Up to 60% of businesses operate without an internal communications strategy, but out of these, only 12% of them barely measure the effectiveness of their internal communications. That sets up businesses for failure, if they ignore these measurements. Even though they are investing in communication tools, they struggle to know whether these tools are effective or not.
Good internal communication promises to revolutionize any business – no matter the size – because both business leaders and employees can ensure their message is heard. A robust internal communication system also ensures the organization works as a unit. It is easy to share goals, identify problems, and solve them with good communication. It also improves employee engagement and productivity while ensuring streamlined employee-client communications as well.
If you are looking to revolutionize your internal communication system, here are four tips for measuring and improving it.
Pick Ideal Communication Systems
It is human nature to choose the easy way out. If the internal communication solutions you choose make it harder for employees and department leaders to communicate, your workforce will look for ways to circumvent them. Ideally, convenience should reign supreme when choosing internal communication solutions.
For instance, if you have a lot of field workers, it might be more efficient to communicate through cloud faxing than conventional fax systems. Employees can access shared documents from anywhere and can easily collaborate using their emails. As noted by the experts at eFax, mobile apps make it easier to integrate cloud faxing into your employees’ everyday lives. Compare the pros and cons of a specific communication system before choosing it as your primary solution.
Establish Your Most Important Communication KPIs
Any communication solution you choose should be taken through a probation period to determine its effectiveness. You should use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are highly valuable to your business to determine how effective the tool is. Be sure to track progress regularly – whether that is daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. The data you collect should help guide your next steps. Some great KPIs for your communication tools include:
- The number of views on a business video
- The number of page views on your intranet pages
- Email open and click rates
You can set as many KPIs as you want, these are just a few examples. Remember, the way you present your content and the tools you use will have a role to play in employee engagement, and both need to be optimized.
Perform a Cohort Analysis
If you are already well-established, chances are your company has a wide variety of audiences. The complaints coming from one demographic might be different from the ones coming from another. For instance, in an online retail business, the kind of communication you send out to your customer care agents might differ from that of your order fulfillment and delivery workers. This inherently means that the metrics for measuring success needs to be different for these groups.
If you are creating questionnaires, your questions need to be specific to the target group. You might also need to invest in different tools for specific groups. Conducting an analysis of the effectiveness of communication tools for your whole organization will not paint a clear enough picture.
Revisit Goals as You Scale
As your business grows, so will your communication needs. For instance, you might start servicing an entirely new client base, and your current tools might not support you completely in dealing with them. Regularly revisit your goals and scale them as your company grows. If you feel you have outgrown specific communication tools, be sure to invest in more effective ones. The only way to determine if they are still effective is to keep measuring.
Success Starts with the Right Communication Tools
Your internal communication tools will dictate how successful your business will be. As long as you keep track of your progress, you can keep your communication systems working to help grow your business. Be sure to analyze all the communication solutions you are considering thoroughly to choose the deal ones for your business structure.
