Show Them the Data:
Prove Your Point by Pointing to Proof
PRSA Conference
October 23, 2016
Angela Sinickas, ABC
[email protected]
22365 El Toro Rd., Suite 139, Lake Forest, CA 92630
TEL: 714/277-4130
FAX: 714/242-7049
1
Agenda
• Setting measurable communication goals
that lead to business results
• Ways to use research and measurement to
gather data in developing recommendations
for leadership
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
2
Typical communication messaging
does not consider behaviors
• Organizational goals
– What leadership is trying to achieve
• Communication tactics
– Key messages about goals and results
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
3
More effective communication messaging is
based on stakeholder and audience research
• Organizational goals
• Audience actions
– What behavior change is needed to achieve the
goals?
• Audience perceptions (knowledge and
attitudes)
– To do the right things, what do stakeholders need
to know and believe?
• Communication tactics
– Key messages about goals and results leading to
behavior change
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
4
Identify stakeholder groups
with different actions for each goal
Internal
External
Goal:
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
5
For each group, identify their “stake”
Stakeholder
Group
• Name
• What their
stake is
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
6
Identify their current behavior
Stakeholder
Group
Behavior
• Name
Current
• What their
stake is
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
7
Identify their ideal behavior
to reach your goal
Stakeholder
Group
Behavior
• Name
Current
• What their
stake is
Ideal
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
8
What knowledge affects current behavior;
where do they get this knowledge?
Stakeholder
Group
Behavior
Messages
Channels/
Timing
• Name
Current
Current
Knowledge
Current
• What their
stake is
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
9
What attitudes affect current behavior;
where are these attitudes reinforced?
Stakeholder
Group
Behavior
Messages
Channels/
Timing
• Name
Current
Current
Knowledge
Current
Current
Attitudes
Current
• What their
stake is
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
10
What knowledge and attitudes affect ideal
behavior; which sources are preferred?
Stakeholder
Group
Behavior
Messages
Channels/
Timing
• Name
Current
Current
Knowledge
Current
Current
Attitudes
Current
Ideal
Knowledge
Ideal
Ideal
Attitudes
Ideal
• What their
stake is
Ideal
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
11
What research will help answer these
questions?
Stakeholder
Group
Behavior
Messages
Channels/
Timing
Research
• Name
Current
Current
Knowledge
Current
• Get
operational
statistics
Current
Attitudes
Current
Ideal
Knowledge
Ideal
Ideal
Attitudes
Ideal
• What their
stake is
Ideal
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
• Do audience
research on
current and
ideal
messages
and channels
12
Let’s Apply This Approach to a
Communication Program
13
Communication campaign for change
Stakeholder
Group
Behavior
Messages
Channels/
Timing
Research
• Name
Current
Current
Knowledge
Current
• Get
operational
statistics
Current
Attitudes
Current
Ideal
Knowledge
Ideal
Ideal
Attitudes
Ideal
• What their
stake is
Ideal
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
• Do audience
research on
current and
ideal
messages
and channels
14
Measuring Messages
15
Now we’ll focus on ways to measure
knowledge and attitude messages
Stakeholder Behavior
Group
Messages
Channels/
Timing
Research
• Name
Current
Knowledge
Current
Current
Attitudes
Current
• Get
operational
and sales
statistics
Current
• What their
stake is
Ideal
Ideal
Knowledge
Ideal
Ideal
Attitudes
Ideal
• Do audience
research on
current and
ideal
messages and
channels
16
Readability testing using the
Gunning-Meuller Fog Index™
Find several 100-word samples of your writing.
For each:
1. Count average words per sentence
(including the whole last sentence).
2. Count the number of words at least
three syllables long within the first 100 words (not including proper
nouns, compound words or
words ending in "ed" or "es").
3. Add the results of 1 and 2.
4. Multiply the sum by 0.4. This is the number of years of formal
education required to understand the writing.
