Average Session Duration
Date created: Oct 12, 2022 • Last updated: Oct 12, 2022
What is Average Session Duration?
Average Session Duration measures the average amount of time spent per session on your website. It is calculated by dividing total time spent across sessions by the total number of sessions.
Average Session Duration Formula
How to calculate Average Session Duration
A website gets 10,000 sessions in a month. All together, these sessions add up to a total session duration of 400 hours, or 24,000 minutes, in that same month. Therefore, for that month, the Average Session Duration is 2.4 minutes.
Start tracking your Average Session Duration data
Use Klipfolio PowerMetrics, our free analytics tool, to monitor your data. Choose one of the following available services to start tracking your Average Session Duration instantly.
What is a good Average Session Duration benchmark?
A good Average Session Duration benchmark ranges between 2-4 minutes, based on Google Analytics benchmarking. Segmented by device type, the average application screen time is 4 minutes, 24 seconds on mobile, and 6 minutes, 38 seconds on tablet, according to Contentsquare's 2021 digital benchmark report.
Average Session Duration benchmarks
How to visualize Average Session Duration?
Depending on the insight you're trying to extract from your Average Session Duration data, two data visualizations could potentially fit your needs. If you're trying to find changes in trends over time, use a line chart to visualize Average Session Duration. You can segment this further to identify specific pages on your website that have a higher Average Session Duration. On the other hand, a summary chart is best if you're trying to measure improvements in performance.
Average Session Duration visualization examples
Average Session Duration
Line Chart
Summary Chart
Average Session Duration
Chart
Measuring Average Session DurationMore about Average Session Duration
A session is defined as a period of activity on a website that starts when a user enters the website and ends with either inactivity or exiting the website. The more time a user spends on your website, the higher are the possibilities for them to return, sign up, purchase a product, and generally develop a relationship with a business.
By tracking the Average Session Duration, you gain the ability to understand, on average, how much time people are spending on the content across your website. If this number is on the lower side, it may indicate that your website or content is not interesting or difficult to use. In general, several benchmark studies agree that the average session lasts between 2 – 4 minutes. Pages that exceed 2 – 4 minute Average Session Duration likely provide exceptional value to the reader, either in the form of valuable content or information highly relevant to the reader.
Individual session duration is calculated differently from Average Session Duration. While Average Session Duration is calculated as total session duration by number of sessions, individual sessions are recorded based on engagement hits. An engagement hit is essentially an event you track that has been triggered. For example, say you track video starts as an event. The individual session is started only when a user plays a video for the first time. If there are no engagement hits that take place during the entire session, individual session duration is calculated based on (non-interaction) hits instead.
Average Session Duration Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Average Time on Page and Average Session Duration?
Average Time on Page measures the average duration of time spent on a specific web page or group of web pages on your website, whereas Average Session Duration measures the average duration of all sessions on your website, which can consist of multiple web pages. Read more about the differences between Average Time on Page vs Average Session Duration.
Recommended resources related to Average Session Duration
Hubspot provides insight into dwell-time and Session Duration benchmarks.Metric Toolkit
Start tracking your Average Session Duration data
Use Klipfolio PowerMetrics, our free analytics tool, to monitor your data. Choose one of the following available services to start tracking your Average Session Duration instantly.
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