[00:00:00] Mel: Hi friend and welcome to the first of our series of short snappy episodes called A Topic in Ten. Over the Christmas and New Year period, our weekly episodes will be short 10 minute max episodes. Episodes where I answer your questions. If you've got any you'd like answered or you want me to help brainstorm some ideas for you, you can just DM me or use the link in the show notes to submit your question.

[00:00:23] Mel: Okay. Let's get into today's episode, and here's the question that came through from one of your fellow audience members. The question is. We can't get anyone to read our internal comms newsletter for our transformation program. We have multiple channels, execs posting links. How do we get that click through email rate to go to the moon?

[00:00:42] Mel: Okay. Well, firstly, great that you're sending it through multiple channels and you've got the execs posting. Awesome. Good to have that sponsorship. Um, without seeing the newsletter or knowing too much about the content or the distribution methods, I do have some ideas for you, but firstly, I am wondering why you have a newsletter for your [00:01:00] transformation program.

[00:01:01] Mel: I'm not saying that to be rude. I'm just curious about the thought process behind it. And the reason is that because I have a love hate relationship with newsletters. When newsletters are really good and valuable and interesting every single time, then they're great. But often we commit to a newsletter and forget that it actually takes a lot of work to produce interesting, new, relevant content.

[00:01:24] Mel: Every single fortnight or month or whatever. In large projects, the challenge is there's often not much that's new to say on that regular frequency, because those sorts of projects do tend to move pretty slowly. And that's a problem because... if the content isn't new and relevant and interesting every single time, people will not value it.

[00:01:45] Mel: Also, here's the thing about being involved in any project or program. Hard truth. Nobody cares about it as much as you do. People's attention is diverted to a hundred different things at any one time. Your program is just a blip on their radar most of [00:02:00] the time. So I would be actually going back and thinking about if a newsletter really is the right channel for what you want to achieve in the first place.

[00:02:08] Mel: And if not, then I'd see if you can ditch it and instead have a more personalised approach to reach particular audiences. So be really much more specific. That said, I will imagine you've been gifted this newsletter and there's an expectation that it continues. And if that is the case, I've got five ideas for you.

[00:02:25] Mel: So the first one is personalise it. So like all comms, there should be no one size fits all approach. If you think about what I just said about who cares about your program, you need to make it relevant for people in different ways. So rather than sending one Standard copy out to the whole organisation.

[00:02:44] Mel: I would consider doing different versions for different business units and being very clear on what it means for them. There is a whole stack of research that points to the power of personalisation. So even a little thing, like changing the subject line to be something like, IT [00:03:00] team, here's your transformation update, could be really helpful.

[00:03:03] Mel: And then make sure the first story is about them or how it relates to them. Be really clear on that too, even by having, say, a pull out box that has a heading like, what does this mean for your IT team? So personalise the content, personalise the subject line, personalise how they receive it. The second tip is to gamify it.

[00:03:25] Mel: A healthy sense of competition, a bit of fun and interaction is always a great way to drive interest in any channel. So you could do something like, you know, this is just ideas off the top of my head. There's a clue hidden in each edition. And after six months, they all add up to an answer or people have to find an Easter egg in each edition and they win a prize if they find it.

[00:03:45] Mel: Um, maybe, you know, you make some sort of badge system where people who read the news that are earned points. You know, I'm assuming you can track that as well. So really think about how you could make it something that is fun and interactive as well. Number three, [00:04:00] shorten it. Less is always more when you consider the amount of comms we all send and receive every single day.

[00:04:08] Mel: Whether that's via email, intranet, teams, social media, text messages, or phone calls. We're being bombarded with comms all day, every day, even just saying that list feels overwhelming. So if a person opens a newsletter and sees it's five pages long or even two pages long, there's a good chance they're going to ignore it.

[00:04:28] Mel: We know people don't read long messages anymore. So I would also look at how you could shorten it. It could simply be, you limit it to one headline story and two smaller stories, and that's it. Short and simple. Also, right at the top of the newsletter or in the cover email, have a what's in this edition box or key takeaways from this newsletter and list out three to five key messages because at least if they read that and nothing else, you will get your messages across.

[00:04:57] Mel: People will be really thankful for that. [00:05:00] My fourth tip is to use storytelling. So rather than just saying. This is what happened or this is what's going to happen. Tell a story. So maybe you interview a member of the project team or the sponsor or a change champion or somebody who's involved in the pilot and ask them to share their story.

[00:05:18] Mel: People respond to and remember stories much more than a list of facts. So really tap into that storytelling power. The other thing is too, we know that people trust the voices of their peers more than they trust voices of authority. So if you can show them voices of their peers, then you're more likely to get that read and trusted as well.

[00:05:39] Mel: You could even consider introducing a few characters or avatars to help tell your stories if you need to. So for example, Jane from finance, this is what her day will look like in the future once we do XYZ - whatever that looks like. Whatever you need to do, bring the stories into it, not just facts. The fifth tip, and this is the most important tip, [00:06:00] ask your audience.

[00:06:01] Mel: How do you actually ask people why they are reading it or not reading it? This is where the gold is. So this is where you can find out. What works that you should keep doing and what's not working that you need to stop doing or to change. So I would reach out to a few randoms in the business at different roles, different levels, different business units, and just say, look, I'm doing some research.

[00:06:23] Mel: Do you read the newsletter or not? And why or why not use that information to help you shape the future way forward. You could even ask if they would be willing to be test drivers for the new look newsletter, and that's going to help create champions as well, because then they will have a sense of ownership.

[00:06:41] Mel: Okay. So quick recap. The question was about how you get people to read your newsletter about your transformation project. If you're really set on a newsletter and you really think it's going to help you achieve your goals, then here's my five top tips. Number one, personalise it. Number two, Gamify it.

[00:06:58] Mel: Number three, shorten it. [00:07:00] Number four, use stories. And number five, ask your audience. And I'll just throw in one last little snippet of thought bubble for you to think about. Think about the newsletters you actually read. What are the ones that you find really interesting that you open every single time?

[00:07:16] Mel: And why do you do that? What's valuable to you? And use some of that own user experience to help inform your newsletter. Thanks Thank you for the great question. I'm sure many people who are currently working on newsletters, whether it's for internal or external audiences, for programs or for brands, will be very glad you asked that question.

[00:07:35] Mel: Until next time, keep doing amazing things and bye for now.