Community folks get bombarded with “insights” and “dashboards” that promise the world but mostly deliver a headache. If you actually want to understand your community’s growth—what’s working, what’s not, and where to focus—it pays to build your own reports. This guide is for anyone using Commsor who wants clear, actionable reporting instead of staring at another generic chart.
Let’s get right into how to build custom reports that actually tell you something useful.
Step 1: Know What You Want to Measure (Don’t Skip This)
Before you even open Commsor, get specific about what “community growth” means to you. It’s easy to drown in data, so nail down what matters first:
- New members: Are you tracking signups, active joiners, or both?
- Engagement: Are you measuring posts, comments, reactions—or all of the above?
- Retention: Do you care about people sticking around after they join?
- Segmentation: Are you interested in growth among specific groups (like location or role)?
Pro tip: Write down your top 1–3 questions. For example:
- “Are we getting more new members month over month?”
- “Which onboarding source brings in the most active members?”
- “How many people actually stick around after joining?”
If you skip this, you’ll end up with a report that’s “comprehensive” but useless. Be ruthless about focus.
Step 2: Get Your Data into Commsor
Assuming you already have a Commsor account and your community platforms (Slack, Discord, forums, etc.) are connected, you’re halfway there. If not, here’s what you need to do:
- Connect your platforms:
- Go to the Integrations section in Commsor.
- Add connections for each platform where your community lives.
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Give it time to sync—sometimes this takes a while, especially with large communities.
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Check your data quality:
- Look for missing accounts, duplicate users, or weird activity spikes.
- Fix these before you build reports, or your shiny new charts might lie to you.
What doesn’t work:
Don’t just “set and forget” integrations. Every platform syncs data differently, and sometimes things break. Check your data before trusting it—otherwise, you’re just making pretty graphs out of garbage.
Step 3: Build Your Custom Report
Commsor’s reporting is flexible, but it can be overwhelming. Here’s the simplest way to start:
3.1. Use the Reports or Analytics Section
- Navigate to “Reports” or “Analytics” in the sidebar. The naming changes sometimes, but it’s the section with charts and metrics.
- Avoid the default dashboard for now—it’s usually too generic.
3.2. Create a New Custom Report
- Click “Create Report” or “Custom Report.”
- Give your report a name that makes sense. “April Growth Deep Dive” beats “Report 1.”
- Choose your primary metric (e.g., new members, active users).
- Set your date range (monthly, weekly, custom span).
3.3. Add Filters and Segments
This is where you get real insight:
- Filter by platform: See growth on Slack vs. Discord, for example.
- Segment by member properties: Role, location, join source, etc.
- Engagement filters: Only count users who’ve posted, not just lurked.
What’s worth doing:
Slice the data a couple of different ways, but not twenty. For most teams, “new members by month” and “active members by source” are far more useful than ten different engagement metrics you’ll never look at.
3.4. Choose Visualizations That Don’t Suck
- Bar charts for month-over-month changes.
- Line graphs for trends over time.
- Pie charts? Rarely helpful, unless you’re splitting a small number of categories.
Honest take:
If you can’t explain the chart to someone in 10 seconds, you’ve overcomplicated it. Fancy visualizations don’t make the data better.
Step 4: Save, Automate, and Share Your Report
You built your custom report—now make it useful.
- Save your report in Commsor so you don’t have to rebuild it every week.
- Set up automated emails or exports if your team needs regular updates.
- Limit sharing: Only send reports to people who’ll actually care. Otherwise, you’re just adding noise.
What to ignore:
You don’t have to turn every report into a presentation or a 10-page PDF. Focus on the 1–2 key numbers that drive decisions.
Step 5: Interpret Your Results (The Real Work)
A report is only as good as what you do with it. Some common pitfalls and what to watch for:
- Don’t obsess over vanity metrics: Huge spikes in new members look nice but may be bots or one-off events. Dig deeper if something looks off.
- Look for trends, not one-off blips: A steady increase means more than a single viral week.
- Compare apples to apples: If you change your onboarding flow, compare similar periods before and after—not random months.
- Ask “so what?”: If you see a change, what will you do about it? If the answer is “nothing,” the metric probably doesn’t matter.
Pro tip:
Write a one-sentence summary of what the numbers mean. If you can’t, the report probably needs tweaking.
Step 6: Iterate and Keep It Simple
The first report you build probably won’t be perfect—and that’s fine.
- Tweak your filters: Maybe you realize you care more about retention than raw growth. Change the report.
- Add or remove metrics: Don’t be afraid to drop stuff no one reads.
- Check in monthly: Set a recurring calendar reminder to review and update your reports. Out-of-date dashboards help no one.
What actually works:
Start with the simplest report possible. Add complexity only when you have a clear reason. The fanciest dashboards are usually the least useful.
Some Final Tips (from Someone Who’s Been There)
- Don’t chase every shiny metric: Focus on what drives real decisions.
- Double-check your data sources: Garbage in, garbage out.
- Automate reporting, but don’t automate thinking: Take time to actually look at your numbers.
- Share insights, not just charts: A quick note explaining “why this matters” is worth more than sending a spreadsheet.
If you want to really understand your community’s growth, you don’t need a PhD in analytics or a wall of dashboards. You just need a few simple, honest reports that answer real questions. Start small, keep it focused, and tweak as you go. That’s how you find out what’s actually working—so you can do more of it.