Using Data to Drive Employee Communications Instead of it driving us …

Manager, Corporate Communications Jennifer Rector Manager, Corporate Communications

Employee Communications We all do it, but are we any good at it? We like to say we are mass communicators, but really there are no masses in employee communications We are all employees at the end of the day How do you feel about your communication pieces? Are there too many? Are they too complex? Would you have time to read and understand it if it wasn’t your job?

Employee Communications Feelings … it’s all about feelings … isn’t it? We’ve spent a lot of time/years using words and phrases like … I think we do a good job talking to the field I feel like most everyone understood that Maybe if we tried this It’s probably the right time to communicate about this

Employee Communications Feelings are great, but …

Employee Communications We are on a mission … To prove our theories using data Understand the difference in perception and reality How are we accomplishing it? Measurement Testing New resources Crossing our fingers

Using Data to Drive Results Bananatag – Weird name; amazing results

Started using Bananatag September 1, 2015 Background Started using Bananatag September 1, 2015 Easy to implement; little IT support required To date, we’ve tracked: More than 450 email messages 407,000 opens 26,500 link clicks

Full reporting capabilities Open rate Repeat rate Links clicked Bananatag What do we get? Full reporting capabilities Open rate Repeat rate Links clicked Location Time Mobile device rate

What does it do for us? Capability Incapability Bananatag What does it do for us? Capability Track behavior in real time Understand device usage Analyze message impact Measure interest through link clicks Incapability Can’t make decisions for us Can’t tell us if the message was understood Can’t track follow through on actions

Data and Measurement – Gen Next What now? Moving from feelings to proof Replacing I think with I know Have the ability to adjust our actions based on behavior Supervisor read messages more consistently Friday is a terrible day to communicate Average of 10-12 percent are accessing email on a mobile device

Data and Measurement – Gen Next Driving decisions Using data to make final recommendations to executives Proved that a larger population of field workers are accessing emails It’s a matter of “choosing to be engaged” in some instances We have to continue to use multiple tools; email is only one tool Face to face (most preferred) Webcasting Conference calls Flyers/Mailers Network

Never stop tracking metrics Data and Measurement Takeaways Never stop tracking metrics We are working on the next phase of data capture Use your data to drive results and help to make decisions At the end of the day, you are making the recommendations The data doesn’t lie, but sometimes people do Don’t rely on open rates to equal a success An email opened is not an email read or understood Track the actions associated with the message

Questions/Discussions What are you doing to measure success?