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12 internal communications best practices in 2025: data, tips, & more!
In 2025, we launched something pretty awesome (and so useful) to help you compare, contextualize, & fine-tune your IC strategy: the Internal Communications Benchmarks & Best Practices Report! We dug into the data from over 107+ MILLION emails to find out what’s really driving opens, clicks, and engagement. This blog outlines the top 12 key takeaways (and deep dives into the most practical ones!) from the report, which you can grab below right now for free!
What’s the best time to send internal emails? What subject lines create the highest open rates? How can I improve my click-rates? What’s the average open rate for my industry? We answer ALL these questions ( + back it up with data!) in our new report below. Make sure to download it now and reference it while we dive in!
Internal Communication Benchmarks & Best Practices Report
A free, data-packed report with practical insights you can start using today. Grab it now!
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Why do benchmarks matter for internal comms?
Having an understanding of how your team engages with internal comms is key to building a strategy that prioritizes what they’re (actually) interested in — and that starts with benchmarks!
But here’s the thing: benchmarks aren’t about chasing perfect numbers. They’re about creating a baseline to measure what’s working and where there’s room to grow.
Metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and engagement stats aren’t just numbers. They’re a way to see how your team interacts with your messages and where you can improve. And while industry benchmarks can be helpful for context, the most important thing is to focus on what’s meaningful for your team and goals.
Here’s why this matters: Setting your own benchmarks helps you measure progress and celebrate wins, no matter how small. If your open rate is 60% and the “gold standard” is 80%, that doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means there’s a great opportunity to fine-tune your approach—and every improvement is a step in the right direction.
Within this blog, we’ve outlined what Workshop customers across more than ten different industries are doing to give you a jump start.
Let’s go!
What do “best practices” refer to in internal communications?
In internal communications, best practices refer to the most effective methods, techniques, and strategies that consistently lead to successful communication outcomes within an organization. These practices are based on research, data (like our benchmarks report!), real-world usage, and experience, and they help ensure messages are seen, understood, and acted on by employees.
Here are key elements that define best practices in internal comms:
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Clarity and relevance
Messages should be clear, concise, and directly relevant to the audience. Be human and avoid jargon!
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Right channel, right time
Use the most appropriate channel (email, Slack/Teams, SMS, intranet, etc.) based on urgency and content type. Time-zone scheduling (Workshop can do this!) is also a best practice to ensure visibility.
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Data-driven decisions
Internal communications best practices are guided by benchmarks like:
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Open rate (how many people open the email),
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Click-through rate (how many take action), and
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Read time (how long they engage with the content).
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Content relevance (also known as…audience segmentation!)
Tailoring content by department, role, or location results in higher engagement. A generic all-company blast often underperforms.
- Tech tip: Use Workshop’s audience segmentation feature to personalize your comms at scale & segment email content out within seconds!
What are the top best practices for internal communications in 2025?
We analyzed 107+ million internal emails in our Internal Communications Benchmarks & Best Practices Report, and here are the results from the data!
- Want higher open rates? Send on Wednesday at 9 AM. That’s the sweet spot for getting eyes on your emails. If you’re aiming for more clicks (aka action), Mondays are your best bet.
- Shorter subject lines win. Keep it between 2140 characters—once you hit 80, open rates drop.
- Smaller, more targeted emails perform better. If you’re blasting emails to over 1,000 people, engagement dips. Smaller lists = better results!
- Timing matters (a lot). Emails sent after 5 PM see a 17% drop in open rates. If it’s important, send it during work hours.
- Multi-channel is the move! Half of internal communications teams in Workshop have added the option to cross-post emails to Slack, Teams, or SharePoint.
- How often should you send emails? The average company sends 14 internal emails per month.
- Event emails drive the most clicks. If you need employees to take action, frame it like an event (think: training, deadline reminders, or big announcements).
- The average open rate for internal emails is 76%, and the click-through rate CTR is 10%—but remember, your own benchmarks matter more!
- Benchmarks do vary by industry! Finance and healthcare see some of the highest engagement rates, while tech lags behind.
- Who you send from makes a difference! Emails sent from a leader or well-known individual get more opens than “noreply@” or generic comms@company.com addresses.
- 77% of internal emails include at least one link, but about a fourth don’t include any. Make sure there’s a reason to engage!
- Your tech setup matters. Emails perform better when you remove “external sender” banners, avoid spam filters, optimize for mobile, and schedule your sends via time zone.
What’s the best day and time to send an internal email? + more best practices!
