Why members stop participating, and what to check first

A member joins, looks around, posts once or never, and stops coming back. A few months later the member count still looks healthy, but the conversation has dried up. Most community managers have seen this happen.

You can usually find the cause without new software. Start with the checks below.

The first week

A new member arrives with some curiosity and no context. If the first thing they see is a feed of strangers discussing things they know nothing about, a lot of them leave.

Decide what a new member should do in their first ten minutes, then check that the product makes it obvious. Small actions work best, like introducing yourself or finding a few people who are like you. A welcome message that tells people to explore is not enough.

Whether members can find each other

Most people join a community to meet other members, so the product has to help them do it. If a newcomer cannot see who is relevant to them, by city or by industry for example, they have to search by hand, and most won't.

Costa Del Social is one example. Local networking there lived in WhatsApp groups and one-off events, and members had no lasting place to discover people, events and opportunities. We shaped a community hub with profiles and discovery for them.

What changed this week

A single event brings people in once. Coming back needs something that keeps changing, such as new members to meet, a weekly routine, or a thread that is still going.

Take a member who has gone quiet and ask what happened in your community last week that they would have cared about. If you can't name anything, you have found a problem.

How your notifications read

Platforms tend to send too little or too much. Too little, and people forget about you. Too much, and they mute you.

Messages work better when they are about the member: someone replied to them, a new member shares their interest, an event near them is coming up. Join your own community as a new member and keep every message you get for a week.

Two numbers worth tracking

You don't need a dashboard to start. A spreadsheet will do. Track two things:

• Of the people who joined last month, how many did anything in their first week?
• Of the people who were active two months ago, how many have gone quiet since?

The first shows whether onboarding works. The second shows whether people stay.

Getting a second opinion

Our free Community Quick Scan is an initial look at where your community's digital experience could be stronger. You can use it to check the points above against your own community.