# Metrics & rituals

The health scorecard and the operating-rhythm library. Use this with the Metrics and Rituals sections of `../SKILL.md`. Facts carry source + access date.

## The metric clusters

Metrics cluster into three groups plus exactly one business metric tied to your Step-0 purpose.

### Cluster 1 — activation / retention
- **DAU / WAU / MAU** and **stickiness = DAU/MAU**. Benchmark band for social/messaging products is **~50–80%**; treat **≥ 20% as a floor** for a healthy community. Below 20% the room is decaying.
- **30 / 60 / 90-day cohort retention** — track each join-cohort's survival; it is the truest read on whether onboarding actually activates.
- **Returning-member ratio** — share of members who came back this period; the direct signal that rituals are working.

### Cluster 2 — member value
- **Time-to-first-response (TTFR)** — how long until a newcomer's first post gets a reply. Lower is better; this is the newcomer's first lived experience of the room.
- **Answered rate** — share of questions that get any answer. Drive toward 100%; unanswered questions teach members not to ask.

### Cluster 3 — exactly ONE business metric
Pick **one** that matches the purpose, and only one:
- **Support deflection** — questions answered by members vs tickets filed.
- **Retention uplift** — product retention of members vs non-members.
- **Expansion revenue** — upgrades/supporter conversions sourced from the space.
- **Qualified referrals** — warm intros / leads the community generates.

Source: Bevy *Top 11 Community Engagement Metrics for 2025*, Discourse *20 Community Metrics Explained* (2025-04), Geckoboard *DAU/MAU*, accessed 2026-06-02.

## The 90-9-1 reality

- **Participation inequality / "1% rule":** ~**90% lurk, 9% contribute occasionally, 1% drive most activity** — but this is a **range, not a law**.
- Healthier communities skew far more active: observed profiles like **55-30-15** and **17-57-26**.
- Design implication: **do not accept 90% lurkers as fixed.** Move lurkers up a tier with prompts, one-tap reactions, and direct asks.
- Source: NN/g *Participation Inequality* (Nielsen) + Higher Logic *90-9-1 … Officially Outdated*, accessed 2026-06-02.

## Ritual template library

Predictable cadence beats sporadic effort. Run each on time, every time; consistency is the whole point.

| Ritual | Cadence | Friction | What it produces |
|---|---|---|---|
| "What are you working on?" thread | Weekly (Mon) | Low — one reply | Re-engagement hook, surfaces who's active |
| Office hours / AMA | Weekly (Wed) | Medium — opt-in | High-value 1:1-in-public, answered-rate boost |
| "Wins of the week" | Weekly (Fri) | Low — a reaction counts | Positive loop, social proof |
| Monthly show-and-tell / demo day | Monthly | Medium | Deepens the 1%/9%, content for announcements |
| Onboarding "intro Tuesday" round-up | Weekly | Low | Pulls new members into threads day one |
| Poll of the week | Weekly | Very low — one tap | Cheap participation for lurkers |

### Sample weekly calendar
```text
Mon  WIP thread posted 09:00 local
Wed  Office hours 17:00–18:00 (opt-in @office-hours role)
Fri  Wins thread + react-to-celebrate
Sun  (mod) scorecard glance: TTFR, answered rate, new-member activation
```

### Low-friction participation rules
- Prefer **reactions and polls** over "write a paragraph" — every tier can participate.
- Use **opt-in role pings** for ritual reminders; never `@everyone` for routine beats (over-pinging trains mutes, and a muted member is functionally gone).
- Reserve `@everyone` for genuine all-hands moments only.