Can also be done by MS Word® under
Tools—Spelling and Grammar
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
17
18
Content analysis: potential categories
Internal comms
• Mission, vision, values, goals, brand
• Departments or geographies being covered
External comms
• Brand attributes
• Product lines
Either
• Diversity in photos
• Sources used in quotes (execs, employees, customers)
19
Ex.: Content analysis mentioning brand
attributes by issue of the newsletter
100%
80%
58%
60%
55%
53%
40%
44%
37%
30%
29%
34%
29% 29%
32%
24%
20%
52%
22%
22%
15%
12%
8%
0%
0%
0% 0% 0%
0% 0% 0%
0%
6Jan
14Jan
22Jan
30Jan
7Feb
10Feb
18Feb
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
26Feb
6Mar
14Mar
17Mar
25Mar
2Apr
10Apr
18Apr
21Apr
29Apr
71523274May May May May Jun
12Jun
20Jun
23- 1-Jul
Jun
20
Ways clients have used volume measures
for internal communications
• Measuring how many hours it took managers to
read everything Corporate sent to them in one
month
• Measuring how much
customer call center reps were
expected to read each week—
between phone calls
21
Measure relative volume of external
communication during one year
Compared to the ideal for reaching business goals
22
Comparison of customer mailing content
versus revenue sources
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Service #1 Service #2 Service #3
Content of mailings
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Others
Source of revenue
23
Typical media relations measures
of message effectiveness
• Volume vs. favorability of coverage (own
organization and competitors)
– By topic
– By type of media
– By placement
(headline, featured,
or mentioned)
13%
3%
13%
17%
Topic A
Topic B
Topic C
Topic D
Other
54%
• Advertising cost equivalency (not recommended)
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
24
Track accuracy of coverage from releases
or spokesperson briefings
Target Media
Globe & Wall St. CNN
Mail
Journal
Key messages mentioned
“Breakthrough product”
“Product availability
Jan. 15”
“Made by Wondrous,
Inc.”
“Stock expected to soar”
“Visionary president”
“Supplies limited”
TOTAL
Newsweek
TOTAL
+2
+2
+1
+1
–1
+1
+1
+1
+1
+1
–1
–1
0
+1
+1
+1
+3
+2
+1
+1
+3
0
+2
+1
+3
9/24
=37%
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
25
How to use news release
and briefing measures
• Compare accuracy of news media
over time
• Compare improvements in pick-up
of key recurring messages over time
• Compare effectiveness of various
release writers or spokespersons
• Factor in if accuracy and
coverage are higher for news
outlets with which you
have discussions
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
26
Take notes when warding
off negative coverage
Media Who Called You
National Washing
Enquirer -ton Post
CNN
NPR
Inaccurate messages they
wanted to report
“Company made an error
intentionally”
“Company benefited
financially from the error”
“Employee who made the
error was fired”
“Company tried to cover up
the error”
“Error is likely to occur
again”
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
27
Track avoidance of negative coverage
= You prevented inaccuracy
= Unable to prevent inaccuracy
Media Who Called You
National Washing
CNN
Enquirer -ton Post
NPR
Inaccurate messages they
wanted to report
“Company made an error
intentionally”
“Company benefited
financially from the error”
“Employee who made the
error was fired”
“Company tried to cover up
the error”
“Error is likely to occur
again”
% “Saved”
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
%
“Saved”
75%
67%
50%
50%
25%
0%
50%
100%
67%
9÷17=
53%
28
How to use negative message
avoidance measures
• Make visible to management the work you do to stay out
of the media when your organization doesn’t want to be
there
– Break out the media critical to
your success from others
– Measure the staff time
spent dealing with
message avoidance
– Quantify the potential
cost in lost revenue
versus the cost of staff
and resources for
this function
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
29
Recent example of content analysis
http://bit.ly/2dGHB8P
30
© 2016 Sinickas Communications, Inc.
31
© 2016 Sinickas Communications, Inc.
32
Average
sentence
length:
Trump: 12
words
© 2016 Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Clinton: 15
words
33
Use customer focus groups
to identify ideal messages
Topics investment clients would like more information about
= Mentioned in this group
Group
1
Group
2
Group
3
Tax strategies, tax changes
Stretch IRAs
Wills, estate planning
Long-term care
Corporate bonds, bond classifications
Other mutual funds similar to my own, top-rated ones
International investments by country, including Canada
Short-term investments, CDs, T-bills
Topics in bold are already being read about in the business press, but
people want more information from the company
34
Use interviews and focus groups
to identify ideal internal messages
Very strong desire
Some desire
Strong desire
No desire
Employees’
Desire
to Know About
Executives’
Desire
to Tell
Acquisitions/Growth
Business Strategies/Goals
Budgets/Financial Performance
Competitors
Mission/Vision
Pay/Compensation
Values
People News
Technology
Reengineering/Organization Structure
Customer Focus
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
35
Starch-like test for recall of messages
UNAIDED: What articles do you remember having
read?
AIDED: With the issue in front of them:
Articles
Skipped
Skimmed
Read All
Why?
New
product
Sales
training
Customer
survey
Flood
damage
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
36
Internal focus group pre-testing
of strategy statements
Original statement on diversity:
“We need to become more highly diverse in our associate work force.
Ten years from now, we will look a lot different.
What do we need to do to take advantage of this?”
Focus group comments:
Generic word, meaningless; define diversity
• Avoid words “we’ll look different,” which implies solely age, sex and
ethnicity
• Ten years is too long
• Be aware that customers have diverse needs
37
Which image appeals to you more in terms
of positive “messages”?
38
External focus group pretesting of cover photos…
What appeals:
• “You can form your own opinion of what
it is”; it leaves a lot for my imagination”;
“I can make up my own story”
• “Sunlight is like the goal you’re working
toward”; “light at the end of the tunnel”
• “It’s sunny, peaceful”
• “I see myself going there”; “I imagine myself on
my motorcycle”
What does not appeal:
• No negative reactions
Rank: Most
preferred
Many chose in
top 3 and only
one in bottom 3:
Strong positive
reaction
39
…instead of debating every
month
What appeals:
• Bright colors
• Relevance:
– “I was in that scene when my kids were young”
– “Family draws me; I invest for my family and
they’re at that age”
– “Reminds me of my grandson”
What does not appeal:
• “They seem to be screaming”
• “Looks like they’re fighting”
• “Hard to identify with personally”
• “I don’t want to be reminded of my kids; we
don’t have a good relationship”
Rank: Third quartile
Many chose in top
and bottom 3 so it
is polarizing, but
the number of likes
balanced dislikes
40
Survey clients about what they value the most in
communications from your company and
competitors
•
Looking at the list of responses to
this question for a financial services
company, all the most frequently
mentioned factors related to
aspects of the content.
•
81% mentioned other features that
were not captured quantitatively on
the survey, though some of them
do overlap the gist of the original
list:
– Content (38%): breadth/depth/easy
to navigate
– Timeliness (13%)
– Access (10%): consistent location,
frequency, reliable distribution
– Personal interaction (6%)
41
Measure perceived information gaps
How Interested I Am
Not
at All
How Well Informed I Am
Very
Interested
Not
at All
Very Well
Informed
1. What I’m expected to
do in my job
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
2. Employee benefits
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
3. How I can help meet
objectives
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
4. Products and services
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
42
Example: Level of information increases since 2011
for one client
2010 "Well/Very Well Informed"
100%
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
80%
66%
64%
60%
60%
56%
53%
53%
49%
40%
41%
62%
59%
56%
50%
46%
20%
37%
59%
56%
43%
0%
Company brand
Regulatory/ legal news
Firm's inclusion efforts
43
What employees at one company thought
“doubling the company’s value” means
I'm not sure
12%
Increase no. of large projects not relying on
time-sold
30%
Increase revenue from time-sold
The right answer
58%
Increase revenue by acquisitions
61%
Increase no. of customers
74%
Increase no. of contracts
75%
0%
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
44
Knowledge and attitudes: asked randomly
of employees met during a week
A. Knowledge: Since we’re privately held,
we’ve never communicated this information,
but what percentage of profit do you think we
made last year?
B. Attitude: What percentage
of profit do you think we
should be making?
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
45
Measuring Channels
of Communication:
Overall Patterns
46
Next we’ll focus on ways to measure
channels and timing
Stakeholder Behavior
Group
Messages
Channels/
Timing
Research
• Name
Current
Knowledge
Current
Current
Attitudes
Current
• Get
operational
and sales
statistics
Current
• What their
stake is
Ideal
Ideal
Knowledge
Ideal
Ideal
Attitudes
Ideal
• Do audience
research on
current and
ideal
messages and
channels
47
Distribution / access questions
The company webcast:
1. Provides useful information I need to do my job.
2. Provides useful information I want to know, although I
may not need to know it.
