A Beginner’s Guide to Using Session Replay Tools for Product Teams

If you're part of a product team and want to know how real users are interacting with your website or app, session replay tools can be a big help. These tools show you recordings of user sessions, almost like watching a screen recording of someone using your product. It's a great way to see what’s working well and where users might be getting stuck.

Before we go deeper, there’s a good chance you’ve come across tools like heatmaps or click trackers. Session replay takes things a step further by letting you watch full user journeys. This can give your team useful clues about confusing layouts, broken buttons, or strange behavior in your design that you might not catch otherwise. Just like you might use Instagram Highlight Viewer - highlightviewer.io to go back and look at saved stories, session replay helps your team look back at what users experienced.

So, how do you get started?

First, choose a tool that fits your team’s needs. Some popular tools include Smartlook, FullStory, and Hotjar. Most of these have free versions or trials, which makes it easy to test them out before committing.

Next, you’ll need to add a small line of code to your website or product. This is usually something your developer can do in a few minutes. After that, the tool starts recording sessions of users interacting with your site or app.

Once the recordings start coming in, your job is to watch, learn, and share what you find with your team. Look for patterns where users stop clicking, leave pages quickly, or seem unsure of what to do next. These are good signs that something could be improved.

It’s also a good idea to focus on new users and users who didn’t finish key tasks — like signing up or completing a purchase. Watching how they move through your product can highlight what’s confusing or frustrating.

Working with session replays can be a team effort too. Designers, engineers, and user researchers may all have something to contribute and learn. Sharing insights in a simple, open way can help you build better products together.

In short, session replay tools are a great starting point for any team wanting to see their product through the eyes of real users. It’s less about guessing and more about learning from what’s actually happening.