Make your internal newsletters an employee guide, not an inbox burden

At real estate company Bozzuto, the prevailing philosophy behind newsletters is that they work best when they guide employees to what they need to do next. Bridgette Onnen, director of social media impact and communications at Bozzuto, and Sarah Guckert, senior director of communications at Bozzuto, have helped build a newsletter approach that makes those connections easier to find without adding more noise to people’s day.

“When you think about the newsletter as part of the broader employee experience, the question becomes less about what we want to send and more about what employees actually need to find, understand or act on,” Onnen said.

We recently spoke with Onnen and Guckert ahead of their presentation in Nashville next month at Ragan’s Employee Experience Conference, which will dive into how comms pros can make newsletters a strategic tool for employee connection instead of just another email that shows up in an inbox.

Ragan: What does it mean to move newsletters from an inbox tool to part of a broader internal comms ecosystem?

Bridgette Onnen: One of the biggest shifts is moving away from the idea that the newsletter is the communication hub by itself. A newsletter shouldn’t contain every detail or tell every single story the organization wants to get across.

Instead, it should give employees the most relevant context and connect them to what they need next. That could be HR information, benefits updates, tax documents, ERG news, culture stories or other resources that matter to employees in the moment. The evolution is really less about creating more content and more about creating clearer connections.

Sarah Guckert: We try to be really strategic about what goes into newsletters and when they go out.

If we’re just sending more and more newsletters, then we haven’t really solved the email problem. We’ve just created another version of it. The goal is to make the content thoughtful enough that employees can grab what they need without feeling overwhelmed.

How do you connect newsletter content to a broader editorial calendar or channel strategy?

Onnen: It’s all about integration. Rather than creating something completely new for every channel, we try to build one core story and adapt it across different places so employees can consume it in a way that works for them.

Whether it’s a culture campaign, an ERG event or a story about employees making an impact, we’re looking for the threads that tie those efforts together. That keeps the newsletter from becoming a random collection of updates. It becomes part of a larger strategy around what we want employees to know, feel and engage with.

How can newsletters better serve both desk-based and deskless employees?

Guckert: A few years ago, we rolled out a new intranet, and that has been game-changing for us. All of our newsletters are housed there, and the platform was built with deskless employees in mind.

We have employees throughout the country, including maintenance team members and property management employees who are always on the go serving residents and communities. So, the experience has to be mobile friendly and easy to access.

That approach helps make the most important information available to everyone, while giving employees a place to return to when they need it.

Where do short-form video, visuals or interactive storytelling fit into your newsletter strategy?

Onnen: Video helps bring important updates and announcements to life. As communicators, we know people don’t always want to read a long email or a long block of copy.

It also adds personality and context. Hearing directly from a CEO, senior leader or someone leading a company initiative can make the message feel more human and authentic than just reading words on a screen. That’s especially useful when the message has a people or culture component. If we’re talking about philanthropy, social impact or an employee-focused initiative, video can help employees understand the tone and the purpose behind it.

How should communicators use analytics or AI-driven insights to improve newsletters?

Guckert: We have a core governance group for our intranet that meets biweekly to make sure our strategy stays aligned. We also work closely with site managers who are creating newsletters and content for their teams.

The data and feedback we get from the platform helps us make sure we’re sharing the most relevant information. It also helps us avoid overwhelming employees with content they don’t need or newsletters that don’t feel useful to them. On top of that, it shows us what’s working and where we may need to adjust. It can also help us sunset channels or habits that no longer provide value.

Onnen: Analytics should guide decisions, not make them for you. If something doesn’t perform well once, that doesn’t automatically mean you should get rid of it.

The real goal is to use data to create more effective, audience-based communications, not to let the numbers replace judgment.

To register for Ragan’s Employee Experience Conference, click here.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.