Data Driven InsightsWHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL FORUM

© 2014 ProBoards, Inc.

Overview

Looked at forum trends across hundreds of thousands of forums

Data came from forums hosted by ProBoards (www.proboards.com)

Identified differences between top tier forums and small to medium sized forums

Key areas we analyzed:

Desktop vs. Mobile

Forum Moderators

Requiring Guests to Login

Themes

Worldwide Desktop vs. Mobile Traffic

73.7%

91.5%

8.5%

26.3%

Source: http://gs.statcounter.com/

Forums: Desktop vs. Mobile

Desktop vs. Mobile

Desktop80%

Mobile21%

Pageviews

Data based on over 100 million pageviews from ProBoards during April & May 2014

Desktop80%

Mobile20%

Posts

Data based on over 2,500,000 posts made during April & May 2014

Mobile Browser vs. Native App

Native App26%

Mobile Browser74%

Pageviews

Data based on over 100 million pageviews from ProBoards during April & May 2014

Native App

31%

Mobile Browser69%

Posts

Data based on over 2,500,000 posts made during April & May 2014

Posting Frequency

Native App56%

Mobile Browser44%

Native app users post 12% more often than visitors using a mobile browser

Mobile Takeaways

The majority of mobile forum traffic comes from mobile browsers

Native app users are more likely to participate in discussions

Provide your visitors with both a mobile optimized browser experience as well as support for a native app such as Tapatalk or Forum Runner for maximum engagement

Forum Moderators

Data came from April & May 2014 from thousands of the largest ProBoards forums with active moderators

Eliminated moderators that were not online in the last 30 days

Top Forums were based on total pageviews

Looked at both Local and Global Moderators

Local Moderators only have powers in certain areas of the forum

Global Moderators have powers in all areas of the forum

Local : Global Moderator Ratio

1-50 51-250 251-500 501-750 751-1000 1001-1250

1251-1500

1501-1750

1751-2000

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Forum Rank

Rati

o

Why use Local Moderators?

It’s hard for a Global Moderator to be everywhere at once

More eyes looking throughout the forum, even in areas with less activity

You can get the benefits of a strong moderator team while still limiting what powers they have across the forum

You can build trust by starting someone as a moderator with limited powers before moving them up to the more important role of Global Moderator

Who Moderates the Most?

Top 50 Forums Top 51-250 Top 251-500 Top 501-750 Top 751-1000 Top 1001-20000

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Total Number of Moderator Actions

Local Mod Team Global Mod Team Forum Owner

Who Moderates the Most?

Top 50 Forums Top 51-250 Top 251-500 Top 501-750 Top 751-1000 Top 1001-20000.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

Average Actions per Individual Moderator

Local Mods Global Mods Forum Owner

Moderator Takeaways

The most successful forums take advantage of using as many Local Moderators as Global Moderators to keep a better eye on every section of their forum

Having a strong Global Moderation team is essential for a successful forum

As your forum grows, more and more responsibility should shift from the owner to the Global Moderation team

The forum owner tends to do more moderation than any individual member of the moderation team

In smaller forums, on average the forum owner does 170 - 366% more moderation than individual Global Moderators

In larger forums, the forum owner only does 13% more work than individual Global Moderators

Guests Must Login

Some forums have the option to require guests to login to the forum in order to view the content

How do the largest forums use this feature?

What impact does it have on the number of users that register on your forum?

Guests Must Login

Top 1-50 Top 51-250 Top 251-500 Top 501-750 Top 751-1000 Top 1001-20000.00%

10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

100.00%

Open Forums vs. Guests Must Login Forums

Open Forums Guests Must Login

Disabling Guests Must Login

Top 1-250 Forums Top 251-500 Top 501-750 Top 751-1000 Top 1001-20000.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

How Many More Users Could Your Forum Gain?

Registration Boost

Guests Must Login Takeaways

98% of the top 50 ProBoards forums don’t require guests to login

Forums will see 37 - 71% more registered users by not requiring guests to login to view forum content

Don’t require guests to login to view your content if you want to grow your forum

Many people will simply leave when being forced to register on your forum

Visitors won't have the opportunity to be hooked by your forum's great content

Themes

What do the largest forums do in terms of theme customization?

Looked at over 1.4 million forum registrations on our top 500 forums

Broke down these forums into three categories:

Minor to no customization (simple color changes, logo change)

Medium customization (customized images or slight layout changes)

High customization (customized layout, images, etc.)

Customization: None / Minor

Customization: Medium

Customization: High

Level of Theme Customization

Top 50 51-100 101-150 151-200 201-250 251-300 301-350 351-400 401-450 451-5000

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Theme Customization on Top 500 Forums

Minor to None Medium High

Level of Theme Customization

50% of the top 500 forums kept the default theme or made only minor changes

40% of the forums did a medium amount of customization

10% of the forums created a highly customized theme

Only one out the top 100 forums had a highly customized theme

Theme Customization vs. Registration

High

Medium

Minor to None

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Registered Users per Day

You Are Probably Not a UX Designer

You Are Probably Not a UX Designer

Most people aren’t designers and can make poor design choices

Bad font and color choices are common and make the forum hard to read

Poor placement of links on the page can make the forum harder to use

A fully customized theme is not necessary for a popular forum

Sticking with a professionally designed theme is generally better

UX Designers work hard to ensure your theme is both functional and aesthetically pleasing

The more you customize your theme, the more you could decrease how many users register on your forum

Overall Takeaways

Make sure you have both a mobile theme and support for native mobile apps for maximum engagement

The top forums have active forum owners. Stay active!

Build a strong moderator team that includes both Local and Global Moderators to set your forum up for success

Keep Guests Must Login turned off unless your community requires it

Your time is better spent worrying about your forum’s content than your forum’s layout

Focus on building a great community with great content and the rest fall into place

Thank You!

Patrick Clinger

pclinger@proboards.com

@proboards

Facebook.com/ProBoardsFreeForums