Internal communication plays a critical role in any organisation, no matter the nature of its operations. It keeps all employees informed and on the same page, making them more productive and effective. Yet without a proper mechanism, important business messages can easily fall by the wayside and cause disruption in day-to-day business.
SMS is one of the most viable and reliable methods of disseminating business communications internally, often proving much better than email and voice calls. Read on to learn why you should text staff as part of your internal comms strategy.
Why it's a good idea to text employees
SMS provides an excellent mix of strategic and operational advantages. As an internal comms solution, it's:
1. Cost-effective yet quick and robust
Text messaging is cheap, even if you need to send texts to employees around the globe. Nearly everyone nowadays has access to a phone, meaning all staff – even mobile workers – can send and receive text messages. There's no need to rely on the internet for message transmission.
Texts are sent and received in real-time, which is important if you need to tell staff about something urgent – a last-minute meeting, an important task that needs doing, etc. And best of all, text messages are hard to miss, especially since most people check their phones several times a day. (The average American consumer checks 52 times daily.)
2. Inclusive
Imagine you're arranging an important board meeting, but a few department directors don't get the message and therefore fail to turn up. This situation isn't ideal, not least for those missing out on the sharing of consequential information.
For cohesive working, all relevant staff must be briefed simultaneously. Sending a mass text to key personnel is simple and allows all those involved to receive your message or announcement at the same time.
Keeping everyone on the same page is essential for strong peer-to-peer relationships and a positive company culture.
3. Useful for reminding employees about important information
SMS is ideal if you need to remind employees about upcoming meetings, deadlines, urgent work tasks, training course bookings or holiday arrangements. Read more examples of text message reminders.
Text reminders can often be automated, helping to save time and boost productivity. You can, for instance, trigger a reminder to be sent automatically a day or a few hours before an upcoming event leaving you free to focus on other tasks.
4. Conducive to high employee engagement
Employees have to deal with a lot of information every day from external sources as well as internal. While internal emails generally have good engagement rates, staff are often distracted by the demands of their jobs and can't always find the time to read them straight away.
Text messaging provides a way to cut through the clutter of the email inbox and grab the attention of staff in a way they can cope with – it takes just a few seconds to read a text. Perhaps this is why 50% of employees are more likely to open a text message than an email.
Texting is also useful for collecting employee feedback too – you can either link to an online survey within your message content or ask employees to reply with answers to your questions.
Tips for effective employee communication via text messages
To get the best out of your staff text messages, follow these golden rules:
Keep your message short and sweet – convey vital information only to grab attention and be specific about dates, times and any action you want employees to take.
Be professional – use clear language to get your point across. In terms of tone, don't be overfriendly or too stuffy and if you're asking employees to do something or be somewhere, ask nicely!
Use SMS wisely – don't send texts for every little communication; only use texting for your most important announcements. Be mindful of your message timings – no one likes to take work home with them, so only text employees during working hours. An exception can be made in urgent cases, for example, if you need to tell employees during the evening that the office will be closed the following morning.
Monitor employee responses – regularly check whether staff are opening and responding to text message announcements. If using an SMS service provider, you should be able to access delivery and message open reports (the former will help you identify incorrect phone numbers and whether your personnel records need updating).
SMS is a valuable channel for internal comms
Bill Gates once said, "Like a human being, a company has to have an internal communication mechanism, a 'nervous system', to coordinate its actions."
Effective internal communication ensures the correct information reaches the right people at the right times. It keeps employees informed and involved about what's happening throughout the organisation and can help to build strong and productive teams.
SMS is a powerful yet affordable medium you can use to deliver urgent or time-sensitive communications like reminders, office closures, team rota arrangements and more. It offers peace of mind that your messages will get seen by employees. And if you need to send a company-wide announcement, texting means all staff will be informed at the same time.
Ready to explore SMS for employee communication? Messente can be integrated into your existing business systems or used via our online dashboard. Register for a free account today to see how it works.
