305% increase in leads for clinical trial specialist

For 30+ years, hVIVO has specialised in vaccine development to help fight RSV, Influenza, COVID-19 and other viral illnesses. Through its brand FluCamp, volunteers are recruited to take part in clinical trials.

The Challenge

hVIVO has a strategic goal to drive volunteer recruitment sustainably. To work towards this, it aimed to ramp up lead acquisition activity across all of its channels.

Paid social activity was challenging as whilst it was driving some leads, it was underperforming compared with other channels and its halo effect was unclear. With this in mind, Impression was appointed to elevate FluCamp's paid social efforts and demonstrate its capability to effectively recruit potential volunteers. Increasing efficiency and exploring new areas for growth were also a priority. Specifically, across a six-month period, we were tasked to:

• Drive an agreed amount of leads via paid social p/month
• Maintain an agreed CPL

The Strategy

We restructured the existing account to optimise budget spend and resources, implementing clear awareness campaigns with granular audiences and consolidating existing conversion campaigns to better manage audience overlap.

We mapped out the digital journey of hVIVO’s audience, allowing us to pinpoint where paid social activity drives the most value and at which stage we should implement campaigns to target the user at the right place, at the right time. PPC activity was also included in the digital journey, helping us ensure the two channels complemented one another.

When launching campaigns, a blend of first and third-party data enhanced our targeting efforts and increased efficiency by giving the algorithm more signals to work with. The utilisation of first-party data was crucial due to iOS 14.5’s App Tracking Transparency framework.

We created a pool of new ad copy, adapted to each campaign and importantly, compliant with Meta’s policy guidelines. An integrated approach ensured that hVIVO seamlessly communicated to its audience across multiple marketing channels including paid social and offline mediums.

Creative was tailored to audiences located where FluCamp clinics are based. These creatives were appealing as they gave those in the area a sense of familiarity and comfort, whilst the room creatives conveyed the intended experience to put the applicants at ease and set expectations.

To measure the success of the newly implemented awareness campaigns, we conducted a brand lift survey experiment via Facebook which revealed a 13.2% increase in brand awareness.

The Results

In a six-month period, we successfully managed to demonstrate the power of paid social media, leveraging its capabilities to not only exceed the targets set but also position it as a valuable channel for the business. By June 2022, paid social media was responsible for driving 40% of the total leads that hVIVO was acquiring. Together, we also achieved:

• 305% increase in paid social leads vs the previous 6 months
• 105% increase in total leads vs the previous 6 months
• 28% decrease in CPL