Use RUM & Session Replay for Product Analytics
Overview
RUM & Session Replay allows you to monitor trends in consumer behavior and uncover answers to product usage questions about your web and mobile applications.
This guide discusses several use cases to enrich your RUM & Session Replay data and answer questions related to product analytics.
Setup
After you have set up the Datadog RUM SDK, enrich your browser or mobile (iOS and Android) data with attributes to customize the data according to your use case. For example, adding contextual information allows you to identify sessions that are tied to specific users.
Monitor page traffic and feature usage
If you are interested in learning what buttons your users click on the most, you can track page traffic and the usage of buttons in your application.
- In the RUM Explorer, select Actions from the dropdown menu next to the search query.
- Enter
@view.name:/cart
in the search query and select the Top List visualization type. - In the
by
field of the Group into fields
section above, select Action Name from the group dropdown.
This example displays the top actions on Shopist’s /cart
page.
To investigate which users are clicking on these buttons, modify the search query by selecting the Table visualization type and clicking + to add another group
field for @user.name
.
Analyze the conversion rate of core workflows
Use the funnel visualization type to track the conversion rate across crucial areas in your website.
Once you have created a funnel based on views or actions on your website, you can use it in the following ways:
- Create a saved view to reference it in the RUM & Session Replay
- Export it to a dashboard where you can analyze the conversion rate in the context of additional telemetry data
- Click on a funnel step to display the Funnel Analysis side panel
Add a saved view
Export the funnel
View funnel analysis
The side panel contains detailed information about the load time of an individual view, the conversion and drop off rates based on the country, device type, browser, and version, and outstanding issues that occurred on the page.
Identify your most frustrated users
Frustration Signals surface moments where users express frustrated behavior (a rage click, dead click, or error click) so you can address the most pressing issues that users are facing. Examine user behavior to identify the areas of your website where users are getting stuck.
- In the RUM Explorer, select Views from the dropdown menu.
- Enter
@view.frustration.count:>=2
in the search query and select the Top List visualization type. - In the
by
field of the Group into fields
section above, select View Name from the group dropdown.
This query searches for top pages where at least two frustration signals have occurred.
In addition to analyzing top views, you also want to investigate the buttons and elements that users are expressing frustration with.
- Select Actions from the dropdown menu.
- Enter
@action.frustration.type:dead_click
in the search query and select the Table visualization type. - Click on the search query and select
@action.frustration.type:error_click
and @action.frustration.type:rage_click
to include these values in your search. The search for field updates to Action Frustration Type:(3 terms)
. - In the
by
field of the Group into fields
section below, select Action Name from the group dropdown and click + to add another group
field for Action Frustration Type.
This query lists anytime a user expresses any type of frustration signal and counts the unique actions where frustration occurred.
Watch the user experience in Session Replay
You can visually watch the impact that poor user experiences have on your users. For example, if you have built a funnel and noticed that the drop off rate is exceptionally high between steps, you can watch a sesion replay recording to see what a user did before they dropped off.
In a funnel visualization, you can access the Funnel Analysis side panel and click Sample Replay Session on sessions where users continued onto another step or dropped off.
With Session Replay, you can identify what parts of your product are confusing to users and need improving in order to drive up conversion.
Track usage patterns in powerpacks
Powerpacks are templated groups of dashboard widgets for common monitoring patterns and product analytics.
Use the out-of-the-box RUM Feature Usage powerpack to better understand different traffic patterns for a specific action in your application.
- Navigate to Dashboards > New Dashboard and click + Add Widgets or Powerpacks.
- In the Powerpacks tab, search for RUM powerpacks by entering
tag:rum
in the search bar and select RUM Feature Usage. By default, the values for @view.name
and @action.name
are set to *
. - Customize your powerpack by selecting values from the dropdown menus and click Add to dashboard to use an attribute as a template variable.
- Click Confirm to add the powerpack in your dashboard.
This powerpack provides graphs about usage by country, actions on a view, and actions over time, in addition to the count of actions and percentage of usage frequency on Shopist’s /cart
page.
Further reading
Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles: