The newsletter was being distributed as a PDF file, and PECO struggled to assess how it was performing. Beyond yearly readership surveys, they had no way to measure how thoroughly the newsletters were being read. And who they were reaching. Most likely, it was the employees that are connected to computers. But what about the large percentage of field employees that don’t work at a desk? And the questions went on and on.
So in 2018, PECO asked us to help them design an online content hub, a microsite dedicated to news, as a replacement for their longstanding newsletter. With the new mobile-friendly platform, here’s what we set out to do:
Connect employees to stories in a way that is:
- More broadly available—The mobile platform means employees can access the news anytime, anywhere on their smartphones or tablets
- Measurable—With standard web-based analytics, PECO can collect data on readership and engagement
- More timely—Stories can be posted as soon as information is available, instead of waiting for the next issue
- More easily published—With the new workflow, posting stories is as easy as typing into text fields
In the process, we overhauled the design to have a crisp, branded look-and-feel and a much higher image-to-text ratio than the PDF version. In addition, we developed a template for weekly email announcements to allow PECO to push story teasers out to employees to encourage readership.
