Email Marketing Tools For Internal Communications

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Communications within an organization are notoriously difficult. The Internet has made it easier to talk to each other, but the sheer volume of messages makes it easy for messages to get lost. That’s why I think email marketing tools for internal communications are so amazing. They can actually streamline your efforts without making it harder to communicate with your co-workers.

As a manager or someone in charge of the organizational structure, you need to be aware of all the tools in your toolbox to communicate ideas and strategies with your team members. It’s not just about sending a couple of emails a day, it is also about coordinating projects with your team and recognizing your network. This will help you grow your brand recognition with your employees and even help you build stronger relationships that will contribute towards increased productivity within the workplace.

Slack – real-time messaging through calls and chat

Imagine you want your team’s input on planning a team outing or analyzing a landing page design. How would you do it? A chat app is the most logical solution, isn’t it?

But, in a professional set-up, a regular chat app just won’t cut it, you need something more powerful – where you can chat in groups, comment/quote on replies, send files, schedule meetings, and more.

This is where Slack comes in. It is one of the most popular chat apps for teams. It lets you have one-to-one chats (Direct Messages) as well as group chats (Channels) with your teammates.

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Besides that, Slack allows you to:

  • Share files with your teammates, both individually and in a group.
  • Add comments to the files shared with you.
  • Turn any chat message into a mini-channel about that one topic.
  • Add Facebook-like reaction to chat messages.
  • Get on video calls with your teammates.
  • Keep your group chats organized by creating separate Channels for specific projects, specific teams, general announcements, and so on.
  • Set reminders and schedule meetings using the Slackbot tool.

You’d definitely love

No more waiting for meetings to get updates – you can get all the details as it happens.

Pricing:

Free for unlimited users with 1-on-1 calls, and 10k message history. The paid plans start from $8/month per user with features like unlimited history, screen sharing, team video calls, and more.

A tool for sending email


We’re all in a seemingly endless pursuit of inbox zero, and many of us have strong feelings about email etiquette; but the fact remains, your employees are checking their email, and the best way to communicate with an audience is to meet them where they’re at!

Of course, there isn’t a business on the planet that isn’t using some kind of tool for email. Either you’re going straight through the email service itself (Gmail/Outlook), you’ve upgraded to email marketing software (Mailchimp/Constant Contact), or you’ve opted for an internal communications platform that offers email as a channel (hello!). 

If you’re going to do internal emails right, it’s important to choose a great tool. Running your team and/or company communications directly through Gmail and Outlook provides zero visibility into the effectiveness of your messages, and managing different distribution lists within that can be really, really painful (and almost impossible if you have more than 100 employees). Your messages are probably largely text-based (which isn’t very engaging) and don’t have a lot of formatting, or you’re attaching a PDF with the newsletter or the mission-critical information you’re trying to communicate. 

The second best thing is to use email marketing software. Many of these offer basic analytics (open/click-through rates), and come with some templates to help you create more engaging, dynamic content. You’ll be able to see what messages are resonating with your audience, and tweak your strategy accordingly. 

You’re probably familiar with them, but here are a few of the most common & well-reviewed email marketing tools: 

That being said, email marketing software has a specific set of downsides when it comes to internal communications. After all, they were built to communicate with prospects and customers, not your own employees, and the end goals are entirely different (which messes with your metrics). With email marketing software, employees can also unsubscribe from your messages (!), and segmentation is still incredibly difficult. Plus, if your email software doesn’t sync with your HRIS system (and none of them do), you’re still stuck managing a custom distribution list or continually working with IT to do so: removing employees who have left, adding employees who have been hired. 

The absolute best email software for internal communications is just that: email software for internal communications. 😉

There are three options in this space: 

All three of these are purpose-built for internal comms, have more engaging designs, offer analytics, and provide better management of your employee emails. Workshop and Bananatag both sync with your people data so you can create targeted messages and always have up-to-date distribution lists, and both provide multi-channel communication options; Contact Monkey only integrates with Gmail and Outlook. Bananatag and Contact Monkey both also offer a version of their platform for salespeople; Workshop is the only one that is built solely for internal communications.

