Lightweight session replay for checkout friction

But trying Clarity on our mobile checkout to catch micro-frictions — last Friday’s test showed users re-tapping the postcode field 3x, but I’m cautious about script weight and PII redaction. For a low-latency, privacy-safe setup that still surfaces patterns we can design against, would you pick Clarity, FullStory, Hotjar, or something else, and which events are must-tag for meaningful engagement insights?

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I’d go Clarity for mobile — it’s lighter than FullStory/Hotjar and the default masking covers most PII; we added CSS masking on postcode/card fields and tagged focus/blur, validation errors, paste, submit-abort, plus a custom event for “postcode lookup opened” vs manual entry (that alone was WD-40 for our form)… Small caveat: if you need deep cross-session funnels, FullStory’s nicer but heavier; Clarity’s sampling and privacy controls kept latency low for us: Clarity data collection | Microsoft Learn.

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It’s definitely a balancing act. I found tagging user interactions like dropdowns and errors made a big difference after using Clarity, especially for checkout flows. Just be careful with too much detail; it’s like bringing a whole toolbox to fix a leaky sink — sometimes all you need is a wrench. @sanderson76 really nailed it with the CSS masking tip.

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I’ve found that tracking interactions like when users edit the postcode field can really shed light on checkout issues. Clarity’s heatmaps also helped visualize where users dropped off, which was eye-opening. Just make sure to double-check that your PII masking covers all the sensitive spots; it’s more about being thorough than just what’s defaulted.

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I’ve had some success with Clarity’s session insights too — once I tagged the postcode edits, it became clear where users stumbled. Just make sure you balance script weight with the event tagging; otherwise, it might be like trying to fit a giraffe in a Mini Cooper! @zara_wilson98.

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