What Touchpoints Should be Used for Internal Communications?

By
Amandine Fernandez
Head of Acquisition
Internal communication touchpoints are the channels used for delivering messages to associates. These can take many forms, including emails, newsletters, meetings, email signatures, and more.

Effective internal communication allows for the easy transmission of information and encourages employee engagement. It's an essential tool (even more so in the current period) for uniting team members around common projects and values. While internal communication is almost constant for obvious reasons, it does require some coordination to remain consistent across all channels.

In addition to the often-blurry distinction between online/offline, these channels or touchpoints can be categorized into two groups. First, there are “synchronous” touchpoints, which facilitate real-time interaction. There are also “asynchronous” touchpoints, which do not require a direct response. Team members tend to consider the former as a damper on productivity, while the latter allows everyone to maintain control over their schedule.

1-to-1 email

This is often the key touchpoint for internal communication. In one day, team members receive an average of 121 emails and send 40. Because their opening rate hovers right around 100%, professional email remains a particularly effective touchpoint. What's more, it's asynchronous: even if a reply is required, it rarely has to be instantaneous.

Pro: Asynchronous and informal
Con: Can get lost in the fray

Newsletters

Still an email, but a bit more formal. Newsletters are sent on a regular basis and have the benefit of presenting curated content on a reliable schedule. They are anticipated and keep a predictable line of communication. Nevertheless, this is a totally one-sided touchpoint with no back-and-forth interaction.

Pro: Keep to a schedule
Con: Top-down communication

Email signatures

Here, we're talking about a particular section of professional emails—the signature. An email signature that contains the sender's contact information, but also—more and more often—a CTA in the form of a banner. An advantage is that this banner is present on all emails sent internally, not just those sent by executives. This approach for internal communication campaigns remains subtle and effective.

Pro: Present in every internal email
Con: Not personalized
(without a mail signature automation and centralization tool such as Letsignit)

internal communication email
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Meetings

Meetings offer lots of opportunity for interaction. But because they’re synchronous and unpredictable by nature, they can be difficult to optimize. Whether they take place in person or virtually, this degree of interaction is irreplaceable, but more difficult to integrate into a communication plan.

Pro: Optimal interactivity
Con: Synchronous and time-consuming

Instant messaging

Internal instant messaging software has seen a lot of growth among companies. Exchanges are becoming increasingly digitized, and messages often replace in-person conversation. However, they’re not well suited to coherent communication, and their synchronous nature can become stressful or lead to a decline in productivity.

Pro: Replaces conversation
Con: Can generate stress

We should also mention social networks (more suitable for external communication), signage (which excludes teleworkers), the Digital Workplace, and many others. Each presents advantages and disadvantages, and a well-balanced approach to internal communication is designed to leverage the benefits each channel offers. The trick is finding the right balance.

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Sources:
https://blog.doist.com/asynchronous-communication/
https://www.1min30.com/marketing-rh/5-outils-de-communication-interne-a-utiliser-14006
https://blog.hubspot.fr/marketing/canaux-de-communication
https://lehub.bpifrance.fr/communication-interne-survie-entreprises-post-covid19/
https://www.e-marketing.fr/Thematique/academie-1078/fiche-outils-10154/Les-touchpoints-points-de-contact-de-la-marque-324586.htm

About the author
Amandine is the Head of Acquisition at Letsignit! Initially a content specialist, she now actively contributes to the profitability of acquisition channels: SEO, SEA, SMA, SMO... Amandine is also one of the pillars of Marketing at Letsignit! For more than 5 years, she has been participating in and initiating marketing projects and campaigns that systematically reflect her vision, writing style, and creativity (which can also be seen in all of her colorful outfits that brighten up the day of everyone she meets).
About Letsignit
With Letsignit email signature manager, connect with your audience in a way that's on-brand and personal, while driving quality lead generation.
Frequently
asked questions
1
Is it possible to track the number of clicks on email signatures?

Yes, with the 'Campaigns' offer, it is possible to track the number of clicks on the email signatures of all your employees in the 'Statistics' area of the platform.

