By Tim Vaughan
— October 23rd, 2024
Strong internal communication is the bridge between what leaders want to achieve and how employees experience the company every day. When communication is clear and consistent, it strengthens employee experience (EX), which directly lifts customer experience (CX). But great intentions aren’t enough—you need proof that your messages are landing, understood, and actually driving results.
That’s where internal communication metrics come in. Measuring the right KPIs shows whether your efforts support business goals, help people feel informed, and keep teams aligned. And with analytics now expected by leadership, having a solid measurement approach isn’t optional anymore—it’s essential.
Key Takeaways: (new, add this)
- Effective internal communication is crucial for aligning employees with business goals, boosting engagement, and improving customer experience.
- Tracking the right metrics—like open rates, response times, sentiment, and engagement—turns communication efforts into measurable, actionable insights.
- Measurement highlights gaps, proves ROI, and ensures leadership has evidence that communications are achieving impact.
- Combining quantitative and qualitative data, along with consistent analysis, enables teams to refine strategies and drive real organizational outcomes.
- Platforms like Poppulo simplify tracking, analytics, and reporting across channels, helping companies optimize internal communications and build data-driven strategies.
Internal communication plays a crucial role in keeping everyone in your company on the same page, from executive leadership to entry-level employees. (existing, keep this)
Without it, any business will become disjointed, with employees feeling they don’t know what’s happening in the organization, what its goals and ambitions are—and if they don’t feel a sense of connection or belonging it leads to lower productivity and increased attrition. Not something any company would want.
So, effective internal communication is key. We also know from countless pieces of research, such as this global survey of C-Suite executives, that employee comms influences employee experience, which in turn has a massive impact on customer experience.
But how do you know if your internal communications are effective? How do you measure their impact?
That’s where tracking internal communication metrics comes in. Monitoring the right metrics can help you understand how well your messages are getting across and how they’re influencing your team.
It can also highlight areas where your internal comms strategy could use some work. We know from successive Gallagher State of the Sector reports that lack of analytics and measurement remains one of the top five challenges for internal communicators around the world.
This is nothing new. Measurement has been a problem for internal communicators for many years, but getting to grips with it has never been more important as business leaders demand evidence of how well communications are performing relative to business goals—and if you can’t track and measure the performance of your communications you have no way of proving they’re achieving business goals.
As Ragan Communications said, it's one thing pushing out company communications but: "Is anyone reading your messages? That's what matters.
On the contrary, excellent communication—particularly authentic and trustworthy communication from the CEO and senior leaders—can inspire evangelical company advocates, who can play an outsized role for the company, especially for attracting the best talent and enhancing the customer experience. This is especially true nowadays when most potential employees check out company reviews on sites like Glassdoor and Indeed.
Methods for Gathering Data
Gathering meaningful data on your internal communication isn’t as simple as just looking at numbers. To get a full picture of your internal comms’ effectiveness, you need to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.
5. Pulse Surveys
What it is: Short, frequent surveys that capture real-time feedback from employees. Many organizations now opt for regular pulse surveys instead of relying on an annual employee engagement survey, as there can be quicker turn-around action if problems become evident during the year.
Why it matters: Pulse surveys are a great way to get a snapshot of how your employees are feeling about communication within the company. They can help identify areas of improvement or success, quickly.
6. Feedback Sessions
What it is: These are formal or informal sessions where employees can give direct feedback on internal communications.
Why it matters: Feedback sessions allow employees to voice their thoughts and feelings about how information is being shared within the company. This can provide insight into communication gaps and areas that need more clarity.
7. Channel Audits
What it is: A thorough examination of all the communication channels used within your organization (email, digital signage, company mobile app, intranet, etc.).
Why it matters: Audits help you understand which channels are performing well and which aren’t. Are employees ignoring your email updates but engaging on your Slack channels? A channel audit will tell you.
Analyzing Internal Communication Effectiveness
Once you’ve gathered data, it’s time to analyze what it all means. Analyzing your internal communications metrics allows you to make informed decisions about what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change.
