Employee loyalty is not something you get automatically.if Record-breaking number of resignations Anything that recent years have shown us is that you have to continue to earn employee engagement and loyalty.However, internal communication is often an uncreative afterthought in an organization, as evident 34% of corporate communications are unopened.
Let’s be real; we’ve all received high-level corporate communications in those jargon with tons of copies we’d never read. However, when done right, internal communications have the power to inspire, nurture company culture, and maintain team alignment. Internal company communications are a powerful tool and should be handled as diligently and intentionally as in any email marketing.
1. Start with what matters most to your employees
We might break some hearts here, but your internal newsletter isn’t the first thing to say about how great your leadership team is. Internal newsletters should focus on creating valuable, accessible, and engaging content for your employees. That doesn’t mean you can’t include high-level company goals or updates; it’s good to keep your team informed. However, it does need to position your newsletter content in a way that employees can see how it relates to their role.
This example from Staffbase shows a newsletter content structure that first highlights the content of most immediate value to employees before moving on to company news. source.
Provide context for growth and purpose
Employees are more motivated and engaged when you share growth and goals in the context of each team member’s contributions. Don’t just give them quarterly numbers in the newsletter and expect them to understand their personal impact on the plan. Connect the dots for them. Organizational goals have little impact until they become personal goals.
For example, when sharing quarterly statistics, present them in a way that highlights their contributions. “This is where our company OKRs are, which means everyone executes at XY% capacity. This is [good/bad/indifferent] Because XYZ. This is our opportunity to move forward, and this is how you can help us make it happen. “
Put the focus on your employees
It’s a psychologically proven principle that people like to talk about themselves.according to Psychology Today, it’s reassuring for people that it’s the same brain region involved in other pleasurable activities, such as eating good food or even having sex. In short, it’s powerful. If you want to increase employee engagement, celebrate them, talk about them, and let them share themselves.
You can follow your employees by celebrating success stories, providing positive customer feedback, sharing promotions, and introducing new hires.
This example from GetResponse highlights new hires by having them share their information with the new team. source.
include different viewpoints
Help your employees feel part of a team by including cultural role models different backgrounds and identities. Ask employees to contribute to newsletter content and share their voices; don’t just do things from the executive team.
Invite employees to share their secrets to a successful work day, a big win this week, praising a teammate, or visiting the home office. If there is a cultural festival going on, invite a team member from the interest group to share. Let your employees see themselves in the people who represent your company.
Create employee feedback loops
When in doubt, ask. Let people tell you what they want by offering feedback opportunities. They probably have the best newsletter idea because they are the ones who read it. Provide feedback opportunities through whatever communication channel your company uses most often to get the most input. It might include a link at the bottom of a newsletter or a poll in Slack; the point is to meet people where they are.
Using an app integration like Simple Poll in Slack can be an effective way to get feedback from your team.
Not sure where to start your feedback loop?Check out our guide How to Effectively Ask for Feedback in Emails.
2. Pay attention to your tone
Employees receive an endless stream of boring company emails throughout the day, don’t send another internal newsletter. This is your chance to brighten their day and create the fun things they look forward to.
according to invest, 47% of email recipients “read emails based on the subject line only.” Make sure yours is what they want to open!Keep it short and pique their interest with opposing narratives or phrases that create a sense of urgency (cool kids call it fear of missing out).If you really want to grab the reader’s attention, use Dynamic content tags Personalized subject line, discovered Increase open rates by 22%!
In your body text, use a casual and personable tone.Include strong headlines and headline sections that make people want to read more, or Insert related gifs Help people connect to your content.
This humorous interpretation of an internal memo from clothing brand Bonobos leaves readers with a double impression. The HR condemnation that originally appeared was actually a clever marketing email, which is evident in the hilarious copy. source.
3. Provide opportunities for participation
The easiest way to get your employees to actually read your internal communications is to make them part of the conversation. No one likes a one-sided conversation.When you interact with your employees, you will see increased open rates, improved company culture, more effective communication, increased productivity, and Employee Brand Amplification Flourish.
So, how do you do this? Include interactive elements such as polls, contests, and shareable content in your employee communications. This might look like a link to a company social media post, workplace bingo, or a poll to see what to order for the next team lunch.The key is to inspire employee engagement emotional response; Make it fun, exciting, inspiring, empowering or rewarding.
The newsletter from Would You rather is interactive, and it creates something for readers to look back at – the results of the last poll. While it may not be an internal communication, the same concept can be applied. source.
4. Share resources
A great internal newsletter should be an investment in your team. Create real value for your readers by providing professional development and personal support resources.
These resources should help employees hone their skills, see a clear path to growth in the company, and take care of themselves so they can perform better professionally. This may include highlighting fringe benefits, relevant industry news, upcoming company events and training, or internal job openings. Giving employees something to take away creates lasting value for them.
This internal newsletter from Robert Half shares resources on employee physical, mental and interpersonal wellbeing. They do this by emphasizing fringe benefits, company events and external resources. source.
Bring them together in an eye-catching design
So now that you’ve got all the ingredients to build an impactful internal newsletter, it’s time to wrap it up into a beautiful design before delivery. Boring company emails are enough; it’s time to up your game. It sounds easier said than done, but you don’t have to be a professional designer or spend countless hours creating eye-catching newsletter designs.follow us Free Newsletter Template, all you have to do is drag and drop.
Still not sure where to start building your internal communications?Check How we create and send our monthly email newsletter in Activity Monitor here.
