Internal newsletters are rarely in the headlines, but this trusted medium is still a communications powerhouse. Newsletters are a vital channel for sharing important news and information, they can help strengthen and grow your community, improve loyalty and can also align staff and stakeholders with your organizational goals. People trust them, rely on them, and look forward to receiving them. A study by Trade Press services found that 85% of employees feel more connected to their company when they receive regular internal updates.
But keeping things fresh is key. Like all communication tools, internal newsletters need to evolve to remain effective and engaging. If your newsletter is due for retooling, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, we’ll discuss ways to breathe new life into your internal newsletter to make sure it retains its “must read” status for your staff and stakeholders. Topics include:
- What is the Value of an Internal Newsletter?
- KPIs to Measure Engagement
- Ask for Feedback
- 7 Fresh Ways to Boost Engagement
Know Your Why: What is the Value of an Internal Newsletter?
If you need to dedicate resources to refreshing your newsletter, do a cost-benefit analysis to demonstrate the value your newsletter brings to your organization. The KPIs below will paint a detailed picture of stakeholder engagement. Higher-level benefits include:
Improved Communication: Regular updates keep employees informed about company news, policy changes, and upcoming events. 73% of employees say they feel like they are missing important company news when they don’t receive a monthly newsletter.
Increased Engagement: Sharing stories about team achievements and individual milestones can boost employee morale and create a sense of belonging. Organizations with effective internal communication are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their peers.
Knowledge Sharing: Newsletters can highlight best practices, industry news, and internal expertise, promoting a culture of continuous learning. By keeping everyone in the loop, internal newsletters can build trust and transparency within an organization.
KPIs to Measure Newsletter Engagement
Tracking the right KPIs can help you measure the success of your internal newsletter and make data-driven improvements. Key performance indicators to consider include:
Open Rates: Measure how many employees open the newsletter. High open rates indicate strong interest and effective subject lines.
Click-Through Rates: Track the number of clicks on links within the newsletter or e-blast. This shows how engaging your content is.
Read Time: Analyze how long employees spend reading the newsletter. Longer read times typically indicate high engagement.
Feedback and Participation: Monitor responses to calls to action, such as survey participation or event sign-ups.
Ask for Feedback
Ask your readers for feedback to understand which topics resonate most and which areas need improvement. Engaging your stakeholders in the process gives your newsletter instant credibility and relevance. It’s empowering, too. Keep the feedback process ongoing and embrace an iterative approach to keep your messaging relevant year over year.
This process pays dividends! A McKinsey study says companies that regularly seek feedback on internal communications experience a 30% higher employee engagement rate. This increased engagement typically leads to more motivated, informed and connected staff and stakeholders. Who doesn’t want that?
7 Fresh Ways to Boost Engagement and Modernize Your Internal Newsletter
Internal messaging has evolved to embrace trends and technologies that enhance engagement and resonate with media-savvy stakeholders. Here are 8 fresh ways to retool your newsletter:
1. Personalization
Today’s newsletters are personalized with content tailored to individual preferences and roles. This improves engagement and ensures that each reader receives information relevant to their interests and responsibilities.
Use a Tool Built For Communication:
Use an email marketing tool purpose-built for communication to take personalization to a new level. Envoke’s industry-leading list management and dynamic content features let you create and deliver content to very specific audience segments. Build a single email for your entire list using dynamic content blocks that you can show (or hide) depending on your recipient’s interests. Use the merge fields function to display custom, personalised data that goes well beyond a recipient’s first name. Powerful tagging and list segmentation tools ensure that the right content goes to the right audience, every time.
2. Focus on Wellness and Diversity
Your newsletter is an excellent vehicle for content that supports employee wellness and promotes diversity and inclusion. Include articles on mental health, work-life balance, and stories celebrating diverse cultures within the organization. Be sure to mention any health and wellness benefits, services or events that are available to your staff or stakeholders.
3. Interactive Content
Including interactive elements like polls, quizzes, and surveys is standard in modern e-newsletters. They’re engaging, and they also present an opportunity to gather feedback about your newsletter, and the organization itself.
4. Multimedia Integration
Cater to different learning styles by including multimedia content, including videos, podcasts, and animated infographics. Did you know that video content in newsletters can increase your click-through rates by 65%.
5. Mobile Optimization
This should be a reflex by now, but it bears repeating since the vast majority of your email will be viewed on a mobile device. Designing for mobile means more than just making sure it’s legible and opens quickly on all screens. Strive to make your newsletter look great on all screens: keep your design simple and your content sections short, ensure your navigation works well and use higher contrast colors.
6. User-Generated Content
Encouraging your stakeholders to contribute articles, videos, photos, or ideas can improve engagement and diversify your perspectives. Don’t forget to engage your influencers.
7. Tap Your Employee Influencers
Influencers are people who have that special something that makes others sit up and listen. And their impact isn’t confined to social media. Your organization has influencers, too. You likely know who they are even if you haven’t thought of them this way. They are the people who naturally make others listen, follow, and participate. Find them and amplify them. Forbes magazine has several great suggestions for encouraging your internal influencers to share their magic including creating an internal video program for members to share ideas and promote organizational culture, and finding and sharing external thought leadership opportunities for your best and brightest to contribute their knowledge! (Of course, you will share this content in your newsletter.)
Revamping your internal newsletter is a big task. By gathering feedback, focusing on engaging content, and iterating on what works, you can create a powerful tool for communication and a “must-read” resource for your stakeholders.
