CMX Masterclass - From Community Data to Executive Buy-In: How to Tell Stories That Get Results with Reina Pomeroy

Actionable Insights

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🎯 Start With Strategy, Not the Dashboard

‍One of the biggest themes throughout the conversation was that community data only becomes meaningful when it’s connected to a clear business priority. Before deciding what to report, community leaders need to align with leadership on what the community is actually expected to influence, whether that’s retention, activation, LTV, pipeline, product feedback, or another strategic goal.

Reina emphasized that reporting on data without this context can create a mismatch: community teams may feel excited about what the numbers show, while leadership is wondering why those numbers matter.

Action: When starting a new role, community, or reporting process, align with leadership on the strategic priorities they expect community to support. Then work backward to identify the metrics and OKRs that demonstrate progress against those priorities.
Measure: Keep tracking community health and engagement metrics, but pair them with the business outcomes they are intended to influence. Make sure everyone agrees on what you're measuring and why before you start reporting on it.

📊 Turn Data Into a Story, Not Just a Report

‍A dashboard can tell leadership what happened. A good story explains why it matters.

Reina's framework centered on three skills community leaders need to develop: storytelling, executive communication, and data fluency. The strongest stories combine quantitative signals with qualitative context and using data to establish the pattern, then customer stories, interviews, quotes, or other examples to bring that pattern to life.

And when something isn't going according to plan, the story doesn't need to be an excuse. A missed KPI can become a story about what changed, what you learned, and what you're going to test next.

Action: For every important metric, ask yourself: So what? Why does this matter to the business, and what should we do differently because of it? Then pair the number with a real customer or member story that helps leadership understand what it actually represents.
Measure: Track not only the outcome, but also the experiments you're running and what you're learning from them. Over time, those learnings build the evidence and conviction behind bigger strategic decisions.

🔎 Look for Patterns, Then Dig Deeper

‍Community teams have access to something much of the organization doesn't: a constant stream of signals from customers and members. But a single comment or isolated metric isn't necessarily a story. The opportunity is to identify patterns, understand what they mean, and know when they're important enough to act on.

Reina shared an example of spotting a sudden increase in negative sentiment around a product issue. Because the community team recognized the trend early, they were able to bring it to Product and CX before it became part of a regular reporting cycle, helping the teams identify the problem and close the loop with the community.

Action: Build a habit of looking for unusual changes, recurring themes, and emerging sentiment in your community. When you spot something meaningful, dig into the why through member conversations, surveys, interviews, or segmentation before deciding what action to take.
Measure: Track the trends and behaviors that connect to your strategic priorities, not just overall engagement. Pay attention to changes over time and use qualitative research to understand what's driving them.

🧪 Build Conviction Through Small Experiments

You don't need perfect data or a flawless attribution model to start proving community's value. In fact, scrappy experiments can be what give you the evidence you need to make a bigger case later.

Reina talked about using project briefs, hypotheses, and small tests to understand what actually changes when members engage with the community. Over time, those individual learnings compound into stronger evidence, and eventually give you the conviction to make larger investments.

That also means being honest about the strength of your evidence. Sometimes you can demonstrate causation through testing; other times, all you can reasonably claim is directional impact. Knowing the difference makes your story more credible, not less.

Action: Before launching a new initiative, write down your hypothesis, the behavior or outcome you're trying to influence, and how you'll know whether it worked. Start small, learn, and use those findings to inform your next investment.
Measure: Track the specific member behavior and business outcome you're trying to influence, and clearly distinguish between proven impact, correlation, and directional signals.

The overarching takeaway from Reina was that community leaders don't need to become data scientists to communicate their impact effectively. They need to understand what the business cares about, find the signals that matter, and become better at translating those signals into stories leadership can understand and act on.

And perhaps most importantly: don't assume that because you've told the story once, everyone remembers it. Leadership is busy, and community's value isn't always intuitive. Keep bringing the right data, stories, and reminders back to the people who need to understand them.