Analyze session replay videos
Analyze session replay videos
1. Use a tagging system to standardize your process in a way that can be repeated and optimized.
Using a tagging system, or even adding a column in the spreadsheet you’re working in, allows you to focus on specific, key issues and how often they occur, making it easier to prioritize them in a meaningful way. For example, User Conversion starts out their analysis by noting down raw findings into a spreadsheet. Each finding has attributes like result, template, and priority that make it easier for them to filter and cross-pollinate to find behavior patterns once they’ve collected enough findings.
2. Put one person in charge of the process to avoid opinion swaying.
When people separately analyze the same thing, the variance in their answers is much higher. Having just one person owning the process avoids this opinion swaying. Note, however, that this person also needs to be aware of their own cognitive biases. Ideally, this person should not be fully involved in the design and development process of the pages being analyzed. Alternatively, have 2-3 people view an equal number of videos separately to mitigate the bias of one person. This, however, takes more resources and a project manager would still need to collate and analyze the data and seek insights that are common.
3. Keep session replay analysis task-based and analyze for specific goals or experiences.
For example, you could start by analyzing session replays of users who did or did not convert. Next, you could look at recordings of specific funnels looking for things like user entry, exit, and everything in between to understand the exact user journey. This is particularly useful to find out if users are dropping off at a certain step in your funnel or the user journey, and you can then continue analyzing session replays for further insight into why this might be happening.
4. Quantify tagged issues and look at variance and patterns.
Tools like TryMyUI Stream can do this for you if you don’t have a tagging system or haven’t been diligently tagging key issues. Quantifying these issues allows you to see them in a more objective way, making it easier to spot frequency, variance, and possibly any random errors in how the data was collected or how team members viewed the videos. If the same issue comes up on several session replay videos, then it probably exists independent of random error in the data and should be fixed sooner than the ones that weren’t as common.
5. Set recording criteria based on what you’re trying to learn instead of just based on page view.
For example, you can set your recording to trigger if and only if a particular action, like a button click, was taken on the page. This avoids having to sift through hundreds of irrelevant recordings.
6. Segment your session replays and cut down on analysis time.
Tools like TruConversion come with filters and trend reports that can help you find patterns in recordings to save time. They filter for things like “rage clicks” so you can immediately jump to problematic experiences on your site. Even without special tools, you can significantly cut down on your session recording time by setting recording criteria and using advanced filters during the review process.