What is Session Recording?
Session recording is an out-of-the-box way to analyze a website’s performance by tracking the user behavior on the website. For example, when a user uses a website, certain factors can be tracked with a session replay tool.
Some of the primary aspects that a session recording tool analyzes are taps, scroll depth, mouse movements, pages, clicks, searches, user movements, keyboard strokes, etc.
Based on the precise analysis of them, user interactions can be studied for better comprehension of user behavior. Certain session recording tools can help you speed up the video playback. speed for faster analysis.
Based on the user sessions, you can get answers to several questions, such as
- The time for which the user interacted with the website.
- The number of pages the user viewed
- The places where the user clicked or clicked multiple times.
- How far does the user scroll the page?
- The usability issues of the page
- What page elements catch the user’s attention?
Depending on the analysis, businesses can invest in the design and development of the website to garner more leads and boost user experience.
Do you know?
The credibility of a business is significantly dependent on its design. As per stats, 48% of people decide a brand’s credibility from its website design.
A good website design can only be obtained after studying user behavior. Let me highlight some primary benefits of user session recording.
Unravelling The Benefits of Session or Visitor Recording Tool
A session recording tool is a dedicated software that businesses can use to track customer interactions on their website. The website recording software is an exceptional tool for understanding how users use your website, what issues they face, and how long they interact with the website.
Certain features of a session recording tool help in visualizing user activity and further take relevant actions to boost UX.
- Live heatmaps
- Mouse movement map
- Scroll map
- Analytics
- Conversion funnel optimization
- Form analysis and optimization
- AI insights
- Site error detection
The use of these features in the recording tool helps cater to several benefits to the business, such as,
- Better user experience
It is well established that the more you invest in UX, the higher your business benefits will be. As per stats, every $1 invested in user experience yields $100. With the use of a website session recording tool, you can easily estimate the issues of the websites, such as which button or area of the website is non-responsive, i.e., the one with multiple rage clicks.
Further, you can see how interactive your website is based on how far the user scrolls. Make sure that you make a note of these aspects, as they can help you deal with website bugs and errors faster. Thereby promising a better user experience.
Learn about setting UX goals and how to achieve them!
- Higher conversion rate
In the case of an ecommerce website, a session recording tool can be of great use. For example, a heatmap analysis can help you understand which area of your website is scrolled or clicked on more. If the user clicks on a payment method but it is not working, the heatmap will indicate the same.
With heatmap analysis, you can estimate the area of interest and disinterest that further helps in optimizing the conversion path and call-to-action placements. Conversion rate optimization is the best utility of website visitor recording tools.
- Interpret user behavior
As well established, the primary application of a website recording tool is to understand user behavior. With the use of several parameters like heatmaps, mouse movements, pages, clicks, searches, user movements, rage taps, etc., it becomes easier to see exactly how users navigate and where their preferences lie.
- Identify issues in the website
There could be many unseen or unnoticed issues on your website that might hamper your user experience. For example, your new payment method may not be working, some of your software plans might not be attractive, users may not navigate a part of your website, etc.
These issues can only be addressed once you know about them. A visitor recording tool can track user navigation, enabling you to make changes to convert more customers.
- Better presentation of the data
With a website visitor recording tool, it is easier to visualize and analyze data. Thanks to the customizable and unlimited availability of dashboards, recording, or replay tools like Hotjar, contentsquare, Qwary session replay, etc., enabling you to visualize data is the best way.
Top 5 Website Visitor Recording Tool in 2024
I believe we all are on the same page with respect to the session recording tool. If yes, then it's time to discover the best session recording tools available. Make sure you carefully study their features, pros, and cons before choosing one.
The first one on the list is the one that I will recommend to you. While I may seem a bit biased here, I truly like the Qwary session replay tool. It integrates several unique features that help in accurately tracing and visualizing the entire user experience based on their unique characteristics and the specific actions from the beginning till the end.
The tool enables you to record website visitors and study their interactions for errors, rage-clicking, abrupt reversals, etc., which further enables you to troubleshoot the problems.
Here are some primary features of the tool!
- Filtering features: Ease the analysis process with the help of filtering features. You can filter out the recordings based on multiple aspects, including time frame, campaign, user segment, and other user characteristics.
- Error identification: I personally like this feature where you can see where the users clicked the most continuously, i.e., rage-clicking. Along with rage clicks, other errors and u-turns during the sessions can also be detected.
- Privacy features: Qwary ensures supreme privacy of your customer’s personal data by establishing data security features and complying with GDPR, CCPA, EU-US Privacy Shield, etc.
- Analytics: Qwary provides you the utility to uncover insights via interactive dashboards with data from multiple sources. You can also monitor and compare traffic interactions between normal and paid ad traffic.
- Heap by Contentsquare
I ranked this tool at number 2 as it puts up with the competition. For example, it has this feature that I like the most: summarizing key events. It summarizes th key events of the session that you can easily jump to and analyze rather than watching the entire video.
Furthermore, the best session replay software allows you to anonymously record the visitor session to understand aspects like where the user got stuck, what the user clicks, and by what path they convert.
Features
- Error alert: Get real-time updates about the errors happening in the user sessions so that you can identify and plan a fix.
- Privacy-first approach: The software ensures absolute privacy for the users, as each of the sessions is recorded anonymously, ensuring zero loss of data.
- Zone-based heatmaps: With the live zoning extension of the tool, you can analyze heatmaps live or within the platform. You can also share these heatmaps with your team members and stakeholders for analysis.
- Impact quantification: This feature provides you with a more granular view. Based on the errors witnessed by the users, you can easily quantify the impact on business metric, such as site and app performance, conversion rates, and revenue.
