Most communicators will measure email within a year, survey says

Parkview Health frequently communicates via email with its 8,800 employees, many of them doctors and nurses who work at bedsides, not desks.

So far the Fort Wayne, Ind., hospital group hasn’t measured its internal email, leaving communicators unsure whether messages are hitting home. So Parkview plans to begin measuring in the foreseeable future.

According to a PoliteMail/Ragan online survey of self-identified 775 communicators and IT professionals, 32 percent of organizations don’t measure internal email, but many are eager to get going.

Of those who don’t measure, 73 percent plan to start within a year; the rest say they will crank up their measurement within three years.

Many say they have been hindered by lack of tools, time and manpower, budget or priorities, the survey shows. But even those who don’t measure recognize the insights measurement could reveal.

The benefits are obvious to Eric Clabaugh, Parkview’s public information manager. Beyond learning how many employees actually read emails, he would like to know when and how often staffers are accessing messages, he says.