Beyond Enrolment Totals: Why Clinical Trial Recruitment Needs Live, Actionable Data

Part 1: Measuring the Pre-Recruitment Funnel

By Jay Virani, VP, Strategy & Client Experience, Sciteline

This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 looks at how this data connects to operational recruitment, real-world results, and what it means for sponsors, study managers, and equitable access.

Clinical trial recruitment is often measured by a single question: Are we meeting our enrolment target?

It is an essential question, but by the time the answer is “no,” a study may already have lost valuable weeks or months.

Enrolment is the outcome of a much longer participant journey. Before someone joins a study, they must become aware of the opportunity, find relevant information, understand it, express interest, complete any initial eligibility questions, connect with the research team, and progress through screening.

Each stage generates useful information. Yet for many sponsors, research networks and study managers, this information remains fragmented across website analytics, spreadsheets, email inboxes, study databases and periodic site reports.

A more effective approach is to treat recruitment as a measurable, connected funnel that can be viewed and acted upon while a study is still recruiting.

Recruitment visibility is becoming a strategic capability 

Canada has a strong clinical research sector. More than 3,100 interventional clinical trials were ongoing in Canada as of January 2025, taking place across approximately 1,000 sites. Nearly 700 new interventional trials were initiated in Canada in 2024. Canada also had the highest number of ongoing clinical trials per capita among G7 countries.¹ 

These figures only capture interventional clinical trials and do not even include the broader range of observational and behavioural research taking place across the country.

Maintaining and expanding this position requires more than opening studies. It requires the ability to recruit efficiently, reach diverse communities and give sponsors confidence that Canadian sites can deliver.

Traditional recruitment reporting does not always provide that confidence. Sponsors and study leaders may receive periodic updates on the number of participants screened and enrolled but have limited visibility into the activity occurring before screening, or into why performance differs between sites.

A live recruitment intelligence layer can help answer more useful questions:

• Are people finding the study? 

• Which campaigns and referral sources are generating meaningful interest? 

• Where are potential participants leaving the process? 

• Are candidates waiting too long to be contacted? 

• Which eligibility criteria are contributing most frequently to screen failures? 

• Which sites are progressing steadily, and which may need support? 

• Is public demand concentrated in therapeutic areas where few studies are currently available?

These insights allow teams to move from retrospective reporting to timely intervention. 

Start by measuring the pre-recruitment funnel 

A public clinical trial portal should do more than publish study listings. It should help research organizations understand how interested candidates move from initial awareness

to an actionable expression of interest.

A measurable pre-recruitment funnel might include:

1. Visitors: People reaching the clinical trial portal. 

2. Searches: Visitors actively looking for studies by condition, location or another relevant criterion. 

3. Study views: People reviewing the details of a specific clinical research opportunity. 

   Contact flow initiations: Visitors beginning the process of connecting with a study team.

4. Contact flow completions: Visitors successfully submitting their information.

5. Pre-screeners submitted: Prospective participants completing initial study-specific eligibility questions.

Metrics such as search usage, zero-result searches, study-page views, contact conversion rates, abandonment points and campaign referral sources reveal whether a portal is connecting communities with research, not simply attracting web traffic.

They can also highlight broader system needs. For example, a high volume of searches for a particular condition, combined with few available studies, may indicate unmet public demand. A study receiving substantial traffic, but few completed contact forms may require clearer eligibility language, a more accessible call to action or a shorter intake process.

These metrics can generally be aggregated for system-level reporting, while identifiable information submitted by prospective participants remains within the appropriate institution-controlled environment. This separation supports useful provincial, regional or network-level insights without requiring central access to identifiable participant data.

Measuring the pre-recruitment funnel answers the first half of the question: are people finding relevant recruiting studies, and where are they dropping off before they ever reach a study team? The second half is just as important. What happens once that interest reaches a research team, and how can sponsors and study managers act on it in real time?

That's the focus of Part 2 of this series.

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References 

1.  Innovative Medicines Canada. Clinical Trials in Canada: Insights and Implications. Research Note, June 2025. Data sourced from GlobalData, January 2025.