A session replay shows the customer’s behaviors as they begin to use a product or service in detail. They provide a comprehensive video format for the organization to observe, which captures all of the consumer interactions during their journey to use the product in great detail. It brings together all of the deterministic metrics and assists businesses in connecting the dots. It aids in the elicitation of a full picture of the user.
Table of Contents
The benefits of Session Replay
Because users are the most important customers of a service or product, businesses must learn what they like and dislike. In this case, session recordings can help provide valuable qualitative data regarding consumers’ usage behaviors.
A session recording allows you to explore the “why” aspect of the problem, while web analytics tools and measurements help you to visualize the “what” part of the problem.
In a word, session replays give firms an “over the shoulder” look at user behavior that they need to develop faultless user experiences, bringing business and IT together with a single source of digital truth. A session recording should not be mistaken with just capturing browsing sessions or video recordings of what the consumer does.
Session Replay’s Most Important Uses
Business difficulties were very different a hundred years ago than they are today. All of the products were physical, and the services centered around those few items. The only way ahead was through human connection and collaborative problem-solving.
Problem-solving has gotten easier in today’s digital age, yet in-person human interaction has declined dramatically. The ongoing COVID-19 trouble has worsened the matter significantly.
The majority of products and services, on the other hand, are now digital. As a result, the identification of the problem and its proper resolution can sometimes be lost in translation. A session replay allows service providers to gain a real-time perspective of a customer’s product/service usage, as well as any issues that may arise.
The massive volume of data makes it possible for businesses to gain extremely useful insights that would otherwise be impossible. As a result, problems are targeted and resolved quickly, and a seamless experience is enabled, resulting in increased customer loyalty.
Which business problems could be solved using Session Replay?
Like every other online analytics tool, session recording tools strive to resolve real-world business challenges.
Let’s have a look at a few of them.
1. Fix product flaws
The internet can be accessed through a variety of devices. Each device has its own set of characteristics and options, such as the operating system, default browser, screen size, and resolutions.
As a result, when a person tries to visit your website but is unable to do so, the reason could be due to a variety of factors. Drilling down and determining the cause, on the other hand, can take a long time. Trying to reproduce the mistake naively can cost your development team valuable time.
Session replay technologies linked to user sessions, as well as project management platforms such as JIRA and FigPii, assist record the whole view and logging a bug for the precise problem the user encountered in real-time. The development team may enable problem solutions in a targeted manner by detecting the issue early on, saving time.
2. Improve Your Conversion Rates
Sales are the lifeblood of any business, and today, regardless of industry, they rely heavily on company websites. Marketers and designers are continuously looking for methods to improve website conversion rates.
CTR declines, CTA methods fail, and landing pages are only a few of the significant issues. As a business CEO, you can see which aspects are going your way and which aren’t, but it’s difficult to determine “how.”
Session replays resolve this problem by displaying the exact user path as soon as they begin engaging with your website. You may view what’s going on throughout your entire website or on individual pages. It assists you in strategizing by allowing you to make well-informed selections.
3. More efficient customer service
Customer service representatives operate in one of the most fast-paced industries. Furthermore, customers may submit bugs-related complaints without being explicit, which does not reveal anything about the issue.
“The tool is not working,” without further explanation, is a classic example. Your clients simply want to have a pleasant time on your website, without having to worry about bugs or other concerns. And you want to provide it to them.
But how can you do that if you can’t see what they’re talking about on social media? It’s difficult to stay calm, analyze the situation, and solve difficulties under duress, especially when there are dozens of people waiting in line with questions.
Within this commotion, it’s easy to lose one’s mind. Session replays assist in recreating the customer’s identical problem statement, directing the executive to the root, and providing targeted remedies in minutes. You may peek directly into the eyes of your consumers with session recording programs and improve the experience of viewing it for yourself.
It gives you complete control and knowledge of every call, allowing you to make quick decisions!
4. Resolve any issues with the user interface
It’s one thing to understand how a clock works; it’s quite another to do so with digital devices. Little is obvious about the interface without close observation or actual use of the product.
As a result, seeing potential stumbling blocks may appear impossible.
However, in order to fix problems, developers, UI designers, and marketers must do just that. Session replays enable users to reproduce their environments when using the product and can reveal potential problem areas that need to be addressed.
Even during customer enrollment on a specific firm platform, problems can arise. Clients may encounter challenges, navigational difficulties, or a non-intuitive user interface. This may result in contract non-renewal at the end of the licensing period.
If this occurs, the company’s bottom line will suffer. To avoid this, session replays can be used to identify regions where users lose interest or have problems navigating the UI right away.
5. Determine the sources of user dissatisfaction.
Your consumer will not use your product unless they are pleased with it and find it simple to use. Apart from missing out on prospective sales chances as a result of recommendations, you’re also likely to lose your current customer.
User dissatisfaction can lead to a loss of interest in your software, as well as decreased usage and, eventually, abandonment. As a result, it’s smart business to figure out when and where a consumer is frustrated.
Fortunately, session replay technologies can detect signs of frustration.
Some of them can also run thorough analytics and even spot patterns of a cart or form rejection. Companies can take early corrective action by noticing these indicators.
6. Recognize illicit activities
A data breach will cost $3.86 million on average by 2020. According to the IBM survey, it takes an average of 207 days to find one. These are substantial figures!
As a result, the repercussions of a cybersecurity breach are terrifying.
Many session replay technologies can aid in the detection of harmful activity such as SQL injection, URL assaults, and cross-site scripting.
