Why is it important to monitor and measure HR Email communications?

Emails are undeniably the most important and largely used communication channel in any organization.  Especially corporate communication such as training notifications, birthday & work anniversary wishes, corporate announcements and upcoming events are communicated to the employees through these ubiquitous emails. These email communications speak volumes about the corporate culture and the organizations’ belief in reaching out to their employees on a daily basis.

Email communication has some distinct advantages. Emails are

– Addresses one-on-one to the recipient even if the email is sent to a larger group

– It is confidential

– Instantaneous and can be sent to employees next to you and employees in a different continent simultaneously.

– Can be sent to a single or group of persons and so are the response

– Highly cost effective

– With email communication, it is possible to keep a virtual record of conversations happened. It is also quite easy to access anytime.

Sure, most of us know the benefits of email communication, but you have to understand and improve its effectiveness as a communication channel to get the maximum out of it. For that, you first need to monitor and measure the efficiency of your email communication. How is the deliverability, the open rate and response rate of your emails? It may seem silly or unnecessary to measure the engagement level of internal communications. But it gives you the necessary insight to fine-tune your communication pattern and reach out to engage more with your employees.

1. Know the right time to send that most important email:
   If you can determine the open rate of emails and compare it with the time sent you can easily deduce the right time which gets a good open rate.
2. Know the right message or topic that your employees find interesting:
   Similarly, with historical data, you can determine the message or topics that tickle the interest of your employees and gets more clicks. It helps you shape your communication approach and gives an insight into employee mindset.
3. Know your employees’ overall engagement levels:
   The open rate gives a subtle indication of the overall employee engagement levels in the workplace. Their participation, contribution, and conversation give an insight into how interested and responsive are they to communications from the organization.
4. Identify team players and leaders:
   In most organizations, only a fraction of people involves themselves enthusiastically in organization-wide activities. These people are invariably the ones who earnestly read all HR email communications and keenly respond or participate in HR initiated conversations. These people are more likely to be your future leaders.