Intranet shops - attracting and engaging employees
comments: 0Intranets are hardly used for personnel offers and promotion. This is a missed chance, because the intranet offers excellent possibilities for informing, servicing and involving employees. Some marketing insights to establish an effective intranet shop.
Intranets are hardly used for personnel offers and promotion. This is a missed chance, because the intranet offers excellent possibilities for informing, servicing and involving employees. Some marketing insights to establish an effective intranet shop.
Every company has some sort of employee benefits related to its business. Think of discounts in products or advantageous conditions of services the company offers. On a smaller scale free tickets to an event the company sponsors or merchandise are often being promoted to personnel. Offering benefits is a great way of engaging employees and binding them to your company. Yet, the online and commercial possibilities of these offerings are not being fully exploited if you look at current intranet research. Intranet shops seem not to be a common practice. Promotions usually are communicated as news items. A web shop functionality combined with promotional actions might be more effective. News articles are easily overlooked.
An example of a company webshop is the Fortis Shop, with merchandise for employees as well as externals. Technically speaking the shop is an extranet disclosed by the intranet for Fortis employees. At the home page a clear promotion has been displayed.
Merchandise of the Fortis Shop
1. Trigger and provide a clear call for action
Reserve a special spot on your home page and other popular pages. Make use of triggers, visuals with a triggering texts that refers to an action by its reader. Visuals are likely to attract the visitor’s attention. An effective trigger includes an incentive and a time element: “order this week and get 10% reduction”. Indicate what your visitor can expect. Avoid buttons with a vague meaning like ‘read more’ or ‘click here’ when you expect him something to do. Instead use a specific call for action like: “order now”, “subscribe” or “how you can win”.
Trigger with a clear call for action from Sainsbury’s
2. Provide specific information on products and how they can be achieved
Product description within the Fortis Shop
Give clear descriptions of the product or service. Don’t forget the promotional aspects, mention benefits too. Communicate how employees can obtain the item: how long will the delivery take, is the item in stock? What does the employee have to do: provide specific data or certifications?
3. Listen to the wishes of your employees
Listen to your employees. Which of your products or services do they need that you can easily offer online? Are there other possibilities that make the life of your employees easier, e.g. public transport tickets, presents or ordering the weekly groceries? Regularly investigate their needs and adjust your supplies accordingly.
4. Let the employees do the talking
Buyers are persuaded by each other. This is the central element of social networking and Web 2.0 theories. Buyers put a high trust in the opinion or the behaviour of other customers, especially colleagues. Allow employees to write what they have done or have experienced. Provide a rating system, enable comments or display the amount of online purchases in a particular period.
Customer reviews of amazon.com
5. Treat your employee as a customer
Maintain a high service level, make sure you have an excellent back office. Respond in time to questions or complaints. Keep in mind that internal customers could be even more critical than external ones. Even more, they have every opportunity to influence their colleagues, both positively and negatively.
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