Welcome to Inside Comm’, the podcast in which I explore the internal communication landscape!
I’m Hélène Renaud, the host of this podcast. You’ll get to know me throughout these episodes where I alternate between shorter episodes with some quick tips & tricks and slightly longer episodes where I discuss with internal communicators some best practices and some of their inspiring projects.
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Do company in-house newsletters actually get read? My 8 tips
Today I’m going to give you our tips on how to turn a newsletter into an interesting and read internal tool.
This is a must, especially when you know that we receive an average of 120 emails per day in our work email accounts.
#1 Media mix
For starters, the first piece of advice I’d give you is to incorporate these newsletters into the overall media mix plan, and therefore to look into why the newsletter exists in the first place…
What types of subjects do you want to cover using this channel, what objectives do you want to achieve?
#2 Content first
My 2nd piece of advice is to really work on the content and always think about bringing added value to the communication. This is actually true for any of the tools. Why not vary the content and format to infuse a sense of energy?
Don’t be afraid to send people to something other than articles on your intranet site. Break the routine by sending them to ifographics, videos, white papers, etc.
#3 Interaction
To stimulate engagement, and this is my 3rd tip, encourage your audience to actively participate using quizzes, contests or surveys. This will give you more material for subsequent newsletters when you’ll have for example the answers from your ‘well-being at work’ survey of the previous month or anything else you’d like feedback on.
#4 Quality over quantity
Next, we advise that you prioritise quality over quantity of information. This way you keep it short and get to the point.
Here, I’m talking about the quality of the introductory texts leading to clicks on the different subjects, and also the quality of the images you’ll put in the newsletter… A little tip while we’re on the subject of images, regarding their weight! Make sure you compress your images to avoid emails going into your recipients’ spam.
So far, we’ve focused on the content of your newsletter in all senses of the word. But for your newsletter to get read, it needs to be opened, which is not as straightforward as it sounds!
But we’ve got 2 or 3 handy tips for this…
#5 Sender and subjectline
First of all, think about the sender of the email: ask yourself which email address should you use to send the e-mail so people will want to open it?
The subject is also a decisive element in whether an email is opened or, conversely, whether it is vertically archived if you catch my drift. In the same study I referred to at the beginning of this episode, it was noted that the use of an emoji boosts the likelihood of emails being opened. But don’t use them too much in a corporate context!
And finally, to conclude these tips on opening emails, the introductory text you see in your inbox (or the Johnson Box for those who know) is also important to work on. It’s the teaser that lures your readers in!
#6 Publish regularly
My 6th piece of advice for you today is to make sure that your newsletter is published regularly. It doesn’t matter if you choose a weekly or monthly publication. The most important thing is to maintain the frequency so that this communication tool becomes nothing short of THE place to find your company’s news!
#7 Test your timing
As for the best time to send this email, it’s up to you to test it in terms of your target and the company’s way of doing things. The great thing about digital tools is that they allow you to analyse and iterate until you find the best solution based on given parameters.
Several times should be tested and changed if need be. For example in the morning before the day starts or instead during the lunch break! The ball’s in your court 😉
#8 Analyse
And finally my last and 8th piece of advice: don’t forget to analyse your sending process. Keep an eye on certain KPIs such as the delivery rate of your email (meaning, the number of people who actually receive the email compared to the number of people listed in your DB). The opening rate should also be tracked to help you improve the subject or the Johnson Box mentioned earlier. Finally, monitor the click rate to see if your summaries and images made people want to find out more and click on the buttons to read all the news!
I hope you found these tips useful, and I look forward to bringing you another episode of Inside Comm’! 🙂
By Hélène Renaud
