Driving user adoption of your intranet: 10 tips and tricks
Are you struggling to get your employees to use your company's intranet? Don't worry, you're not alone. Many organizations face the same frustrating challenges when trying to turn around low adoption rates. But fear not, there are ways to drive user adoption and get your employees engaged with your intranet.
In this blog post, we provide ten practical tips and tricks to drive user adoption of your intranet successfully.
1. Start with the strategy
Before you start designing your intranet, it's important to have a clear understanding of why you need an intranet in the first place. Consider the objectives and key solution areas you want to achieve with your intranet, as well as how you will evaluate its success. Additionally, look for inspiration from relevant consumer apps to help you design an intranet that feels intuitive and familiar to your employees.
2. Involve employees in the intranet design process
Involve a team of intranet ambassadors spread out across departments and locations to pilot-test the solution. This approach will give them a hands-on experience with the intranet and verify that it delivers user benefits while meeting business needs.
3. Include all employees and devices
Ensure all employees have a user account and permission to access the intranet. Make the intranet accessible to as many users and devices as possible by using an intranet mobile app, digital signage, and newsletters, and connecting the intranet to Microsoft Teams.
4. Solve the key question
One of the key challenges for modern intranets is how to continuously deliver a great user experience as the amount of information and applications grows. To overcome this challenge, focus on creating an intuitive, personalized, and task-oriented user experience with great performance and visual appeal on all devices. Decide on information policies, life-cycles, governance models, and statistics/reports to help you master the growing and changing digital workplace.
5. Communicate the benefits
Communicate the benefits of the intranet well before launch. Highlight specific features and content that can benefit individual employees and teams, such as news, policies, search, knowledge sharing, team collaboration, and task management. Promote the intranet to employees regularly through email newsletters, intranet banners, and posters around the office.
6. Set up a launch event
Plan a successful launch event that includes all users in all locations. Have your CEO broadcast an introduction to the solution, make local managers and leaders do testimonials, offer giveaways, serve an intranet cake, put up posters, and send out an email ‘how to get going’ guide, or choose other activities that will be well received in your organization.
7. Offer training and support – and make good use of ambassadors
Provide online tutorials, webinars, in-person training sessions, user guides, and FAQ sections to help employees learn how to use the intranet. Ensure that there is a help desk or support system in place to answer any questions employees may have. Activate intranet ambassadors to promote the intranet, provide support to other employees, answer questions, offer tips and tricks, and encourage others to use the intranet.
8. Make the intranet essential
Ensure important information, documents, and resources are available in a personalized manner. Integrate the intranet with relevant business systems, and encourage teams to use the intranet for announcements, social discussions, project management, task tracking, and team collaboration. Shut down some of the alternative methods for communication such as weekly email send outs or local newsletters.
9. Gamify the intranet
Consider adding game-like elements such as leaderboards, badges, and rewards for completing tasks or using certain features. Create a recognition program to acknowledge and reward employees who actively use and contribute to the intranet.
10. Measure and adjust
Use analytics and feedback from employees to continuously evaluate the intranet's success and make necessary adjustments to ensure it remains relevant and useful.
In conclusion, driving user adoption of your intranet requires a strategic approach, involving employees in the design process, making it accessible to all employees and devices, communicating its benefits, providing training and support, and making the intranet an essential tool for everyday work. Gamification and continuous evaluation are also crucial for success. Use these tips and tricks to drive user adoption and increase engagement with your intranet.
Our conclusion
By implementing these tips and tricks, you can create an intranet that is intuitive, and personalized, and that will be important for your users in getting things done. This will lead to higher adoption rates and a more productive workforce. Remember to continuously gather feedback from your users and improve your intranet accordingly to ensure its continued success.
With the right approach, your intranet can become an essential tool for your organization, improving communication, collaboration, and efficiency.
