ESETChangeEngine

First Quarterly Business Review · Apr–Aug 2026

Four months in, the engine is running.

Since go-live on 12 April, ESET North America has sent 65 communications across 12 programs to 8,261 deliveries — with a weekly newsletter that reaches more than half the company every Monday morning.

ESET North America › ChangeEngine — First Quarterly Business ReviewBegin
Four months of partnership · 222 employees in North America
01What we've built (Apr–Aug 2026)

Three ESET teams now run on one platform.

Internal Comms publishes weekly. Onboarding has a designed journey. Marketing has two referral campaigns approved and swag running across four departments. What's left is automating the parts still done by hand.

Program performance
54.4%

ESETea weekly newsletter — open rate

More than half of North America opens the newsletter every week. Account-wide across all 65 communications, the average is 41.0%.

65
Communications Sent
8,261
Emails Delivered
3,387
Opens
794
Clicks
222
Employees in North America
12
Programs Live
02Communications performance

Volume tripled and engagement went up with it.

Most programs trade reach for frequency. ESET didn't: sends went from 2 a month to roughly 20, and the open rate rose as they did.

Open rate
41.0%

Across all 65 communications since go-live.

Best day
Monday

48.1% open rate — 21 points above Tuesday and Wednesday.

Best window
Monday 9am

52.4% across 3,158 deliveries, +11.4 points vs overall.

Tenure gap
40.6% vs 23.2%

Five-year employees open at 40.6%; first-year at 23.2%.

Open rate by month
April – August 2026
April and May were configuration sends — the trend line starts in June.
30%35%40%45%50%38.68%Jun43.65%Jul43.37%Aug
Communications sent per month
Apr
1
May
2
Jun
20
Jul
21
Aug
19
Program ranking
Open rate by program
ESETea
54.37%
Bits & Bytes
48.65%
Health & Wellness
38.07%
Messages From Ryan
37.76%
Performance Reviews
37.09%
Culture & Values
32.33%
Employee Engagement
29.65%
US Holidays
25.50%
Internal Comms
24.87%
DEIB
17.26%
account average 41.0%
03The franchise

Two newsletters, and both of them work.

ESETea every week, Bits & Bytes every month. The weekly is the reliable channel. The monthly is the one people finish.

ESETea — the weekly

ESETea is the most reliable channel ESET has.

16
Issues
3,274
Deliveries
1,780
Opens
Sender comparison

Across all 65 communications since go-live — not ESETea alone.

SenderMomentsDeliveriesOpen rateClick-to-open
Marissa.Pitchford568151.25%79.37%
DLUSHR335,32245.62%17.75%
MessageFromRyan469334.49%6.28%
ESETevents873630.16%19.37%
NORAM-Operations229318.77%0.00%
NORAM-ESG452716.13%30.59%

NORAM-Operations: 0.00% click-to-open across 293 deliveries — worth checking whether those communications carried a link at all.

Lifting the rest

Two different problems, two different fixes.

Open rate is about who it's from. Click-to-open is about what it asks. Most senders are strong on one axis and have room on the other.

Who it's from

Marissa's address opens at 51.3%. The NORAM-ESG alias, 16.1%. Same inboxes.

What it asks

Marissa: 79.4% of openers click. MessageFromRyan: 6.3%. One obvious action is the difference.

DLUSHR45.62% open · 17.75% CTO · 5,322 deliveries

Biggest opportunity, on volume alone. Named sender plus one call to action on anything carrying an ask.

MessageFromRyan34.49% open · 6.28% CTO

Opened, rarely acted on. Add one clear action above the fold.

NORAM-ESG16.13% open · 30.59% CTO

Content works, discovery doesn't. Send from a named person, or run ESG items inside ESETea.

ESETevents30.16% open · 19.37% CTO

Name the organiser, make RSVP the only link, send close to the event.

NORAM-Operations18.77% open · 0.00% CTO · 2 communications

Confirm whether these carried a link. If there's no action, click-to-open isn't the right measure here.

None of this needs new content. A From line and a single call to action on sends ESET already makes.

The sender line changes what happens next.

Communications sent from Marissa's own address see 79.4% of openers click. From the DLUSHR alias, 17.8%. A named human sender and one clear thing to do.

