Multi-touch campaign
Open Enrollment
Kickoff → launch → close across email, Slack and polls. Segmentation stopped nudging employees who had already responded.
Partnership Business Review · FY2025–2026
One year of ChangeEngine,
built for Nextdoor’s People Team
From a 60-day pilot in July 2025 to the always-on comms engine running Nextdoor’s employee lifecycle today.
Prepared for
· People Team, Shandi Ortizby
· People Team, Shandi Ortizby26,347
communications delivered
279
communications published
50
active communications
693
automated sends running hands-free
72%
open rate
12%
click-through rate
Milestones
Pilot to always-on, in a year
Jul 8, 2025
60-day pilot kickoff
Sponsored by Shandi Ortiz on the People Team.
Aug 2025
Slack integration live; RIF hits Nextdoor
A reduction in force removed roughly 13% of headcount.
Oct 14, 2025
Email integration completed
Unblocked after internal IT scheduling delays.
Nov 5, 2025
Workday HRIS integration completed
End of manual employee-data uploads.
Nov 2025
Open Enrollment multi-touch campaign launches
Poll-gated segmentation kept already-responded employees from being re-nudged.
Mar 2026
Shandi joins the ChangeEngine Advisory Network
A partnership signal beyond the vendor relationship.
Jun 2026
Talent Acquisition conversations begin
Early exploration of an AI recruiting use case with Nextdoor's Head of TA.
Aug 2026
This review
One year of partnership impact.
26,347
total communications delivered
All-time, across email and Slack.
72%/12%
open rate / click-through rate
Blended across every channel, all-time.
693
recurring automated sends
Firing with zero manual effort every week.
Engagement performance
Where the reach actually landed
Channel mix, send timing and department-level engagement across the full partnership to date.
a · Channel breakdown
Work email, Slack and personal email
| Channel | Delivered | Opens | Clicks | Open rate | CTR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work email | 15,756 | 11,335 | 1,264 | 71.94% | 11.15% |
| Slack | 9,966 | not tracked | 598 | not tracked | — |
| Personal email | 18 | 16 | 1 | 88.89% | — |
| Grand total | 25,740 | 11,351 | 1,863 | 44.1% | 16.41% |
Note on Slack: Slack does not report message opens the way email does, so its open rate reads as 0% in tracking — this is a measurement limitation, not a sign of lower Slack engagement. Slack still drove 598 clicks on 9,966 deliveries. Note on personal email: only 18 deliveries, far too small a sample to draw conclusions from.
b · Best time to send
Open-within-one-hour rate by send time
Recommendation: aim for the 10–11am local window. 7am is consistently the weakest slot.
b · Best day to send
Same-day open rate by weekday
Thursday is the strongest day for same-day opens, with Tuesday a close second.
c · Department engagement
Open rate by department, highest to lowest
- Account Management52.53%
- Marketing50.05%
- Research49.40%
- Finance49.19%
- People Team49.06%
- Sales48.51%
- Neighborhood Operations47.34%
- Legal46.92%
- Account Operations45.84%
- Data Science44.01%
- Executive40.43%
- Product Design38.94%
- Engineering38.87%
- Communications38.21%
- Information Technology36.64%
- Product Management36.03%
- Revenuen/a
View department data as a table
| Department | Delivered | Open rate | CTR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account Management | 1,464 | 52.53% | 8.32% |
| Marketing | 975 | 50.05% | 13.93% |
| Research | 168 | 49.40% | 10.84% |
| Finance | 1,551 | 49.19% | 12.19% |
| People Team | 1,433 | 49.06% | 12.94% |
| Sales | 2,243 | 48.51% | 10.85% |
| Neighborhood Operations | 1,109 | 47.34% | 9.71% |
| Legal | 454 | 46.92% | 14.08% |
| Account Operations | 1,909 | 45.84% | 8.11% |
| Data Science | 1,593 | 44.01% | 9.13% |
| Executive | 94 | 40.43% | 7.89% |
| Product Design | 755 | 38.94% | 9.86% |
| Engineering | 10,587 | 38.87% | 10.01% |
| Communications | 390 | 38.21% | 10.07% |
| Information Technology | 696 | 36.64% | 5.88% |
| Product Management | 766 | 36.03% | 15.94% |
| Revenue | 5 | n/a | — |
The People Team’s own communications out-engage the company average — 49.06% against a 44.10% department-level average. Product Management posts the best click-through of any department at 15.94% despite mid-pack opens, which is worth a content note: their audience skims but acts. Revenue shows only 5 deliveries, too small to read into.
Programs delivered
What ran across the employee lifecycle
Cycle support
Performance reviews & manager enablement
Manager guides, feedback assets and calibration nudges delivered on cycle — no hand-assembling comms in review season.
Lifecycle
Onboarding & offboarding journeys
Day 1 and Week 2 reminders, a four-week new-manager ramp, and a self-running FTE offboarding checklist.
Always-on
Manager lifecycle nudges
Birthday, anniversary and leave-of-absence reminders routed to managers, segmented by country and leave type.
Creative
Custom branded content
Rebranded templates, flip-book benefits guides and a first AI-personalized Pages AI newsletter.
Automation running quietly
The work happening without anyone touching it
Recurring flows that fire on their own — nobody queues, writes or sends them. Slack is currently the only channel with live automations.
- automated sends
- automated sends
- clicks
- clicks
- reactions
- reactions
693
12
7
Zero manual sends required for any of it.
- Anniversary Reminder for Manager383
- Birthday Reminder for Manager150
3 reactions
- WD Task Reminder for Manager43
- New Hire Mid Week Comms14
- New Manager Slack Message (Weeks 1–4)15
4 + 4 + 3 + 4 across weeks
- FTE Offboarding Checklist13
4 clicks
- Bingo Card13
- Journey Reminder — Day 1 / Week 28
6 + 2
- Plus several smaller recurring flows — leave reminders, badge access and Iris.
What’s next
Expanding the employee experience
Next-stage opportunities to deepen engagement, improve reach and create a more connected employee experience.
Turn communications into conversations
Move beyond one-way announcements. Employees reply directly to ask questions, confirm participation or give quick feedback — no extra platform to open.
- How this adds value
- Better reach on time-sensitive, action-oriented comms, and an easier way for the People team to collect responses and read sentiment.
- Employee experience impact
- Communications feel immediate, accessible and conversational, wherever employees are.
Make recognition more memorable
Curated swag and e-gifting for key moments — onboarding, anniversaries, promotions, recognition, wellness and company-wide campaigns.
- How this adds value
- Connects communications to tangible appreciation, lifting participation in recognition programs while removing the manual lift of managing gifts.
- Employee experience impact
- Thoughtful, personalized moments that reinforce belonging and connection to the Nextdoor brand.
Create centralized employee destinations
Instead of scattered links, files and follow-ups, build dedicated destinations for onboarding, benefits, manager resources, Open Enrollment, learning, events and internal campaigns.
- How this adds value
- A structured, scalable way to organize important information — fewer repetitive questions and fewer fragmented journeys.
- Employee experience impact
- One clear place to find what they need and understand the next action to take.
Bring communications to life
Professional videography plus scalable AI-generated video for leadership messages, onboarding, culture storytelling, benefits education and major announcements.
- How this adds value
- Complex topics land in a more engaging format, and AI video scales production without a full shoot for every message.
- Employee experience impact
- Employees see the people behind the company — more human, engaging and memorable.
Talent Acquisition, exploratory
Early talks with Nextdoor's Head of TA on AI-assisted recruiting; next catch-up September 2026.