Session Replay is a Pendo product that allows you to visualize a visitor’s journey in your application so that you can better understand their experience with your product.
This article reviews how to access and watch replays with Session Replay.
Prerequisites
Session Replay is enabled on a per-application basis. Before moving forward with enabling Session Replay, you must ensure that:
- You're on the latest agent version.
- You've updated any existing Content Security Policy (CSP) configuration to incorporate the necessary hosts. If you don't have an existing CSP, no updates are needed. To learn more, see Existing privacy settings.
Note: Session Replay isn't supported for mobile apps, extension apps, or canvas elements. This means that you can't enable Session Replay on mobile or extension apps, and we don't capture interactions within canvas elements. In addition, while inner iFrames of the same origin display as a singular replay, inner iFrames of different origin aren't currently captured.
Access and privacy
Session Replay is currently available to select customers through a closed beta program. If you’re interested in getting early access to Session Replay and providing feedback on this product, contact your Pendo account representative.
In addition, due to space limitations in the UI, we sometimes use Replay when referring to Session Replay.
Configure privacy settings
Before you enable Session Replay, you must configure your privacy settings on the Replay Settings page. For step-by-step privacy configuration guidelines, see Session Replay privacy.
Enable Session Replay
Once you configure your privacy settings, an Admin user can enable Session Replay for each of your apps using the steps below.
Tip: Before you enable Session Replay for a large audience, we recommend enabling it for a smaller set of internal users so that you can monitor performance and ensure your privacy rules align with company policies. To learn more, see Session Replay privacy and Replay performance impacts.
- Navigate to Settings > Subscription Settings in Pendo.
- Select the Applications tab, then select the app you want to enable Session Replay for.
- Select the Replay Settings tab, then find the Enable Replay section.
- Once you apply the appropriate segment, select Enable.
- If you want to activate Session Replay for more apps, repeat steps 1–4 for each individual app.
Once enabled, the Session Replay plugin is added to your agent's Javascript file, and Pendo immediately begins capturing your visitors’ interactions. It takes approximately one to two hours for replays to process and populate in the library.
Access the Replay Library
Once you enable Session Replay for an app, the Replay Library page is available for all Viewer users in your subscription to access replays.
All replays take approximately one full hour to process and populate in the Replay Library. As new events are processed, additional data might be added to existing replays that extend beyond the initial hour, ensuring continuous updates with the latest captured information.
To open the Replay Library page, select Replay from the left navigation menu. If you’re using a smaller screen and don’t see this option in the navigation menu, select More > Replay.
Replay filters
Once you’re on the Replay Library page, you can use our standard global filters to control which replays display in the Replays table.
For Date Range, this filter applies exclusively to this page and doesn’t affect filters on other Pendo pages. In addition, Last 7 Days and Last 14 Days don’t include replays from today.
Use the search field to filter the table results by a specific visitor.
You can also use our Events filters, which let you refine the table results based on specific event interactions within replays, including Page views, Feature clicks, and guide views. If you select multiple events, the filters work as “AND'' rules rather than “OR” rules. This means the results display replays that contain all of the selected events, rather than replays that contain at least one of the selected events.
When you apply an event filter, it adds inline annotations to the corresponding replays so that you can easily locate the specific interactions within a replay.
Replays table
In the Replays table, you can find the list of all available replays sorted by Start Time (when we start capturing the visitor) in ascending order. You can also sort by the other columns by selecting the corresponding column header.
A few notes on some of the table columns:
- Duration is the total amount of time the visitor interacted with your app in a single “session”. The “session” ends when the visitor closes the browser tab, when the visitor logs out of your app, or at midnight in your subscription’s time zone—whichever comes first. If they accessed your app through multiple browser windows, browser tabs, or devices, these are all considered separate sessions and captured as separate replays. To learn more, see Time calculations for Replay.
- Engagement Level illustrates the level of activity in the replay based on the number of interactions the visitor had with tagged Pages, Features, and guides in relation to the replay’s duration. If only the first of the three boxes are dark purple, this means that the replay has the lowest level of engagement. If all three boxes are dark purple, this means that the replay has the highest level of engagement.
- Guide Count, Page Count, and Feature Count show how many events were interacted with in a given replay. These counts represent unique events rather than total guide views, Page views, or Feature clicks. Untagged Pages and Features aren’t included in these counts. Resource Center views are included in the guide count.
Note: Replays take one hour to process and display in the Replay Library, and all replays automatically delete after 14 days. If you think replays are missing from the library, see our troubleshooting article on Missing replays.
Watch replays
To access a visitor’s replay, select the link in the first Visitor ID column. This opens the Replay Player page, which provides a playback of the user’s interaction with your app.
Below is a review of each feature available when watching the replay:
- Go back. Return to the Replay Library to access a new replay or update your filters.
- Visitor ID. See the visitor associated with the replay.
- Copy link. Use this button to copy the replay link to your device’s clipboard so that you can share the replay with other users in your Pendo subscription.
- Replay queue. Use the Previous and Next arrows to navigate between replays in the Replays table. The text displayed to the left of the buttons indicates the total number of replays in the table and your current position within them. If you have an extensive queue of replays, we recommend applying event filters on the Replay Library page. This helps ensure that you focus on the most relevant and meaningful replays.
- Annotations. If you select specific event filters on the Replay Library page, the replay is marked with annotations to denote specific events related to the filters (a Page view, Feature click, or Guide view). Select the annotation to skip to that part of the replay, or hover over it and select View Details to go to the relevant Feature Details, Page Details, or Guide Details page in Pendo.
- Play or pause. Use this button to start or stop the replay. Alternatively, you can use the spacebar on your keyboard or select the replay itself to play or pause.
- Rewind and fast-forward. Use these buttons to move back or forward by 10 seconds.
- Playback speed. Adjust the speed of the replay. 1x is the speed at which the visitor used your app. Pendo saves your selected speed for future viewings.
- Length. See the length of the replay, along with your current position in the video.
- Skip inactivity. Toggle this option to skip through periods where the visitor is showing no interaction with the app. Pendo saves this selection for future viewings.
- Cursor and player settings. Select the Settings button to choose whether the replay shows a red path that follows the visitor’s mouse cursor and whether replays automatically start playing once opened from the library or queue. Pendo saves this selection for future viewings.
- Full screen. Use this button to adjust the video size to the size of your screen. Alternatively, double-click on the video to open or close full screen mode.
Tip: Use keyboard shortcuts to quickly control replay playback. To rewind or fast-forward, use the arrow keys or j and l respectively. To play or pause, use the spacebar.
You can also watch replays from other places within Pendo:
- On the Page Details, Feature Details, and Guide Details pages. Select Watch Replays on the relevant page to view all replays that interact with that specific Page, Feature, or guide.
- On the Visitor Details and Account Details pages. Select Watch Replays at the top of the page for the relevant visitor or account to view all replays from that specific visitor or account.
- In the visitor activity log. Also on the Visitor Details page, select View Activity > Watch replays to view replays associated with the events in the log. Note that there won't be replays available if the associated replays have reached the 14-day limit and expired.
- On the NPS Details page. Select the dropdown button next to Add to Dashboard, then select Watch Replays to view all replays that interact with that specific NPS survey.
- In the Visual Design Studio when tagging or viewing a tagged Feature. Select the Feature name within the Visual Design Studio, then select Watch Replays to view all replays that interact with that specific Feature.
Once you choose to Watch Replays from any of these locations in Pendo, you’re directed to the Replay Library with the relevant filters pre-selected.