The Definitive-ish List of Podcast Growth Tools by Dan Schulz *
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Squint Test
There is one number that tells you if your podcast cover art is actually working. Most podcasters have never looked at it. This page shows you where to find it, what it means, and exactly what to do about it.
June 11, 2026: Spotify changed their analytics dashboard. The old discovery funnel is gone. If you are comparing numbers from before and after that date, you are comparing two different measurements. This page is built for the new dashboard.
Watch: What the Squint Test is and how to use it

What Is Your Number?

Go to creators.spotify.com → Analytics → Discovery → set to Last 90 days. The conversion rate is right there. Enter it below. Do not use Last 30 days. The sample size is too small for most shows to tell you anything real.

%

Where Do You Fall?

I have been tracking my own Spotify conversion rate weekly for over a year. I have watched it move when art changes and stay flat when it does not. Nobody has published real benchmarks for the new metric yet. It only launched June 11, 2026. What I can tell you is the range most working shows appear to fall in based on everything observed across the industry so far. Your number compared to your own history is more useful than your number compared to any fixed target.

0%3%6%10%+
Under 3%
Danger

People are seeing your show and scrolling past. Fix the packaging before anything else.

3–6%
Average

You are in the pack. There is real room to move here and a quarterly test is exactly how you find out how much.

6–10%
Strong

Your art is working. Now run the system and find out what your ceiling actually is.

10%+
Excellent

You have a real competitive advantage here. Keep running the quarterly test. A strong number can always go higher.

Straight talk: These are informed estimates based on patterns across the industry and Spotify's own published data. They are not statistically validated because that dataset does not exist yet for the new metric. The submission form at the bottom of this page is how we build it. The comparison that actually matters is your number this quarter vs. your number last quarter.

This Is Not Opinion. These Are Numbers.

A lot of people will tell you cover art matters. Here is the actual data behind why. Independently published, citable, real research from people who measured it.

62%
Judge by cover art alone

62% of new listeners judge the quality of a podcast solely by its cover art before they ever listen to a single second.

Source: Podcastools, late 2025

35%
Higher CTR for pro artwork

Shows with professional, high-contrast artwork see 35% higher click-through rates in search results.

Source: Podcastools, 2026

20–30%
CTR lift from testing

Most shows enjoy a 20-30% improvement in click-through rate from intentional cover art testing. Some have doubled their CTR.

Source: Audiotiq client data

Five Steps. Once a Quarter.

I have been running this system on my own shows for over a year. It is not complicated. Write down your number. Change the art. Come back in 90 days. That is it. Here is how to do it right.

  1. 01

    Find Your Baseline Number

    Go to creators.spotify.com → Analytics → Discovery. Switch to Last 90 days. Write down the conversion rate. That is your baseline. Write it somewhere you will actually find it in 90 days.

  2. 02

    Screenshot the Shelf

    Open Spotify. Open Apple Podcasts. Search the keyword someone would type to find your show. Screenshot the top results on both. That is the shelf your cover art is sitting on. You cannot know what to change until you see what you are competing against.

  3. 03

    Run the Three Prompts

    Open Claude or whichever AI you have access to that can see images. Upload your Apple screenshot, Spotify screenshot, and current cover art. Run the three prompts below in order, in the same conversation.

    Keep it in one conversation. The AI needs to remember what it found in Prompt 1 when you get to Prompt 3. And remember. The prompts give you ideas to test, not answers to copy.

  4. 04

    Make the New Art and Upload It

    Take the feedback. Work within your constraints. Make the new cover. Upload it to both Spotify and Apple Podcasts on the same day. Write down the date next to the baseline number you wrote in Step 1.

  5. 05

    Set a Calendar Reminder Right Now

    90 days from today. Do it before you close this page. When the reminder goes off, pull your 90-day conversion rate and compare it to the number from Step 1. Up means it worked. Flat or down means you try something different next quarter.

The whole thing in one sentence: Write down your number. Change the art. Set a reminder for 90 days. When it goes off, check if the number went up. That is the system.

The Three Prompts

One conversation. Three prompts. Upload your Apple screenshot, Spotify screenshot, and current cover art at the start. Run them in the same conversation. Do not start a new one between prompts. Claude is the recommendation as of mid-2026. It handles multiple image comparisons and remembers the context better than the alternatives. But use whatever you have access to.

Before you start: Every AI will give you different suggestions. That is fine. They are all opinions. Some will tell you to change things you cannot change. That is what Prompt 2 is for. The number at 90 days is the only thing that tells you who was right.

Prompt 1 of 3

The Audit

Upload all three images first. Then paste this.

I'm going to give you three things: a screenshot of the search results for [your keyword] on Apple Podcasts, a screenshot of the same search on Spotify, and my current cover art.

Please analyze the competitive landscape across both platforms and give me a cover art audit. Think like someone who studies why listeners click on podcasts in search results — not what looks good in a portfolio, but what actually wins the click on a crowded screen at thumbnail size.