3. Is interesting, but not useful.
4. Is neither interesting nor useful.
5. I have never seen a company webcast
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
48
Respondents without access
to information sources at one company
70%
Those Without Access at XYZ
60%
50%
40%
34%
30%
20%
13%
11%
10%
10%
4%
1%
1%
0%
Yammer
social
network
Employee Meetings
blog
with senior
leaders
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Staff
meetings
Intranet
Emails to Voicemails
all
to all
employees employees
49
Most valued sources
for those respondents with access
Provides useful information
100%
94%
92%
91%
86%
90%
80%
70%
70%
60%
50%
40%
32%
30%
19%
20%
10%
0%
Staff
meetings
Meetings
Emails to
with senior
all
leaders
employees
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Intranet
Voicemails Employee
to all
blog
employees
Yammer
social
network
50
Questions identifying value of each type of communication
on different aspects of the sales process: Customer
newsletter
•
Nearly half say it shows the company
understands their business, and it
helps strengthen the relationship
–
•
Only 4% said it has no impact on them
30% mentioned other types of
influences:
–
"Gave me general knowledge outside
my field of activity." (Central Europe)
–
"It gives me more comfort about who
XYZ is." (U.S.)
–
"Solidifies my impressions of them."
(U.S.)
–
"Made me think about them more."
(U.S.)
–
"We try to apply the concepts in the
magazine (commercial and lines of
product) to our own business." (Canada)
–
"It's the combination of all materials that
helps in the selection process."
(Canada)
–
"Engineering expertise is important."
(Brazil)
Increased
understanding
of products
72%
Increased
awareness of
expertise
68%
Showed
understanding
of client's
business
46%
Strengthened
relationship
42%
Encouraged
choosing XYZ
over others
20%
Contacted XYZ
for more info
20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
51
Survey access and usage of external
communications
The Customer Newsletter
Haven't
seen the
newsletter,
33%
Throw
away
without
reading,
4%
Read or
skim
most
issues,
28%
Read or
skim
some
issues,
36%
52
A client magazine was the most visible communication
for one company, though one-third had never seen it
100%
Have never seen this channel
80%
66%
60%
41%
40%
41%
44%
45%
33%
20%
0%
Client magazine
XYZ Events
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
XYZ research pubs
XYZ Website
XYZ marketing brochures
XYZ ads
53
Clients were most likely to read the client
magazine, and least likely to read ads
(based only on clients who are familiar with these communications)
100%
Read/view this source regularly
80%
64%
60%
55%
50%
41%
40%
34%
23%
20%
0%
Client magazine
XYZ Events
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
XYZ research pubs
XYZ Website
XYZ marketing brochures
XYZ ads
54
Readership of an employee magazine dropped when it
went only online; even a more interactive redesign in
2014 didn’t regain lost readership
• Only 50% read or
skim at least half of
each issue, which
is improved over
2009’s 42%, but
down 18 points
from 2007 when it
was last printed.
– This level is 9
percentage points
under the
database norm of
59%.
• The redesign does
not seem to have
changed
readership results,
or at least not yet
How much of an issue is read
100%
17%
17%
25%
21%
21%
27%
29%
27%
25%
23%
25%
25%
2012 Online
2013 Online
2014 Online and
Redesigned
23%
38%
75%
25%
25%
29%
50%
28%
30%
31%
32%
26%
29%
25%
20%
28%
26%
17%
12%
0%
2007 Printed
2009 Online
2010 Online
2011 Online
Don't read it
Read only what interests me
Read/skim about half
Read beginning to end
55
Identify audiences’ current and
preferred sources by subject
56
Subject:
Our competitors and how we compare
24%
Company newsletter
10%
Company Intranet
33%
17%
13%
15%
Large meetings
7%
Leadership
13%
9%
E-mails
"Local" newsletters
7%
External press
7%
Customers
6%
Other
6%
Other employees
12%
22%
11%
10%
Preferred Sources
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
16%
16%
4%
0%
13%
20%
30%
40%
Current Sources
57
Source:
Leadership (VP and above)
US Business
goals
17%
20%
12%
Global goals
16%
10%
Financials
15%
15%
15%
How I can help
9%
Customers
13%
7%
Competition
Our products
and pipeline
13%
8%
12%
0%
10%
Preferred Topics
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
20%
Current Topics
58
External survey on most effective
methods for finding new jobs…
72%
XYZ jobs board online
48%
Employers' job pages
46%
Responding to recruiters/headhunters
42%
Industry association job sites
General job sites (Monster)
38%
Calling recruiters/headhunters
37%
33%
Resumes to past contacts
Employers' LinkedIn job sites
26%
Submitting applications for publicized online jobs
25%
Job fairs
24%
Ads in trade publications
24%
Networking at conferences
23%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Most effective for finding jobs
59
… and most-listened-to
drive-time radio programs
