What are metrics worth monitoring in forums?

🧠 Forum Collective
#1

We hosted a discussion on Forum Strategy and explored some answers to questions.

This one was: What are metrics worth monitoring in forums?

  • Are people talking about it elsewhere?
  • Views to comments ratio
  • New contributors
  • Variety of contributors
  • Retention rate
  • Deeper discussions/threaded replies
  • are things generally trending upwards?
  • DAU
  • Inbound links
  • Community love + recommendations
  • Conversions
  • New members
  • Referrals

This is a wiki post, feel free to edit this list directly or add a comment. :blush:

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#2

I think the most visible metric is to track the number of topics without a reply and then work backwards to understand why.

You can have very healthy DAU numbers, but if they are just reading and not contributing, then the forum will stagnate. Sometimes a simple reply on a stagnant topic to simplify the question or make it clear that you are seeking collaboration can help.

It might also be that the platform is confusing and does not entice a reply. Forums do require a little more time to interact with given that you want longer more thoughtful replies over an emoji reaction or :+1: comment.

6 Likes
#3

We have a support community + community of practice for a brand. I’m working toward measuring if the community helps our members be more successful with our software. Especially against members who don’t participate in the community.

1 Like