The importance of data and measuring internal communications impact

Businesses have changed, and so should the ways we collect and use data in communications.?

When it comes to using data to inform the way we communicate, there are a few things to think about. It starts with what can be measured, what can be measured consistently, and what this data says about an audience.?

Today, being an internal communicator is a hybrid role that demands a deeper understanding of the people we are communicating with. For this, we need to be more analytical and data-driven.?

A traditional view of measuring internal communications

Data in internal communications is about what you track and what you don’t track. Traditionally,?organizations and their communications teams have measured basic inputs and outputs. There are tried and tested methods and tools that give us information like number of views, click-through rates, attendance, readership, etc. Though we can use this to extrapolate some understanding of engagement, the data doesn’t provide any color, just a bunch of top-level facts.?

This high-level information serves a purpose. It helps us understand what’s effective and what is a waste of time and investment. It can tell us whether people read newsletters, emails, and blogs. It also gives us insight into event attendance, satisfaction levels, and where there may be gaps in representation.?

Communications teams can use this information to manage workflows and understand the best channels for delivering key messages. With data, we can challenge assumptions that one form of communication is better than another, or whether a message is even necessary at all.?

A new wave of measuring communications impact in the workplace

According to?Gallagher’s State of the Sector 2023 internal communications report, improving impact measurement and evaluation is a top five priority for medium and large businesses (500-5,000 employees) and a top three priority for very large and enterprise businesses (5,000-10,000+ employees). Lack of analytics or measurement was also seen as one of the top challenges, particularly for larger organizations.?

Instead of relying on traditional internal communications metrics, what if we can go deeper to understand impact? As a communications professional, I want to know if we can use data to analyze whether certain communications results in a change in behavior. What did people learn or take away from a communication? What impact did it have? How did it make them feel? Was there anything that they learned that might change the way that they perceive or understand something??

Sentiment analysis is one way of taking anecdotal feedback, comments, and general discussion and measuring the overall mood in an organization at any one moment. By being able to tap into the current mood, communications teams and leaders can gauge how to approach certain topics. These insights can help steer reputation and engagement on the inside. It can also highlight issues and allows businesses to adjust accordingly.

The power of making good mistakes

The?State of the Sector 2023 report?also reveals that lack of capacity and budget both feature in the top three challenges for 2023. As a result, proving a return on investment was the number one reason for measuring communication.?

Many organizations don’t understand the benefit of measuring communications—resulting in a lack of funding and experimentation. Without support and investment, gathering insights necessary to run a successful, modern, hybrid business can be tough. Teams are forced to use the same traditional metrics.?

Looking forward, it’s possible that AI technology can play a role in measuring communications impact. We know it can help us create messaging and it feels that it’s only a matter of time, and some creativity on our end, before it can be used for sentiment analysis. Until investment and technology catch up, we can use existing tools and techniques in a smart way to understand employee engagement.?

In my organization, we're seizing the opportunity to utilize sentiment insights to guide leadership on the organization's prevailing mood and key concerns. We're implementing new strategies such as linking people survey questions to post-event polls, allowing us to gauge and track sentiment throughout the year. My team, embarking on uncharted territory, has moved beyond the pursuit of the 'perfect' measurement, choosing instead to test a new approach for a period of six months. While it's not an exact science, these small steps aim to decipher the link between internal communication, employee engagement, and business performance.

How about your organization? Are you just jumping in? Or are you still trying to make it perfect, but missing some opportunities?to make good mistakes?