FM music stations
48%
NPR
28%
News programs
24%
Talk programs
22%
Don't listen to radio
while driving
17%
Sports programs
9%
AM music stations
6%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Most-listened-to radio programs
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
60
Measuring Electronic Channels of
Communication
61
Key electronic usage measures
to track
What to measure
What to do about findings
Where people come from
(“referral sites”)
Evaluate the usefulness of links from
organizations you’re partnering with
Where they enter the site (bookmarked pages vs. home page)
Make sure it’s as functional as a home
page for important links
Page views for URLs that involve a Track which elements of campaigns best
desired behavior
draw them to the URL
Increases in visitors or page views
Track against dates of specific
communication elements
62
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
63
Don’t measure HITS
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
Hits Per Month
Page Views Per Month
64
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Viewed 20 or More Pages
10/20
10/6
9/22
9/8
8/25
8/11
7/28
7/14
6/30
6/16
6/2
5/19
5/5
4/21
4/7
3/24
3/10
2/24
2/10
1/27
1/13
12/30
12/16
12/2
11/18
11/4
10/21
10/7
9/23
9/9
8/26
8/12
7/29
7/15
7/1
6/17
Visitors per week with
20+ page requests
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Trend line
65
Survey Web site users about
the value of different site pages
Of those who recall this feature of the site…
Free advice Q&A
64%
Articles/columns
36%
52%
Salary survey
48%
46%
54%
40%
Intranet quiz
50%
17%
Speech schedule
0%
61%
20%
Used this information at work
Neither interesting nor useful
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
10%
40%
22%
60%
80%
100%
Interesting, but haven't used it
66
Check customers’ familiarity with various new
media tools before just launching them
• For this company’s client base, RSS
feeds were the least familiar tool
– However, when the concept was explained
to clients, it was the one they would most
like to have the company start using
• Several of these tools were more
familiar to Canadians and Americans
and podcasts were more familiar to
French speakers.
• Southern Europeans were less
familiar with several of these tools.
– Emerging markets were less familiar with
webinars
• 71% said they would never want to
comment online or post a question
online. 100% of those in Central Europe,
Middle East/Africa and German speakers
agreed.
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Not sure
what a blog
is
Not sure
what a
podcast is
5%
15%
Not sure
what a
webinar is
25%
Not sure
what RSS
feeds are
0%
41%
20%
40%
67
And the likelihood of using tools
for execs who were familiar with them
How likely would you be to use this channel …
Request RSS feed
27%
20%
21%
Go to a webinar
32%
Listen to podcast 6%
Read a blog
4%
Comment on a blog
4%
0%
47%
32%
47%
27%
68%
18%
20%
% Very likely
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
52%
78%
40%
60%
% Might use
80%
100%
% Very unlikely
68
How many employees at one client have used
the comment engine for intranet news stories
How many of you have
posted comments about
Connect articles?
Managers
Have posted comments
Have never posted
Customer-facing
Support Staff
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
• Why some do not post comments:
– “No time.” (mentioned in nearly all focus
groups)
– “Not if my name is attached to it.” (2)
– “I love reading them; they’re entertaining,
with a diversity of opinions.”
– “I don’t like all the ‘great job’ comments.
It’s hard to then mention when they used
an incorrect process.”
– “The questions never get answered.”
– “It’s not a work topic.”
– “Reading the comments, it makes me
wonder why some people are still here.
It’s the same person commenting over
and over.”
69
How many have posted comments on the
online employee discussion board
How many of you have posted •
comments on the online
discussion board?
Why some do not post comments:
–
–
–
–
Managers
•
Have posted comments
Have never posted
Customer-facing
Support Staff
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
“I never knew it was there.” (mentioned in over half of focus
groups)
“It’s confusing.”
“I posted one for a staff member who didn’t want to be
identified.”
“Some employees don’t grasp that this is a place of
business.”
Few said they would participate in online
collaboration tools—unless it was for a work project
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
“There’s no time.”
“Twitter is too much to keep up with.”
“I would if the topics were relevant to what I do.”
“I would if it was in a defined project where you know the
people and it’s work related.”
“I’d use it to find a workout buddy.”
“Don’t we have Facebook? I have a feed.”
“You don’t know how it would be used or viewed.”
“It could be good for getting quick feedback from
employees.”
