Weekly Active Users (WAU) is a key metric used to measure the number of unique users who interact with a product or service within a seven-day period. It sits between Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU), providing insight into engagement frequency that might be missed when looking only at daily or monthly views.
Why measure Weekly, Daily, and Monthly Active Users?
Understanding user engagement over different timeframes is crucial for assessing product health and growth. DAU, WAU, and MAU collectively help quantify active usage and gauge how consistently users derive value.
Tracking WAU specifically helps product teams understand:
- Regular Engagement Cadence: Is the product used regularly throughout the week, or only on specific days? WAU can reveal patterns DAU might obscure.
- Mid-Term Health: It provides a less volatile measure of engagement than DAU but is more sensitive to short-term changes than MAU.
- Feature Impact: How do weekly usage patterns change after launching new features or campaigns designed for regular use?
Is more weekly usage always better?
Like DAU and MAU, higher WAU isn't universally better without context. The ideal WAU depends on the product's nature and intended use pattern:
- A business intelligence tool used for weekly reporting might aim for high WAU, as weekly interaction signifies core value delivery.
- A daily collaboration tool might focus more on DAU and the DAU/WAU ratio (stickiness), using WAU as a supplementary health metric.
- Infrequently used tools (e.g., quarterly planning software) might have very low WAU but still be highly valuable to their user base.
Defining what constitutes meaningful weekly "active usage" (beyond just logging in) is critical for accurate interpretation.
What is the right level of weekly engagement?
The "right" WAU depends on:
- Product's Intended Cadence: Is it designed for daily tasks, weekly reviews, or less frequent interactions?
- User Goals & Value Proposition: What must a user do weekly to gain significant value?
- Key Weekly Actions: What specific in-app actions signify meaningful weekly engagement relevant to the product's core purpose?
Analyzing WAU trends for specific user segments can also reveal important insights about how different groups engage over a week.
What are alternatives or complements to WAU, DAU, and MAU?
WAU provides a mid-range view of engagement. It's often analyzed with other metrics for a fuller picture:
- Stickiness Ratios (DAU/WAU, WAU/MAU): The DAU/WAU ratio shows what percentage of weekly users engage daily. The WAU/MAU ratio shows what percentage of monthly users engage weekly. These ratios provide deeper insights into the consistency of engagement.
- User Retention Rate: Measures the percentage of users who remain active week-over-week or month-over-month.
- Feature Adoption Rate: Tracks engagement with specific product features over time.
How can Quackback help measure active usage?
Quackback's analytics suite allows you to track WAU alongside DAU, MAU, retention rates, and feature adoption. You can define what constitutes an "active" user based on specific events or actions within your product, enabling you to measure engagement accurately and understand how users interact with your application over daily, weekly, and monthly periods to make informed product decisions.