Maximize community growth with our new reporting metrics

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Gathering information, then understanding what to do with it, is essential for sustainability. Reporting tools available in the Invision Community platform can help you better understand the inner workings of your community and decide whether your current setup is leading you towards or away from your bottom line. We recognize that knowledge is power, so we expanded our extensive list of reporting metrics. Invision Community’s latest release, 4.6.8, includes additional reporting tools in the Admin Control Panel (ACP) to empower community leaders. Now, community leaders can not only check registration count, topic creation, device usage and other engagement metrics, but may also view reports on follower statistics, top referrers, member preferences and more. In this post, we'll highlight a couple of our favorite metrics included in 4.6.8. New! Metrics to better understand moderator actions: # of warnings given: track how many warnings moderators issued during a defined time period. # of suspended users: track how many members moderators suspended during a defined time period. # of reports submitted over a defined period of time. Moderator actions include any action a moderator takes in the community, for example hiding/closing/deleting a topic. Understanding how your moderators handle sticky situations builds trust and clarity. However, a moderator’s value shouldn’t depend on the amount of warnings / suspensions given. Ideally, a well functioning community with a clear set of guidelines creates a culture where toxic members (and their posts) are less common. Don’t punish a moderator for taking less restrictive action; reward them because they didn’t have to! Why you should care: because metrics are imperative for goal setting. For example, “we want to reduce the number of warnings given by 50% at the end of the year.” In this scenario, the overarching goal is to foster a better user experience, resulting in less problematic posts (and thus less opportunity for moderators to issue warnings). If X then Y: If moderators issued 50% less warnings, then their time is freed up to spend on other important tasks. Related: 5 quick tips to up your community moderation game New! Metrics to understand whether your spam defense tactics are working: Unlikely to be a spammer Possibly a spammer Likely to be a spammer Known spammer No one likes a spammer. Unlike the junk you receive in your physical or email inbox, Invision Community includes powerful tools to combat spam. Our new spam defense metrics let you know if the systems you put in place are working, or if there's room for improvement. We integrated an intelligent spam defense system directly into the platform, as well as a few additional steps to avoid spam, including an invisible reCAPTCHA and question and answer challenge. Why you should care: because spam hogs resources and clutters a community. The higher the "unlikely to be a spammer" stats are in comparison to "possibly a spammer," "likely to be a spammer" and "known spammer," the better. With the new metrics, you'll know without a shadow of a doubt how frequently spammers are flagged and blocked. If X then Y: If there are 75% less spammers per month, then your community's health has increased. Related: 3 major improvements we made to spam management But wait... there's more! Here are additional metrics included in 4.6.8: Members with the most followers Members following the most people Number of content items deleted RSVPs to calendar events Questions with the most up/down votes over time Member preferences Most-used theme Most-used language Information is one of the most valuable resources for any community leader because it prompts inspired action. The additional reporting metrics included in 4.6.8 will be made available to you in the first half of November. Thoughts on our new reporting tools? Drop us a line in the comments.

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