Community reporting is one of the biggest pressure points for community managers. You’re asked to “prove ROI,” but the reality is most metrics don’t speak for themselves. That’s why Heather Wendt’s framework is useful. It starts with what leaders care about. Almost any community insight can ladder up to one of the 3 R’s: Retention, Revenue, or Reputation. That’s the language executives are fluent in. The other piece that makes it work is the recommendation. Too many reports stop at what happened. “Engagement is down.” “Onboarding questions are spiking.” On their own, those are just observations. What leaders want, and what gives the numbers weight, is what's next. Should CS investigate these accounts? Should product prioritize a fix? Should marketing package this into a story? Reporting is presenting the metrics and guiding the decision. Heather’s post is a great template for building that muscle.
Customer Education & Community Growth Strategist | Driving Product Success Through World-Class Learning Programs & Community Engagement
𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀? 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 If you’ve never had to present community data before, it’s easy to feel stuck. ❓ What should I say? ❓What if I don’t have dashboards? ❓ How do I know what leaders even care about? Here’s the good news: You don’t need perfect numbers. You just need a clear story that ties to a real business goal. 𝙐𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 4-𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚: 1. What you noticed (start with the insight) - “Over the last month, we saw a 25% increase in questions about [topic/feature].” - “Enterprise users are logging in less frequently post-onboarding.” - “There’s been a spike in peer-to-peer support in the [X] group.” 2. Why it matters (link it to the business) - “This suggests customers are confused about [feature], which may affect adoption.” - “Lower engagement could signal churn risk for key accounts.” - “Increased peer support is helping us reduce reliance on CS for basic questions.” Not sure what it ties to? Use the 3 R’s: 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 3. Who should care (tailor it to the audience) - If talking to Customer Success → “This could impact renewal rates or customer health.” - If talking to Product → “We may need better in-app education or UX improvements.” - If talking to Marketing → “There’s a story here we could share externally.” 4. What you recommend (or will track next) - “Let’s dig deeper into these users’ behavior with CS.” - “I’ll track this through the next launch cycle and share trends.” - “We should tag these threads for future content gaps.” The goal isn’t to impress. The goal is to inform and guide. Whether you're building your first dashboard or reporting out in Slack, this template works. Keep it: 🔵 Focused 🔵 Business-relevant 🔵 Actionable 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥? 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝—𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜?