Applause is nice. A regular who comes back every week is better.

Clapping measures one moment. Somebody choosing to come back measures everything they could not see from the front row: whether you were as good the second time, whether the place felt right, whether you remembered them. One is a reaction, the other is a decision made again and again. That makes returning the harder compliment to earn and the more useful one to notice.

Pick something you do regularly and look for your returners. If you work a counter, notice who asks for you by name; if you post something, notice who reads the next one. Those are the numbers worth watching.