Most admins track member count. Member count is a vanity metric. These 15 KPIs tell you what's actually happening — and what to do about it.
15
KPIs to track
7
need weekly review
3
are mission-critical
The 3 Mission-Critical KPIs
If you only track three numbers, track these. Everything else is downstream.
| KPI | Target | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Day-7 retention | 25%+ | % of new members still active after 7 days |
| Messages / active member / day | 3+ | Average engagement depth of active members |
| Monthly active / total ratio | 20%+ | % of your total members who are actually active |
Retention KPIs
- →Day-1 retention: 50%+ (sends at least 1 message in first 24h)
- →Day-7 retention: 25%+ (returns within a week)
- →Day-30 retention: 15%+ (becomes a regular)
- →Churn rate: <5%/month for healthy servers, <2% for great ones
- →Welcome conversion: 40%+ (verified and sent first message)
Engagement KPIs
3+
msgs/active/day
10%+
voice participation
40%+
weekly active ratio
60s
avg session target
- →Messages per active member per day: 3+ is engaged, 1 is passive, below 1 is at risk
- →Voice hours per active member per week: 1h+ indicates strong community bonds
- →Emoji/reaction rate: high reaction rate = low-effort participation (good for lurkers)
- →Thread participation rate: 20%+ means your discussions generate real conversation
Growth KPIs
- →Net member growth rate: 5%+ monthly is healthy for <10K servers
- →Invite conversion: 40%+ of invite clicks should result in joins
- →Source attribution: know which channels bring your best-retaining members
- →Organic discovery rate: what % join without an invite link (Discovery, search)
Moderation KPIs
- →Mod action rate: <1% of active members per month receiving action
- →False positive rate: <5% of auto-mod actions should require reversal
- →Response time: <2 minutes for flagged content in active servers
- →Raid frequency: track attempts, not just successful raids
server.ninja tracks all 15 of these automatically. The health check scores your server across 6 categories and tells you which KPI to fix first.