Are your internal and external communications starting to fall flat? Businesses are communicating with customers and stakeholders more than ever, but over time, your message can lose its impact.
A communications audit helps you step back and examine what’s working and what’s falling short, guiding you to make confident, strategic improvements that boost engagement and ensure your messages land as expected.
Here, we’re giving you a step-by-step guide to conducting an external and internal communications audit. We’ll explore how to define clear objectives, collect and analyse communication data, assess engagement from your communication tools and identify meaningful ways to strengthen connection and consistency.
1. Define clear objectives aligned with your business goals
Begin your communications audit by setting measurable objectives that connect directly to your organisation’s wider priorities. This step gives structure to your audit and helps ensure everything you do supports your overall organisational goals. A clear framework keeps your team focused and prevents time spent on activities that don’t move your business forward.
Your objectives should respond to genuine business needs such as improving employee engagement, strengthening customer trust or improving sales. Aligning communications goals with your key performance indicators means you can track your success clearly.
Use a recognised approach like SMART communication goals to keep your objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. This ensures your targets are realistic and easy to evaluate.
2. Gather and review all current communication materials
Begin by collecting every piece of communication your organisation uses to reach employees and customers. This includes social media content, newsletters, intranet posts and recorded customer service interactions. Bring together both formal documents and informal channels, as each offers insight into how you talk to employees and customers.
Next, conduct a content analysis for consistency and clarity. Check whether messages align with your brand tone and strategic business objectives. Look at how often updates are shared and whether important details reach the right groups. A structured audit process helps you identify where messages succeed and where they fall short.
Review the platforms that deliver these communications. Assess whether communication tools such as email marketing or social media are being used effectively. Look for duplication or gaps that create confusion.
Finally, note patterns or recurring challenges. Your observations at this stage form the foundation for improving how information flows from your business outwards. When you capture a full picture of current materials, you gain the evidence needed to build a targeted, results-driven communication strategy.
3. Conduct surveys and interviews
You gain the most useful insights when you talk directly to people. Conducting surveys and interviews allows you to understand how your communications are received by employees and customers. By gathering honest feedback, you can identify gaps, barriers and opportunities to improve.
Use a mix of confidential surveys and open conversations. Online surveys help you collect measurable data, while interviews reveal the stories behind the numbers. Engaging employees and customers through consistent and well-designed feedback tools ensures your findings reflect real experiences.
For employees, you might want to send out a survey that is not tied to any of their accounts so it is truly anonymous; this gives your people the platform to be honest without fear of repercussions. Studies show anonymous surveys have response rates of over 90%. You can include the option for them to share their name if they’d like a follow-up.
Customers will also benefit from the option of anonymity, but it’s important to give them the option in external communication. Many customers will want to know what you’re doing to action their feedback. In-person feedback is also useful from customers, and B2B businesses can arrange workshops with trusted customers to get honest feedback on external communications.
4. Analyse your channels for communication effectiveness and reach
Start by mapping out every communication channel your organisation uses. This includes email marketing, intranet posts, instant messaging, your website and social platforms. Identify which audiences use each channel and how often you communicate through them. This clear overview helps you see where overlap or gaps may exist.
Next, measure the reach of each channel. Review in-built data analytics such as open rates, click-throughs, attendance records or engagement levels. Combining data insights with qualitative feedback provides a fuller picture of how your communications are being received – or if they are at all.
Evaluate communication effectiveness by comparing outcomes against your communication goals. For example, assess whether key messages support your business priorities or encourage the engagement you expect. Focusing on clarity, consistency and tone to ensure each channel reinforces trust and engagement.
Finally, use your findings to decide which channels to refine or replace. Channels that fail to reach the right people or prompt meaningful interaction may need restructuring, consolidation or a new content approach.
5. Evaluate leadership communication engagement
You should begin by assessing how your senior team communicates with employees and customers. Leadership communication sets the tone for organisational culture and can greatly influence customer and employee engagement. Review how often leaders share updates, the clarity of their messages and how well they listen and respond to staff feedback.
Look at both formal and informal channels. Regular all‑hands meetings, department updates and manager check‑ins are strong indicators of consistent engagement. A structured approach helps ensure that leadership messaging aligns with your wider communication goals.