Bits & Bytes — the monthly flipbook

People finish it.

Four editions — email and flipbook, side by side
JuneJulyAugustSeptember
Sent5 Jun3 Jul7 Aug4 Sep
Delivered198 (100%)226 (99.6%)218 (99.6%)192 (100%)
Unique opens59 (29.8%)*51 (22.6%)56 (25.7%)50 (26.1%)
Flipbook readers116556345
Views205120161118
Views per reader1.772.182.562.62
Avg time on book39s42s1m 25s57s

* June went to a different audience segment, so its open rate is not directly comparable to the three that follow.

Email figures are unique opens per send, read directly from the platform. Flipbook figures are from Hayzine. The two systems are independent of each other.

Opens understate readership.
59%
June: share of the delivered list that actually read it

The June edition recorded a 29.8% open rate. 116 people on a list of 198 opened the flipbook. Ninety-three arrived through the tracked email link — more than the 59 opens the platform recorded, because open tracking misses anyone with images blocked, and because the link gets forwarded.

Open rates are a floor, not a ceiling.

September page views by spread
Page 1
137
Pages 22–23
122
Pages 2–3
121
Pages 14–15
108
Pages 4–5
106
Pages 16–17
101
Pages 12–13
99
Pages 6–7
98
Pages 10–11
95
Pages 18–19
92

The back spread is the second most-viewed in the book. Front to back, views fall by about a third. This replaced a 27-page PDF that produced no data at all.

Views per reader has risen with every edition: 1.77 → 2.18 → 2.56 → 2.62. Time on the book more than doubled between July and August.

Listen

Three of four editions sent readers out to a different survey tool.

June
Microsoft Forms, 10 readers — the single most-clicked thing in the edition
July
Microsoft Forms 3, SurveyMonkey 3
August
None
September
Microsoft Forms 6 — second most-clicked

Twenty-two clicks out to tools that sit outside the platform, on a newsletter that already has a survey module in trial. Every response those clicks produced is invisible to Internal Comms.

  • September is the first edition with a life beyond its send day — it spiked on the 4th, bumped on the 8th, and kept a daily trickle through the 16th. The most-clicked link was the Hispanic Heritage Month Teams backgrounds.
  • Four readers emailed Marissa directly from inside the August edition.
  • September readers clicked through to Fidelity and the benefits hub. The newsletter is already a benefits channel, which is where Open Enrollment content will land.
04Priority 1 · The next campaign

Open enrollment is the first campaign that runs itself.

The window opens 16 November. The first send goes out the week of 19 October. Everything between those two dates is automated, segmented and scheduled once — not managed by hand.

Campaign rail — late September into November
Late Sep
Campaign locked
w/c 19 Oct
Awareness launch
w/c 2 Nov
How-to content + FAQs
10 Nov
401(k) training reminders, two sessions
16 Nov
Day one, window opens
Window
Nudges every 2–3 days, auto follow-ups to non-openers
To confirm
Window closes, then confirmation + 3-question pulse
Enrollment window — opens 16 November

The closing date is still to be confirmed by ESET. The final nudge count and the post-enrollment survey both follow from it.

Six things in every touch
  • The dates and the deadline
  • The exact steps to take
  • What's changing
  • What happens if they don't act
  • When coverage begins
  • Where to get help
What the automation replaces

“So employees receive timely communications throughout the enrollment window without everything having to be manually managed.”

  • Segmentation, so each group only gets what applies to them
  • Auto follow-ups that reach only the people who didn't open
  • Nudges scheduled once, sent every 2–3 days across the window
  • Email, Teams and SMS carrying the same deadline, so nobody relies on one send
  • 401(k) training reminders for the two 10 November sessions, sequenced inside the same campaign rather than sent separately
What we already know works here
  • Monday 9am: 52.4% open rate, 11.4 points above the account average
  • Sent from Marissa's own address, 79.4% of openers click. From the DLUSHR alias, 17.8%
  • One clear action per send — the Employee Satisfaction Feedback comm proved it at 38.0% open and 57.5% click-to-open

Open enrollment gets the newsletter treatment, not the announcement treatment.

