[report] How Internal Communication uses email

Newsweaver partnered with Ragan Communications to run a survey to learn how Internal Communication teams are using email in their organizations. Over 600 communicators from around the world participated, resulting in the just-published Email Best Practice Survey 2014.

Email remains an essential channel. Communicators are not looking to replace it - only 27% say internal social networks will replace email in the organization within the next five years. But clearly the channel is under-resourced, because communicators are finding it difficult to increase effectiveness of these communications - or prove business value to the organization.

Key findings about Internal Communication email

Here are a few of the major findings:

• Email remains a significant form of communications in most organizations - Nearly 60% of respondents’ corporate communications send out email at least once a week. Within that: 19% email their employees once a week, 26% two to three times a week, and 14% daily.
• Engagement is the primary purpose - 75% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that “Internal communications is responsible for making sure employees are engaged.”
• Click-through tracking is not common - Only 26% measure open and click-through rates, despite the fact that 94% of all respondents rank it as important or very important to measure email as a channel.
• Email is best for critical messages. A landslide majority of 98% of respondents use email for critical, must-read information. Email is also the favored tool for getting out a consistent message to the entire workforce.
• Must-have policies - 75% of respondents have a policy in place for the newer social media channel, but fewer report having such policies for the well-established email channel, with 62% answering yes. When it comes to enforcing the policies, comms takes the lead in social media, while IT tends to enforce email issues. Clearly there is a struggle managing the employee use of the 'company-wide' emails, as only 30% have a policy/structure in place on its use.
• Measuring is crucial. The top channels to measure are intranet/website, ranked by 96% of respondents as “very important” or “important.” Email drew nearly as many responses. The most popular measurement tool is Outlook - even though it is limited to read receipts or delivery metrics.