When it comes to how leadership engages with your customers, you may look at channels like digital PR to understand whether your thought leadership is reaching the right people. If you’re not meeting your goals through these channels, it might be time to revisit the publications you target or your messaging.
6. Identify gaps in communication flow and frequency
Once you’ve collected feedback and data, examine how information moves between within and outside of your organisation. Look for points where messages slow down, stop or fail to reach the right audience.
For example, you might use your email marketing platform to disseminate important messages when they’d be better coming from a named contact within your business. Internally, department heads may not be relaying your messages as expected. By understanding these weak spots, you can plan targeted improvements that strengthen alignment and engagement.
left in the dark. Consistent, balanced communication supports trust and prevents confusion.
Finally, document each gap clearly and note its effect. For example, employees may feel undervalued and customers may be missing important notices. This evidence-based approach allows you to set measurable objectives and monitor progress in your communication strategy over time.
7. Benchmark against industry best practices
Once you’ve gathered your audit data, comparing your results with recognised industry standards can be useful. This helps you understand how your internal communications perform against competitors and identify practical ways to improve. It ensures your strategy reflects current trends rather than outdated habits.
Benchmarking can reveal whether your messages are personal, timely and optimised. Comparing your performance to wider standards gives you valuable context for change.
By regularly benchmarking, you create a habit of continuous improvement. It shows your senior team’s commitment to communication effectiveness and supports a culture where feedback leads to action. Keep these comparisons simple, realistic and focused on results that make a genuine difference to your organisation.
8. Review feedback mechanisms and response rates
Once you’ve gathered insights, bring the findings together in a single, organised report. This makes it easier to identify patterns, strengths and areas for improvement in your organisation’s communication activities. Presenting your results clearly helps decision-makers act on the information with confidence.
Start by summarising your objectives, scope and methods so readers can understand how you reached your conclusions. Include visual aids such as charts or summaries of engagement metrics to make complex data more digestible. The goal is to present a balanced view of what’s working and what isn’t.
Use a consistent structure. For example, outline key findings, recommendations and next steps in separate sections. Finish your report by linking insights to strategic goals to ensure your audit drives measurable results and supports continued improvement.
Frequently asked questions
An effective communications audit depends on setting clear goals, using reliable data gathering methods and keeping stakeholders informed at every stage. It also requires a consistent approach to analysing results and applying findings to real communication improvements.
What are the initial steps to prepare for an effective communications audit?
key objectives and expected outcomes helps you focus your efforts and set measurable benchmarks from the beginning.
Next, gather and review all existing communication materials, which can include email marketing, social media, intranet content and direct communications. This inventory lets you understand your current landscape before you begin detailed analysis.
What are the key components that make up a comprehensive communications audit?
A full audit includes evaluating your channels, audiences, messaging and internal communication processes. You should also assess content quality and frequency to check whether messages are consistent and relevant.
Use both qualitative data – direct feedback from customers and employees – and quantitative data – engagement metrics on social media and email marketing – to build the clearest picture of your communications and how they’re being received.
How do you effectively measure the success of current communication strategies?
Measurement begins with comparing performance data – engagement rates, survey responses and feedback – with your defined objectives. Tracking clarity, timeliness and reach across channels also gives you insight into effectiveness.
Using metrics like employees’ understanding of company goals or customer satisfaction with communication speed and relevance. Feedback can highlight whether you’re meeting your goals, as well as your end users’, or whether you’re missing the mark.
What methods are most beneficial for gathering data during a communications audit?
Combine qualitative and quantitative methods for balanced results. Engagement metrics like email opens and clicks or social media likes and comments offer concrete data to begin with. Surveys help capture broad sentiment, while interviews and focus groups can help you dig deeper by directly talking to customers and employees.
Monitoring digital channels, newsletters and internal chat data provides additional evidence of communication flow. The Forbes guide to auditing communications stresses the value of collecting information from multiple levels of the organisation to ensure accuracy and depth.
What are the best practices for reporting and implementing audit findings?
Present findings clearly and link each recommendation to business outcomes. Use visual dashboards and short summaries to help leaders understand priorities and make decisions quickly.
Schedule follow‑up sessions to track progress and measure impact after implementation. Applying results promptly helps build lasting improvements and maintain trust in the process.