You can then access a detailed or global view of the number of clicks on the email signatures of each employee. You can use the search option to target a specific signature or a given period. Finally, you have the possibility to export all statistics to an Excel document.

If you launch campaigns with banners inserted in your email signatures, you can also access their performance via this same space.

2
Can we add links to social networks, our website, and appointment-setting applications such as Calendly?

With Letsignit, you can easily add social network icons in your collaborators' email signatures and link to your company pages. Also, our "attributes" feature allows you to manage personalized URLs for each of your collaborators such as their individual LinkedIn profile.

And that's not all: you can add links to an appointment-setting application, allow your customers to leave reviews easily, and integrate our 'Chat on Teams' widget to let anyone start a discussion via Microsoft Teams chat.

3
Can employees update their signature information themselves (number, function, etc.)?

It’s up to you! As an administrator of the Letsignit platform, you choose whether or not to grant modification rights to your employees. These permissions are managed on an attribute-by-attribute basis, which means that you can decide to allow the employee to change their phone number, but not the address of your premises, for example.

This feature applies to all attributes in your directory, including custom attributes created on Letsignit. When your employees change one or more attributes, your directory is obviously not affected.

4
Why it is important to standardize our email signatures on a large scale to ensure our identity and brand image?

It often happens that employees make their email signature their own: custom format, bad fonts, colors inconsistent with the brand standards... all of this has an impact on your brand!

A consistent visual identity is considered authentic and outperforms a perceived weak one by 20%. And, your customers are 2.4 times more likely to buy your products.

With Letsignit, take back control over your brand identity by standardizing all your email signatures. Our tool has many features that allow you to customize your signatures by department, by audience or by subsidiary. Not to mention the possibility of carrying out campaigns within your email signatures thanks to our Campaign offer.

5
What is the user experience like for our employees?

What is the user experience like for our employees?

  • If you opt for the Letsignit Add-in for Outlook, they will have a dedicated space in their Outlook account where they will be able to view the signatures and campaigns assigned to them.
  • If you opt for the Letsignit Desktop APP, they will be able to preview all their signatures and campaigns in this space. If they want to change their default signature to another one when sending an email, this will be done in their signature library in Outlook.

In both cases:

  • They preview their signature before sending an email and choose from signatures assigned to them.
  • Based on the permissions granted, they will also be able to modify their personal information such as their name, position, or address in these spaces.

In short, they have autonomy in their email signature, but you keep control on the field, signatures, and banners they can edit or use.

6
Can my employees have multiple signatures available to them?

With our "multi-signature" feature, your employees can benefit from multiple email signatures. No technical manipulation is required. Thanks to our Add-in for Outlook or the desktop app, they can change their email signatures as they wish with just a few clicks.

Regarding the creation of email signatures, you can make several variations such as:

Everything has been thought of to go further in the personalization process based on the recipient of your emails.

7
Regarding “Green IT,” have you implemented measures to limit the digital footprint of email signatures?

If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.

As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:

  • Optimization of the weight of signatures and campaigns in emails.
  • Green features: lightening of signatures during response/transfer emails, possibility of not embedding images, implementation of lighter signatures for internal exchanges.
  • Integration of a 'Switch to Teams' widget to encourage your employees to continue their exchanges via chat, rather than email.

As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.

8
Regarding “Green IT,” have you implemented measures to limit the digital footprint of email signatures?

If sending emails has an impact, non-optimized email signatures also have an impact. An unsuitable format or an image that is too heavy considerably increases the size of your signatures... and therefore, your emails.

As a responsible economic actor, we contribute to reducing our CO2 emissions and those of our customers in several ways:

  • Optimization of the weight of signatures and campaigns in emails.
  • Green features: lightening of signatures during response/transfer emails, possibility of not embedding images, implementation of lighter signatures for internal exchanges.
  • Integration of a 'Switch to Teams' widget to encourage your employees to continue their exchanges via chat, rather than email.

As we are increasingly involved in sustainability initiatives, our priority in 2023 is to develop even more green IT functionality.

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asked questions
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