AI-Powered Personalized Communication: The Future of Employee Engagement

Earlier this week, I reflected on my content strategy for 2025 and considered what information would help my clients the most. After lengthy brainstorming, one idea kept surfacing:  personalized employee communication. It’s one of the biggest challenges facing corporations today as they look for ways to keep customers and hold on to their best employees.

Why Personalized Communication Matters in 2025

In the noisy digital world where most people live, being heard is more challenging than ever. How do you ensure that your message is heard? The answer is to make it personal – that way, your audience feels like you’re speaking directly to them. 

Personalizing your employee messages is so much more than the "Dear [First Name Here]" gimmick–it's about genuinely connecting.

Think about it.  Every day, platforms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon compete for our attention with countless messages and notifications. Then, we face an onslaught of emails at work. The most recent commercial from Firstup, a company leading the way in AI-driven internal communications solutions, says the average office employee gets at least 120 emails daily. It's no wonder that inbox fatigue is real.

So, how do you cut through the clutter and reach people in a way that resonates with them? The answer is true personalization – not just adding a name to an email. Generic attempts like putting people's first names into a blanket email doesn't fool anyone. Here is how you can hit the nail on the head using data you already have.

Step 1: Ask the Right Questions

To make communications personal, start by understanding your audience. Ask yourself:

• How do they want to hear from you?

• What do they care about?

• What are their challenges, and how can you address them?

Bonus tip: Conduct informal interviews or focus groups to supplement surveys to understand employee preferences and needs better. If possible, find a neutral person, perhaps externally, that employees trust to conduct the focus groups.

Step 2: Build Your Personalization Strategy

Here is what you can do:

• Dynamic Content: Send team-specific content that changes based on department, location, or role. This way, teams will not read information that isn't concerning them.

  
  

• Employee Surveys and Feedback: Employee surveys are filled with communication gold. With it, you can target employees and talk about things that matter to them, making them feel heard and relevant to the organization.

  
  

• Tailored Channels: Communicate with people in the manner and places they prefer. For example,

  • Video updates for remote teams

  • In-person briefings for office staff

  • Mobile alerts for field employees.

    
    

• Interactive Platforms: Use mobile employee apps, instant messaging and project management tools to keep communication engaging. The trick is to use them strategically to reach employees where they live.

• Recognition Messages: Celebrate individual or team achievements with personalized recognition messages in company-wide announcements or newsletters."

Personalization is a turning point for employee engagement

Personalization has been a staple for savvy marketers for years. For example, my grocery store uses my shopping data to send me customized coupons for brands I always buy. That slight touch makes me feel valued and ensures I keep coming back. Why aren't we putting the same effort into reaching one of our most important stakeholders - our employees?

According to Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace report, only 23% of employees globally feel involved in their work. That means 62% are not engaged, and 15% are actively disengaged –  at a staggering cost of $8.9 trillion in lost productivity.

Younger millennials and Gen-Z have notified employers that they will not stay where they don’t feel heard and valued. They are leaving their 6-figure incomes to become entrepreneurs and get jobs in the gig economy in search of fulfillment. 

Over my years of consulting with large corporations, I‘ve consistently urged leaders to listen to their employees, give them a voice and show genuine appreciation for their contributions.

While some embraced these ideas, others relied on surface-level efforts – awkward coffee chats, generic town halls or dusty engagement surveys.

How AI Revolutionizes Personalized Communications

“But I don't have millions of dollars or dozens of communications employees to make the whole company feel special,” you might say.  

Here’s the thing – personalizing communication doesn’t mean doing it all manually. You can use the data goldmine you already have- employee demographics, survey results, past training records, performance metrics, and behavioural insights from internal platforms - and use AI to personalize messaging. This way, you can connect with your employees in a more profound, more meaningful way.

Case example: Imagine being able to segment your workforce by age, location and job role using AI. With this information, AI tools can welcome new employees with customized onboarding information, role-specific training updates and wellness reminders pertinent to their age and preferences. This will improve engagement and start new hires feeling they've received personal attention.

Let’s be clear, however.  AI won't solve all engagement problems. It's about combining technology and human expertise to create communications that connect with people and make them feel understood and appreciated.

It would be irresponsible to entrust this important function solely to AI. Managers must establish strict guidelines to ensure AI delivers the right messaging to employees.

Case Study: Personalization at Scale

Large companies are already making strides in this area:

• Toyota, Amazon,  and the BBC use tools like Firstup for AI-driven communications.

  
  

• L’Oreal, Hilton Hotels, and Mercedes-Benz rely on Beekeeper, a mobile-first communications tool. 

Personalized communication, with the help of AI, can help organizations connect with employees on a deeper level, regardless of their size or complexity.

Looking Ahead:  More Ways to Personalize Your Communication

Personalized communication is not just the wave of the future; it’s a core strategy for engaging with employees and customers.  

Our next post will give you actionable tips on personalizing your 2025 employee communications strategy. We’ll explore methods like:

• Audience segmentation

• Dynamic content

• Data-driven feedback loops

Ready to Start? Let's connect!

Contact me today to take the first step toward creating your personalized employee communication strategy for 2025.

How is your company using AI to personalize employee communication? I'd love to hear your thoughts–drop a comment below.

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