Learn everything you need to know about user session recording software and how to choose the best software to know the behavior of visitors.

Websites have become such an integral part of businesses that it is almost impossible to find a business that doesn’t own one. Be that as it may, be, for the longest time, websites were treated as an afterthought — an in-thing for businesses rather than a division complementing sales, marketing, and public relations efforts. But as we speak, businesses have come to appreciate the role websites play in attaining business goals. Needless to say, the COVID-19 pandemic has played a huge role in accelerating online shopping as people were urged to stay at home and adopt preventive measures in order to curb the spread of the virus.

> A research released recently by Adobe Analytics showed a 25 percent spike in online sales between March 13 to 15, 2020. The researchers, who ploughed over a trillion websites, attributed the increase to online grocery shopping. Online shopping is thus one of the new normal as consumers have realized it has fewer hustlesAs it stands, online shopping is here to stay. Businesses, on the other hand, are working day and night to give their clients a seamless online shopping experience. As more and more people adopt this new normal, businesses have to look inwards to not only identify their clients’ pain points but to also adjust their sales and marketing strategies accordingly hence the need of recording users' web sessions.

What is website session recording?

As the name suggests, website session recording refers to recordings of visitors browsing a website and it includes valuable insights regarding how visitors are navigating your website. This data is every marketer, salesperson, and website designer's dream as it makes it easier for them to know what’s working or not working with their website and thereby institute the necessary changes to make the website more user-friendly. For a business website, this could translate to more sales.

Actions performed by website session recording tools

There have been rising concerns about the safety of recording activities for online users as pointed out by a CBS New York article, which was shared on their Twitter handle.

While the points raised are valid, you can go around this by having a privacy policy where you assure your visitors that their data is safe with you. Let them know that whatever data you collect is meant to improve their experience and will not be shared with a third party. It will help if you stick to your promise.

Having said that, you might be wondering how website session recorders work. Wonder no more as we give you an in-depth look into the workings of this lifesaver.

1. It captures mouse movements, clicks and scrolls: These can tell you if the visitor is confused or what catches their attention. Additionally, you can know whether it is easy or not to find information on your website through mouse movements.
2. It captures screen resizing: If a user resizes their screen browser, then there is a likelihood that they faced some challenges. It is up to you to discover the issue and fix it.
3. It notices changes in the page: This is captured when the site visitor refreshes a page or moves to another page.
4. It shows a user’s interaction with a form: If you have a form to be filled, the app will capture any change on the form.
5. Allows you to know the page views in a session, which refers to the average number of pages a user views during a single session.

Such apps also show where the user is, the device they are using, their operating system, and gender. This comes in handy when optimizing the website. Additionally, it is possible to see the time a user visited your website. When collected over time, this helps to know when the website receives the most visitors and you can thus schedule your content to run at that particular time.