Session replay is the ability to replay a visitor's journey on a
web site
A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, ...
or within a
mobile application
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
or
web application
A web application (or web app) is application software that is created with web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to dynamically build a response to the request, ...
. Replay can include the user's view (browser or screen output), user input (
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mus ...
and
mouse inputs), and
logs of network events or console logs. Session replay is supposed to help improve
customer experience
Customer experience, sometimes abbreviated to CX, is the totality of cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral responses of a customer during all stages of the consumption process including pre-purchase, consumption, and post-purchase st ...
and help identify obstacles in conversion processes on websites. However, it can also be used to study a website's
usability
Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a softw ...
,
customer behavior
Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and all activities associated with the Purchasing, purchase, Utility, use and disposal of goods and services. It encompasses how the consumer's emotions, Attitude (psy ...
, and the handling of
customer service
Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those who buy or use its products or services, either in person or remotely. Customer service is often practiced in a way that reflects the strategies and values of a firm, and ...
questions as the customer journey, with all interactions, can be replayed. Some organizations also use this capability to analyse fraudulent behavior on websites.
Some solutions augment the session replay with advanced analytics that can identify segments of customers that are struggling to use the website. This allows for the replay capability to be used much more efficiently and reduces the need to replay other customer sessions unnecessarily.
There are generally two ways to capture and replay visitor sessions, client side and
tag-free server side.
Client side
There are many tag-based solutions that offer video-like replay of a visitor's session. While replay is analogous to video, it is more accurately a reproduction of a specific user's experience detailing mouse movements,
clicks, taps, and scrolls. The underlying data for the session recordings is captured by tagging pages. Some advanced tools are able to access the
Document Object Model (DOM) directly and can play back most interactions within the DOM including all mutations with a high degree of accuracy. There are a number of tools that provide similar functions, with the advantage of being able to replay the entire client experience in a movie-like format. It also can deal with modern
single-page application
A single-page application (SPA) is a web application or website that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current web page with new data from the web server, instead of the default method of loading entire new pages. The goal is fas ...
s. The disadvantage is that the tracking script can easily be detected and blocked by any
ad blocker
Ad blocking (or ad filtering) is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a web browser, an application or a network. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods or browsers with inside blocking.
Hist ...
which has become normal (2017: 615M devices with active adblock).
Tag-free server side
These solutions capture all website traffic and replay every visitor interaction from every device, and these include all mobile users from any location. Sessions are replayed step-by-step, providing the ability to search, locate and analyze aspects of a visitor's session including clicks and
form
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form may also refer to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter dat ...
entry. Server-side solutions require hardware and software to be installed "on premises." An advantage of server-side recording is that the solution cannot be blocked. However, one will not be able to see a video-like replay of client-side activities such as scrolling and mouse movements. This also poorly handles modern single-page applications.
Hybrid: Tag-free server side combined with client-side tracking
A hybrid approach combines the advantages without the weaknesses. The hybrid approach ensures that every session is recorded (important for compliance) by server-side capturing and enriched with client-side tracking data of mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, keystrokes, and user behavior (driven by customer experience insights). This approach works very well with modern single-page applications. There is the presence of a movie-like replay and 100% compliant capturing. This can be deployed either "on premises" or as
Software as a service
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike o ...
(SaaS).
All of the tools listed below are available as Software as a service (SaaS) solutions.
See also
*
Macro recorder
A macro recorder is software that records macros for playback at a later time.
The main advantage of using a macro recorder is that it allows a user to easily perform complex operations much faster and with less effort without requiring custom co ...
*
Replay attack
A replay attack (also known as a repeat attack or playback attack) is a form of network attack in which valid data transmission is maliciously or fraudulently repeated or delayed. This is carried out either by the originator or by an adversary w ...
*
Sniffing attack
Sniffing attack in context of network security, corresponds to theft or interception of data by capturing the network traffic using a packet sniffer (an application aimed at capturing network packets). When data is transmitted across networks, if ...
*
Data privacy
Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data ...
External links
List of websites that use “session replay” scripts(Princeton University 2017)
References
{{Reflist
Web analytics