automationAs eMarketer.com confirmed in one of its recent reports, it is “pretty obvious by now that the old-kid-on-the-block, the email isn’t disappearing”, stating that business executives polled worldwide in December 2014 by StrongView, in conjunction with SENSORPRO, ranked email as the No. 1 marketing program for which they planned to increase spending in 2015.

design1

More than six in 10 respondents said they’d up investments in the channel, compared with fewer than 50% for second-place social media and 40.2% for No. 3 mobile—often viewed as hotter than email.

However, email marketing is not only in the communication an important tool with external stakeholders (e.g. customers). With email marketing software, even the communication within the company can be designed more efficiently and professionally.

Impressive impact of internal communication on branding

There are many reasons for internal corporate communications, such as information about new features in the company/business or the development of new markets, annual reports and presentations of general meetings, press clippings, notes on malfunctions and maintenance manuals for new software and hardware, invitations to meetings, events or courses, internal newsletters, FAQs, employee discounts or surveys, etc.

The senders of such communication are, for example, the HR department, management, IT or marketing. In most cases, each department designs and structures the email according to the very own objectives and ideas instead of trans-sectoral guidelines.

Emails are often created and sent via Outlook or any other email client, although handling of internal communication with a central and professional email marketing software has many advantages compared to that solution as the following examples show:

1. Internal Employer Branding
Strengthening employees' identification with the company and increasing employee satisfaction are just some of the objectives of internal employer branding to raise the perception of the own brand in the internal corporate communication, which is why the same demands have to be made to the internal corporate communications as to external communication. Here, premium, consistent and user-friendly mailings designed in HTML impress and mobilize employees and boost the internal branding.

2. Automation and customizability
Luckily, email marketing in the internal corporate communications can as well be individualized and completely automated. A good example is, for instance, communication regarding training: The employee first receives an invitation to the training via email. If he doesn’t respond, a reminder will be sent automatically. After notification of the employee, training materials is sent immediately, followed by further reminders until the day of training. After the training, the employee automatically receives an email asking for feedback. According to his/her reply, subsequent suitable courses are determined on an individual basis, and he/she gets automatically invited again, so that the cycle of communication starts anew. The huge advantage is that emails that are sent in the internal corporate communication via a main email marketing software, are centrally archived so that each officer has access to all previously sent emails.

design2

3. Collaborative Working
Looking at internal email communications, there are usually several people involved who contribute content, provide feedback or have to give their consent before an email can be sent. An example is the communication of the quarterly results by the board: Marketing is responsible for the layout of the email, the internal PR - in collaboration with the assistance of the executive board – for the content, and the board must give the final go for the release of the email. Instead of sending the email back and forth between individuals, which is particularly inefficient and error-prone, a centralized software provides an opportunity for collaborative work of several people on an email. Even release- and feedback processes can be displayed in the software.

4. Performance Measurement
Professional email marketing systems allow to measure the success of sent emails and present the results comprehensively and instantly at the same time. How many people have opened the email? How many have clicked an integrated link? How long on average has the email been read? These figures can identify, for example, what issues are particularly relevant for the employees and therefore the communication can be optimized accordingly.

Whether for internal or external communications, email has to evolve to stay relevant, and responses indicated that the channel would be all about tailored messaging this year, affirms eMarketer. The company revealed that triggered/transactional programs and lifecycle programs were the top two on which respondents intended to increase email spending, cited by 42.2% and 41.4%, respectively. That marketers planned to up investments in these tactics makes sense—they’re targeted and personalized, which is key to satisfying consumer demands for those exact experiences.

Improving personalization and targeting will play an important role next year, eMarketer emphasized, citing a study of The Relevancy Group that revealed improving segmenting and targeting to be the No. 2 priority for improving email marketing ROI in 2015.

Obviously,to optimize communications, analytics are gaining momentum, as it is more important than ever to create a single customer or employee viewpoint to execute personalization.

By Daniela La Marca