A Retention ROI Model for clinical trials: improving patient engagement, adherence, retention and trial efficiency​

Images of Trial Flow app demonstrating key areas
Clinical trials face persistent challenges across engagement, adherence and retention. These challenges can increase costs, delay timelines and put data quality at risk.​​

This white paper introduces Trial Flow’s Retention ROI Model, grounded in a Theory of Change approach. It explores how protocol aligned participant support may reduce burden, improve understanding and strengthen motivation, while helping sponsors identify how its contribution to participant and study outcomes can be measured.​

Key insights...

1. Why engagement, adherence and retention matter

Understand how these three challenges affect trial timelines, data completeness, costs and overall study performance.

2. How participant support creates impact

See how Trial Flow maps digital support features to behavioral and experiential pathways, including preparedness, confidence, motivation, emotional support and reduced burden.​

3. How support can be tailored without losing consistency

Explore how Trial Flow can be configured to each protocol, participant population and operational context while maintaining a standardised approach to measurement.​

4. How evidence and evaluation support scalable delivery

Learn how the Retention ROI Model helps teams test assumptions, measure outcomes and improve participant support across studies and portfolios.​

Why this matters

Participant support needs to be intentional, measurable and scalable​

The Retention ROI Model helps teams:​

  • Connect participant support features with intended behavioural pathways.​

  • Identify assumptions that need to hold true for an intervention to contribute to change.​

  • Align support with relevant participant and study indicators.​

  • Compare evidence and outcomes across studies, populations and therapy areas.​

  • Scale informed approaches without rebuilding from scratch.​

Alex Christensen headshot photo

About the author

Dr Alex Christensen

Alex is an experienced researcher and evaluator, with a PhD in public health and 10 years of experience across academia, the NHS, and industry. Her cross-sector background allows her to speak to both the “why” and the “how” of patient-centred impact. In her role as Evidence Manager, Alex focuses on making evidence meaningful, inclusive and commercially relevant for patient-centred clinical research.

Want to see how Trial Flow can apply this framework to your clinical trials?

Talk to us about how Trial Flow can deliver protocol-aligned patient support quickly, globally, and with confidence.

Trial Flow Phone (Left)