Leading Intranet Metrics and KPIs to Track for Internal Communications
How can companies know whether an intranet is garnering the best results? Often, they measure an intranet’s effectiveness in specific ways. These key performance indicators (KPIs) can begin to give a clear indication of how well it is working for any given company.
— Employee Engagement KPIs
Employee engagement KPIs are tools used to measure whether employees feel emotionally committed to their employer and help the company reach its goals. Workers who feel an emotional connection to their work often perform better and stay longer.
1. Number of Active Intranet Users and Usage Time
This intranet metric reveals whether employees find the system relevant , if they are actually using it, and how frequently they are accessing it. Tracking the length of time employees are staying logged in provides valuable data, since workers often won’t spend a lot of time on something they don’t find interesting or helpful.
Using a tracking feature for mobile apps to determine where employees are logging into the company intranet can also be helpful. Not all workers will be accessing it from the office, and it is helpful to know whether intranet use varies among those who are based remotely or staff who work from offices.
The analysis can be tracked from the intranet software or an external performance analysis tool. Google Analytics is one tool that may be used for this purpose.
2. Number of Clicks, Comments and Shares
Tracking the number of intranet users only reveals that employees are getting into the system . A more accurate way to determine how effectively an intranet is performing is to count the number of clicks and comments staff are generating after they enter the platform. This can give a more accurate impression of the engagement level of employees. It also helps measure the intranet’s overall performance based on the increase in internal communication levels.
The following metrics can be instructive:
Reaction clicks, such as “likes”, “loves”, and even “dislikes”
Tagging of coworkers
Employee comments on blogs, news stories, and other types of content
Intranet users creating new content
Article click-through rates
3. Employee Reach
With previous versions of intranet platforms, not all employees could participate on the platform . Remote workers or those who spend a good part of their time out of the office, such as outside sales or service representatives, likely spent less time on the intranet than inside employees. Mobile apps and a shift to secure remote authentication and the cloud allow users to log in easily from anywhere, which should lead to higher employee reachability.
To determine the reach percentage, track the number of registered users or, if unavailable, unique visitors using the intranet platform during a certain time. Then divide this figure by the total number of employees working for the company. The sum should roughly equal the total reach percentage. Next, it’s important to always compare against a baseline of previous numbers to find the increase in employee reach for the period.
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4. Number of Pages of User-Generated Content
What does user-generated content have to do with a successful intranet launch? As it turns out, it has plenty to do with how well employees are feeling about the intranet and whether they are engaged at work.
Are several employees responsible for the majority of the content being generated or are many people taking part? Are they producing quality content that will attract readers? Which topics are most popular on the intranet platform and social media? Begin to measure the internal influence of user-generated content by tracking these intranet KPIs:
All employee-generated content on the intranet platform
Where employees are contributing most
The amount of time employees spend on content creation
Which topics are trending
Number of times employee-generated content is clicked on, read or shared with fellow employees
5. Identities of Top Intranet Users
Top intranet users are the employees who spend the most time on the platform . They include the employees who have been selected as intranet ambassadors (the company “super users” or influencers), as well as employees who naturally use the company intranet frequently.
It’s worthwhile to keep track of which employees are most engaged with the intranet. This group of workers can report exactly what they like about the platform, what works for them, and what features they find challenging to navigate. Asking them if there is anything they would like to see changed or improved, since these are the team members who know the platform best, can be informative.
These experienced intranet users can also play a role in training new hires on the company intranet . A new employee may feel more comfortable sharing concerns with a peer, as opposed to contacting IT or HR for assistance.
To find top users, look at who is participating most often in discussions on the intranet. They are frequently the people who are spending the most time on the platform. Run a user report to confirm who is visiting the most pages in your company’s departments. These are the people who are spending the most time on the intranet.
6. Most-Viewed Items
A communications manager wants to know whether the company news posted on the intranet is being read and digested by employees. It is an important part of the company’s overall communication strategy.
The intranet is used for much more than workgroups communicating with each other . It is a powerful tool for sharing all types of content with employees. When intranet users are confident they will find high-quality and informative content as well as access to key company platforms there, they will turn to the intranet for information and as a resource to help them with their work repeatedly.
To determine which pieces of content have been viewed most often, go to a section of the intranet to see which pieces of content have the most page views over a set time (a week or a month, for example). Make note of whether the most popular items are on similar topics, are in the same format (blog posts, PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations), and if they share a similar voice (formal vs. casual).
7. Least-Viewed Items
Along with the most popular items on the company intranet, keeping track of what did not resonate with employees can be instructive. This data is just as important as tracking the most-viewed items. The items that aren’t capturing page views may be ones that are out of date or that contain information that is no longer relevant to team members based on recent upgrades or changes.
It’s important to identify these items which are no longer relevant and understand why that is the case . Inactive items also take up space on the platform and are searchable, muddying results. It makes sense to either delete them (if certain they are no longer relevant) or archive them (in case someone may need to reference them at a later time).
To find the least-viewed items, identify the items with the fewest page views over a set time. It is best to use a longer period than when trying to identify the least popular items (three or six months).