Listen, inside the campaign

Two of the five Listen uses land inside this campaign.

w/c 19 OctOpen enrollment readiness poll, alongside the first send
Marissa
After close3-question post-enrollment pulse, timing follows the confirmed closing date
Marissa
Make it land
  • A theme — “Pick Your Perks”
  • A raffle for early enrollment
  • Monthly benefits tips after the window, so the education doesn't stop when the window does

What has to happen in the next two weeks

1/4Open inputs

Still needed from ESET

  • What's changing versus staying the same
  • Info session dates
  • Approvers
  • Who owns drafting, approval and sending
2/4Calendar

The lock window overlaps two weeks out of office

  • Marissa is out the week of 21 Sep (PTO)
  • And the week of 28 Sep (Slovakia)
  • That is the same fortnight the campaign has to be locked
3/4Blocker

People_NORAM sender verification is outstanding

  • Verification is still open ahead of the 1 Oct distribution-list cutover
  • The verification link is time-sensitive
4/4Agreed

Final OE details with ChangeEngine by the end of next week

  • Dates, passive vs active, approvers and the 401(k) training details
  • Marissa is out the week of 21 Sep and the week of 28 Sep
  • Locking in late September leaves three clear weeks to build before the 19 October launch
05Onboarding

Two days in a room becomes ninety days of ESET.

The documents are modernised and the Workday sync was fixed on 10 September. The next phase moves the onboarding experience out of one two-day event and across a new hire's first quarter.

Today

Everything lives in the two-day in-person program

  • Who is ESET
  • HR
  • Executive meet & greet
  • CSR & DEI
  • IT
  • Tech Support
  • Sales update
  • Marketing update
  • SharePoint
  • Ignite
  • Learning Vault
  • ESETea
  • Bits & Bytes
  • Coffee with the Executive Team
  • ERGs
  • Benefits & Perks

One day-two block carrying fourteen topics.

Next

One automated journey keyed to start date

  • Pre-boarding (−14 days)
  • Week 1
  • A drip spaced around the existing 30/60/90 check-ins, not on top of them

Same content. Spread across the quarter, when each piece is actually useful.

The new-hire journey — automation roadmap
  1. −14 days
    Pre-boarding
    Hand-built today
    Automated: once work emails land
  2. Day 1
    Welcome
    Automated now
  3. 7 days
    First-week check-in + poll
    Hand-built today
    Automated: once work emails land
  4. 30 days
    30-day touchpoint
    Hand-built today
    Automated: once work emails land
  5. 60 days
    60-day experience survey
    Hand-built today
    Automated: once work emails land
Five moves
  1. 1Lift the programs out of the two-day block and give each its own moment
  2. 2One automated journey keyed to start date
  3. 3Segment by department, so IT, Sales, Marketing and Tech Support follow-ups only reach the hires they apply to
  4. 4Automate the chasing — training reminders trigger on their own, and we follow up only with the people who didn't open
  5. 5Build the templates once; the team reviews rather than rebuilds each cycle
What it costs today
  • Jennifer's sends to date: 5 communications · 5 deliveries · 5 opens
  • A 100% open rate proves the content works — her time is the constraint
Listen, permanently on

Onboarding is the Listen use case that never stops.

7 daysIn-email poll, 2–3 questions, inside the check-in itself
JenniferFrom Oct
60–90 daysFull onboarding experience survey
Jennifer

Campaign surveys run once. This one fires on every hire, every quarter, permanently.

Work emails added to the Workday report
Marissa → Jess ChenThis month
Confirm the 7-day poll question set
JenniferEarly Oct
Switch on pre-boarding, 7-day, 30-day and 60-day automations
ChangeEngineOnce work emails land
Onboarding deep-dive working session
Ana and Aida + MarissaAfter OE Season
New hire kit spec and budget
Marissa + MariaIn progress

06Swag & recognition

Swag went from one-off requests to a four-department program.

June to September 2026: five orders, 438 units, $8,526.54, every one delivered on time. Two recurring programs are now quoting that are larger than everything run to date.

