Selling an Employee App to

Your Boardroom
You know you should
get rolling with mobile
communications—but
how can you convince
your leadership?

This guide will start you

on your way to getting
everyone else excited.
Five Steps to Building a Convincing Case
1. Understand your management’s framework - Have a clear understanding of what your
organization is trying to achieve, and why. This will help you to establish a clear “line of sight”
between the benefits of an employee app and your team’s and organization’s goals.

2. Involve senior executives early in the process - Avoid situations in which you have to sell
an innovative idea as a one-off decision to your boss. This Harvard Business Review article
provides additional ideas on how to do that: “How to Sell an Idea to Your Boss.”

3. Provide several options beyond just yes or no. For example, ask to start a research phase
or start an employee app pilot with a limited number of locations or at a leadership
conference.

4. Be prepared for a second or third round. If your leaders don’t immediately choose one of
your recommendations, collect the open questions, negotiate a timeframe, and immediately
set a follow-up meeting.

5. Tell a persuasive story and present your ideas in a convincing way. We know this is easier
said than done. The following slides are (proven) examples to build your argumentation for
an employee app. Feel free to use and adapt this story to your specific case.
 WHY?
Name a big, relevant change, and show how it
impacts your organization.
The War for Talent Is Over, and Talent Won
Employees Expect a New Kind of Relationship.
 Message Employee
Generations
Control Market

Millennials are now the largest The employer brand is now defined by The US unemployment rate is
group in the US labor force. what employees say about it. now at a 10-year low.
Winning HR and Comms Organizations Are
Shifting Their Focus from Pure Cost
Reduction to Employee Experience
Employer Branding → Engagement → Retention
83% Organisations that
have more than Customer retention rates are 18%
An app has

of HR leaders 3x more readers

say the employee
experience is either
50% higher when employees are
highly engaged. than an intranet.
important or very employee engagement
important. retain more than

Forbes: The Employee Experience Is The

Future Of Work: 10 HR Trends For 2017
80% Gallup Report: State of the American Workplace 2016

of their customers.

Companies with highly Companies with engaged

engaged workforces employees outperform Data compiled by Staffbase
customers
outperform their peers by those without by

147% 202%
in earnings per share.
Gallup Report: State of the American Workplace
2016
Gallup Report: State of the American
Workplace 2016 Gallup Report: State of the American Workplace 2016
75%
of push notifications
are opened within
High employee engagement increases
profitability of companies by up to 1 hour
22%
Data compiled by Staffbase
Globeforce Employee Experience Index Study 2016 Gallup Report: State of the American Workplace 2016 customers
Establish a clear line of sight between the benefits of a
working employee communications channel and the goals of
your team and organization. Some ideas. . .
●Seven Reasons Why Internal Communications Is More Important Than Ever in 2017
https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/why-internal-communications-is-more-important-than-ever

● How HR Can Use an Employee App for Every Step in the Employee Lifecycle
https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/how-hr-can-use-an-employee-app-for-every-step-in-the-employee-lifecycle

●Ten Things That Your Employees Should Know About Their Job
https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/10-things-that-your-employees-should-know-about-their-job

● Care About Customer Satisfaction? Talk to Your Frontline Employees!

https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/you-care-about-customer-satisfaction-talk-to-your-frontline-employees

● Digital Transformation for Non-Desk Workers — A Major Challenge for CIOs and CDOs
https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/digital-transformation-for-non-desk-workers-a-major-challenge-for-cios-and-cdos
 HOW?
Discuss your actionable options.
Talking to every
employee? The
best channel is
already in their
pocket.
Communication Is Digital
Paper no longer does the job.
 Digital Means Mobile
The best way to reach those 70% Non-Desk Workers and Millennials/Gen Ys.
Mobile Means App
Push notifications are a game changer.
Push notifications engage users, enable real-time
communication, and relieve the burden on editors to
constantly produce content in order to pull in users.

Source: own analytics data of selected Staffbase customers

●Why, How, and What for? Using Push Notifications for Internal Communication
https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/why-how-and-what-to-use-push-notifications-for-in-internal-communication
Your App Should Be Your App
Identification and engagement start with your own logo
on the smartphones of your employees.
Your App Is More Than Just News
It’s more like an employee experience platform.
HOW will this work? Involve key decision makers in the
process and get everyone comfortable with a full test drive.*

● An Internal Communications App – All You Need to Get Started

https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/an-internal-communications-app-all-you-need-to-get-started

● The Top Ten IT Questions About The Staffbase Employee App

https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/the-top-10-it-questions-about-the-staffbase-employee-app

● Make or Buy an Internal Communications App?

https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/build-or-buy-which-path-to-take-for-your-internal-communication-app

● How to Onboard Employees to an Internal Communications App

https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/how-to-onboard-employees-to-an-internal-communications-app

● Your Guideline to Planning the Right Use Cases for Your Internal Communications App
https://insights.staffbase.com/blog/your-guideline-to-planning-the-right-use-cases-for-your-internal-communications-app

*Staffbase offers a free and full test of your own employee app. A
great way to show instead of tell what it would be like.
 CAN I TRY IT?
“Show me and I’ll understand.”
Provide several options beyond just YES or NO—start an
employee app pilot!
One advantage of a ready-to-go platform like Staffbase: test, learn, explain,
and convince, based on a working app. You have two main options:

1. Use your own test case of Staffbase to create your own sample app.
How long does it take: Five minutes to create, thirty minutes to set-up your content
Cost: Free
Use: Great for testing in small groups and for management presentations

2. Create your own app for an extended pilot

How long does it take: Two weeks to build and submit your apps to the app stores
Cost: A small fee covers our efforts
Use: Great to pilot in larger distributed groups with real-life content and use cases
About Staffbase
The Employee Experience Platform.
We want to create a positive, powerful, and ultimately human
experience for EVERY employee at work.
Rapid Adoption by Worldwide Industry Leaders
Customers from all over the world in various industries have already
launched their own internal app.
Create a Branded and Unique Experience

Customize logos, colors, icons—

Your App Should Be Your App even your start page!
Simple, Intelligent, and Built for Enterprises Like
Yours

Full-featured Content We enable you to onboard Out-of-the box integration

Management with exact all employees, including with user directories and
targeting, complete analytics & those without access to SharePoint API for custom
enterprise-grade security. email. integrations.
 A Communications Breakthrough
Compare these results with your intranet stats.

> 70% 3x 75%

of all employees views & engagement read news within the first hour
onboarded compared to intranet after push notification
 Albrecht von Truchseß
Head of Corporate Communications, Viessmann

“Finally, we’ve found a way to

reach our employees in
production and logistics, too.”
Viessmann is a heating technology company of 11,000 employees,
more than half of whom don’t work at desks.
 Don Wooldridge
VP of HR, TradeWinds Island Grand Resorts, Florida

“After the purchase, Staffbase has been

extremely concerned about our customer
happiness and very responsive to any
problem, need, or concern. We feel like
we’ve found a partner in Staffbase.”
TradeWinds Island Resorts is the largest full-service destination resort
on the west coast of Florida, with more than 1,100 employees.
 Johannes Rieger
PR Officer, Paulaner Brewery Group, Munich

“The ZapfApp is probably the most

highly praised PR project of the year,
and we can no longer imagine our
internal communication without it.
Thank you for your support!”
The Paulaner Brewery Group is one of the largest breweries in Germany, with several locations
and more than 900 employees.
The Employee Experience Platform

staffbase.com