study implementing A/B testing of a clinical trial recruitment website, different versions of the website led to differences in web-user engagement and interest in the trial. A/B testing tools offer a promising approach to test the effectiveness of clinical trial recruitment materials and to optimize recruitment campaigns. Clinical trial registration: This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial registration number is NCT02166333. The URL is: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02166333 Trial Registration Number: NCT02166333 Trial Register: ClinicalTrials.gov
AB - Introduction: Online tools are increasingly utilized in clinical trial recruitment. A/B testing is an effective technology used in political campaigns and commercial marketing to improve contributions or sales. However, to our knowledge, A/B has not been described in the context of clinical trial recruitment. Methods: Two A/B testing experiments were implemented on the recruitment website of the Study To Understand Fall Reduction and Vitamin D in You (STURDY), a response-adaptive, two-stage, randomized controlled trial. Commercial A/B platforms randomized web-users to different versions of the trial's website landing page; Experiment 1 included two infographic versions and Experiment 2 included three video versions. We compared web-user engagement metrics between each version and the original landing page. We determined the effect of each version compared to the original landing page on the likelihood of a web-user to (1) request more information about the trial, (2) complete a screening visit, or (3) enroll in the trial. Results: A total of 2605 and 374 web-users visited the trial's website during Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. Response to the online interest form significantly differed by infographic version in Experiment 1. The number of individuals who engaged with website content and pages significantly differed by video in Experiment 2. Conclusion: In a pilot study implementing A/B testing of a clinical trial recruitment website, different versions of the website led to differences in web-user engagement and interest in the trial. A/B testing tools offer a promising approach to test the effectiveness of clinical trial recruitment materials and to optimize recruitment campaigns. Clinical trial registration: This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial registration number is NCT02166333. The URL is: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02166333 Trial Registration Number: NCT02166333 Trial Register: ClinicalTrials.gov
KW - A/B testing
KW - Clinical trials
KW - Randomized control trial
KW - Recruitment methods
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106598
DO - 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106598
M3 - Article
C2 - 34653651
AN - SCOPUS:85117207676
SN - 1551-7144
VL - 111
JO - Contemporary Clinical Trials
JF - Contemporary Clinical Trials
M1 - 106598
ER -