You might have a slick strategy, polished messaging, and a buzzword-filled CEO video ready to go. You hit send. You even added captions. You felt proud. But your frontline teams never see it. Does it even matter then? 

Visibility and reception are everything when it comes to successful internal communications. Yet, most companies continue to build internal communications based on instinct, rather than insight around essential aspects like visibility and impact. Translation: We’re doing a lot, but we’re not sure what’s landing — or if it’s landing at all. It's no surprise that only 30% can confidently say their internal comms strategies are effective.

In this blog, we’re here to flip that script. We’ll show you how to fix that gap with the one thing most teams skip: measurement.

The silent assassins of most internal comms

Even the most thoughtfully crafted internal comms campaigns fall when if your people don’t see or engage with them. The biggest blockers? Everyday realities like:

• Outdated tools: Sending email updates to teams who don’t even use computers. A bold move. But not in a good way.
• Scattered channels: We mean posters in break rooms, lengthy spam on WhatsApp groups, and inconsistent manager briefings. It’s chaotic and unreliable.
• No clear ownership: Little to no clarity and structure on who’s responsible for making sure the message lands.
• Top-down only approach: Swearing by slide decks that HQ loves, overlooking the need for more contextual, human reinforcement for the on-field teams.
• No feedback loop: A missing mechanism for measuring reach and engagement. Basically: if no one’s checking the pulse, the strategy’s on autopilot.

Let’s be real: if a critical safety update reaches only 40% of your night shift crew, that’s not just a comms miss, it’s a risk. And if you don’t know what’s being seen or ignored, you can’t fix it; therefore, visibility needs to be your starting point.

Workforce Analytics: The lens you’ve been missing

Speakap’s Workforce Analytics brings your internal comms out of the dark. It gives you real-time insight into how employees engage with what you’re sharing across shifts, roles, and locations. Inside Compass Premium, Speakap’s analytics dashboard, you can track:

• Reach: Who saw your update?
• Engagement: Who read, liked, or commented, and who didn’t?
• Timing: When is your workforce most active?
• Manager activity: Are team leads reinforcing messages?
• Platform adoption: Who’s logging in regularly? Who’s disappearing?

With access to this data, you get into a position to stop guessing. You see for yourself what’s working, what’s not, and where you need to course-correct. Finally, some peace of mind.

Follow these 5 steps to build a data-backed internal comms strategy (that actually lands)

Step 1: Start with data, not instinct

Instead of “brainstorming and hoping,” your internal comms strategy works; begin with Compass Premium to ground your ideas in insight. Identify:

• Most and least engaged teams: Where are messages landing and where are they vanishing?
• Left-out shifts: Are updates being posted when night crews are off-grid?
• Content performance: Are people responding more to quick polls, short videos, or shoutouts?

These insights will make your strategy sharper from the start. Like a comms sandwich. Structure, context, feedback.

Step 2: Match strategy to operational reality

One-size-fits-all doesn’t work in the world of frontline comms. You need to use the correct flow for the right goal:

• Top-down is great for policy rollouts, compliance, and big-picture goals.
• Bottom-up is deal for gathering frontline insights and feedback.
• Peer-to-peer is good for building community and helping best practices spread organically.

Our experience shows the best internal comms strategies layer all three. So, roll out a new policy from HQ, reinforce it in team huddles, and then follow up with a poll for feedback.

Step 3: Layer your formats

When sharing information, avoid posting a PDF or a static image. Mix message types to make things human and memorable for your frontline workers. You can use:

• HQ announcement for formal tone and credibility.
• Manager follow-up to add context and relevance.
• Visuals, polls, or videos to enhance understanding and recall.

By adopting a multi-format approach, you can enhance retention across various learning styles and literacy levels. Because not everyone learns from reading. Some need a quick video. Others, a friendly nudge.

Step 4: Design for mobile and real-life flow

Remember, your frontline workers may not have desks, but they do have phones. And they’re more likely to read a push notification than dig through email folders. So, you need to optimize for how they work. Here’s what that means:

• Push notifications to cut through the noise and reach your audience instantly on their mobiles.
• Micro-updates as short, scannable content can actually be consumed in between shifts
• Audio or video content for multilingual or low-literacy teams.

What we’re implying is to meet them where they are, in formats that make sense.

Step 5: Measure, tweak, repeat

Lastly, remember, there’s no such thing as a perfect first draft. Make it a point to treat your internal comms like a product, constantly iterating.

• Use Compass monthly to review what's landing and what’s not.
• Resend underperforming posts to teams with low visibility. Recycling is a powerful and easy solution.
• Spot patterns: Are Monday posts better? Do videos consistently outperform static posts? Let the data guide your next move. And hey, if memes consistently outperform policy slides… maybe we rethink the slides.

A glimpse into what success looks like: The case of Ecohuis’s frontline win

Ecohuis, a sustainable construction company, had teams scattered across offices, production sites, and field locations. Their internal comms were falling apart across a mix of WhatsApp, emails, paper newsletters, and missed updates. Work-life balance was being compromised, and workers were overlooking essential email updates and notices. Nothing was truly central. Different audiences needed different information, and their existing approach was clearly not working.

They turned to Speakap to streamline comms. They activated Workforce Analytics to ensure they operate out of a well-rounded strategy. With that, 

• They reached a 93% app activation rate, showing nearly every employee was onboard with their impact-oriented messaging style and approach.
• Real-time alerts for traffic or site disruptions ensured no one missed critical updates and all messages landed.
• Live project updates increased alignment across builds.
• Internal events and recognition boosted employee morale and connection.

From site workers to office teams, everyone now has access to the same information—and our clients love it too. Stefan Adams Marketing Manager, Ecohuis

Final word: Analyze first, design next

The traditional approach to internal comms has long been: brainstorm, post, and pray. And maybe light a candle. Just in case. But the most effective teams do it differently: they measure, adapt, and scale. Because internal communication isn’t just about sending messages, it’s about driving awareness, alignment, and action across every corner of your organization. And none of that happens if you’re flying blind. When you start measuring what matters —reach, timing, engagement, and adoption —you stop guessing and start leading with clarity.

Speakap’s Workforce Analytics, gives you the visibility you need to ensure every message is received and counted. Use it to ensure your comms land each time.

Curious how others are doing it? Explore our customer stories to see how frontline-first teams are turning insight into impact, every single day.

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