AI for Internal Communications: Harnessing the Benefits; Reining in the Risks

Since its inception, ChatGPT has fueled fierce debate around the value of AI for internal communications and its risks in the workplace. But love it or hate it, one thing’s for certain: AI is here to stay. 

Whichever camp you’re in - for or against - the impact of this virtual know-it-all on productivity is undeniable. So that begs the question, how can internal communicators make the most of ChatGPT while mitigating the risks?

Our answer: by leveraging the power of ChatGPT as a virtual assistant—letting it simplify and streamline your work without taking over your comms altogether. 

In other words, use ChatGPT and other AI tools to drive content ideas, provide communications frameworks, and streamline repetitive tasks. But always use your judgment and industry knowledge to evaluate the end product. 

With these tips in mind, here’s how you can use ChatGPT to level up your productivity and amplify your internal communications:

Get newsletter inspiration

We’ve all been there—those days when the creative juices simply aren’t flowing. If you feel like you’ve tried pretty much all the employee newsletter ideas out there and can’t seem to think of new content, ChatGPT is a great resource to consult.

ContactMonkey’s OpenAI-powered communications software makes it incredibly easy to generate new email content straight from your newsletter builder. But you can do a whole lot more too. With ContactMonkey’s AI integration, you can:

• Ask ChatGPT for help straight from your email builder
• Instantly generate email copy ideas
• Ensure consistent tone and style
• Generate email CTAs
• Review content
• Optimize copy

Asking ChatGPT for newsletter ideas is an easy and low-stakes way to tap into its vast knowledge base. In fact, we’ve tried it out for ourselves and here are a few newsletter content examples that the tool might came up with:

• Wellness Tips
• Employee Spotlight
• Fun Facts or Trivia 
• Customer Milestones
• Team Building Activities
• Employee-generated Content
• Training and Development Opportunities

Not too shabby. Now you can build on these ideas with your own research and original content. 

For instance, you can ask employees to send in their top wellness tips for an email newsletter filled with employee generated content around workplace health and wellbeing. Or you can search up the best virtual team-building activities and ask employees to rate which ones they want to try out next at your virtual town hall.

Come up with catchy titles

Just as we asked ChatGPT for newsletter ideas, we can also ask the tool to help us figure out catchy newsletter titles. Our own newsletter design research shows that your header has a huge impact on whether employees will read your email or not. 

So it’s important that your title is engaging and thought-provoking while hitting those essential email internal email subject line best practices. 

You can ask ChatPT to give you a list of engaging internal newsletter subject lines while specifying all the criteria you want it to target. 

For instance, you could try inputting the following prompt into ChatGPT: 

“Give me a list of internal newsletter subject lines for holiday communications. Make sure that the subject line is 42 characters or less, uses emojis, and has a friendly but professional tone.” 

Be as specific as possible to get optimal results. Here’s an example of what we received from ChatGPT in response to our prompt:

• 🎉Season's Greetings: Let’s Celebrate Together!🎁
• 🎅🤶Holiday Huddle Countdown Begins!🌟
• 🎄Tis the Season for PTO!😊 

Of course, not all of these subject lines will suit every internal brand voice. You can tailor your prompt to suit your company culture and identity, or simply use the ideas as inspiration and build on them to create the perfect subject line for your audience.

Create a framework for your internal communications 

Using ChatGPT to create an outline for an important internal message can be a helpful way to organize your thoughts and ensure that your message is clear and concise. 

Here’s how you can do this: 

1. Start a conversation with ChatGPT and provide a prompt with a brief overview of the message you want to communicate. Let’s use the example of an employee departure notice.
2. Ask ChatGPT to help you outline the key points and structure of an employee departure announcement. For example, you can ask ChatGPT, "What are the main points I should include in my internal message about [an employee departure]?" ChatGPT will generate responses based on its training and knowledge base. 
3. Ask ChatGPT to help you organize your ideas into a logical flow and identify the main sections or headings that will structure your message. 

The next part is on you: take ChatGPT’s framework and add context while personalizing the content to align with your specific message and audience. 

Consider incorporating relevant examples, anecdotes, or specific details that will resonate with your colleagues or team members. ContactMonkey has a range of resources that can help you fill in these gaps, whether it’s employee departure sample emails, or email best practices to always look out for. 

Create sample email templates

From benefits enrollment forms to performance review emails, internal comms professionals send a lot of recurring messages. This is where ChatGPT can be a huge help. 

To create sample emails with ChatGPT, start your prompt with a brief overview of the purpose and context of the email template you want to create. For instance, you can ask ChatGPT to generate the key sections, headings, and main points for your sample email template. 

With ContactMonkey’s OpenAI integration, you’ll be able to generate these sample messages directly within your email builder. You’ll also be able to customize the content and add personalization using ContactMonkey’s mail merge software. Not to mention, you can quickly format the template for immediate use at scale - without needlessly spending time copy-pasting from your OpenAI account. 

Of course, you’ll need to take note of ChatGPT’s sample messages and carefully review and refine them to ensure they align with your organization's tone, style, and policies.

ContactMonkey’s collaborative email builder - which works much like Google Docs - will help you get an extra set of eyes before your message reaches hundreds of employees. Not to mention, you can take advantage of the email preview function to make sure everything is absolutely perfect before your hit ‘send.’

Stay ahead of the curve while staying in control

Using cutting-edge technology like ChatGPT is essential for staying ahead of the curve when it comes to your business communications. But you never want to sacrifice quality for the sake of efficiency. You want to make sure you - and not a robot - has the final say when it comes to delivering curated content to your employees. 

By implementing the tips we’ve listed above, you can step up your productivity using ChatGPT without giving it the reins over your internal comms. And with help from ContactMonkey’s OpenAI integration, you can also verify and evaluate ChatGPT content more efficiently from the comfort of your email builder.

Learn more about ContactMonkey’s OpenAI add-in and other leading-edge product updates!