Heatmaps & Session Recordings
Heatmaps visualise in aggregate where users click, scroll or linger on a page, while session recordings replay individual, usually anonymised visits as a video-like sequence. Both methods add a qualitative picture of how people really interact with a page to the quantitative figures from GA4.
In practice
In practice, heatmaps are used to check whether important content or calls to action are noticed at all within the visible area, while session recordings are brought in selectively when a pattern stands out – a high drop-off rate at one particular form step, for example – to understand the cause. Because these tools record personal behavioural data, they need valid consent through a consent management platform and should automatically mask sensitive input fields such as passwords.