Tools can help find such situations by reviewing pre-recorded sessions and ringing the alarm bell for the organization to take urgent corrective action.
7. Client Interactions And Dynamic Web Application States
Upgrading the usability of a website does not only imply improving specific pages or the entire site. It also entails recognizing user behavior patterns in a variety of dynamic internet application states, such as pop-up windows, drop-down boxes, and pages that need continual scrolling, among other things.
Enhancing these areas is one approach to encouraging potential customers to visit your website more frequently. It means you’ll have several opportunities to wow them and keep them as customers.
As a business, you must always be on the search for ways to improve and redesign your consumer experience. Customers must be prioritized, and business concerns must be resolved. This boosts your company’s bottom line, which in turn helps it survive.
8. Avoid being aware of your own biases.
Quantitative measures of websites have never been easier thanks to modern digital breakthroughs. On the opposite, there are few approaches for qualitative research, with session replays being one of the most efficient.
Companies that delegate user testing to their own developers are prone to awareness bias, often known as the “Hawthorne Effect.” It’s also expensive and time-consuming.
Session replays remove all of these complexities, allowing businesses to collect vital, real-time data regarding how an existing customer feels and the issues they confront when using their product. They directly record all user data, allowing businesses to perform integrated data analysis, which is critical for detecting hidden signals.
Finally, it enables businesses to design and create the proper products based on client demands and desires, giving them a competitive edge in the industry.
Session Replay Tools to Observe
Session replay tools aren’t exactly new on the internet. They’ve been there for a long time, and with technological improvements, it’s now easier than ever to track user interactions on your website.
There is a plethora of these instruments available, many of them are inexpensive. They contain a lot of features and may be utilized for a wide range of applications.
With the rise of online purchasing, more businesses are seeing the value of enhancing their consumer experience. While analytics can provide valuable qualitative information about user activities and interactions with your website, it is frequently insufficient to turn these data into actionable insights.
What to Look for When Choosing a Session Replay Tool
Session replays are used to discover and solve problems in a variety of sectors. Its applications cover a wide range of industries and can be customized in a variety of ways.
While the particular qualities that organizations seek in this tool are specific to the industry in question, some of them are useful across industries.
Let’s have a look at some of the things to look for when selecting a session replay software solution.
Filtering the session
A session replay tool records numerous sessions from different user paths. When analyzers sit down to break that down, the very first thing they search for is a good filter that will allow them to find the sessions that are relevant to them.
While filtering isn’t available in every application, it’s a must-have function, especially if you have a lot of sessions.
Performance
The majority of session replay solutions are high-tech and include the most up-to-date proprietary software. This is used in the tool’s backend to collect data about the website or application. The website’s speed will vary depending on the software.
As a result, selecting a high-performance, quick-loading tool like Capturly makes sense.
The majority of session replay solutions are high-tech and include the most up-to-date proprietary software. This is used in the tool’s backend to collect data about the website or application. The website’s speed will vary depending on the software.
As a result, selecting a high-performance, quick-loading tool like Capturly makes sense.
Data Storage
The technologies accumulate a large amount of data over time. The more data there is, the more in-depth the insights become. The true issue is keeping them for a long time. While some technologies, such as Dynatrace, save data for years, others just store it for hours, days, weeks, or months. Select a tool whose data retention policy corresponds to your needs.
Using Caching
A caching function aids in the browser-centric storage of prior search requests and results. This reduces the time it takes for future requests to load. While some session replay tools store assets such as pictures, CSS, and HTML, the majority of them do not. This is a crucial factor to consider while selecting the proper instrument.
Analysis of Forms
Businesses must understand why customers leave their websites or do not renew their subscriptions. It is a feature targeted at customer retention that assists them in taking prompt corrective measures. For example, Capturly has a fantastic form analytics feature that can assist businesses in determining the reason for abandonment.
The Size of the Sample
Most tools record all of a user’s sessions. Some, on the other hand, only take a small portion of the total. While this is a fantastic approach to save memory, it does require some luck.
If the session you’re looking for isn’t included in the sampling set, you’ll be disappointed. The use of sampling tools can limit its utility. It makes sense if you’re engaged in a small project with a limited budget. If the project is large, however, a program that captures whole sessions, such as Capturly, should be used.
User-Friendliness
Your programmers should be able to quickly learn how to use the session replay tool and accept it as a necessary component of your consumer research process.
Your staff will despise a tool with a big learning curve, just as your customers would not use a software application that is not intuitive. As a result, when selecting a product for your engineers, make sure it is user-friendly and simple to use. Before making a purchase, do some research on the tools because it is a one-time investment that will cost money if it is scrapped due to difficulty in handling.
Pricing Strategies
Pricing is always a deciding element in picking the correct tool, regardless of how big your company is or how essential the project is. The cost of session replay software varies depending on parameters such as data retention, the capacity to capture visuals and animation, sampling, language options, and more.
However, if you want additional features and facets, you should upgrade to a subscription plan.
Summary
One of the most useful tools for learning about how users interact with your website is session replay.
It’s more powerful and easier to set up and record than user testing. You may thank modern-day session replay technologies for that, to be honest. This article will teach you everything you need to know about the session replay tools (and more). You now have a much better understanding of the word, why it’s useful, the finest session replay tools, and how the whole thing works.
Hopefully, you found our Session Replay Guide to be interesting (and useful) read, and you will return to it as you consider whether or not Session Replay is the appropriate fit for your business intelligence system.
If you intend to use session replay technology in your organization, study all of the session recording software mentioned making your job easier. Start your new year right and utilize this powerful tool for your business!