Tips for Automated Engagement Tools
Automated engagement tools are becoming more and more popular for everything from staying in touch with potential job seekers, screening potential candidates,
guiding new hires through the interview process to ongoing communication throughout the employment relationship. Used effectively, these programs can increase contact and outreach without creating further demands on internal staff and representatives. However, errors in implementing these tools can lead to poor performance or worse yet- alienating your audience. The following are a few key items to consider when choosing, implementing or using these resources.
One of the very first things to consider when selecting an engagement tool is ease of use and set-up difficulty. Many of the platforms offer a variety of well-designed and appealing templates and models to initiate and manage follow-up with job seekers and employees. What is often less clear though is how easy it is to implement those programs and put them into practice. Take the time to review your database source to understand what platforms can offer the most successful integration with the least amount of setup time and ongoing maintenance. Some programs may require consistent updating of their contact records or database in order to function smoothly. The more often you hope to engage your audience, the more often you may be forced to upload new contact data. Further, each of those updates may be prone to errors or omissions. The best case would be to select an engagement tool that has a history of successful integration with your current HRIS or contact database. This can ensure that all data is up to date, easy to use and that all engagement efforts and responses are appropriately consolidated and documented for reference and tracking.
Implementation also requires a rigorous review of existing contact and status data. If these records are not audited, information is likely to be lacking or inaccurate. It can lead to outreach efforts that are confusing and erroneous at best or an embarrassment to you or an annoyance to your audience at worst. To avoid this pitfall, be mindful and deliberate about the way you set up your engagement system.
Take the time to consider how you want to engage your audience. Consider whether there are differential levels of engagement and outreach needed for your audience. For instance, perhaps there is a more conservative campaign that would be well suited for a wide audience that would simply include notable announcements and contact points on a limited basis -perhaps once per quarter with a general broad-based message. If there is an audience that you are seeking to engage more regularly or that merits a higher degree of personalization, you may want to increase the frequency of your scheduled out-reach efforts and perhaps include more directed personalized material celebrating a birthday or work anniversary.
In either case, it is critical that you have the details of the campaign well identified and ensure that the criteria you are using to trigger your outgoing messages is clearly established in the campaign management interface and entered accurately into your system. After all, a birthday wish is great- but will likely raise some eyebrows if it arrives on the wrong date. Then your well-intentioned well wishes can make it appear that you’re out of touch or don’t pay attention to details. These types of missteps during outreach can undermine your engagement efforts and instead create even more distance between you and your audience.
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