"Most of us, as community managers, didn't step into crunch numbers. Whether you are a number enthusiast or not, you might be playing the game blind if you are not tracking the community metrics.

You might be coming up with interactive strategies like hosting fun events, engaging, onboarding activities, etc.; it is essential to translate them into measurable business value to track the growth and direction of your community.

Ready to track numbers?

Interpreting & Visualising Community Data

Watch this video to learn in-depth about interpreting and visualizing community data.

Establishing Community Metrics

Engagement metrics are most effective when you can derive meaningful information. Your team should also be able to make conclusions to advance your business goals.

Here are three steps to establish community metrics:

1. Understanding your business KPIs and linking them to Community metrics is vital
2. Evaluate your business-community goals to benchmark the metrics & identify tools to streamline your community growth
3. Identify your community´s unique objectives and key results (OKRs) and track your community´s performance

It would help if you started by

Establishing Metrics: Industry Wise

During our RoundTable session on How to interpret and visualize Community Data discussion, community builders mentioned that apart from the generic metrics like Member Onboarded, Retention, Engagement, etc., certain metrics were industry specific.

Let´s dive a little deeper into that:

EdTech Communities:

EdTech Communities focus on providing individualized learning via curriculum, software, and services to students. These communities focus on metrics like

1. Customer Success
2. No. of event attendees/time spent
3. No. of mentions on different social platforms
4. No.of leads generated
5. Alumni referrals
6. No. of collaborations

SaaS Communities

Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of delivering applications over the Internet as a service. Such companies usually gauge metrics such as:

1. No. of tickets resolved
2. Customer Success
3. Community Qualified Leads (CQL)
4. Renewals

Paid Membership Communities:

A membership website allows customers to become part of a group to use a product or service for a set period. These communities could track the following:

1. No. of members participating in challenges/events
2. No. of queries resolved
3. Customer Success
4. Testimonials received
5. Renewals & Referrals.

For D2C Communities:

D2C brands manufacture, develop, and distribute products/services directly to their customers. Such communities need to keep a check on the following:

1. No. of feedback/reviews
2. New product ideas brainstormed
3. Social media mentions
4. Organic purchases/downloads made

Vertical Networks:

For such networks, advertising is the primary source of revenue. These communities can focus on the following:

1. Number of contributions by members (e.g. posts/comments/ cases)
2. The total traffic, DAU, WAU, MAU, Time Spent

Different stages of members in a community: The AARRR Framework

Growing a community involves trying and testing many different techniques. A framework that would help you track your progress and define a structure is AARRR.

The AARRR framework involves Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referrals, and Revenue. It is your guidebook to building a healthy community."