Website effectiveness isn’t something any small business owner should be taking for granted. This is definitely true if you operate an exclusively online store. However, it’s also vital if you have a physical presence for your business that you supplement with a website.
Websites cost money to produce, deploy, and maintain. You’ll always need to keep track of how effective your site truly is. You want to know how people are utilizing your online presence. You need to know the areas they look at and ignore, problems using the site, and more.
This is where watching users interact with your site by using a session recording tool comes in incredibly handy. Keep reading for the lowdown on this technology that helps small business owners stay well informed on website ROI.
Website Session Recording Tools Explained
Session recordings provide renderings of the actions taken by real-world website visitors. It tracks their interactions as they browse different areas of your site.
A session recording tool is a type of software that captures people’s mouse movements, taps, clicks, scrolls, and the like. Some people refer to these as “session replays.” This data is collected on both desktop and mobile devices.
These reports can help website owners obtain a thorough understanding of how consumers interact with their online presence. The details can show you what is and is not working. By reconstructing actual website interactions, you’ll quickly discern where you need to concentrate your efforts when making improvements.
Beyond capturing mouse actions, recording tools can provide insight on when users resize their screen browsers. Resizing might indicate some website issues you need to address. You’ll also be able to track changes in location, such as moving to a new page or refreshing a page. You’ll also be able to see how well people do in their interactions with your forms.
Additionally, recording software can show you the page views for every recorded session. You’ll also be able to tell the device the visitor was using, where they were located, and the operating system they prefer. Every recorded session also provides the time of day when the person visited your site.
Benefits of Using Website Session Capture Software
When collected over time, all of the information listed above can provide beneficial insights into your target market and the effectiveness of your website.
You’ll learn how users behave. You’ll better understand and empathize with their experience. As you watch people browse your site, you can pick up on any potential pain points. After that, you can build a more efficient and comprehensive site and streamline processes in turn.
Another benefit of using recording tools is that you can focus on how people interact with specific parts of your website. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your product category pages, individual item listings, an FAQ or Contact Us page, forms, or other sections. You no longer need to speculate about what to tweak. Instead, you can use objective, current analysis to help you make data-driven adjustments.
Additionally, session recording tools make it easier and quicker to pick up on website effectiveness issues you need to address. Potential online issues might include software bugs, broken links, loading issues, unclear instructions, or unintentionally misleading content. By watching session replays, you’ll see where people get stuck and click away. You’ll find out when they try to find a contact page to ask for help or more information.
Other benefits from using session recording software include working out how to reduce your bounce rate. You can also get insights into your cart abandonment rate and determine your best traffic sources. The data you gather also provides evidence for stakeholders within your organization. When working with a team, this will only enhance decision-making and communication.
The biggest benefit, from a financial point of view, is that watching session recordings and making updates based on what you learn will help you improve your website’s conversion rate.
The Best Way to Choose and Use Session Recording Tech
If you’re keen to invest in a session recording tool, you’ll find there are multiple options on the market.
Do your research. Think about the features you truly need. It pays to go with products that show behavior analytics — what users actually do on your site. You’ll also want to track visitor locations, the devices they use, and traffic sources, among other things.
Look for solutions that provide real-time updates whenever visitors are on your site, too. Data should be shareable with multiple people and teams within or outside of the organization, as appropriate for your needs. It also pays to choose a product that integrates well with other tools, such as emails, forms, and related systems.
Whenever you begin using new tech, give yourself a few sessions to get used to the process and take it all in. After a little while, see if you can spot trends in the behavior of website users and how they engage with the pages — or fail to, as the case may be.
For instance, notice where visitors take too much time to complete an action or if they demonstrate strange mouse activity, such as repeated clicking. See if they notice important buttons such as the “Add to Cart” prompt, too.
A website session recording tool can make a world of difference to your website’s functionality and conversion rates. It also helps you drastically improve the user experience for your customers. If you truly care about website effectiveness and ROI, it might be time to look into session recording tech for your small business.