If you’re optimizing for open rates, 9 AM on Wednesday! If you’re looking at click-through rates, consider Mondays (a good day for action items!. On average, emails sent “after hours” (after 5 PM during traditional work days) see a 17% drop in open rate.
Pro tip: Engagement skyrockets when you meet employees in their own time zones. You don’t have to wake up at 3:00 A.M. to do this!
With Workshop, you can schedule emails based on employees’ time zones. Schedule a demo here to see it in action!
How do I improve my open rates?
If you think our average open rate of 76% feels high, that’s because it is! But before you leap straight to rewriting all of your subject lines, know that the technology you use for internal email matters deeply to your open and click-through rates.
At Workshop, we set up every single internal comms team for success from the beginning, and often see open rates skyrocket just based on the right setup alone. This includes:
- Removing any “external sender” banners from your internal emails
- Configuring your sends so your emails never land in employee spam folders
- Ghostwriting features, so you can send emails ‘from’ other leaders within the company (with the right permissions!)
- Scheduling and time zone sending features, so emails land in inboxes at the right time
- Automatically optimizing your emails for mobile or desktop viewing
Pro tip: Use an internal email platform (like Workshop!) to avoid employee unsubscribes & external sender banners.
What are the most effective internal communications channels?
Knowing your audience is key here. Because in internal communications, one size never fits all. To reach your whole workforce in 2025, the best practice is to create a multi-channel comms approach.
Bonus tip: use our editable channel matrix template to organize & streamline. It helps teams align communication strategies and improve collaboration by outlining the uses, frequency, and audience of each channel (keep reading below!)
Channel Matrix Template
Organize your internal comms channels easily with this editable template. Grab it below!
Remember: the goal is not to get a 100% open rate. You’ll never reach 100% of your employees through one channel alone! And while email can provide that incredible foundation, it’s best to take a multi-channel approach to meet employees where they are (and reiterate important info). Here are a few other channels to pair with your email strategy:
- SMS: Text messaging is our go-to for urgent or time-sensitive updates, especially for frontline or deskless workers who may not check email frequently (or might not have corporate email addresses at all)!
- Teams or Slack: A more “chat-based” comms tool is great for messages that don’t need to live longer than 24 hours or for quick reminders. For example, follow up on a benefits enrollment email with a message: “Don’t forget to enroll – the deadline is Friday!
- Intranet: Intranet adoption is always a struggle, and email can help drive traffic there. For detailed info that should be more evergreen or long-term, link your emails to intranet posts where employees can access more in-depth resources.
- Other channels: Digital signage, all-hands meetings, manager communications, QR codes, PDFs, posters, internal podcasts…there are so many options!
Ask yourself:
- Who needs to hear this message?
- What do they care about most?
- What’s the best way to reach them?
- How can we reduce noise and add value?
Tech tip: Use Workshop’s cross-posting integrations to reach employees on Slack, Teams, or SharePoint. More channels = more visibility & eyes on your comms!
By sending your email notifications to channels your employees already use, they’ll see updates in the tools they check every day. Creating a multi-channel communications strategy will reach your entire team.
How can I write better subject lines for my internal emails? 8 best practices:
We analyzed the subject lines of the best-performing emails in Workshop, and noticed a few common patterns among them.
When writing your subject lines, aim for clarity, warmth, and a little personality where it fits.Here are some key approaches:
- Highlighting employees: Subject lines like “Meet our newest team members,” “Shoutout to Employee Name]!” or “A warm welcome to…” celebrate and recognize your team members.
- Keeping everyone in the loop: Be direct and transparent with subject lines such as “Important update: Topic],” “What’s changing with our team structure,” or “CEO transition: What to expect.”
- Making it clear when action is needed: If employees need to do something, spell it out with subject lines like “Action required: Submit by Deadline],” “Reminder: Your benefits enrollment ends soon,” or “Time to review: New policy updates.”
- Creating a positive, inclusive tone: Celebrate together with subject lines like “We appreciate you, Name]!” “Our commitment to Value],” or “Reflecting on a great year together.”
- Keeping things timely: If it’s tied to a specific timeframe, include it —”Happening this week: Event],” “March 2024 updates,” or “Week of March 13: What you need to know.”
- Driving excitement for events: Get people interested in what’s coming up with subject lines like “Join us at Event Name]!” “National Summit: Registration now open,” or “Countdown to our Year-End Celebration!”
- Adding some personality: When appropriate, a little fun goes a long way. Think “Just another [Industry] Monday,” or “Guess what? We’ve got big news!”
- Focusing on what employees care about: If it’s about pay, benefits, or perks, make it clear: “Your bonus details inside,” “Payroll schedule: Here’s what to know,” or “New perks? You got it!”
