Push Employee Engagement
It’s very likely your employees have a company issued, or benefits-related, smart phone app—a small transactional program that expedites HR record-keeping, benefits administration, wellness programs and more.
A well-made app can drastically simplify important functions with the added benefit of mobile accessibility. Most apps have the ability to send push notifications—an important communication feature that can be used to increase employee contact and engagement.
Push notifications enable interactive communication directly with employees by sending actionable messages to their phones.
A push notification message is “pushed” out from a central server to an application. It differs from SMS text messages because the push notification contains a message plus the ability to act directly within the app.
For example, your company and its healthcare partners are sponsoring an onsite screening next month. Send a text and you tell everyone about the event. Send a push notification and you tell everyone about the event, plus the employees can—with a swipe—automatically sign-up for a screening, watch a video, or ask a question.
Push notifications are widely used in marketing and social media because they are proven to increase responses and other engagement with products, services and social networks. They work because they are simple, immediate and actionable.
As part of an internal communications strategy, push notifications can add the following benefits:
- Signal when information has elevated value
- Facilitate important transactions
- Reward engagement through badges and leveling
- Distribute relevant content
- Track responses to increase engagement
Push notifications are powerful tools, but they can also become invasive and annoying when overused. It is important to carefully plan how your organization will use push notifications. When creating a strategy, make certain they align with your company’s internal branding and message frequencies. You want employees to see them as useful assists and valuable sources of information, so be mindful of how a push notification might interrupt their lives and make sure the message is worthwhile.