Understand Campaign Performance Through Integrated Session Recordings

Overview

Earlier, VWO campaign reports would only provide quantitative analysis for the metrics being tracked. Now, session recordings within campaign reports link your campaign to the actual session recordings of users who participated in that campaign. So, you can access the behavior of users who are part of the control or variation groups in your tests (A/B, Multivariate, or Split URL) directly from the campaign report. Additionally, the session recordings you view are highly relevant, as they are filtered to include only those users who were part of the specific campaign and sampled by VWO Insights.

While quantitative test reports give aggregated data, integrated session recordings:

• Offer a direct, unfiltered view of individual user behavior.
• Help you observe users in their natural habitat, as they navigate your test variations, encounter delightful moments, or hit frustrating roadblocks.
• Provide granular insights. You can view session recordings of users, filtered not only by the specific variation or control they experienced, but also by which campaign metric(s) they converted or did not convert.

This integration bridges the gap between what happened (reports) and why it happened (recordings) down to the level of specific variations and metric outcomes. By observing their interactions, you can gain deeper qualitative insights into why your campaign is performing a certain way.

For example, you are A/B testing a new pricing page layout with updated plan descriptions. The variation sees fewer upgrades, but the metrics do not clarify why. Using Session Recordings with Campaign Reports, you access recordings of users in the variation group directly from the campaign, and notice they hover over plan details but do not scroll further or click. The session recordings reveal that many visitors seem unsure about feature differences. This reveals confusion caused by unclear copy, prompting a quick content tweak that improves conversions in the next test.

This article further explains how to access session recordings in campaign reports and use the insights to make smarter marketing decisions.

Prerequisites

To use this feature, ensure the following conditions are met:

Access Session Recordings from Campaign Reports

To access session recordings specific to a particular test campaign:

1. From your VWO dashboard, go to the left navigation panel, click Testing, and select the campaign type, such as A/B. A list of campaigns is displayed.
2. Click on the campaign for which you want to view the session recording data.

3. Go to Reports > Behavioral Analysis > Session Recordings.
   
   VWO displays the session recording data and groups it by each visitor’s unique ID. Each row represents a unique visitor who participated in the campaign and has session recordings available. The first visitor’s row is expanded by default.

   Note: For any given visitor, the report displays only sessions recorded after they became a participant in the campaign (by seeing either the control or a variation). Earlier sessions of the same visitor (before campaign exposure) will not appear in this specific interconnected report.
   The primary list displays the following visitor-level details:
   • Visitor ID: A unique identifier for each visitor. VWO generates this ID.
   • Variation: The specific version of your test (for example, Control, Variation 1, or Variation 2) that was shown to the visitor.
   • Metrics Converted (Visitor Level): The campaign goals that the specific visitor converted across all their sessions after becoming part of the campaign.
   • Total Sessions: The total number of sessions recorded for that visitor after they became part of the campaign.
   • Sessions to Convert: The number of sessions it took for the visitor to convert the primary campaign metric after they became a part of the campaign.
   • Last Visited: The date and time of the visitor's most recent session included in the campaign recordings.
     
     An expanded visitor row reveals individual session-level details such as:
      
   • Location/Source: Shows the visitor's geographical location (city/country) and the origin of their visit (for example, direct traffic, search engine, referral) for that session.
   • Metrics converted (Session Level): Metrics converted during that specific individual session.
   • Session Duration: Indicates the total length of time for which the session lasted.
   • Device/Browser/OS: Displays the technical details of the visitor's environment, such as the type of device (for example, desktop, mobile), web browser (for example, Chrome, Safari), and operating system (for example, Windows, iOS) used.
   • Observations: Displays the number of observations created or associated with the session recording.
   • Created On: The precise date and time when the session started.
4. Click on a visitor row to view their individual session recordings. In the expanded visitor view, click Load More to view additional sessions.

5. Click the Play icon against a session recording to play it. The recording opens in a new browser tab and starts playback automatically. For more information on analyzing a session recording and gaining deeper insights, see Interpreting Session Recordings in VWO.

   VWO recommends watching multiple recordings of users exhibiting similar behavior to identify recurring patterns or issues. Do not base conclusions on a single recording.

