Why your internal emails are being ignored and what to do about it

Or “Is Anyone Actually Reading This?” (…which was my original title for this blog. But then I thought about how that would look as a title on its own, and without the context of emails, and didn’t want to leave myself open to trolling!)

Anyway, to business…

You’ve crafted the perfect email. You’ve toiled over the wording. You’ve included links, bullets, bolding. You’ve even added a header image (the one with the diverse group of smiling people in an office, obvs!).

You press send.

And then… crickets. A tumbleweed. Not so much as a “Thanks!”. Not even a “Can you summarise this in a Teams message I’ll also ignore?”

Welcome to the internal email void, where decent messages go to die.

The Open Rate Nobody Talks About

We’ve all seen the stats:

• Open rate: 37%

• Click-through rate: 5%

• Actually understood what you were trying to say: a generous 2%

And let’s be honest, some of those opens are just people accidentally clicking while deleting. Brutal? Yes. Honest? Yup. But fixable? Absolutely.

Because if no one’s reading what you’re sending, your comms aren’t communicating. They’re just existing.

So, What’s Going Wrong?

Let’s break it down.

❌ Your emails are too long

If your email requires scrolling and a snack break, it’s too long.People don’t read internal comms like they read novels. They skim. They panic-scroll. They scan for action words like "mandatory", "free cake", and “pay review”.

Fix it: Keep it short. If it doesn’t need to be there, cut it. If it does, link out to more detail elsewhere (and yes, that page needs to be readable too).

❌ You’re writing like a policy document

"Please be advised that pursuant to recent organisational restructuring measures, we shall be..."

No. Stop. Delete. Nobody speaks like that at lunch or in the car park, so don’t write like that in emails. You're a human. Probably a pretty fabulous one. Your audience are humans (we assume). Use a tone of voice that doesn’t make them want to file a grievance against your over-formality whilst getting lost in punctuation.

Fix it: Be conversational. Be clear. A little wit never hurt anyone. (Unless your CEO hates joy. In which case… that’s a whole other conversation.)

❌ There’s no “What’s in it for me?”

If your email doesn’t answer that question in the first 1–2 lines, your reader is already mentally at Pret. Chicken Super Club or Crayfish and Rocket…?

Fix it: Make the benefit immediately obvious. Why should they care? What do they need to do? If the answer is “nothing,” then why are you emailing them?

❌ You’re not using the right channels

Maybe the message is fine, but email just isn’t the place for it. Some updates are better as a quick video, a visual post on Teams, or even a physical poster. (Yes, it’s 2025, and posters are still a thing. Contentious!)

Fix it: Think audience-first. Match the message to the medium. Email shouldn’t be your default; it should be your chosen channel for the right kind of message.

OK, But How Do We Get People to Actually Engage?

Let’s flip the script. Here are a few Guru tips for making your internal comms stand out in inboxes full of noise:

✅ Nail the subject line

"Important Company Update" = delete.

"How We’re Fixing [Pain Point Employees Hate]" = click.

"Free Flapjack in the Canteen" = engagement through the roof.

Treat subject lines like headlines. If they don’t stop the scroll, the content doesn’t matter.

✅ Use personality

We’re not saying turn every comm into a stand-up comedy routine, but a bit of personality goes a long way. Use voice. Use humour (when appropriate). Remind people there’s a human behind the keyboard.

Don’t be afraid to break the fourth wall now and then. People like that.

✅ Make it visual

We process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. So why are you still sending email walls of death?

A quick graphic, gif, or short-form video can do the heavy lifting, especially for change, strategy, or values messages.

✅ Include a clear CTA

What should people do after reading? If your answer is “just be aware of it,” congratulations, you’ve arguably wasted everyone’s time.

Give your message a purpose, and give people something to click, do, or reply to.

Why This Matters (And Why You Shouldn’t Just “Send It Anyway”)

Poorly written internal emails don’t just waste time, they damage trust. When employees stop reading comms, they miss the big stuff. That new policy. That big strategic shift. That subtle message about culture.

They become disconnected, misaligned, and a little bit cynical.And fixing that is a lot harder than fixing your formatting.

 

Enter The Comms Guru

(A Shameless Plug, But a Useful One)

If you’re tired of writing emails that land like a vegan sausage roll at a Texas BBQ (ambitious, but misunderstood), here’s what we do:

• Tone of voice development – We’ll help you define a voice that’s clear, human, and actually sounds like you. And your people.

• Comms strategy – We’ll look at what you’re saying, where, when, and why. And then we’ll help you do it better.

• Comms health checks – Not sure what’s working or what’s just noise? We’ll audit your comms landscape and give you the honest truth.

• Video production – Want people to watch the update, not ignore it? Our creative video team knows how to make internal messages pop (and stick).

Drop us a line and we’ll have a natter. (And, we suspect, a few laughs along the way.)

TL;DR*…

• Most internal emails are too long, too boring, or too pointless.

• You can fix that with good tone, structure, and purpose.

• People want to read comms that respect their time and sound like a real person wrote them.

• We can help make that happen.

  
  

*“Too long; didn’t read” (for the uninitiated)!

The inbox is a battlefield. Don’t go in unarmed. Send better stuff. Get better results.