8. Understanding Employee Engagement Levels
What it is: Measuring how well your internal communications engage employees in company news, events, goals, and culture.
Why it matters: Engaged employees are more productive, happier, and less likely to leave. Effective communication is a key driver of engagement and, critically, a sense of belonging for employees.
Check out this guide to find out more about how ‘belonging’ is the single most important driver of employee wellbeing, and the enormous business impact of wellbeing.
9. Identifying Communication Gaps
What it is: Pinpointing areas where your communication efforts are falling short.
Why it matters: Communication gaps can lead to confusion, mistakes, and decreased morale and lower productivity. Regularly tracking internal comms effectiveness can help you spot these gaps before they become bigger issues.
10. Tracking Employee Sentiment and Satisfaction
What it is: Measuring overall employee happiness and satisfaction with internal communications.
Why it matters: Communication plays a major role in how employees perceive the company. High satisfaction indicates strong internal comms through leadership messaging and culture, fostering a sense of belonging and shared values—while dissatisfaction could point to workplace problems and poor culture, information overload, a lack of transparency, or other issues.
Leveraging Technology for Effective Communication
In today’s digital world, companies have a wealth of tools and technologies to help improve internal communications, such as Poppulo, the leading employee communication platform, whose client base is a roll-call of A-list companies around the world. If you'd like to learn more about what we do for them that we could also do for your organization, we'd love to talk to you. Just let us know!
Communication Tools and Platforms
What it is: The various platforms you use to communicate with employees, such as email, signage, Microsoft Teams, intranets, or dedicated internal communication mobile apps.
Why it matters: Having the right tools in place ensures that your messages are delivered to the right people at the right time and accessed efficiently. But more than just selecting the tools, you need to track how employees are engaging with them to ensure they’re effective.
Data Analytics for Insights
What it is: Analyzing data from your internal communications to understand employee behavior and preferences.
Why it matters: Data analytics, like Poppulo analytics, provide concrete insights into how employees engage with internal comms, allowing you to refine your approach and ensure it’s aligned with employee needs and expectations.
Best Practices for Improvement
Once you’ve analyzed your metrics and identified areas for improvement, the next step is refining your strategy. Here are a few best practices to help you get the most out of your internal communication efforts.
Setting Clear Communication Goals Aligned to Business Strategy
What it is: Establishing specific, measurable objectives for your internal communications strategy, which must be aligned with the overarching business strategy.
Why it matters: Having clear goals helps you track progress and ensure that your communication efforts align with company objectives. If they’re not aligned with company goals they are pointless and a costly waste of time and money. For more on this check out Poppulo’s hugely popular The Ultimate Guide to Internal Communications Strategy.
Enhancing Training and Development
What it is: Providing training for employees on communication tools and best practices.
Why it matters: If employees don’t know how to use your communication platforms effectively, they won’t engage with them. Offering training can improve usage and engagement.
Encouraging Two-Way Feedback
What it is: Creating opportunities for employees to provide feedback on internal communications.
Why it matters: Two-way communication ensures that employees feel heard and valued. It also provides valuable insights into how you can improve communication efforts.
Conclusion and Future Considerations
In 2025 and beyond, tracking and analyzing internal communication metrics will only become more critical as businesses continue to evolve. With a hybrid workforce, a growing reliance on technology, and increasing employee expectations, internal communications will be the glue that holds everything together.
So, why track internal communications? The answer is simple: to continuously improve. By gathering data, analyzing key metrics, and leveraging the right tools, companies can build a more engaged, informed, and productive workforce.
Internal communication metrics are the key to unlocking the true potential of your workforce, ensuring that every employee feels connected and empowered to contribute to the company’s success.
Essentially, effective internal communication isn’t just about sending out messages; it’s about understanding how those messages are received, acted upon, and ultimately, how they impact your organization’s overall goals. So, if you’re not tracking these metrics yet, it’s time to start.