Stumped on subject lines? We got you! With Workshop, get AI-suggested subject lines & preview text (based on the content of your email!) Generate ideas: we’ll suggest subject lines and preview text that match your message’s tone and context—all grounded in the data from our 2025 Internal Communications Benchmarks & Best Practices Report!
Refine subject lines, polish preview text, or adjust tone and clarity in just a couple of clicks.
What’s the ideal length of an internal email? Well, it depends…
What’s the ideal length of an email? The only way to find this answer is to test, test, test! The only real conclusion we were able to draw in our data is that excessively long emails didn’t see many clicks towards the bottom, suggesting that employees tuned out or clicked off before reaching that content (even if they read the “top part”). Here’s your best practice:
- For most organizations:
- A beautiful internal newsletter template that includes employee photos, branded elements, GIFs, and surveys is the key to engaging the team.
- For organizations with a lot of frontline or deskless employees:
- A simple, text-based, mobile-friendly design paired up with something like a “five things to know” works well!
How do I improve my click-through rates? 4 best practices:
Here are a few of our favorite ways to boost our click-through rates:
- Write like a human, not a corporate memo
- If your email sounds robotic, it’ll get ignored. Instead, try writing like you would in a Slack message or casual conversation.
- Avoid: “Dear employees, we are pleased to inform you of recent updates…” Try instead: “Big news! Here’s what’s changing (and why you’ll love it).”
- Keep it short, friendly, and skimmable—bullets, bold text, and emojis (used sparingly! can help.)
- 💡 Rule of thumb: If you wouldn’t say it out loud to a coworker, rewrite it!
- Make it visual (because walls of text don’t always work)
- Break up big paragraphs with headers, bullets, or icons
- Use high-quality images (bonus points for employee photos!)
- Try GIFs or quick videos for big announcements.
- Test different layouts to see what works best (Workshop makes this easy!)
- 📸 Quick win: Feature real team moments! Employees LOVE seeing familiar faces in their inbox.
- Get personal + segment where you can
- Not every email needs to go to every employee. When content feels relevant, engagement skyrockets.
- Segment by department, role, or location (don’t make everyone read through the HQ events calendar)!
- Customize subject lines or intros (e.g., “Marketing Team: Here’s Your Q1 Recap”).
- Make it feel personal—instead of “company updates,” say “A quick note from [leader’s name].”
- 📊Pro tip: Employees are much more likely to engage with emails from their department leader than from a general company address.
- Make it easy (and fun) to click!
- Your CTA (call to action) should be clear, compelling, and simple.
- Use action-oriented language: “Save your spot” is better than “Register here”!
- Highlight the benefit: “Get early access to our new PTO tool,” for example.
- Limit choices: One strong CTA is better than five weak ones.
- Gamify engagement: Try adding an“Easter egg” (e.g., the first five people to click get a coffee gift card!)
- 📥 Bonus tip: Want more clicks? Encourage replies! 💬Ask a quick question at the end: “Hit reply and tell us—what’s your go-to workday playlist?”
Need a few ideas for more engaging emails?
Level up your employee communications and get some internal inspiration with a full gallery of emails that we know work —both visually and strategically. Browse through 30 customizable employee communication email designs and templates, and get a few ideas of how to spin up some of your own!
Whether you’re crafting your next employee newsletter, onboarding sequence, or benefits email, this gallery will be your go-to resource for sparking ideas and turning them into engaging, high-performing messages.
Browse through our email designs here! →
Wrapping it all up: Forget chasing “perfect” numbers—your benchmarks should work for you!
It’s easy to get caught up in industry-wide stats, but the real magic happens when you track what matters to your team. Open rates, click-throughs, and engagement metrics aren’t just numbers—they tell you what’s working, what’s not, and where you can improve. Instead of comparing yourself to a company with a completely different workforce, start with your own baseline. If your open rate is 60% and growing, that’s a win! If employees are clicking and engaging more than last quarter, you’re on the right track.
The best internal communications platforms (like Workshop!) make this process easy. With built-in analytics, you can see who’s reading your emails, what they’re clicking on, and where they drop off—without digging through spreadsheets. You can even segment data by department, role, or location to understand what resonates with different teams. And if you’re experimenting? Workshop helps you add more engaging content, track trends over time, and adjust based on real data.
Because the goal isn’t just “better numbers”—it’s better communication!
Next steps:
Don’t miss out on the data! Make sure to grab your free copy of our Internal Communications Benchmarks & Best Practices Report below!
Download your free copy here 🙂
Book a demo of Workshop here to see how we can show you your own internal comms data & metrics!
