Founder-Led Digital Platforms
Regulated Clinical Trial UX
PROJECT
Overview
This work represents the founding and operation of a regulated digital services business supporting global clinical trial recruitment and physician education. What began as a single study website evolved into an integrated, multi-channel participant recruitment system spanning UX design, digital platforms, vendor coordination, and operational governance across 30 clinical trials.
Scope & Approach
I worked end-to-end with clinical trial teams to design and steward compliant websites, define participant and operational workflows, coordinate vendors (engineering, marketing, call centers), and align delivery with legal, compliance, and financial requirements. The focus was on clarity, consistency, and repeatable systems that could scale across studies and regions.
Confidentiality
Due to NDA restrictions, specific study details, imagery, and performance data cannot be shared. This case study focuses on process, systems thinking, and strategic approach rather than visual artifacts.
CLIENTS
Williams Lea Tag
Pfizer
ROLE
Founder & Systems Lead
UX & Web Design
Vendor & Budget Management
Compliance Coordination
Program Operations
The Background
A clinical trial study team wanted to wade into the vast pool of online marketing and thought building a website was enough. It became apparent to me early in the onboarding process that the clinical trial study team had not anticipated a marketing strategy to drive traffic to the website.
Initially, the request was to only build a website. (But those of us experienced in the digital world know it’s never just about a website.)
In addition to building the website they asked for, I led them into the online marketing world and helped them tackle their first online/offline marketing integration.
The scope of this project expanded from a single website build to the creation of an online recruitment program which included a comprehensive online marketing plan and the creation of a patient call center.
I formed and oversaw a team with a variety of expertise including pharmaceutical, online marketing, public relations, and patient interaction. We worked diligently to keep abreast of the latest technology, laws, regulations, and limitations within the clinical study marketing landscape. Together, we provided the knowledge and guidance to help Pfizer amp up its study recruitment campaign in minimum time.
It was so successful in bringing potential candidates to the clinical trial locations, that an additional 29 clinical study teams requested our ongoing support.
Participant Recruitment Program
A website is never just about a website! Those proficient in the online industry know this. But to clients, it’s often all they think they need. Through meetings and educating the clinical trial teams, a program was established and implemented.
The services below outline how my team and I collaborated to develop a Participant Recruitment Program. My job as the Product Manager/Owner, Online Marketing Manager & Lead Product/UI/UX Designer was to understand each clinical trial’s requirements, develop the functional requirements, and assign tasks to the team as needed.
Web Presence
My team and I helped clinical trial study teams create an intuitive, easy-to-use website for their clinical trials. As needed, we also developed secure patient and physician member areas allowing the teams to quickly deliver materials to their intended audiences and included considered the laws and regulations when websites were outside of the US.
Tools
User Personas; Wireframing; Journey Mapping; Usability Testing; Competitive Research; Flow Charts; Working Prototypes; Functional Requirement Docs; Content Approval Docs (for legal, IRB, CIRB, WIRB); Information Architecture
Online Recruitment
A successful clinical trial is rooted on reaching a specific audience who uniquely qualifies for the clinical study. We needed to understand how a potential participant would locate the clinical trial from searching on web browsers to speaking with their doctor to what websites they might visit. We needed to truly understand the participant to create a successful strategic marketing plan.
We worked with teams to fully grasp all aspects of their ideal participants. This research included a full understanding of the study protocol, study recruitment plans, and competitive analysis.
We utilized all the avenues available to us, from pay per clicks campaigns through the most popular browsers to social media marketing and remarketing techniques. We also consulted with a PR firm to help us create radio ads, blog posts, and as needed TV commercials.
Essentially: Define who the market is, identify where they already gather in the digital space; and then connect with them there.
Tools
User Personas; Journey Mapping; User Research; Competitive Research; Functional Requirement Docs; Content Approval Docs (for legal, IRB, CIRB, WIRB); PPC Campaign; SEO Campaign; Social Media Campaigns; PR Techniques & Strategies
Patient Call Center
The online recruitment strategy was so successful that it overwhelmed study locations so I encouraged Pfizer to establish patient call centers to help qualify potential candidates for the specific clinical trials before they interacted with the study locations. I then oversaw the recruitment of qualified staff for these call centers and ensured these call centers were operationalized to be compliant with all HIPAA laws.
Tools
Highly trained, Medically-focused HIPAA Certified Call Center; Legally Approved Call Center Scripts; Location Database; Quality Control Protocols; Complaint Management System; HIPAA Approved Recording System; HIPAA Secured Servers
Team Member Collaboration
Each of the 30 clinical trials came with nuances and differences; not the least of which was the composition of the clinical trial teams themselves, each team comprising a unique composite of members who had little or no prior experience working together, nor would they need to continue to function as a team when the clinical trial was complete. Despite this, we were still able to build automation that enabled us to onboard clinical studies faster and more efficiently.
Quarterly, we held educational meetings with legal teams, internal review boards (IRBs), and clinical trial managers to ensure we remained current on laws, regulations, and limitations governing the promotion of clinical trials in the US and around the world.
Tools
Meeting facilitation, translating technical web speak into non-technical/practical terms, translating complex medical and legal information into practical user experience
7 Phases to a Successful Recruitment Campaign
To help the clinical trial teams see the big picture of an integrated participant recruitment campaign, I created a 7-phase system that helped them to understand how, with my guidance and project management, they could integrate their website with an online participant recruitment strategy.
Study Information Gathering
During this phase, all the important details about the study were gathered: intended audience, study length, enrollment requirements, and domain name creation and acquisition.
Foundation Development
During this phase, the study’s landscape began to take shape. This included research (user persona, journey maps, wireframing, prototyping), digital back-end implementation plan, and front-end development attributes of content, PR research, call center scripts, and as needed, branding development.
Design & Buildout
During this phase, the website was built out from the prototype approvals, the physician and patient interfaces were developed, branding was finalized, online marketing collateral was designed, and messaging for PPC, SEO, and PR was established.
Quality Assurance & System Testing
Upon completion of the build-outs, QA was performed on both the website and its corresponding interfaces as well as rehearsals on the call center component.
All bug reports were investigated and fixed before moving to the next phase.
Approvals
Launch
We closely observed the marketing campaigns to ensure our initial assumptions were validated and adjust accordingly when real-time data suggested a new direction.
Ongoing Support
Throughout the lifespan of the clinical trial, we met bi-monthly and kept the clinical trial teams up to date on the progress of the recruitment efforts.
We made adjustments as needed to ensure enrollment goals were reached. Through successful reporting measures and clear communication, we supported the clinical trial teams from start to finish.
Conclusion
It’s never just a website (even if that’s what the client asks for!). This series of projects helped me gain confidence in articulating to clients that more often than not, they don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to web development and online marketing. I’m a full-service kind of designer, so I have learned to speak with authority in this regard and garner the trust and appreciation of my clients . My job is to think ahead and anticipate what they will need once their website has been built.
I also developed an understanding that the more intense and time sensitive the project, the more rewarding it is for me. It made me realize just how much I thrive when working on varied projects with short timelines. These kinds of projects keep me challenged, intrigued, and motivated.
My favorite aspect was the continual creation mode that was present within this industry. That is a high value for a creative person like me.
