Metrics deliver ROI—and employee buy-in—at Microsoft
How metrics persuaded the software giant to cancel an email newsletter—but keep sending ‘popcorn email.’ Outcome? How about that empty chair in practically every meeting room?
The first was an extensive newsletter for managers, with seven or eight articles that showcased new faces, offered human resources information and linked to further information.
A second was what Tracey Grove, the 9,000-employee unit’s internal communications director, calls “email popcorn”: a postcard format with one paragraph of information. It turned out staffers were scarfing the popcorn and turning up their noses at the heavier fare.
“They were both launched at the same time,” Grove says, “and what was interesting was that the one crashed and burned, and the other took off.”
That’s important information if you don’t want to squander your time. Microsoft, which uses PoliteMail for email measurement, canceled the unpopular publication and put its efforts into the crunchy, salty stuff that employees devour by the fistful.
Metrics and focus groups
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