5
Orders delivered
438
Units
$8,526.54
Spend
100%
On-time
Internal Comms & ESGChannel MarketingEvent ManagementPartner Marketing
Orders delivered
OrderProjectUnitsTotal
789122Pride Parade25$734.06
791975Partner Kit151$1,237.71
793531San Diego Ballpark Club62$2,245.42
796002Pet Bowls100$472.00
797362Pickleball — Oct 1 Event100$3,837.35
Total438$8,526.54

Average order value: $1,705.31

Decoration absorbed
~$130 in setup fees waived

Sourced against the market
$950 saved on one order

Adoption
Six stakeholders, four departments

Performance
  • Five of five orders delivered on time, including two hard event deadlines
  • The October 1 pickleball order is in production, artwork approved 3 September
  • No past-due balances
Delivered at no cost
  • ESET swag catalog
  • Swag request portal with intake form
  • Tremendous gift card integration, live
  • Platform onboarding for new ESET users
Quoting

New Hire Kits — 50 units

Tech or anti-theft backpack, hardcover notebook, pens, tee, infant onesie and mug, with full custom packaging. Quoting at three tiers so ESET can compare value against spend.

In build

Client Gifting Program

A branded redemption page with six premium options — YETI, Owala, Nike, Eddie Bauer, Sport-Tek and Dyno Cap. Each recipient selects two items.

Both are recurring programs rather than one-off orders. Together they represent more volume than the entire program has run to date.

07Listen pilot

One survey is live. Four more are already scoped.

The six-month trial ends alongside the renewal decision in late January. The question is whether there's enough volume by then to judge it — and there will be, if these five ship.

Pilot window
Trial start
late Jul
Today
15 Sep
SLED closes
30 Oct
Trial ends
late Jan
Renewal decision
Evaluation window — narrow
Live now

SLED Webinar Quiz

Live now, closes 30 October
  • $20 Amazon card to the first 50 participants scoring 80% or higher
  • Funded from the existing $5,825 NSP Tremendous budget
  • New mid-pilot capability: automated manager notifications with individual results, removing manual score verification
Now → 30 OctSLED webinar quiz, with manager score notifications
Savannah
w/c 19 OctOpen Enrollment readiness poll, with the first send
Marissa
Oct → ongoingOnboarding in-email polls at 7 days, full survey at 60–90
Jennifer
Oct → NovMSP referral submissions — the form is itself a survey
Hope
After closePost-enrollment satisfaction survey, once the window closes
Marissa

Five uses, three teams, one module — by January.

08WHAT WE CAN AUTOMATE

Seven recurring tasks. Most are already unblocked.

Every item here removes a task someone on your team currently does by hand.

nothing — currently unsentBirthday + anniversary commsNow
Jennifer hand-building each sendOnboarding: pre-boarding, 7-day, 30-day, 60-dayNow*
manager follow-up chased by hand30/60/90 manager check-in remindersDrafting
manual reminder sendsOpen Enrollment sequence + auto follow-upsFor 19 Oct
separate survey toolsIn-email polls at 7 daysWith Jennifer
rebuilt by hand each quarterEOQ nomination + deadline merge tagQ4
two half-days in person → oneNew hire training automationQ1 2027
09The horizon

Pages has a live use case and a committed champion.

What it needs next is a room, not a contract.

Sept/Oct
Demo

A stakeholder session for Marketing, Finance and HR with branded prototypes

November
Budget confirmed
Dec/Jan
Scope
Global
DATA PENDING
  • The live use case: the 30 September AI product launch hub — countdown, three product bundles, battle cards, sales talking tracks, one source of truth
  • Longer term: Pages as a better employee experience than SharePoint
  • Global rollout — French and Slovak first — stays explicitly gated on North America proof
10The ask

Eight things, with owners and dates.

Open Enrollment — first send

Marissa19 Oct

Workday report with work emails

Marissa → Jess ChenThis month

People_NORAM address cutover

ChangeEngine1 Oct

Switch on birthday + anniversary automations

MarissaThis month

Pages stakeholder demo — date and attendees

MarissaThis week

Onboarding polls — confirm 7-day question set

JenniferEarly Oct

MSP assets + distribution decision

HopeThis month

Admin seat for Ashley

HopeThis month
19 October — the first Open Enrollment send. The enrollment window opens 16 November.

The build phase is done. The next quarter is open enrollment, an onboarding journey that runs on its own, and Listen in five places — scheduled once, then repeating without anyone chasing it.

ESET×ChangeEngine
ESET North America › ChangeEngine — First Quarterly Business Review · Apr–Aug 2026