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How to Improve Community Metrics with Analytics and Data from Your Community (featuring Circle's new Analytic Hub)

Trouble-shooting to Improve Community Metrics


Building and growing an engaged community is fun and exciting! What isn't as fun is when it starts to plateau. Perhaps folks aren't sharing as much in the group, aren't attending live calls, and more. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. It's possible that you've built out the resources and support for them that they already have access to the questions they're asking.


business owner sits at his computer, frustrated and trying to understand what's wrong with his community

The Struggle to Identify What the Problem is... or if There Even is a Problem!


The problem is: it can be hard to know what the scenario actually is for your community without the proper analytics... which is why I'm super excited about the new analytics now provided for Circle communities (that's the platform where I host my community membership).


For example, it feels like there's been less participation in my community since I moved from Discord to Circle. However, there are a lot of different things that had been happening at the same time. Here are two examples:


  • About six months before moving platforms, I was getting extremely overwhelmed by the setup and all of the things happening in the community within the Discord platform, which is part of why I was so anxious to move to Circle. So, it's possible that reorganizing the group on Circle in a way that felt more intuitive and easier to navigate makes it feel quieter, when really it's just less overwhelming. It also means that there are less questions from distraught members who can't find a replay, a call link, etc. since it's so much easier to find now.


  • This (approximately) six month time period was also around the time things really started ramping up on a publication project that I was heading... meaning I had less time and energy to spend interacting in the group, and I was more desperately needing some automation in my community... things like Because incorporating more automation in my business decreased my workload for maintaining the community, it makes sense that the community now would feel calmer for me! Or, it's possible that the scheduled content now has created a gap between myself and my community members. That could be a good thing (they're less dependent on me and more able to solve problems on their own), or it could be a bad thing (they're feeling less connected to me and perhaps even somewhat abandoned even though I'm still very active in the community).


So, these are the concerns that have been circling in my head for a couple of years now. Did I ruin the community? Even though the transfer saved my life, did it ruin my "baby" (the community that I'd built)? I've used surveys for my community to try to find answers, but honestly, they haven't helped a lot, because the responses seemingly contradict the trends that I see in the community.


But now I have data from Circle's new Analytics Hub to help answer these questions for me! Here are three simple ways I've been loving and using the analytics.




Using the Analytics to Ease Your Fear of a Dying Community and Improve Community Metrics


What Monthly Active Members Tells Me as a Community Host


When it feels like the community engagement is dead, I can't help but wonder: have the members completely forgotten about the community? Do they read any of the weekly email reminders with an overview of information? Have they even been on the platform? Why aren't they interacting - is it because they don't find the community helpful (survey responses say it's not this), already have the answers they need in the community, have forgotten the community exists, it's inconvenient to log into Circle, or don't like the Circle platform?


As we sometimes tend to do, I'd found myself spiraling into negative thought patterns of assuming the worst: nobody liked the community, nobody liked me, the community and what I offered was no longer valuable, etc, etc, etc. Even though the data I did have should have already told me otherwise - there's a healthy retention rate in the group, and folks are consistently sharing, via surveys and through messages, that they find the community helpful.


But it wasn't until I saw the data in the Analytics Hub on Circle.so that I really started to believe it. I finally could see that folks are regularly logging into the community. Even in the lowest engagement month, about 50% of members are active in the group.


screenshot of "Monthly active members" over 12 months from Circle's analytics hub; chart shows peaks in active members in May 2023 and January 2024

How Circle's Popular Day & Time Data Helps Me Schedule Calls


Historically, I've relied on surveys to determine when would be the best time to host calls within the community. However, I often only get a few responses to the surveys (which apply to the call times for 6-12 months), and then live attendance is very minimal.


Now, I'm so excited to be able to use the data to know when people really are using Circle. This way, not only do I know they're available and thinking about the community at this time, but if they are on the platform and see the event live, they are more likely to join, even if they forgot about the event!


For reference, the last survey of community members indicated (from 3 members in total, and there was never a time when all three were available) they were most available Mondays 8 am to 5 pm, Tuesdays 8 am to 11 am, Wednesdays 8 am to 1 pm, and Thursdays 8 am to 5 pm. Between the continued morning sickness I've been experiencing in my pregnancy, and my Mondays already being mostly booked, this has mostly left me with Wednesday 12-1 pm and Thursday afternoons. I'd scheduled most of the calls for Thursdays 1-2 pm, with a few Thursdays 2-3 pm or 3-4 pm and Mondays 12-1 pm or 1-2 pm.


Looking at the "Popular day & time" chart from Circle's Analytics Hub, I can see these definitely aren't the worst times to be scheduling calls, but they aren't necessarily the most ideal either. Based on this information, I would make Wednesday 10-11 am the #1 call time choice, followed by Thursdays at 12-1 pm and 4-5 pm.


Although I've already scheduled out the calls through the summer, I am excited to use this data for scheduling autumn and winter calls, and to see if it makes a difference in call attendance!


Plus - a really nice bonus is to not have to beg my community members to complete a survey to discover the optimal call time!


screenshot from Circle's analytics hub shows chart of popular day and time of member usage of the community, over the last 90 days; times when more members are active are highlighted in a darker color

Using Data and Analytics Hub to Keep Your Community Healthy


In this post, I've primarily talked about using the data to identify if there's a problem, and if there is a problem, to identify what the core of that problem actually is (and potential answers to know how to solve it).


However, we can use this data to facilitate a beautiful community experience and avoid those problems in the first place.


For example, scheduling events during optimal times for members, optimizing content based on the device(s) community members are most using, and noticing trends in members and content and identifying ways to optimize the community in response.


Here are a few more examples of data that can be found within Circle.so's Analytics Hub. But even if you aren't using Circle, be sure to look for similar data in the backend of your community platform!


screenshot from Circle's analytics hub shows active members over multiple months, split into their device usage (desktop web, Circle iOS app, Circle Android app, or Mobile web)

screenshot from Circle's analytics hub shows a pie chart of the active members by device, and a separate bar chart shows members' estimated number of minutes spent on each device

screenshot from Circle's analytics hub shows a table of the community spaces and the corresponding number of members' posts, comments, likes, and score (according to Circle)

Not using Circle (yet) but want to check it out? Here's access to a 14-day free trial!


*Note: this post includes an affiliate link for Circle. Should you choose to join, I may receive some compensation for the referral. I truly love using Circle for my community, and I only share it because I do love it!

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