Ah, the employee newsletter, a crucial element of your overall internal communications efforts. Newsletters keep your teams informed and are a fantastic way to create a strong company culture fueled by engagement and knowledge-sharing.
While we’re all familiar with what goes into them, how can you ensure your internal newsletters are engaging and maintain a solid open rate? Here are our top 6 tips for creating strong, value-driven internal newsletters.
1. Create a strong subject line for your newsletter
It’s no secret that your email subject line is the first thing employees see when they get that inbox notification. According to Business Insider, most people leave the subject line as the last step to their email writing process.
This can result in subject lines that are either irrelevant, too broad or missing altogether, which in turn, impacts your open rates. Keep them short and concise, place important words at the beginning, and make them informative.
2. Make it easy to read
We would all prefer not to have to decipher sentences and paragraphs that are tightly packed together in messy, unreadable sections. When creating employee newsletters, utilize a bit of design savvy and ensure everything is laid out in a clean, user-friendly format. When in doubt, white space is your friend!
The best way to make sure your message hits home is to write a draft and let it sit for a bit. Then reread it from your recipient’s point of view. Is it clear what you are trying to say? Does your message flow logically? Are you happy with how your messages are represented? If yes, go for it and hit send.
3. Incorporate repeat sections into your employee newsletters
When you read your favourite magazine or newspaper, chances are you flip straight to the sections or columns you are familiar with or enjoy. Why not apply this concept to your employee newsletter, too?
Creating recurring sections is the perfect way to give your employees something to look forward to when they click, such as photos of office pets, fun quotes or stories from the team, or something else “fun” and company-culture focused.
Structuring your content this way also makes your newsletter easier to navigate, and lets employees directly peruse whatever is relevant or of interest to them. The more organized your newsletter, the higher the likelihood that your employees will retain that information.
4. Keep it short and sweet
Your staff are incredibly busy, and their time is precious. Furthermore, studies show we are spending far too much time in our inboxes, which is impacting our mental health. When crafting your internal emails, make sure they are sharp, concise and only contain need-to-know sections and information.
Start by avoiding unnecessary jargon and fluff; people tend to skim their emails, and if you want to hold their attention on nearly every word, ensure you’re only including what is absolutely necessary.
5. Be creative and fun
Who says your internal emails need to be dull and cookie-cutter? Crafting an engaging employee newsletter can also be fun! Use this space to highlight team wins, or get your teams excited about upcoming work events and milestones, like birthdays.
Highlight your company culture by using language and tone that is conversational and friendly, yet professional.
Download our handy Tone of Voice worksheet for more help in this area.
6. Include surveys and polls
Whether you want to gather attendance details for your next event or meeting or scope out employee job satisfaction, adding surveys and polls to your employee newsletters is an easy way to increase participation.
Related reading: Measuring employee feedback—polls, scales, and comment boxes galore
Improve your employee newsletters with IC’s software
With our intranet software and it’s multi-channel messaging feature, it’s easier than ever to engage your employees and stand out from the noise using simple, clean messages. Our intranet also offers other useful tools (including easy-to-use surveys, scales, and polls) to help you organize your efforts, engage employees, and measure tangible results.
Interested in learning more about IC’s software? You can start a free trial or book a demo today!
