When it comes to any communication channel—newsletter, intranet or even a benefits guide—employees don’t have time to sit down and consume an entire meal of information. They just want a bite (quick take) or snack (a little more substance) to satisfy their hunger for the topic.
Why? Employees are overloaded with information:
- They check their email 30 times an hour (in fact, email takes up 28% of their time).
- Their attention span is decreasing—from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds today.
As a result, the longer the article or news item, the less time employees spend on it. That’s why your core content strategy should be to create succinct, boiled-down messages. Here are three easy ways to make your communication easy to consume:
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Keep it short Allow yourself just 25 to 50 words to state your case. |
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Use a single compelling image Accompany your message with a single photo and brief caption that will grab your employees’ attention. |
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Verbify it Create action-oriented headlines. If the only thing an employee reads is the headline, he or she should still understand what he or she needs to do. |
