Are you still sending internal newsletters? Time to freshen things up!

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Internal newsletters might seem a great solution for keeping employees informed about company news. Every week or month you spend a ton of time filling your corporate newsletter with quality content. You even search the web for ideas to come up with fresh and compelling employee newsletter names. That will ensure your colleagues will read your newsletter, right?

Think again. Sure, we understand the appeal of newsletters. You can inform many people at the same time about what is happening in your organization. Advanced tools even assist you to create digestible and fun content. Internal newsletters have been around for a long time, but times are changing. Nowadays, there are numerous reasons why internal newsletters are long overdue for retirement.

1. You will not reach everyone

You might think simply e-mailing everyone in your organization is the easiest way to reach all employees. But how do you reach your colleagues who don’t have a corporate email address? 80 percent of the working population consists of non-desk employees, like cleaners, delivery drivers, factory workers and nurses. They won’t see your internal newsletter until they will use a workstation and probably won’t have much time when they finally do.

What to do instead:

By using an omnichannel communication platform, you can truly reach everyone. It no longer matters where they are, if they have the right access or permissions, or what devices they use for work. With a strong combination of multiple channels and devices, including digital signage, interactive screensavers and a corporate app, you’ll reach your entire workforce.

2. Information is rarely hot off the press

No matter what interval you use for your internal newsletter, you will always find something noteworthy happens right after you’ve sent your latest edition (unless you send it out daily – but who has time to write and read that?). By the time you publish your next edition, the news will be outdated, or will have lost its relevance entirely.

What to do instead:

With Netpresenter, your content is updated continuously. The moment you publish something, it will be visible for all employees on every channel you choose. You don’t have to wait days or even weeks until your next periodical newsletter, only to see your fresh content getting old. In case of real urgent news or even emergency situations, you can even use push notifications to make sure everyone is informed right away.

3. You’re only sending info instead of starting a dialog

You can let people contribute to the newsletter with interesting content, but that’s not the interaction we’re looking for. To what extend are people enabled to react to your newsletter? If you’re using email only to deliver information, it might feel impersonal to your audience. Enabling employees to react to the news in your newsletter and to respond to each other’s reactions, can help foster healthy and positive relationships between your coworkers. This leads to higher engagement. But when they only reply to the original sender, they will not see each other’s comments and reactions. Reply-to-all isn’t the solution either though, as that will bring us to the fourth reason why internal newsletters are obsolete.

What to do instead:

Employees can like messages and comment directly in the Mobile App. This way, your content can spark connections between coworkers who don’t see face to face on a daily basis – perfect for companies that embrace hybrid work as their new normal. It also enables the sender to respond to questions or clarify something in a central place, without having to respond to multiple independent e-mails or direct messages.

4. You contribute to the information overload

You work hard to fill your internal newsletter with compelling content. Chances are that your employees will view your newsletter as just another email that floods their inbox. The average office worker receives about 120 emails a day. No wonder two out of three employees ignore emails at work. It also means your newsletter (and any reply-to-all emails) will probably not receive the attention you desire, while it only contributes to the information overload.

What to do instead:

Instead of adding to the information overload, you can decrease it in a smart way. You don’t just spare people the monthly edition of your newsletter, as well as any reply-to-all’s or updates that you have to send out in between editions. Our channels are designed to be non-intrusive. Employees will see the latest news during a coffee break, a walk, or right at the start of their day when they boot up their device, so you’ll never have to distract them when they are focused at work.

Are you ready to say goodbye to your trusty internal newsletter? Let’s talk with our consultants and see what Netpresenter can do for your internal communication! Not convinced? Download our free infographic about wasting money and time because of distractions and ineffective communication.