70
Tracking Outcomes to Compare Later
With Your Communication
71
Next we will focus on ways to measure
behavior changes and their ROI
Stakeholder Behavior
Group
Messages
Channels/
Timing
Research
• Name
Current
Knowledge
Current
Current
Attitudes
Current
• Get
operational
and sales
statistics
Current
• What their
stake is
Ideal
Ideal
Knowledge
Ideal
Ideal
Attitudes
Ideal
• Do audience
research on
current and
ideal
messages and
channels
72
Desirable outcomes from communication
Greater awareness
Increase in knowledge
More positive attitudes/opinions
Behavior changes
Financial results when behavior changes
73
Have your audience connect your
communication with their actions
• Customer magazine survey asks which of a list of
services readers purchased after first learning about the
service’s availability in the magazine
• Bank of America media relations team used to calculate
drops in new account deposits per day of negative news
coverage to encourage senior management to actively
address bad news instead of waiting for it to stop
by itself
• Readers Digest PR tracks immediate
jumps on book sales through amazon.com
after each author’s appearance on local TV
talk shows or local book reviews
74
Using surveys to connect communication
with outcomes
• Correlate survey scores on communication:
– With other survey questions about desirable outcomes
– With actual business results
• Ask which communications had the most impact on a
decision with financial impact, such as a calling a sales
representative, making a charitable donation or signing up
for a CSR project
• Ask questions about job-related or purchasing
outcomes of reading/participating in communications
• Ask about impact of strategy meetings or webcasts on
knowing how to do job differently and on recommending
future meetings to colleagues
75
Tracking impact of advertising with more
favorable perceptions of a company
• Study conducted by Katie
Paine found consumers
who were aware of the
company’s advertising had
more favorable
perceptions of many
aspects of AT&T’s
reputation
Aware of ads
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Not aware of ads
Innovation
Reputation
Trust
76
However, ads were not always useful
• Same AT&T study* found that in times of
extremely favorable and widespread news
coverage of discrete events, the coverage
cultivates positive perceptions over and above
the advertising
– In times of extremely unfavorable and widespread
new coverage of discrete events, the coverage
cultivates negative perceptions that undermine the
usual impact of advertising
* Source: Katherine Paine
77
Connect survey scores on
communication with financial results
Also is the most
profitable retail
geographic area
1
74%
Most
informed
area
Also are among the
least profitable retail
geographic areas
2
8
3
6
9 7
5
13
4
64%
Average
% feeling well or very well informed
about company strategy by area
(13 total geographic areas)
11
10
12
55%
Least
informed
area
78
Survey: Which of the these have you paid more attention to this
year because of increased communication about safety?
79
How much influence communications had on clients
vs. how influential sales reps believe they are
100%
Average % of clients saying a source influences them
Sales reps seem to
overestimate the
usefulness of social events,
compared to how much
influence clients say social
events have on them.
Sales reps are strongly
underestimating how useful
several key
communications may be for
them based on how influential
clients say these
communications are:
Two marketing
brochures
Website
Client newsletter
Industry speeches
Press releases
Ads
75%
Financial highlights
•
•
•
“XYZ” brochure
Company presentations
Business events
•
•• •
•
•
•
Website
50%
“JKL”
brochure
White papers
Newsletter
Speeches
•
Press releases
25%
•
Social events
Fact sheets
Ads/sponsored articles
•
Sponsorship
0%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
% of sales reps saying a source is influential
100%
80
Track impact of social media with behavior
changes; e.g., Net Promoter® Score (NPS)
Q: Would you
recommend us to a
friend or colleague?
0 = Definitely no
5 = Neutral
10 = Definitely yes
Read CEO's
blog
Customer
average
Scoring:
Percentage choosing 9-10
minus
Percentage choosing 0-6
equals
NPS
0
Saw
YouTube
clip
-30
34
0
-26
-20
-10
13
0
0
10
20
30
40
(Not real data)
® Trademark of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
81
Surveys also can be used to anticipate
likely future behaviors…
If employees of XYZ Company did form a political action committee,
would you be interested in making a financial contribution?
8%
0%
25%
20%
29%
40%
18%
60%
18%
80%
2%
100%
Definitely yes
Probably yes
I'm not sure
Probably no
Definitely no
Not eligible
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
82
…and set a financial estimate
for the value of the behavior
How much might you contribute to a PAC per paycheck?