Choose any one of these three options, and you’ll be set up for success as far as internal emails go.

Internal Explainer Videos

More and more companies are using video to promote their brand, but it’s also gaining a solid foothold in the internal communications world. And it’s no wonder, since video has a significant impact on viewers. Think about it: would you want to read a 5,000 word email about your company’s latest benefits policy, complete with bullet points ALL CAPS SECTIONS, and important sections in red? That feels like homework.

Or, you could just watch a two minute video. I don’t know about you, but to me the choice is obvious. Viva la video! And here are the stats to back up just how powerful videos can be.

Why are internal comms videos so powerful? They’re versatile, emotive, and engaging. In short, people are more likely to react positively to a video explanation than say, an email. A well-done video allows companies to create emotive, engaging content that leads to clarity and increased engagement. And the uses for video are quite diverse as well:

  • Brand Promotion. Videos can be used internally (and externally) to promote a company’s brand and reinforce core values.
  • Major Organizational Initiatives. Change is hard, and ensuring employee buy-in is crucial to the success of any major organizational initiative. Clear messaging and effective communication is key.
  • Training and Orientation. Internal explainer videos have a powerful place in the HR world. Hiring, training, and onboarding greatly benefit with the addition of a library of training videos that offer new employees the chance to learn at their own pace.

When Unilever rolled out Inside Unilever, their new Sharepoint-based collaboration platform they knew they needed employees to be excited by- not skeptical of – the changes.  They turned to a series of videos aimed at employees. The videos – which included 3D animation and motion graphic techniques  – walked employees through the purpose of Inside Unilever and highlighted the advantages of having a global communication tool they could all benefit from.

A tool for texting employees

Texting your employees about company updates can feel a bit controversial at times, but when done intentionally, it can be one of the most efficient and best-performing pieces of your internal communications strategy. (Here’s a guide on how to use it well!)

SMS is one of the most engaging forms of communication; in consumer marketing, recipients are 4x more likely to open and engage with an email. Overall, internal emails have higher engagement than marketing emails, but employees are still 50% more likely to open a text message than an email.

When trying to cut through the noise, SMS is the best way. You don’t have to train employees on a new solution because it’s a channel they’re completely familiar with, and they almost always are going to have their phone nearby. That means that for companies with a more distributed workforce, your message can still be delivered at the right time…whether they’re at a desk or not. 

There are quite a few specific use cases where texting is likely the best channel to reach your employees, regardless of what industry you’re in. For example: 

  • Office closings & weather notifications
  • IT network outages & status updates
  • Construction updates
  • Emergency/safety notifications
  • HR/Benefits deadlines

As far as tools and software solutions go, there’s a variety that offer employee-facing text messages, but they often have very different approaches. The right one for you will likely depend on your industry and what you’re hoping to accomplish.

Simple push notifications: If you want to simply inform your employees of a new update via text, Workshop is the way to go. We offer SMS as a distribution channel for your internal communications, so whenever you have a new message to share, you can simply check a box and send it straight to their phones, with a private link to the full update.

Robust employee text messaging platforms: If you want to have back-and-forth conversations with employees via text, and/or you’re looking for a really robust set of SMS-focused features, there are quite a few options. It can be a pretty significant investment for just one communication channel, and they can be really overwhelming, but your organization may require it. 

Here are a few options to look into: 

There are various communications tools used in the workplace with the most common being email. However, there are several other choices for internal communications in your company. The most notable of these is Slack, which has become very popular within the last couple of years in part because of its popularity in Silicon Valley companies. Here is a look at how it works and whether or not it is good for your company.

Email is still the most effective internal communication tool that businesses use. It remains the medium of choice for many organizations. But its use is now increasing considerably for external communication – all the way up to 100% depending on the size of an organization.

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