Getting to Know Your Server With Server Insights

Why Is Engagement Important?

Even servers with thousands of members have periods when things go a little quiet. So if things have started to quiet down in your community, don’t worry. Discord has a tool to help you get things sparking again: Server Insights.

Server Insights can help you measure engagement, the life blood of your community. When your members interact with announcements, join events, or scream at your dad jokes in #general, that's engagement—it means your members are finding value and connection in your community.

Did you know? Engagement is so important that metrics like engagement and retention are also one of the things we’ll look at when accepting Discord Partner applications.

‍What Can You Learn From Server Insights?

Server Insights are a great piece of feedback once you know how to break them down. At a glance, you’ll be able to see overall and weekly updates on things like visitors, communicators, and new member retention.

Here's a quick guide to some of the terminology!

• Visitors: A visitor is any member who has clicked on a channel in the server. This analytic is not affected by the member talking in a channel or not, it just logs if a member clicked on the server to check up on a channel.‍
• Communicators: Communicators are a server member that has talked on the server. This could be either posting in a Text Channel or chatting in a Voice Channel.‍
• New Member Retention: This shows the percentage of new members that return to your server after a week. The percentage shows how well your server is at making sure that members come back again and again.

Aim for a Healthy Ratio of Visitors and Communicators 

When you visit Server Insights, you’ll be able to see your server’s numbers plotted against Discord's benchmark of 30% communicators as a healthy goal. 

If you can, you should aim for roughly 50% of your members to be visiting, with 50% of those visitors communicating and getting involved. 

Eager to see the impact of your uptick in talent shows on your community? You can keep track of your server’s growth and activity as you compare your server insights week on week. 

Had a Dip? Don’t Panic!

If you have a week or two that dips a little, don’t panic! It may just be that external factors influence your members, especially if things like school are picking up or the holidays have come around.

It’s important to remember that everyone has their own lives and activity will sometimes dip because of this. That’s okay.

Checking in on your Server Insights can help you to determine if it was just a slow week or if there are repeated patterns you need to start looking into.

Tips for Creating an Environment for Engagement

Make a Good First Impression

Is the server messy? Are there unused channels that bury others? Does a bot cause issues rather than solve problems? Does the server look nice or is it all a bit busy? 

Cutting down excess stuff or fixing up issues can make your server an easier space to use and give your members more confidence in navigating various channels. This can also help new members stick around for longer and ultimately increase retention too!

Top Tip: You can see what new members click on and how they behave afterwards by heading to the “Welcome Section” of your server insights. If you’re finding that not many new members are clicking or sending a message, think about switching up your welcome text or highlighting different channels. ‍

Maintaining Server Engagement

The “Engage” section of your server insights is your engagement-generating best friend. At a glance, you’ll be able to see which channel is generating the most activity and where you could be sparking more conversation. 
If your community loves gaming, you could go into a quiet channel and bring up a leading question like “What was your favorite Pokémon as a kid?” to take a trip down memory lane together.

This way, you're inviting other people into a conversation while bypassing awkward small talk.

Top Tip: Having too many channels can spread the conversation too thin and generally lead to lower engagement across the board. Use your Server Insights to order your channels by Readers, Chatters, and Messages—this will show you which channels can be deleted or archived based on how often your members interact with it! ‍

Use Voice Channels Effectively

In Server Insights, you can see your server’s speaking minutes and which Voice Channels your members use the most. You can use this to track your success when using VCs to hang out in or host events.  

Even just hanging out in voice and chatting to your members (or welcoming newcomers as they arrive) is a quick, effective way to drive engagement. You can even teach new members about your Voice Channels and how they work. 

Getting into the habit of jumping into voice allows you to bond, create inside jokes, or be on hand to support when problems arise too.

Measuring Success Through Community Events

Hosting events is another great way to grow and measure engagement. 

Scheduling specific events around your server creates a space for your members to bond over their shared interests and create deeper connections.

Here’s a Few Ideas We’ve Seen (And Loved)!

• If your community loves comics, why not schedule a webtoon reading for everyone to do together?
• If your community supports content creators, consider a day where people can showcase their work or teach a new skill?
• If your community adores fashion, what about a wait-together for your favorite designer's new collection? 

Remember, if people spend time making friends in your community, they're more likely going to stay to hang out and build those connections. 

By using the “Growth and Activation” section of your server insights, you’ll be able to see if members join the community specifically for an event and how many new members retain the next week. This can help you see what works and double down on it.

Top Tip: An event-dedicated Text Channel can help new members to engage quickly and encourage conversation long after the event to help new members stick around.