What recording controls do
Recording controls determine whether UserTrail collects session replay, heatmap, and behavior data for a site.
Use recording controls when you need to:
- pause tracking
- reduce session usage
- sample traffic
- avoid recording during site changes
- limit collection on sensitive pages
Enable or disable recording
When recording is enabled, eligible visitor sessions can be collected according to the site's settings and the account's session allowance.
When recording is disabled, new sessions are not collected until recording is enabled again.
Disabling recording does not delete existing reports. Existing data remains available according to your retention and plan limits.
Recording rate
Recording rate controls the percentage of eligible sessions that should be recorded.
For example:
100%records all eligible sessions until the account reaches its session limit.50%records about half of eligible sessions.10%records a smaller sample for high-traffic sites.
Lower recording rates help preserve session allowance, but they also reduce coverage.
When to reduce recording rate
Reduce the recording rate when:
- traffic is much higher than your plan allowance
- you only need a representative sample
- a campaign creates short-term traffic spikes
- you want to keep recording active throughout the month
Increase the recording rate when:
- you are debugging a conversion issue
- traffic is low
- you are testing a new page
- you need more complete replay coverage
Account limits still apply
Recording controls do not override plan limits. If the account runs out of session allowance, new tracking can pause until the next refill or until the account upgrades.
Test after changes
After changing recording controls:
- Visit the website.
- Create a test session.
- Check Sessions and Heatmaps.
- Confirm data appears as expected.
Some changes only affect new sessions.