In today’s workplace, the average employee receives around 121 emails per day. With inboxes overflowing and notifications pinging nonstop, it’s no wonder important messages get buried. So how do you ensure your team actually sees—and retains—key information? Here’s what actually works, backed by both science and real-world experience.
The Science of Attention & How to Capture It
We’ve all experienced that moment of opening our email to find dozens of unread messages and immediately feeling overwhelmed. The scientific name for this is “cognitive overload”, where our brains simply can’t process the volume of information bombarding us.
When cognitive overload kicks in, our brains go into survival mode, skimming and filtering to make split-second decisions on what’s worth our attention. The good news? A few smart tweaks can make your messages impossible to ignore.
One powerful concept is something known as the “primacy and recency effect.” Research shows that people tend to remember the first and last things they encounter in any communication. This means the beginning and end of your messages matter more than what’s buried in the middle.
The recency effect is a key factor in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design because it influences how users process and remember information on a website, app, or email. By placing key content or elements at the end of a sequence, they increase the chances that users will remember and act on that information.
The Psychology of Employee Engagement in Communication
Creating messages that trigger curiosity and urgency can significantly increase engagement. The human brain is naturally drawn to novelty, questions, and anything that creates a sense of anticipation.
Try opening with an intriguing question or statement that sparks curiosity: “Did you know that employees who enroll in our retirement plan by Friday will receive an extra 1% match this quarter?” This approach immediately gives the reader a reason to keep reading.
Another powerful technique is to frame messages in terms of what employees might lose rather than what they might gain. This leverages “loss aversion,” the psychological principle that people are more motivated to avoid losing something than to gain something of equal value.
Instead of saying, “Sign up for benefits to save money,” try “Don’t miss out on saving up to $2,500 this year by enrolling in our benefits program before the deadline.”
Innovative Ways to Deliver Important Messages
If you’ve been relying solely on email to communicate important information, it’s time to expand your toolkit. Different delivery methods can help break through attention barriers and reach employees where they’re most receptive.
Gamification: Making Information Interactive
Turn key messages into interactive formats that engage employees. Online quizzes about new policies not only ensure information is read but also help with retention. Companies like Deloitte have seen completion rates of training materials increase by 50% when incorporating gamification elements.
Here’s a simple way to start: Create a quick three-question quiz about your most important policy update and offer a small incentive for completion. Even a $5 coffee gift card can dramatically increase participation.
Video Messages: The Power of Face to Face
A short, 30-second video from leadership explaining an important update can be far more effective than a lengthy email. Videos are processed by the brain 60,000 times faster than text, making them perfect for capturing attention in our fast-paced work environments. You don’t need professional equipment either. A smartphone video with good lighting and clear audio can be more authentic and relatable than an overproduced corporate video.
“Sticky Notes” Approach: Visual Communication
Summarizing key points in short, engaging visual formats can dramatically increase retention. Digital “sticky notes” with bold colors, relevant GIFs, or even simple memes (when appropriate for your company culture) can make important information stand out.
Many organizations are creating infographics for complex benefits information or policy changes, finding that visual representations increase both comprehension and recall of important details.
How AI & Automation Can Improve Internal Communication
Smart reminders and automated follow-ups are proven strategies for increasing response rates on important action items. Sending a reminder a few days before a deadline, followed by another closer to the due date, can make a significant difference in completion rates—sometimes boosting them by a substantial margin.
Personalization through automation is another powerful technique. Messages that address employees by name and reference their specific situation (e.g., “As someone enrolled in our PPO health plan…”) are much more likely to be read and acted upon.
AI-powered tools can now analyze the best times to send messages to individual employees based on when they typically engage with communications, further increasing the chances your message will be seen and read.
Lessons from Marketing: Using Persuasive Techniques in Internal Emails
The techniques that make external marketing effective can be equally powerful for internal communications.
Strong subject lines are probably the most critical element of any email. Marketing research shows that 47% of email recipients open emails based solely on the subject line. Instead of generic subjects like “Benefits Update,” try something more compelling like “Important: Your 5-Day Window to Maximize Benefits.”
Personalization goes beyond just using someone’s name. It means connecting the information to what matters to them. For example, rather than saying “New retirement plan options available,” try “How the new retirement options could help you retire 2 years earlier.”
The “Rule of 7” from marketing is particularly relevant for workplace communications. This principle suggests that people need to see a message at least seven times, in different formats, before it fully registers. For truly important communications, plan a campaign across multiple channels (email, chat, posters, meetings) rather than a single announcement.
Putting It All Together: A Framework for Effective Employee Communications
Based on these insights, here’s a practical framework for your next important employee communication:
- Plan your timing carefully. Send communications when employees are most likely to be receptive (typically mid-morning on Tuesday-Thursday).
- Craft a compelling subject line that creates curiosity or urgency.
- Put your most critical information first and last in the message, leveraging the primacy and recency effect.
- Keep it concise. Aim for messages that can be read in under 3 minutes.
- Include a clear call to action that stands out visually.
- Follow up through multiple channels, creating at least 3-7 touchpoints for truly important messages.
- Measure engagement and refine your approach based on what works with your unique workforce.
Effective employee communication isn’t just about disseminating information—it’s about creating connections, driving engagement, and ensuring that important messages actually register in a world of constant information overload. By applying these science-backed techniques to your workplace communications, you can dramatically improve how well your messages are received, understood, and acted upon.
Let Commonwealth Payroll & HR Help You Communicate With Your Team
At Commonwealth Payroll & HR, we know that getting employees to engage with important workplace communications can be a challenge. Let’s talk about how we can help you deliver communications that are clear, timely, and impossible to miss—reach out today!
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