Is Your Intranet Getting the Job Done?
By James Koppenal,
Managing Director
February 4, 2022
Evaluate the effectiveness of your intranet
For many internal communications professionals, stewardship of the company intranet is a big part of the job. Using this channel to effectively share company news, provide access to resources and nurture employee engagement can feel like a tall order! And at times you may wonder if your intranet is getting the job done.
Thankfully, there are actions you can take to evaluate the effectiveness of your intranet. Here’s how:
ASK EMPLOYEES FOR FEEDBACK
If you want to know how employees feel about your company’s intranet, just ask them. Field a short survey that gets to the heart of what you need to know. Consider asking:
- How often do you use the intranet each day, week, or month?
- How useful is the intranet for finding the information you need to do your job?
- How helpful is the intranet in building a sense of connection with colleagues?
- How useful is the intranet for staying up to date on company news and announcements?
- How relevant is the information provided based on your role or location?
- Is your intranet easy to navigate and explore?
STUDY THE DATA
There’s a treasure trove of data to be found when it comes to your intranet. Your site usage numbers are particularly helpful, as they’ll help you understand which pieces of your intranet employees use most. Metrics to explore include:
Top pages: What are your employees looking at on the intranet? Is it the news page? The employee directory? HR links? The company cafeteria menu? Once you know, you can dive deeper to gain even better insights. For example, if the news section of your intranet is well-read, drill down to see which types of news articles are most popular e.g., feature stories, leader messages, how-to resource articles. That information can inform your editorial strategy in the future.
Users: Know how many employees are accessing your intranet. This will provide an insight into the percentage of the company you are reaching through this communication channel. This number doesn’t always correspond with total employees. In fact, many times it is much lower!
Device Type: If your intranet is mobile-friendly, you need to understand which kinds of devices your employees are using to access it. You’ll want to optimize your intranet for mobile use if your data indicates a large percentage of employees are using their phones or tablets to read it.
Search Terms: When a trend appears for a specific project, product, or phrase, consider making that content more accessible on the site, so users aren’t reliant on the site search to locate it.
User Location: If your company spans multiple locations, user location demographics will give you insight into where intranet usage is high…or low. With this data, you can explore opportunities to increase traffic from employees in locations where intranet use is light.
ANALYZE ENGAGEMENT
Your intranet provides an opportunity for employees to collaborate and connect with one another while responding to company messages. Providing more engagement opportunities will precipitate increased and repeat user traffic. Engagement opportunities will vary on different intranet platforms, but some typical features that provide valuable metrics include:
Profiles created: If your intranet requires employees to create a profile, this metric will easily allow you to see employee participation on the site. In turn, it will also help identify employees who have not registered so you can target invites to them.
Commenting: To foster dialogue, many intranets provide employees the opportunity to comment on content. Employee participation will allow leadership to hear employee perspectives, and ideally, participate in the conversation.
Like/Rate: For employees less inclined to comment, this engagement metric will provide insight into content type trends as well as indicate general sentiment around a topic.
User generated content: Allowing employees to submit content such as photos, videos, or micro posts gives employees a platform, encourages dialogue, and potentially creates a pipeline of content you can draw from for future communications.
Taking these steps to evaluate the effectiveness of your intranet will help you refine your intranet strategy and even more importantly, will result in a better employee experience.
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