- Form analysis: The form analysis feature enables you to boost conversions by comprehending aspects like the friction elements in the form, where the users struggle, etc. The zoning technology of the tool further helps in capturing form-field interactions automatically.
Ideal for digital marketers, UX designers, and product managers, SmartLook is one of the unique and best session replay software. The best thing about the software is that it is an always-on tool that records every single user interaction, no matter its duration.
Besides, the tool offers automatic event tracking that allows you to see what users complete and what actions. Further, you can also set the recording output quality. This helps make effective use of your business infrastructure.
Features
- Privacy first: The tool ensures optimum security and use of customer data by staying compliant with the GDPR guidelines.
- Multiple filters: Keep your hassle to a minimum by using several types of filters for session recording. These filters are recording-related filters like visited URL, duration, location-based filters, event-based filters, etc.
- Sharing: SmartLook requires you to make one tap and boom; your recordings are shared with the other team members and stakeholders.
- Heatmaps: Heatmaps can help you discover key areas of the website or app faster. Moreover, you can also figure out where the users click, unclickable elements, etc.
- Crash reports: The crash report feature enables you to see where the crash happened and which user triggered it, helping them to fix the crash easily.
Among Hotjar's best features is its privacy feature. Known as the best session replay software, Hotjar ensures supreme security and privacy of user data by staying compliant with GDPR, PCI-DSS, CCPA, LGPD, and EU-US Privacy Shield laws.
Furthermore, the tool enables business owners to capture valuable insights through multiple tabs and windows. The user interface is super friendly and allows faster access to everything valuable and informative. With Hotjar, never miss an insight and comprehend how different users interact with the website via multiple filters.
Features
- Filter-based analysis: Know how different elements interact with the website by using different filters, including user behavior and actions, errors, referrals, user attributes, feedback, etc.
- Heatmaps: Get a more exhaustive view of the user activity on different web pages in one diagram. Furthermore, validate the issue, if any, and plan for counteracting measures.
- Sorting of valuable recordings: A unique aspect of Hotjar is the sorting features. With unlimited recordings to be viewed, Hotjar reduces the number based on users' engagement and frustration scores.
- Console tracking: The console tracking feature allows you to find out when the error happens and what user actions are triggering the error. With this data-driven utility, you can comprehend the impact of errors on the UX.
One of the most remarkable website tracking and the best session replay software is Mouseflow. The name itself suggests that it monitors user behavior and interactions based on multiple factors, including scrolls, clicks, and mouse movements.
The good thing about this tool is that it allows you to see retroactive recordings where you can easily analyze where the user left and what led them to stay through the journey. If you have multiple forms on your website, then MouseFlow can be of great use. The tool allows you to see the user’s interaction with the forms and what form triggers the user to leave or convert.
Features
- Recording filtration: One of the key features of Mouseflow is that the tool allows you to filter the recordings based on aspects like traffic sources and user type.
- Friction Score: This innovative score is a parameter used by Mouseflow to average out user satisfaction. If it is above a certain level, it alerts you to make changes to your website.
- Privacy features: Just like other software, Mouseflow ensures absolute and robust security of user data by complying with laws and regulations set by GDPR and CCPA.
- Heatmaps: With the use of heatmaps in Mouseflow, you can easily analyze the behavior of multiple users on your website on a single screen.
Besides these tools, there are many other tools that you can use, such as Lucky Orange, Fullstory, Crazy Egg, etc.
How to Choose the Best Website Visitor Recording Tool?
The battle is not yet over after you record user and do the analysis in the tool. As the tool is a critical element of the entire process, you need to take special care when choosing it. So, here are the factors you need to consider when choosing the best session replay software.
- Recording quality
High video quality is necessary for properly understanding the video and its contents, especially analytics, diagrams, and visitor data. Therefore, ensure that whenever you are making a choice, choose the tool that provides better quality recordings while keeping your business infrastructure in mind.
- Pricing
The pricing is the aspect that can keep you pondering. The best way to deal with this is to choose the software based on the required features. Moreover, choose a premium or high-priced version only if the add-on features are required and the price is satisfactory. Hotjar is expensive, but Qwary is cost-effective.
- Compatibility
There will be multiple tools that you have to use with the session replay software. Furthermore, there will be devices too. Therefore, make sure that you choose software that supports these external tools and devices for smoother operations.
- Ease of use
Always aim for session recording software that is easy to set up, use, and maintain.
- Aspects counted
While almost all tools have the same number of aspects that they count, such as movement, keyboard strokes, scrolls, etc., every tool has something unique. Keep an eye on these unique features before making your choice. For example, MouseFlow has a unique feature named friction score.
- Bug identification
Lastly, go for tools that offer bug-identification features. There are several tools, like Contentsquare, Fullsession, Fullstory, etc., that offer detailed bug reports.
Conclusion
Whether you are a marketer, user research analyst, UX designer, or product manager, a session recording software is the best investment for you. It helps you precisely analyze user behavior and interactions with your website.
With a plethora of features, a session recording tool can help you know what issues your users are facing, your website errors, your website strength, and more. However, as the choices are many, it can be tough to put a finger on one tool.
As per my analysis, almost every tool on the list is good, but if you are looking for a balance of features, utility, price, and other critical aspects, Qwary session replay is the perfect pick for you. So, don't wait anymore.
Get Qwary and get started!
FAQs
- What is the best website to record?
There are several choices when it comes down to recording the visitor, such as Heap by Contentsquare, Hotjar, Qwary session replay, Mouseflow, and more.
- What is session recording on a website?
Session recording is a qualitative research method where you can monitor and analyze the interactions of a user on your website. The analysis can be done based on the clicks, mouse movements, scrolls, keyboard strokes, etc.
