The impact of campaigns involving corporate objectives, values and change are the toughest to measure for internal communication professionals.

Organisational objectives and values initiatives are the hardest to evaluate, and gained a majority of 36% in a new survey by the Institute of Internal Communication.

Change programmes closely followed, gaining 26% of the vote, and factors raising the overall difficulty level included: defining the impact of the communication programme, capturing and measuring behaviour change and its impact and the continually evolving nature of change programmes.

The easiest activities to evaluate were online tools such as intranets and ezines, gaining 38%, as they incorporate measurement metrics and lend themselves well to periodic surveys.

Following closely behind was events with 36%, as they hold a “captive” audience, have clear objectives and remain fresh in attendees’ minds.

A majority of 52% claimed they found measurement difficult, and only 17% stated it was straightforward.

Almost half, 44%, stated they did not undertake evaluation on a regular basis, with resourcing issues being the major inhibitor.

Institute chief executive Steve Doswell says: “This survey clearly illustrates the challenging nature of evaluation, and the issues thrown up by certain kinds of exercises, for example employees may understand values but are they acting on them, and what role has the communication programme played in this?

“Perseverance and fine-honing expertise in this area have never been more important as senior decision-makers increasingly expect robust evidence that communication activities are achieving quantifiable benefits for the business.”