Why you should be measuring internal email

Internal communicators are still getting to grips with measurement.

Most IC teams still don’t have the tools needed to measure successfully.

In a 2014 Melcrum/Newsweaver survey of internal communicators, just 16% were satisfied with their ability to measure their effectiveness.

Email seems to be a particular blind spot. While 97% used email as part of their mix of channels, just 24% could measure the impact of their email communications. More interestingly, only 22% planned to invest in improving email.

Implementing an email measurement tool is a quick and powerful win for any IC team.

Here’s why:

Email is effective
Like it or lump it, email is still one of the most widely used channels in most organizations (the same survey suggested it’s the second most used channel, behind intranets). It’s used for communicating everything from CEO announcements, HR updates, change communications to employee newsletters. If you’re not measuring email, you’ve got a major blind spot.

Greater visibility of message reach

Before I ventured on my current career with Newsweaver, I first started in the industry as an internal communicator. Back then we had no idea whether an email communication reached all of our intended audience. Setting up Newsweaver was like someone had turned on the lights. Not only could we see that it was delivered, we could also see who opened and clicked certain messages. That visibility meant we could use email smarter; for instance sending a follow-up to those who missed an announcement, without clogging the inboxes of those who received it.

That’s not all you can measure

Content popularity and engagement statistics allowed us to see what types of content our audience engaged with and what wasn’t working, influencing our editorial schedule. Measuring social activities such as comments and ratings was a great source of instant feedback. Plus benchmark statistics allowed us to see how our results compared to other IC teams (it’s currently 48% for open rates and 24% for click rates).

It helps you understand consumption

The standard metrics in Newsweaver Internal Connect allows users to see the internet browsers, email clients and devices our audience used to view messages. For example, a Newsweaver customer saw that a large number of employees were viewing their emails on mobile devices so they made their templates more mobile-friendly. You can even see what time of day employees are reading messages, so that you can send future communications at the optimum time for maximum audience engagement.

It can help you measure other channels

Destinations metrics track the number of employees that visit other channels from your email communications. It’s a great way to show how your communications are driving traffic of other channels. It also provides a great metric if driving adoption of a new intranet is one of your goals.

Plus it boosts IC’s credibility

Perhaps its greatest use is the ability to track how you’ve performed against goals and targets. It can be particularly useful where there’s a need to show that employees understand the message. These stats aren’t just useful to IC either. Sharing engagement statistics with senior management and other functions in the business is a great way to boost your team’s credibility.

It’s easy to set up

Finally, email measurement is quick to set up and requires minimal investment. There’s no software to install on your organization’s IT estate, making it easier to gain IT and Security approval. There’s a range of security measures that keep content and employee data secure.

The fact that it is so easy to set up and such a quick win makes it all the more surprising that so few teams are doing any measurement at all. If you’re ready to be part of the group that are happy with their measurement, give Newsweaver a call to hear how we can help you turn on the lights in your business.