If you're trying to figure out why people leave your website without doing much—like clicking something or making a purchase—session replays can really help. Think of them as screen recordings of what your visitors do on your site. You can watch where they move their mouse, which buttons they click, and even where they stop scrolling. This makes it much easier to find out what's not working.
Maybe you’ve used tools like Instagram Highlight Viewer - highlightviewer.io to check out how your visuals appear to others. Session replay tools work in a similar way, except they focus on websites instead of social media. You get to “see” your site through your visitor’s eyes.
Let’s say someone’s trying to sign up for your newsletter, and during the replay, you notice they keep clicking on the signup box but nothing happens. That’s a strong clue that there’s a problem—maybe the form is broken or not clearly labeled. Or maybe you’ll see users stopping right before buying something. They might be confused by the pricing, or maybe your checkout button is too small and easy to miss.
These recordings are especially helpful because people won’t always tell you what’s wrong. A visitor isn’t likely to send an email saying, “Hey, your sign-up button doesn’t work.” They just leave. With session replays, you don’t have to guess anymore.
To fix the problems, start with the sessions where people left your site quickly or abandoned their shopping carts. Watch a few sessions and look for patterns. Is a certain page getting a lot of visitors but not many clicks? Maybe that page needs better formatting or clearer instructions.
Don’t stress about having perfect tech skills to do this. Most session replay tools are easy to use—you click, watch, and take notes. After you’ve seen where people get stuck, you can make small changes and check later to see if your updates help.
In short, session replays give you a front-row seat to your users’ experience. Once you know where they’re having trouble, you can clear the roadblocks and make your website smoother and easier to use.