Want to know if your digital internal communication is working? The proof is in the data pudding!

Whether we’re talking about email, websites or apps, digital technology is an incredibly useful medium for internal communication and collaboration. It allows you to easily create and maintain targeted, personalised and measurable two-way conversations. And it does most of these things using data.

Data is the key trend in internal communications for 2018 and beyond

Data gives you ALL the info at your fingertips: who’s looked at your webpage or email; at what time and for how long; if they clicked; if they downloaded and if they liked, shared or commented.

So, you can easily find out if people are reading your communications. And, if it turns out you’re disappointed with your click through rates or ‘dwell time’, you can do something about it, whether that’s split-testing subject lines and calls to action, or making your copy and visuals work harder. This usage data allows you to continuously improve the experience of your audience and helps you to segment and target your platform content too.

BUT, it’s imperative to look past your vanity metrics like hits and likes and use your measurement data to link back to your organisation KPIs. Sure, you might have launched a digital campaign to promote your new values, but has your  promotion directly affected the behaviour of your emoplyees?

You can / should use your data to:

• Define your communications strategy
• Focus on how you talk to your organisation, department or employees
• Help make vital business decisions
• Drive performance
• Produce and maintain good internal relationships by listening to feedback

In fact, embracing the data within your technology can help you to solve many communication problems that once seemed insurmountable. It’s likely to be a huge mistake, should you make any decisions on your communication strategy without heeding the advice of your data.

Data is everywhere and that’s a good thing

Back in 2013, Gartner claimed that ‘every company is a tech company’, meaning that technology now reaches into every sector of the economy. If technology isn’t running through all aspects of your business yet, the truth is, it will do soon. And, used the right way, it’ll make your employees’ lives easier and more enjoyable, by improving communication and allowing them to work more effectively.

But as your relationship with your employees is much more personal than with your customers, you’ll need to go even deeper into your data to get real results from your internal communications, and to ensure that you shape your solutions around findings, not assumptions.

How do you feel about this trend towards deeper data analysis? I’d love to hear your thoughts — and let us know if you have any questions or need any help.