Data points to watch, when to intervene, and how to avoid engagement issues.

Bad matches and unresponsive participants

A key data point to watch is whether participants have had their first meeting with their mentoring partner. Along with survey comments, this tells you whether someone in your program is struggling or is unengaged and unresponsive.

Also keep an eye out for 1–2 ratings on the MQS or Post-Meeting Surveys. This usually means something has gone wrong, or someone isn't responding.

These signals mean some form of intervention is needed. Start by reaching out to both parties to understand the issues. From there, you may need to rematch them, mark the unresponsive party as unavailable, or bench them if they're no longer engaging. Benching keeps their record intact and removes them from matching without permanently ending their participation.

• Learn more about MQS and Post-Meeting Surveys
• How to troubleshoot bad matches
• How to mark participants as Unavailable
• How to manage participant status (Active, Benched, Removed)

Advice from our Customer Success team, using MQS over loop activity:

"Reviewing participant activity via Loop Activity might not always be the best way to gauge engagement, as participants may be communicating outside of Mentorloop. A better measure is MQS survey responses, they give you real-time feedback and comments that paint a clearer picture of how mentoring relationships are actually going."

Sentiment

As your program progresses, you should see a steady flow of incoming Sentiment data. If it starts slowing down, it's worth checking in with participants to re-engage them.

Sentiment data reflects how participants are finding their journey and what they think of their matches, use it as a temperature check for whether the general experience in your program is positive.

• Learn more about your Sentiment dashboard

Advice from our Customer Success team, check Sentiment regularly:

"As soon as you start seeing data in the Sentiments tab, build it into your program management routine, at least once a fortnight. It gives you a clear picture of how participants are going and lets you step in early for those who need support."

Avoiding engagement issues

A few proactive habits give your program the best chance of staying engaged throughout.

• Regular bench reviews for Always-On programs. Periodically identify and bench participants who have become inactive, look for those with a low Last activity date and Loop capacity of 0. This is especially important if Self Match is enabled, as it prevents engaged participants from sending match requests to people who won't respond. Benched participants are removed from matching but kept available to reactivate when they're ready.
• Build in opt-out moments for cohort programs. For cohort or on-off programs where participants can stay in across relaunches, give people the opportunity to step back at the end of each run. This reduces the chance of carrying disengaged participants into your next intake. Those who opt out can be benched and reinvited when the next cohort opens.