Episode 270 | Insider Secrets to a Top 100 Podcast | Courtney Elmer

0:02 - How to Tell if Listeners Are Truly Hooked on Your Podcast
1:01 - What ACTUALLY Drives Listener Engagement
2:45 - The One Metric That’s Changing How to Measure Your Podcast's Success
4:55 - How to Find the Ideal Episode Length to Keep Your Audience Listening Longer
6:47 - The Technique Netflix and Hulu Use to Make You Binge Watch (And How to Use it For Your Podcast)
12:17 - The Simple Technique That Keeps Listeners Coming Back
15:26 - Using These Techniques Throughout Your Entire Content Strategy

How to Increase Listener Consumption (and Why It Matters)

One of the best compliments you can get as a podcaster? When a listener tells you they stayed in their car just to finish your episode. That’s when you know you’ve got them hooked! But keeping listeners tuned in until the end takes more than just great content; it takes strategy. The secret? Focusing on one key metric: listener consumption. If you're ready to build a community of engaged listeners and wan to know exactly how to increase listener consumption for your podcast, keep reading.

The One Metric That’s Changing How to Measure Your Podcast's Success

Move over, downloads. The new gold standard for measuring the overall engagement of your podcast audience is a metric that’s getting a lot of buzz:  listener consumption. This metric is important because it shows how much of your episode people are actually listening to. The reason it’s a better metric to determine listener engagement than downloads is because you could have a podcast with a million downloads, but if listeners are only tuning in for the first 3 seconds, that does you no good. Listener consumption gives us a more accurate way to gauge how engaged listeners are with your podcast (and trust me, Apple Podcasts and Spotify are paying attention).

What ACTUALLY Drives Listener Engagement?

There’s no single silver bullet for increasing listener consumption and engagement, because there are dozens of ways to do it. While what works best will depend on your goals and audience, there are a few core factors that drive listener engagement.

• First, it’s all about understanding your audience's preferences — like the ideal episode length that fits their listening habits. (Listener engagement comes from delivering content that actually aligns with what they want and need, not just what you think they’ll find valuable or interesting.)
  
• Next, it’s the way you structure your episodes. There are several easy, psychology-based techniques you can use to create curiosity and keep listeners hooked from the first minute to the last.
  
• Finally, having a plan for future episodes keeps them coming back for more can help listeners look forward to the next episode and make them want to come back to your podcast week after week. (Podcast experts call this “Retention” — and it’s incredibly important. Without it, it will be very difficult to grow your audience if they listen to an episode but never come back).

When you combine these elements, you’ll not only increase your overall listener consumption, but you’ll also signal to platforms like Apple and Spotify that your podcast is a must-listen — no matter how long you’ve been podcasting or where your listener consumption metrics stand today. Let’s break down how to do it:

How to Find the Ideal Episode Length to Keep Your Audience Listening Longer

One of the easiest ways to increase listener consumption is to match your episode length to your audience’s listening habits. Many podcasters think they have a conversion problem when, in reality, they have a listener completion problem. If your Calls-to-Action (CTAs) are at the end of a 30-minute episode, but your listener consumption metrics show people only tuning in for 60%, a big chunk of your audience is missing your CTA altogether.

There’s no one-size-fits-all for the perfect episode length, but your listeners will show you how long they're willing or able to listen based on their current behavior. The sweet spot will be different for every podcast, but adjusting your episode length to align with what your audience actually consumes is a powerful first step to increasing listener consumption.

The Technique Netflix and Hulu Use to Make You Binge Watch (And How to Apply It to Your Podcast)

Ever been up past your bedtime watching Netflix because you just had to find out what happens next? That’s not by accident — it's a psychological technique called “opening a loop,” and it’s been used for decades in movies, TV shows, and storytelling. Our brains are wired to crave completion and closure, which means once a loop is opened, it creates a natural tension that compels us to see it through to the end. That’s what keeps us glued to our screens (or in our case, your Airpods).

The fun part? You can use this same strategy in your podcast to boost listener consumption. Here’s how: at the start of your episode, hint at a valuable tip, story, or insight you'll reveal later without giving away the punchline. For example, you might say, “Later in this episode, I’m going to share the one thing that doubled my listener engagement overnight — and it’s not what you’d expect.” That creates curiosity right from the start, and your listeners will stick around to find out what that “one thing” is.

PRO TIP: If you want to increase your overall listener consumption, your goal should not be to get someone to listen until the end of the whole episode. Your goal should be to get them to listen until the end of the first minute. Then the next. Then the next. Sprinkle these open loops throughout your episode content to keep listeners engaged from the moment they hit play… and if you want to keep them coming back? Open a loop at the end of your episode to tease the next one.

A Simple Way to Increase Listener Consumption and Keep Listeners Coming Back

The best way to get listeners to return every week is simple: open a loop in their brain by teasing the next episode. It’s a simple but powerful way to increase listener consumption. You don’t need to have the entire next episode planned out, but you DO need to know where you’re leading your listeners next. Yes, this will require some planning. Yes, this is something that every podcast host should master. You don’t need the next episode fully batched and recorded (though bonus points if you do). Even just knowing the next episode’s title can help you structure a powerful teaser at the end of your episode that builds anticipation, creates demand for what’s next, and ultimately, helps increase your listener consumption metric over time by “training” your audience to keep coming back..

Using These Techniques to Make Your Entire Content Strategy Bingeworthy

What’s better than using these techniques to increase engagement and listener consumption for your podcast? Using them across your entire content strategy.  From your social media posts to your email newsletters, these techniques can help you increase engagement across all platforms. (If you want to see it in action, look closely at my next email newsletter or social media post — you’ll see I use this everywhere). Keep your audience curious, deliver value they can’t get anywhere else, and give them a reason to stick around for what’s coming next. That’s how you increase listener consumption and engagement — and that’s how you make your entire business bingeworthy.

If you’re ready to learn how to get more listeners choosing your show over the competition, be sure to follow Insider Secrets to a Top 100 Podcast on your favorite podcast app so you never miss a new episode. 

Or if you’re ready to scale your podcast growth and want our proven strategy to help you reach more new listeners and turn those listeners into leads and sales, book a free strategy call with our team to find out if you’re a fit for PodLaunch® — we’re here to help.

Next Up:

Getting on the podcast charts is like ranking on the first page of Google. It's an incredibly powerful way to get found by new listeners, and surprisingly? It's easier than you might think. In the next episode, we'll unpacking why charting is key for discoverability beyond word-of-mouth or organic search, and why it's not out of reach for you even if you're just starting out or have a small audience. So if you’re ready to uncover the five key metrics Apple and Spotify use to rank podcasts (and how you can leverage them to get found by new listeners) don’t miss it!