Messaging Informed by Behavioral Economics and Representativeness in Clinical Research Enrollment

Do messaging strategies incorporating behavioral economic principles increase enrollment fraction in a clinical research study with direct-to-participant electronic outreach?In this series of 4 sequential randomized clinical trials, outreach via email plus text message and text message alone (vs email alone) and with an offer of a financial incentive (vs no offer) significantly increased enrollment fraction of Black and Hispanic patients in the Penn Medicine BioBank, a prospective research study. Outreach from the clinical team (vs the research team) and with an appeal to altruism or social proof (vs a control message) did not significantly increase enrollment fraction.In this study of direct-to-participant electronic outreach, contacting eligible participants by text message with an offer of a financial incentive increased enrollment fraction of Black and Hispanic patients.

Corresponding Author: Alexander C. Fanaroff, MD, MHS, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, South 11-103, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (alexander.fanaroff@pennmedicine.upenn.edu).

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