The process of identifying and connecting with clinical trial study teams can be challenging and difficult for members of the public. The national volunteer community registry, ResearchMatch, and the public clinical trials search tool, Trials Today, work in tandem to bridge this connection by providing a streamlined process for potential participants to identify clinical trials which may be of interest.

Building on the existing infrastructure of ResearchMatch and Trials Today, we created a mechanism by which the public can request that their basic contact information (e.g., email/phone) be securely shared with any actively recruiting clinical trial, including trials with no existing relationship with ResearchMatch.

Within the first 2 years of use (July 2019–July 2021), ResearchMatch Volunteers sent 12,251 requests to study teams. On average, 20% of these requests were accepted by the study teams.

The utilization of this tool indicates that there is active interest among members of the public to independently contact study teams about trials of interest. Additionally, research teams unaffiliated with ResearchMatch are willing to at minimum accept contact information. This allows ResearchMatch to successfully serve as a medium, connecting members of the public with actively recruiting trials.

Individuals experiencing different medical conditions, as well as healthy volunteers, may often be interested in trial participation, and researchers similarly need to find participants to advance medical knowledge. The ResearchMatch (RM) Trials Today clinical trial searching tool leverages clinicaltrials.gov data to enable potential participants to look for trial opportunities relevant to their situation. To facilitate expanded use of this tool, we undertook a national digital public awareness campaign to increase awareness of Trials Today among members of the general public.

The awareness campaign promoted Trials Today using Facebook and digital banner messages in 2017, encompassing nine cities across the USA. The digital strategy was complemented by print media in several outlets. We employed descriptive statistics to summarize campaign metrics and site usage data during the campaign.

The campaign was successful in increasing visits to Trials Today, with 142,303 sessions logged during its run, as compared to pre-campaign data indicating 104,688 total sessions during the entire 2-year period since the site’s inception. The city-specific click-through rate for all digital impressions, combining Facebook and banner messaging, ranged from 0.50% to 1.09%, resulting in a cost-per-click range of $0.69–$1.15. In addition, visitors conducted 29,697 searches and viewed individual trial records 173,512 times.

The public awareness campaign was successful in increasing use of the RM Trials Today clinical trial searching tool. Our findings support the value of digital media messaging as a cost-effective vehicle for promoting clinical trial awareness, especially for chronic ailments.