Session Duration, Timing, and Completion
How session length is set, what drives it, and what marks a session as complete
Signal Sessions don't have a fixed duration — they're driven by the depth of the conversation. Here's how timing works, where it's set, and what it means for your campaign.
Where session length is set
Session length is defined in Event Studio as part of the Signal Event's design — it's not something you configure in the campaign wizard. When you design an event, you set a target duration that tells the AI how much time to spend covering the event's topics.
A shorter target (e.g., 10 minutes) produces a more focused conversation. A longer target (e.g., 25 minutes) allows for deeper exploration of each area.
The event's target duration feeds your campaign's reserved amount, together with your participant count and the rate of $0.50 per minute. The reserve is a ceiling. If sessions run shorter or not every participant completes, the unused portion returns to your prepaid balance. See Previewing Campaign Costs Before Launch for how the reserve is calculated.
What actually drives session length
Sessions end when the AI reaches saturation — when it has gathered sufficient signal on all the topics the event is designed to cover. In practice, this means:
- Talkative participants who go into depth on every topic may finish close to or beyond the target length
- Brief participants who give short answers may finish faster — the AI moves on when it has enough
- The event's design matters: a more complex event with more dimensions will naturally produce longer sessions than a focused single-topic event
Sessions can range from around 5 minutes to 30 minutes or more, depending on the event design and how much the participant shares. The invitation email sent to each participant specifies the expected duration for that session — this is the most accurate guide for participants setting aside time.
What counts as a completed session
A session is marked complete when the AI delivers its closing message after reaching saturation, or when the participant ends it themselves by closing the browser tab or clicking End Session after a real conversation. Both produce a complete session record.
A session abandoned in its first few answers is not complete. It is recorded as abandoned, is not billed, is not scored, and does not count toward the campaign's completion total. The participant's row in the participant list reads "Didn't finish," and their invitation link stays live so they can start a fresh session without an admin reset. Nothing from the abandoned attempt is kept.
Once a session is marked complete it cannot be reopened, even if the participant returns to their invitation link. To give someone another attempt after a complete session, resend a fresh invitation from the campaign's participant list. That starts a new session from the beginning.
Partial sessions and when they're included in insights
If a participant stops early, their responses up to that point are captured and will likely be included in your campaign insights — as long as the AI gathered enough meaningful signal.
There is no minimum time requirement. What matters is whether the participant said enough for the scoring system to find meaningful evidence against the campaign's research dimensions. Roughly a few exchanges of conversation is enough. Insights are built from what was said, not how long the session lasted.
A partial session is excluded from insights only if: - The conversation was too short to score — essentially just a few words - The participant disconnected before any meaningful exchange occurred - The scoring system couldn't find evidence tied to any of the campaign's research dimensions
A campaign report requires at least 5 completed sessions before insights can be generated. Partial sessions that meet the scoring bar count toward this minimum. The floor of five protects participant confidentiality rather than result quality, so it cannot be lowered for a campaign, an event, or an account.
Monitoring duration in your campaign
After your campaign completes, the Reports section shows actual session durations alongside completion counts. If you're consistently seeing sessions end much shorter than your target, it may mean: - The event's scope doesn't require as much time as planned — adjust target length for future campaigns - Participants are giving brief answers — consider adjusting your pre-campaign communication to encourage more depth