(asked only of those who said they might or would contribute)
4%5%
0%
14%
20%
$101-$208 (legal max)
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
42%
40%
$51-100
25%
60%
$21-50
80%
$6-$20
11%
100%
$5 or less
$0
83
How much time using the Portal saves
• Answered by 1,376
people who said the
portal helps save time,
out of sample size of
14,082 (or about
10%), which means
these numbers could
be projected to 10% of
the entire 100,000person workforce, or
about 10,000
employees
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
Minutes the
portal saves in
my work each
week
4%
9%
29%
58%
1-15
15-30
30-60
Over 1 hour
84
Productivity savings due to updated
portal for about 10,000 employees (10%)
58% (5,800) x average of 7.5 minutes
29% (2,900) x average of 22.5 minutes
9% (900) x average of 45 minutes
4% (400) x average of 60 minutes
725 hrs/wk
1,088 hrs/wk
675 hrs/wk
+ 400 hrs/wk
Total hours saved per week
2,888 hrs/wk
X 49 wks worked
Hours of productivity saved each year
Convert hours to weeks
Average salary per week
141,512 hrs/yr
3,538 weeks/yr
X $1,500 pay/wk
Total productivity savings from portal
$5,306,700
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
85
Calculating ROI if the total cost of
replacing the intranet was $1 million
Benefit/cost ratio
Return on investment (ROI)
$5.3 million ÷ $1 million
($5.3 million – $1 million)
÷
=
$1 million
5.3
= 4.3 X 100%
= 430% ROI
86
Calculating ROI
87
Public sector examples of calculating ROI based
on the cost to society of wrong behaviors
Wrong behaviors
Cost can be calculated as…
Drinking while driving,
not wearing life vests
while boating, domestic
violence
• Cost of police and ambulance time to
respond
• Cost of disability benefits to survivors
• Cost of un-reimbursed medical care
High student drop-out
rates
• Loss in federal funding based on enrollment
• Loss in future earning power and increase
in likelihood of being unemployed and
needing government benefits
Visiting a govt. office for Greater amount of staff time needed for facea transaction that can be to-face transactions multiplied by average
done online
payroll cost per hour
Dumping toxic waste in
sewers
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
• Cost of environmental clean-up
• Cost of potential lawsuits
88
ROI is the financial gain from changed audience
behaviors vs. cost of communication
Gain – Cost
÷
x 100%
Cost
89
ROI Ex. 1: Communication impact on longdistance dialing costs
• Situation: Employees were dialing
long-distance calls directly instead of
using a string of pre-dialing
numbers that reduced the cost
• Solution: Humorous internal
communications campaign over
three-month period using e-mails
and the intranet; repeated every
few months to alert new hires and
remind back-sliders
• Outcome: Company long-distance costs reduced over
$20,000 per month with the same call volume
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
90
ROI Ex. 1: Calculating communication ROI
on long-distance cost savings
• Annual long-distance savings
(12 x $20,000)
• Annual salary and benefits for
one communicator
• Net annual cost saving
• Cost of comm. salary/benefits
• Annual ROI
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
$240,000
- $ 86,000
$154,000
÷ $ 86,000
= 179%
91
ROI is the financial gain from changed audience
behaviors vs. cost of communication
Gain – Cost
÷
x 100%
Cost
So how do we know how much credit
communication can take for the “gain”?
