🚀 Duolingo has it. Venmo has it. Even Slack has it. Your product doesn't.

Before we begin, some of my more astute readers have already noticed that I didn’t send out a newsletter last week. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget! I’m moving Out of Scope to a once every two-week release cadence for the time being. This will ensure that I have the time to deliver you only the best content (on the internet?!). 

Ever heard the Slack ping in a commercial and felt your heart race? Or the Netflix “ta-dum” and gotten instantly excited? Your product is not only what users see, but also what they hear. Sound is a product lever—not just a garnish—for guiding behavior and confirming state, so you need to treat it with the same rigor as your UI.

Three Ways to Use Sound in Your Product

1. Guide User Behavior

Sounds can be used to pace a flow, set context, or gently push the next action.

I became interested in using sound as a feature when I joined a Slack huddle before the other participants arrived. After a minute, this lovely lo-fi jazz lounge music started playing, and I was bopping along to it, secretly hoping that no one else would show. The music works brilliantly as a feedback mechanism—it lets you know the call is working and that you're the only one there. (Fun fact: It uses the music produced for Glitch, the original game the Slack team built before pivoting to Slack.)

Duolingo does this brilliantly as well. As I progress through my chess lessons (which, much to Duo's dismay, I am not doing very consistently), a "bouncy chime" plays every time I get an answer right. It's a micro-reward that reinforces learning and fuels the "one more card" loop. They even blended this chime into an absolutely wild Super Bowl spot to hit the same reward center.

On the flip side, Duolingo doesn't shy away from failure sounds either. Get an answer wrong, and you hear a deflated, descending tone. The sound is just discouraging enough to make you want to get the next one right, but not so harsh that it induces anxiety. It's the audio equivalent of a gentle head shake.

Insight Timer uses soft bells to begin and end timed sessions, and allows you to add interval bells throughout to pace your meditation. But here's where it gets interesting: Insight Timer has leaned heavily into the power of these bells by letting users customize them (from traditional Tibetan singing bowls to softer chimes). They've even made advanced customization a premium feature, letting you create presets with specific bells for different meditation types.

2. Confirm State Changes

Sound can also be used to provide immediate feedback that something just happened, whether that's success, failure, or a new notification demanding attention.

Venmo nailed this with their cash register "cha-ching" sound when money hits your account. That sound triggers the same dopamine hit as finding $20 in your jacket pocket—instant satisfaction. It works alongside the UI and haptics to make it unmistakably clear that the transaction succeeded.

The most common use case for state changes? Notifications. This is where products can go wrong. Slack's default knock-brush ping alerts you to every incoming message, and after years of conditioning, that sound now triggers an immediate cortisol spike in an entire generation of workers. 

The problem is that the same sharp ping fires for your CEO's urgent question and your coworker's lunch poll. Users become numb to it, or worse, anxious about it. The fix isn't "no sound". It's creating a sound hierarchy where high-priority messages get a distinct, attention-grabbing sound and low-priority messages get something softer (or nothing at all).

3. Build Brand Identity

Sound can become your brand signature. A “sonic logo” that primes users for what's coming next. HBO's dramatic static whoosh before Sunday night premieres didn't just signal the start of Game of Thrones; it became synonymous with prestige television. EA Sports turned "IT'S IN THE GAME" into a rallying cry that gamers can recite in their sleep. For product teams, this means thinking beyond individual feature sounds and asking: Is there a signature sound that could represent your brand's core experience?

The Sound Design Hall of Shame

Google Meet makes a classic mistake. The product uses the same sound for two completely different actions—when someone raises their hand and when someone sends a chat message—and it's infuriating. Picture this: you're presenting to your team, you hear the chime, and you pause, thinking someone has a question. Nope. Turns out your coworkers are just trading memes in the chat. When your sound design creates confusion instead of clarity, something's gone wrong.

The principle: Use distinct sounds for distinct priorities. If everything has the same sound, nothing has meaning.

Your Implementation Playbook

Most PMs never think about sound. So let's start simple:

Step 1: Audit what you've got. Open your product and listen. What sounds does it make? When? Write them down. You'll likely find either no sounds at all or a random collection nobody consciously designed.

Step 2: Ask "What deserves sound?" Not everything needs audio. Identify what matters most: completed actions, urgent alerts, delightful moments.

Step 3: Match the sound to the feeling. What emotion should this create? Successful payment = satisfying (Venmo's "cha-ching"). Urgent alert = attention-grabbing (Slack’s ping). Progress = soothing (Insight Timer’s bells).

Step 4: Make distinct sounds for distinct things. If you're adding multiple sounds, make sure users can tell them apart. High-priority gets sharp and clear. Low-priority gets soft or nothing at all.

Step 5: Test with real humans. Play the sounds for your team. Do they match expectations? Do they annoy people after the 10th time? The only way to know if a sound works is to actually use it.

Bottom Line

Sound design isn't about making your product louder. It's about making it clearer. The right sound at the right moment can guide users, confirm their actions, and even become part of your brand identity. The wrong sound? That's how you end up like Slack, training an entire generation to flinch every time they hear a ping.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go mute Slack. Again.

Reply to this email with examples of product sounds that either delight you or drive you crazy!

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