What are the best practices for tracking user engagement with audio in mobile apps?

1 Why track audio engagement?

Tracking audio engagement is important for several reasons. First, it helps you understand how users consume your audio content, such as how long they listen, when they pause, skip, or replay, and what genres or topics they prefer. Second, it helps you optimize your audio quality, performance, and delivery, such as how to reduce buffering, latency, and bandwidth consumption. Third, it helps you personalize your audio recommendations, notifications, and rewards, such as how to suggest relevant content, remind users to resume listening, or offer incentives to complete audio sessions.

2 What metrics to track?

The metrics you choose to track depend on the goals, features, and audience of your app. Common metrics for audio engagement include Play Rate (the percentage of users who start playing an audio item after seeing it on your app), Completion Rate (the percentage of users who finish listening to an audio item or session), Average Listening Time (the average duration of listening per user or per audio item), Listening Frequency (the number of times a user listens to audio content in a given period), Listening Retention (the percentage of users who return to listen to audio content after a certain time), Listening Loyalty (the percentage of users who listen to multiple audio items or sessions from the same source, genre, or topic), and Listening Satisfaction (the feedback or rating that users give to your audio content or app).

3 How to track audio engagement?

When it comes to tracking audio engagement, there are various options depending on your app's platform, technology, and budget. Native analytics tools, like iOS's AVPlayerItemAccessLog or Android's MediaSession, are easy to use and integrate, but may have limited functionality and customization. Third-party analytics tools, such as Podtrac, SoundCloud, or Spotify Analytics, offer more features and insights but may require more integration and cost. Alternatively, you can build your own analytics tools with frameworks and libraries that support audio tracking, such as Firebase, Segment, or Amplitude. This option gives you more flexibility and control but may require more development and maintenance.

4 How to use audio engagement data?

Once you have collected and analyzed your audio engagement data, you can use it to improve your app's user experience and retention. For example, you can enhance your audio content by identifying what types of audio content resonate with your users and creating more of them. Additionally, you can personalize your audio recommendations by segmenting your users based on their audio preferences and suggesting content that matches their interests, moods, and goals. Moreover, you can use your data to reward your audio listeners and motivate them to keep listening by gamifying the experience with elements of challenge, competition, and achievement.

5 How to test and optimize audio engagement?

Tracking audio engagement is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process of testing and optimization. It’s important to regularly monitor your audio engagement metrics, and compare them with your app's objectives and benchmarks. Experimenting with different audio strategies and measuring their impact on user behavior and satisfaction is also essential. To test and optimize audio engagement, you can use A/B testing to compare two versions of your audio content, features, or design. Additionally, you can use user feedback such as surveys, ratings, reviews, or interviews to collect qualitative data on your audio experience. Plus, user research methods like user testing, usability testing, or contextual inquiry can be used to observe users’ interactions with your audio content in real-life scenarios and identify their needs.