92
Isolate the role of communication to
achieve the desired outcomes
Pilot /
control group
method
Before & after
method
93
Isolate the role of communication to
achieve the desired outcomes
Pilot /
control group
method
Before & after
method
• Communicate in only some
locations
• Track the change in outcomes at
your pilot locations against
closely matched pairs at control
group locations
– Ask other managers involved in the issue to
not do anything differently at only some
locations
94
Examples of calculating ROI
Pilot studies
95
Purposeful pilot program to test effectiveness
of ads, PR or combination
• Metro Waste Authority wants people to bring used
engine oil to hazardous waste dump
– At the dump, zip codes are already tracked
when waste is delivered
– They place an ad on the topic in ½ of the
local community newspapers
– They send a news release to all the papers
and track which ones publish related stories
– Communicators calculate the percentages of each
community’s population bringing oil to the dump
compared to which groups were exposed to:
• Just the ad, just a news story, both or neither
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
96
Example 2: Reducing insurance
costs at Westec Security
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
• Situation: Most employees
drove vehicles; insurance
costs due to accidents
were skyrocketing
• Solution: Communicator
piloted a new safety
communications in
3 of their 7 branches
• Outcome: Company
insurance premium
reduced by $1 million per
year at the three pilot
branches; no change at
other 4 branches
97
Example 2: Calculating communication’s
ROI at Westec
•
•
•
•
•
Annual insurance cost savings $1.00 million
Annual salary of communicator -$ .06 million
Annual cost saving
$ .94 million
Annual salary of communicator ÷ $ .06 million
Annual ROI
= 1566%
If ROI seems too high to be believable,
add more costs to the equation
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
98
Examples of calculating ROI
Before/after studies
99
Example 3: Differential increases in sales
based on PR activity
100
Example 3: Differential increases in
sales based on PR activity
101
Example 3: Calculating ROI for celebrity
tour
• Extra annual $ increase in
markets where celebrity went
• Cost of celebrity tour
• Net annual increase in $
• Cost of celebrity tour
• Annual ROI
$5.00 million
-$1.00 million
$ 4.00 million
÷$1.00 million
= 400%
Numbers are just guesstimates
102
Isolate the role of communication to
achieve the desired outcomes
Pilot /
control group
method
• Measure levels of outcomes before
and after your communication
intervention
Before & after
method
– Try to correct for any other major changes
at the same time
– Ask the people making the change how
much the communication affected their
behaviors
103
Difference in sales based on dates of PR
coverage
104
Example 4: Ask salespeople impact of
MarCom support on revenue
• Ask salespeople what percentage of the
revenue they generated in the last year was due
to more or better marketing communication
directed primarily at prospects and customers;
e.g.:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Consumer news stores
Trade press
Advertising
Events
Exhibit booths
Web sites
105
Ex. 4: Newspaper, TV/radio stories about
products or procedures they treat
106
Ex. 4: How each tool helped increase customer
awareness of the need for our type of products
107
Example 4: Calculating financial value of
consumer media coverage (guesstimate)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Number of sales people
% saying news coverage led to leads
Number of sales people getting leads
Average number of leads per person
Total leads generated from coverage
% of leads that become customers
Total new customers
Annual profit from average customer
Total annual profits due to coverage
500
x 22%
110
x 2
220
x 25%
55
x $3600
$198,000
If cost of this PR was less that $198,000, it had a positive ROI.
108
Example 4: We also asked the salespeople about the
financial impact of the communications
•
Methodology: 234 of about 500 invited XYZ sales reps and managers
participated in an online survey to evaluate the effectiveness of sales
communication support tools. This 47% response rate means that the
following results are accurate at the 95% confidence level within a
margin of ±5%.
•
Respondents attributed 37%
of the total revenue they
generated to the sales
communication support they
receive.
109
Ex. 4: Calculating sales communication
support’s ROI on generating sales
• Total profit generated
• % credit sales reps attribute
to sales comm. tools (37% ± 5%)
• Comm.’s “credit” for sales
• Cost of comm. + research
• Net return after costs
• Cost of comm. + research
• ROI
$
x 32% to 42%
=$
- $
=$
÷$
= __% to __%
110
Planning for an ROI calculation
For the example we used in your Stakeholder Analysis in
the first exercise, or some other behavior-focused project
you’re about to start, consider which approach you might
use if you wanted to show an ROI for communication and
email me a description of how you would do it.
Pilot/control group
or
Before/after timing correlation
or
Survey questions
111
About Angela Sinickas, ABC, IABC Fellow
• A pioneer in the field of organizational communication measurement, Angela Sinickas has
been measuring the effectiveness of communication since 1981. She has published over
150articles in professional journals and has conducted over 450workshops in 32countries.
• She is the author of the manual How to Measure Your Communication Programs. She
has written chapters on measurement in the textbook Inside Organizational
Communication and the Ragan Communications manual Employee Communication.
• Angela has been an organizational communicator since 1974:
–
Principal and Practice Leader, William M. Mercer, Incorporated
–
Vice President of Communication, Secomerica, Inc.
–
Communication Consultant and Unit Leader, Hewitt Associates
–
Manager of Internal Communication, Chicago Tribune Company
–
Editor, Information Officer, and Assistant Director, University of Illinois Medical Center
–
Managing Editor, Chicago Business Review; freelance 1977 to 1978
• Angela’s work has been recognized with 21 international communication awards.
• Angela received her BS in Journalism from the University of Illinois in 1975 and her MS in
Leadership from Northeastern University in 2014.
© 2016, Sinickas Communications, Inc.
112