How do you plan and execute a successful intranet launch and adoption campaign? (2024)

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Be sure to connect with your company's Employee Engagement or Listening teams to add information sharing, information access, and leadership communication questions into your Employee Engagement Surveys. Finding common themes in anonymous survey comments can help you identify areas of improvement.

If your company leverages a digital communication platform like Slack or Teams, leverage these tools to observe the digital workplace culture. What are the demographic's interests and how can you infuse some of those cultural markers, when appropriate, into your intranet to make it seem like a space made with this specific audience in mind.

Navigation doesn't end at the top nav bar. Consider adding links and connections to related topic pages or content within the page in a side bar or within copy whenever possible to help end-users easily find information.User friendly top nav is important, but consider approaching intranet page design as a guided experience.

I always recommend designing and developing your MVP intranet or your minimum viable product. Rather than waiting to build your entire intranet at once, launch with a homepage, and a few key department pages or functional pages. This will get people used to your platform without overwhelming them. It will also ensure you can showcase the impact of the intranet sooner than later. It allows you to pivot earlier as you expand into new departments, add new features, and get valuable user feedback. Plus, you will ensure your content is accurate and not stale since you're not waiting to launch everything. You'll gain so much more momentum launching with an MVP and building over time.

Consider crowd sourcing your intranet name to give the employees more ownership over the space.We started with open submissions and narrowed it down to final selections to be voted on by the organization. In the end, the intranet name reflected the company brand and culture.

You launch communications should start way before the day of launch and continue well after. Think about a cool new product like the next iPhone. As consumers, we often hear about it well in advance. This drums up excitement and anticipation and leads to long lines the day of launch. But they also continue to promote the product to get the people who weren't on board day 1. This is the same strategy to employ when launching an intranet. Make sure you start early enough that people know what it is you're launching and that you continue to promote it to get the people who may be less interested in new tech or are slower to change their processes.

When creating training elements, make sure they're catering to the different ways people learn. Personally, I create training pages for my clients that include 1) video, 2) static images (often annotated for further clarification), and 3) written directions. All 3 formats are necessary to appeal to a broader expanse of how employees prefer to learn. Additionally, it provides them different ways to reference the information. For example, I find many people like to watch the video the first or second time learning something new, but when they've done it before and just need a reminder, they'll prefer to look at an image or written steps as it's easier to glance at.

Another important step is to identify your champions early on. Champions are those who can influence your users, not necessarily the ones who are seeing the change as positive. Your champions should always be trained first, help them feel they are “in it” first and move from resistance to advocacy.

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It’s important to remember a website, intranet or social platform is never “done”. Plan for reviews, add these platforms to onboarding materials and constantly and consistently listen to your users. Make sure you build feedback mechanisms into your plans.