Discrepancies in Community Metrics

You may notice discrepancies in certain areas of community metrics, such as the community size, why members are unsubscribing and community profile export. See the explanations below for why discrepancies may occur.

Community size metrics

You may notice discrepancies between the member counts in your community metrics charts and the filters you have applied.

When a new profile variable is added within a month and then used as a filter, the profile variable automatically applies to all members within that month, regardless of whether their status changed before or after the profile variable was added. This is because the Community Size report counts are based on member values as of the end of the month.

Example

It is currently March and you want to filter your Community Size report by "Country_Flag is Mexico". Consider the following:

  • "Country_Flag = Mexico" was added as new member values for all members on February 23rd.
  • Prior to February 23rd, 8 members were recorded as Lost.
  • After February 23rd, 5 more members were recorded as Lost.

Result:

The Community Size report counts 13 members as Lost in February when filtering by "Country_Flag is Mexico", even though 8 of them were Lost before their Country_Flag was set to Mexico.

Why Members Are Unsubscribing chart

The counts in your Why Members Are Unsubscribing chart may not match the number of Unsubscribed members in your community due to the member source.

Your member source determines where the member's unsubscribe reason will appear. Use the chart below to determine where to view the data for why your member unsubscribed.

Note: The Why Members are Unsubscribing chart displays the count of:
  • active members who had unsubscribed through the Community Unsubscribe Page.
  • participants who have unsubscribed from the confirmation email.
For the total counts of active members who been purged, undelivered, or unsubscribed, see the Loss Analysis chart in Community size.

Loss Analysis

You may see a higher loss count from your Loss Analysis chart compared to your Community Size chart. This discrepancy is the result of the difference between how the two charts count member status.

In a Loss Analysis chart, a member who has multiple loss counts will be counted multiple times if the member's latest status is active and not nonmember. If a member becomes a nonmember, the following loss statuses such as purged, undelivered, and unsubscribed will not be counted. They will only count if the member's latest status is active prior to leaving the community. In comparison, gains or losses count only once in a Community Size chart.

Example

The following are examples of how changing a member's status can affect whether the loss is counted in the Loss Analysis chart.

Member Status Description
Active

If "John" is active, unsubscribed, and purged in a given month, that will be counted as 1 Purged and 1 Unsubscribed loss.

Nonmember

If "John" is active, becomes a nonmember, and is purged and unsubscribed in a given month, none of the losses will be counted since John became a nonmember before getting purged and unsubscribed.

Active, nonmember, and then reactivated

If "John" is active, and then becomes a nonmember, is purged, reactivated and then undeliverable, only the 1 Undeliverable loss will be counted since John has to be active before it can count.