Session replays are basically video recordings of user interactions on your site. With them, you can get an insight into user behavior, and by analyzing them you can optimize your conversion rate and focus on user retention.
In this article, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know from the fundamentals to the advanced applications of session replays.
What is a session?
A session is a period devoted to a particular activity – according to the definition found in the Oxford Languages Dictionary. In the case of session replays, we define a session as one user’s browsing activity on a chosen website in a given timeframe. The majority of analytical tools, like Capturly, offer a limited time for recordings that are usually 30 minutes long.
Example: Your potential visitor looks up a query on Google, and on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) there is a result that directs traffic to your site. The page session starts when a user arrives at your website – in this case, she or he clicked on the result pointing to our page – and a potential visitor becomes an actual visitor. The website user reads some texts and clicks on some links, so interacts with the website. After 30 minutes – and the first session – expired, the visitor becomes active again (e.g. browses more content, purchases a product). This will count as a second session.
What is a session replay (or a session recording)?
Session replay, which is often called session recording, is a method of analytics that helps with the study of user behavior on a website. It doesn’t only record the clicks of the users, it also shows their mouse movements. All in all, it records every single action on your website, so it’s like a video-recorded version of the user journey. It’s like sitting behind the user and observing how they behave, and what they look for.
With this tool, you can track the whole browsing session of each user separately. In this way, you can learn more about user behavior on your website. Session replay reveals the strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of user-friendliness, and is able to track the changes on your website after implementing a new feature. You can also filter the data by URL, date, or events. Last but not least, session replay is completely anonymous and corresponds to the GDPR rules.
What are session replays used for?
Session replays are used for tracking the users’ interactions in the browsing session on a website. They are good for seeing all the mouse movements of one user. By doing that, you can understand the reasons behind the statistical data.
Session replays can reveal lots of UX problems and help find the best solution for them. You can also understand how your visitors use your online products and learn the reasons why some parts of the website do not catch the users’ attention that much. Also, there might be some barriers that users come across while browsing, therefore they don’t reach the needed information. To give some examples, session replays can be helpful by reducing the rate of abandoned shopping carts, optimizing the conversion rate, or reproducing the bugs. By using session replay, you can get more detailed information about user behavior and fix some common issues.
What can session replays show?
Session replays show all the interactions on a website, like mouse movements, clicks, scrolls, and keyboard strokes. Altogether, it shows all the interactions that give you further information about user behavior. You can narrow down your research to specific URLs, events, operating systems, or browsers by using filtering options.
How do session replays work?
Session replays record all the actions that users perform on your website that are called ‘events’. By using session replay, you can get the answers to questions like ‘How long do users stay on the website?’, ‘What did they click on?’ or ‘How did they use their keyboard?’. Imagine that you are sitting next to your user and observing all the browsing sessions done on your website. Session replays do exactly the same.
Choose a subscription pack for Capturly session replays, that contains a monthly limit for recordings. After adding the tracking code, Capturly session replays record those sessions automatically while sampling the website’s traffic. Basically, Capturly session replays work based on those samplings, but only some subscriptions are valid for 100% of the traffic. It means that you will be able to record all the interactions. In case of some subscription packages, the number of session replays can be extended flexibly.
What are the purposes of session replays?
Session replays are basically used if someone would like to discover the reasons for some statistical data. For example, if a call to action doesn’t get enough clicks, session replays help to study the user’s movements to learn what detracts their attention. It also reveals user experience problems, like where users get stuck. Some parts of the website might be not as clear for the users as they seem to be for you. Besides that, it helps you discover bugs and issues that are on the website. If the issue appears on a certain device or browser, you can easily replicate it by rewatching the session recordings. For these reasons, session replays are useful not only for the IT developers but also for customer support.
Can I use session replays on e-commerce stores?
Since user-friendliness is a key to success for e-commerce stores, session replays are welcomed and highly recommended for the study of them. As in the case of regular websites, session replays can reveal technical and UX issues during the analytics of e-commerce websites too. You’ll be able to understand the ‘Why?’ behind the numbers.
For example, if sales are decreasing, with session replays you can confirm whether all the related functions work well or not. Check the scrolls to learn whether the users are comfortable with the page lengths or not. If you notice that they don’t scroll through the whole page on the webshop, it’s better to separate products into more tabs. You can also use session replays for improving customer support. If session replays show that users get stuck at some point in the purchasing session, insert some additional instructions.
Are session replays also for small businesses?
Session replays are recommended for each type of business that runs a website. It doesn’t depend on what’s the profile of the business or how big it is, it’s useful to learn the habits of the users. By getting to know the users’ behavior, you can rearrange your website to meet your customers’ needs. It’s crucial to adapt your website according to the wishes of your target group since in this way their user experience gets better.
In the case of small businesses, it’s easier to identify a target group. Since the product range is not too wide, it determines the group of customers and session replays help you to serve your target groups’ needs. Other than that, it’s also important for small businesses too, to reveal the bugs and UX issues that might disturb the users and limit their experience. Constant monitoring allows you to react swiftly to the special requests of the users.