Specifically:
  1. Name the dominant visual tribes on these search pages — the repeating patterns that make most covers blur together. Give each one a short name and describe what defines it.
  2. What's actually standing out and why — not what looks nicest, but what the eye actually goes to first.
  3. Where does my cover fall — does it blend in or differentiate, and why specifically?
  4. What are the 3 biggest opportunities to make my cover pop off this screen?
Use short paragraphs. Be direct. Don't hedge.
Prompt 2 of 3

The Constraint Pass

Still in the same conversation. Read the Prompt 1 response first. Then paste this.

Now I need to work within real constraints. Here's what I cannot change:

[List your locked elements — for example: the show name, the typeface, the primary brand colors, the logo treatment]

Go back through your three recommendations from the previous response. For each one, tell me specifically what I can still do to capture that opportunity within what I'm allowed to change. If a recommendation is completely blocked by my constraints, say so and suggest an alternative direction instead.

Be specific. Not "improve the typography" — tell me exactly what to change and what it should look like.
Prompt 3 of 3

The Validation Pass

Upload your new cover art. Still in the same conversation. Paste this before you publish.

Here is my new cover art.

Go back to the original problems you identified in Prompt 1. Does this new design actually solve them — or did I just move the deck chairs around?

Specifically:
  1. Does it break out of the dominant visual tribes you named, or does it still belong to one of them?
  2. On that crowded search results page, would this now be one of the first things the eye lands on?
  3. What, if anything, is still weak that I should fix before publishing?
Be honest. I'd rather hear it now than in 90 days when my conversion rate hasn't moved.

What Your Number Is Telling You

The conversion rate is one blended signal. It cannot tell you exactly where the problem is. But after tracking this for over a year across my own shows, here is what the different ranges consistently point to.

Your RateWhat It SignalsWhere To Focus First
6%+
Your packaging is working well. That means right now is actually the best time to test a new version because you have a strong baseline to beat.
Run the system anyway. A 7% can become a 9%. A 9% can become 12%. You do not know your ceiling until you test it.
3–6%
Average. Your art is not hurting you but there is real room to move and a quarterly test is how you find out how much.
Run the three prompts. Screenshot both platforms. A focused refresh at this level can move the number meaningfully.
1–3%
People are seeing your show and scrolling past. Packaging problem, not a content problem. This is the most urgent thing on your list.
Cover art and title are both suspects. Does your title immediately tell someone what the show is? Does your art look different from everything else on that page?
Under 1%
Your show is getting impressions and almost nobody is engaging. Packaging emergency but it is fixable.
Start with your title. If it does not immediately communicate what the show is and who it is for, no cover art change will fix it. Title first. Then art.

Submit Your Number

Spotify changed this metric on June 11, 2026. No real dataset exists yet for the new system. Submit your 90-day conversion rate anonymously. The more people contribute, the more useful this page becomes for everyone.

Raw data is never published. Only aggregated numbers appear on this page. Spotify URL is optional and used only for show-size segmentation.

What It Does

Every tool in this list solves one problem. One thing. That is it.

The Squint Test solves this one: is your podcast cover art actually converting the people who see it into people who listen?

Spotify gives you a conversion rate in their analytics dashboard. It tells you what percentage of people who saw your show actually engaged with it. Most podcasters have never looked at it. The ones who have usually looked at it once and never went back. This tool gives you a system for tracking that number over time, testing changes to your cover art, and knowing within 90 days whether the change worked.

Why This Matters

62% of new listeners judge a podcast by its cover art before they ever listen to a single second. That is not my opinion. That is published research.

Your cover art is the most viewed and least tested asset in your entire show. It shows up in every search result, every recommendation, every playlist, every browse page. It is the first thing a potential listener sees and the last thing most podcasters think about changing.

The Squint Test gives you a way to stop guessing and start measuring. Change your art, wait 90 days, check the number. That is it. No opinions about what looks good. No arguments about pink versus blue. Just a number that goes up or does not.

How I Got Here

I built this because I got pissed off. I was listening to a podcasting show and someone asked about cover art. The host spent five minutes talking about personal color preferences. "I like pink." "I think blue stands out." Meanwhile I had been tracking my own Spotify conversion rate for months and knew exactly which changes moved the number and which ones did not. So I built a tool that replaces opinions with data. That is what this is.

Where It Fits

There are only three ways to grow a podcast. Get more listeners. Get those listeners to come back more often and listen longer. Make enough money to keep doing it.

The Squint Test sits in that first one. Your cover art is the front door. If people are walking past without stopping, nothing else you do matters until you fix it.

© 2026 Dan Schulz / JenDanCo LLC. All rights reserved.

This tool is free to use. It is not free to copy, redistribute, rebrand, or resell. The frameworks, methodology, and code are the intellectual property of Dan Schulz and Podcast Grow Gears. If you want to share this tool with someone, send them here.