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Pro Plan5 minutesBeginner

Session Replay Overview

Watch how visitors interact with your website through recorded sessions - see exactly what users see, click, and experience.

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Pro Plan

Session Replay lets you watch recordings of real user sessions on your website. See exactly what visitors see, where they click, and how they navigate.

Zenovay Sessions tab with total sessions, average duration, and per-session details.
The Sessions tab summarises total sessions and average duration, then lists each recording.

What Is Session Replay?

Session Replay records visitor interactions on your website:

CapturedDescription
Page contentWhat the visitor saw
Mouse movementsCursor path and hover
ClicksWhere users clicked
ScrollingScroll depth and speed
Form inputsFields focused (not values)
ErrorsJavaScript errors encountered

Why Use Session Replay?

Understand User Behavior

See the visitor's perspective:

  • What caught their attention
  • Where they got confused
  • Why they abandoned checkout
  • How they navigate your site

Debug Issues

Watch problems happen:

  • Reproduce user-reported bugs
  • See errors in context
  • Identify UX friction points
  • Find broken features

Improve Conversions

Learn what works:

  • Study successful conversions
  • Compare to abandoning users
  • Test hypothesis with real behavior
  • Validate A/B test results

Key Features

Complete Session Recording

Every session is captured:

  • Full page rendering
  • Dynamic content changes
  • Single-page app navigation
  • Responsive breakpoint changes

Smart Playback

Efficient replay controls:

  • Skip inactive periods
  • Speed up slow parts
  • Jump to specific events
  • Share timestamps

Privacy First

User privacy protected:

  • Sensitive data masked
  • Privacy-first
  • Configurable privacy
  • No passwords captured

Session Replay vs. Heatmaps

FeatureSession ReplayHeatmaps
View typeIndividual sessionsAggregate data
Detail levelEvery actionClick/scroll patterns
Use caseDebug, understand flowOptimize layout
Data volumeOne session at a timeAll sessions combined

Use both for complete insight:

  • Heatmaps: "Where do users click most?"
  • Sessions: "Why did this user not convert?"

Plan Comparison

FeatureProScaleEnterprise
Session recording
Retention60 days120 days180 days
Heatmaps
Rage click detection
Error linking
Custom events
API access
Download sessions

Getting Started

Enable Session Replay

Session Replay is included on Pro plans and above:

  1. Open your website's settings and go to the Advanced tab
  2. Turn on the Session Replay toggle
  3. Choose a recording trigger — record only sessions with errors, or record all sessions
  4. Set your privacy options (input masking, text masking, excluded routes) in the same Advanced tab

No Code Changes Needed

If you already have Zenovay tracking:

  • Recordings start automatically
  • Same script handles replay
  • No additional installation

First Recording

After enabling:

  • Wait for site traffic
  • Sessions appear within minutes
  • Review in Sessions tab

What Gets Recorded

Captured Elements

ElementRecordedNotes
Page layoutFull DOM snapshot
ImagesAs displayed
CSS stylesComputed styles
AnimationsCSS/JS animations
VideosPlaceholderPrivacy concern
FormsFields onlyValues masked

User Actions

ActionRecorded
Mouse movement
Clicks
Scrolling
TypingMasked
Tab focus
Copy/pasteEvent only

Not Recorded

For privacy and security:

  • Password field content
  • Credit card numbers
  • Personal data in marked fields
  • Clipboard contents
  • File uploads content

Recording Workflow

How It Works

  1. Visitor loads page → Initial DOM snapshot
  2. User interacts → Changes captured as events
  3. Data sent → Compressed, privacy-filtered
  4. Stored securely → Encrypted at rest
  5. Available for playback → In Sessions tab

Performance Impact

Recording is lightweight:

  • Minimal CPU overhead (<1%)
  • Small bandwidth increase (~50KB per page)
  • No visible lag to users
  • Async data transmission

Viewing Sessions

Access Recordings

  1. Open your website's dashboard and select the Sessions tab
  2. Browse the session list
  3. Click a session to play it
  4. Use the player controls to navigate

Session List Shows

ColumnInformation
TimeWhen session occurred
DurationSession length
PagesPage count
CountryVisitor location
DeviceDesktop/Mobile/Tablet
StatusActive, Completed, Error

Quick Filters

Pre-built filters:

  • Recent sessions
  • Long sessions (5+ min)
  • Short sessions (<1 min)
  • Sessions with errors
  • Sessions with rage clicks

Privacy & Compliance

Privacy-First

Session Replay respects privacy:

  • Input fields masked by default
  • Configurable masking and route exclusions
  • Recordings can be deleted on request
  • Retention limits enforced per plan

Data Masking

Configure masking in your website's Advanced settings:

  • Mask all input field values (on by default)
  • Mask all text content
  • Exclude specific routes from recording

Learn More

See Session Storage & Privacy for details.

Next Steps

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