Introduction
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We selected Firstup for its innovative approach to internal communications, particularly its emphasis on personalized employee journeys. This feature enables organizations to deliver tailored messages to individuals, teams, or the entire company, effectively driving engagement and action. The platform's ability to unify communications across multiple channels ensures that employees receive relevant information in their preferred formats, fostering a more connected and informed workforce.
Ratings
Ease of Use
Best For
Key Differentiator
Price
Free Trial
PROS
- Supports personalized employee journeys, allowing organizations to deliver relevant content to individuals, teams, or the entire workforce based on role, behavior, or lifecycle stage. For instance, you can tailor a journey for the C-suite, the deskless part of the company, specific departments, new hires, etc.
- Enables multi-channel internal comms through email, mobile, and other HR software integrations, ensuring consistent messaging across all facets of the organization.
- The user-friendly interface simplifies content creation and campaign management, which is critical for teams managing large-scale internal comms.
CONS
- Pricing is not publicly disclosed, which we see as a barrier during the early evaluation phase.
- Some users report issues with the search functionality, making it challenging to locate specific content within the platform.
- Compared to platforms like ContactMonkey or Poppulo, Firstup’s AI-powered writing features are considered less advanced; at least as of early 2025.
Nectar
Nectar
Poppulo
Poppulo
ContactMonkey
ContactMonkey
Workshop
Workshop
Cerkl Broadcast
Cerkl Broadcast
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Firstup is a comprehensive internal communications platform designed to enhance employee engagement through personalized messaging and multi-channel delivery. Its standout feature is the ability to create personalized employee journeys, allowing organizations to tailor communications to individual employees, specific teams, or the entire company. This approach ensures that messages are relevant and timely, effectively driving desired actions and fostering a more connected workforce.
The platform's multi-channel delivery capability enables communicators to reach employees via email, mobile applications, and other integrated systems, accommodating diverse communication preferences within the workforce. This flexibility is particularly advantageous for large enterprises with a combination of deskless and in-office team members, ensuring consistent messaging across the organization that leaves nobody behind.
We were impressed with our tour of the platform, and our findings resonate with users who have highlighted the user-friendly interface, noting that the backend is intuitive and simplifies the content creation and distribution process. This ease of use reduces the time and effort put into each campaign. In our view, it allowed for more thinking to be put behind each message instead of having to go through several manual processes to craft each one. This is particularly good considering how the platform also leverages user behavior data so that you can tailor communications accordingly.
All this being said, we do see some areas for improvement. We’re never fans of the lack of pricing transparency since you have to reach out or get a demo to get an estimate of the cost. Additionally, while efforts have been made to enhance the search functionality, finding specific content or past messages can be a tricky endeavor.
Lastly, compared to other platforms like Poppulo and ContactMonkey, Firstup's AI text-generation features are somewhat less advanced. As of this writing, their use of AI is mostly for content delivery optimization (for time and channel) and not so much to help you with crafting each message.
According to our research, Firstup is used to enhance communication at places like Ford, Toyota, jetBlue, KraftHeinz, and Providence.
Firstup offers custom pricing tailored to the specific needs and size of each organization.
Firstup is ideal for large enterprises seeking a personalized internal communications platform that delivers tailored content across multiple channels. We think they’re quite unique for their employee journey philosophy, which we’d hope more SMB-oriented companies pick up on.
Firstup has undergone significant transformations to enhance internal communications and employee engagement. In 2021, the merger of SocialChorus and Dynamic Signal led to the formation of Firstup, combining their strengths to redefine the digital employee experience.
By 2023, Firstup introduced Workforce Orchestration, an AI-powered solution enabling enterprises to create personalized employee journeys at scale, ensuring timely and relevant communications.
In 2024, the platform expanded its Microsoft 365 integrations, enhancing omnichannel employee experiences by seamlessly connecting with widely used workplace tools.
