When important company updates were flagged as phishing attempts and internal email performance was challenging to measure, Flagger Force knew it was time for a change.
Tamara Palmer is the Internal Communications Manager at Flagger Force, a company that provides safe, professional traffic control services across the Mid-Atlantic region in the US.
Tamara is responsible for ensuring that Flagger Force’s internal communications are timely, trustworthy, and effective. This is especially important for a large, dispersed workforce that doesn’t sit behind desks. From company-wide bulletins to frontline safety updates, every message matters.
But the internal email tool Tamara’s team was using made communication more difficult than necessary.
“Our team’s efficiency was slowed down by the lack of sophistication of our previous tool. And we knew employees weren’t getting the information—they were flagging it as phishing.”
Switching to ContactMonkey turned out to be exactly what the team needed: Outlook-native sending, real-time email collaboration, and the analytics to back up what was working.
Read on to learn more about how Flagger Force improved internal comms with ContactMonkey.
The Challenge: Outdated Tools, Frustrated Teams, and Emails Marked as Phishing
This internal communications team at Flagger Force had a clear goal: deliver important messages efficiently, track performance with confidence, and ensure employees actually read what was being sent. But their existing internal comms tool fell short on several fronts:
- Limited analytics and unreliable data
- Clunky image storage and email editing workflows
- Inability to collaborate on emails in real time
- Poor Outlook integration leading to deliverability issues
- Inability to edit links once emails were sent
Most concerning of all, employees were marking the company’s internal newsletters and bulletins as phishing emails, undermining trust and ensuring key updates went unread.
The Turning Point: A Timely Introduction to ContactMonkey
The team first heard about ContactMonkey two years ago but went with a different tool. That experience helped them define exactly what they needed: Robust analytics, seamless Outlook integration, better collaboration, and a sophisticated email builder designed for internal communications.
When ContactMonkey’s team reconnected via LinkedIn, the timing was perfect.
“It was a serendipitous moment,” Tamara said. “We were actively looking for a better solution.”
Why Flagger Force Chose ContactMonkey
After reflecting on their internal comms needs and the gaps in their previous platform, the team chose ContactMonkey for three key reasons:
- Accurate, reliable email analytics to understand what was landing, and what wasn’t.
- Deep integration with Outlook to ensure secure, trusted delivery across employee inboxes.
- Real-time email collaboration and template flexibility for a more streamlined content creation process.
“[The analytics] are fantastic. Literally no issues with them and the display of them is so much better than what we were getting in the past.” – David Rosati, Internal Communications Specialist, Flagger Force
The Impact: +40% Open Rates and Stronger Internal Collaboration
Since switching to ContactMonkey, the team has already seen a 40%+ increase in email open rates. This is a clear sign that their messages are no longer being ignored or flagged. But the benefits haven’t stop there:
- Smarter Outlook distribution lists: Improved integrations gave both IT and Internal Comms the nudge to clean up outdated distribution groups, making messages even more targeted and relevant.
- Higher satisfaction among admins and content creators: The drag-and-drop template builder and robust image support made it easier to build beautiful, engaging emails in less time.
“As administrators and content creators, we’re more satisfied with the template builder and its robust capabilities. And employees are finally receiving our updates, without marking them as phishing.”
Key Takeaways
- 40%+ increase in open rates after switching to ContactMonkey, indicating stronger employee engagement and improved email deliverability.
- Improved trust in internal communications as emails were no longer marked as phishing, ensuring important updates actually reached employees.
- Streamlined email creation process thanks to real-time collaboration and a robust drag-and-drop template builder.
- Reliable, actionable analytics allowed the team to measure performance with confidence and make data-informed decisions.
- Seamless Outlook integration enabled the team to create, send, and track internal emails without switching platforms, boosting efficiency.
- Cleaner distribution lists after technical integrations encouraged collaboration between internal comms and IT to update outdated Outlook groups.