6. Use the available filters to refine the data.
   
   To filter the data based on custom conditions, use the Custom Segment option. For more information, see Defining Custom Visitor Segments in VWO.

   Note: The Date Range, Visitor Segments, and Visitor Dimensions selected in the main campaign report are automatically applied to the session recordings list.

   You can also group the report by different values of Visitor Dimensions. Each filtered group displays its top 5 most recent users.
   
   For more information, see Breakdown Test Reports by Visitor Dimensions in VWO.
   
   To refine the data further, use these additional filters available in the Filter By dropdown:

   • Variations: Filter recordings by users who saw the Control, Variation 1, or any specific variation. Based on your requirement, select a value from the dropdown to focus on users who experienced all variations or a particular variation, and click Apply.
   • Metrics: Filter by users who:
     • Converted for a specified metric or any metric at all

     • Did not convert for a specified metric or any metric at all
       
       Choose Converted or Non-converted. Then, from the next dropdown, select Any metric or pick specific campaign metrics from the list and click Apply. You can add multiple metrics to the list to get aggregated data.
       
       This allows you to compare behaviors, for example, between users who converted Goal A in Control versus those who did not convert Goal A in Variation 1.

       VWO recommends starting with broad filters and then narrowing them down to pinpoint behaviors related to specific outcomes. Use the Metrics filter to analyze users who converted important goals versus those who did not.
7. For each session recording, you can take additional actions using the options available in its row:

   • Summarize with AI: Click the Summarize icon to get a brief overview of the session. A pop-up displays the session summary. Click View full summary in the pop-up to get a detailed version. The next time you want to review the brief summary, simply hover over the Summarize icon in the respective session recording row.

     Note: It may take a few moments for Copilot to generate the detailed version of the session recording summary.

     Click the hamburger menu icon on the session recording row and select any of the following options to take the respective action:

   • Share link: Generate a shareable link to the recording.
   • Download: Save a local copy of the session recording.
   • Save: Bookmark the session recording for later reference. You can access your saved recordings from VWO Insights > Session Recordings > Saved.

   • Delete: Delete the session recording permanently.

     Note: Deleting a session recording from campaign reports will also delete it from VWO Insights > Session Recordings. There is no way to retrieve recordings that are deleted permanently.

Use the insights from the recordings to form new hypotheses, implement changes, and then run new tests. For deeper insights, you can view and compare heatmaps (clickmaps and frictionmaps) generated from user interactions, specifically within your campaign reports.

Understand Behavioral Data Availability in Campaign Reports

This section helps you understand how and why data is collected and displayed within the interconnected view. Factors like data sampling, your VWO Insights plan limits, and data retention policies can influence the recordings (or heatmaps) you see.

For example, the report below displays recordings for 53% of participants. This means you might not see recordings for every user in your campaign, but rather for a representative sample.

Hover over View More to view more details about your account’s data retention period, visitor count, and sampling percentage.

For example, in the following screenshot, you will notice:

• The data retention period is 90 days, which means that recordings older than this period may no longer be available.
• The visitor count is 6659/6789. This indicates that out of 6789 total visitors who were part of the test (and potentially eligible for recording), 6659 have session recording data available in this report.
• The sampling percentage is 98%. This indicates that 98% of your campaign’s participants are represented in the recordings.

Click Edit Configuration to adjust your VWO Insights sampling settings or Buy More MTU to adjust the volume of visitors that you need to track and test in a month.

Troubleshooting

FAQs

• Are all my campaign types (A/B, Split URL, Multivariate) compatible with the integrated session recordings feature?
  Yes, this feature is designed to work with VWO Testing campaign reports, including A/B tests, Split URL tests, and Multivariate tests.
   
• Why can't I find a recording for a specific user I know was in the campaign?
  This could be due to several reasons:
  • The user may not have been part of the recorded sample group.
  • Due to data retention limits, the recording may have been deleted.
  • The filters applied in the report may be too restrictive and could be excluding the user's session.
     
• How are these session recordings different from those in the main VWO Insights > Session Recordings section?
  While the underlying recordings are from VWO Insights, this interconnected view is specifically contextualized for your campaign.

Need more help?

For further assistance or more information, contact VWO Support.