Recording Ratio

This article details a key configuration in the ClickTale system which is called the Recording Ratio.

What is the Recording Quota?
Every ClickTale plan is defined by a monthly recording quota - the number of pageviews that can be recorded to the account. The quota is distributed daily and recordings are made on a balanced schedule throughout the day based on the percentage of visitors chosen for recording (more on this below).

The fixed quota applies to the entire account, regardless of how many projects have been created.

What is the Recording Ratio?
For example, if you have a monthly quota of 10,000 recordings and chooses to record 20% of visitors, over a 30 day period the breakdown will be 333 recordings available per day (10,000/30).

In this example 1 out of every 5 visitors to the site is recorded. You can view your quota by clicking on the “View Quota” link in the left hand menu on the Projects Page.

Any visitors who are not recorded because the quota has been used will show as "Missed visitors" next to the relevant project on the ClickTale account main page.

How to Distribute Quota among Several Projects
The quota is per the entire account and is shared by all the projects defined for it.

If you want a particular project to record more than another (or if you want to distribute the quota differently) you will need to set the relevant recording ratio for each project when generating the tracking code for the specific project.

Example of calculation: Assuming you have 3 projects and you want to allocate the recordings between them with a 50%, 25%, 25% spread, also assuming that the recording ratio suggested by the calculator for the three projects is 80%, 40%, 100% respectively. You should then generate a code to record 40%, 10%, 25% of your visitors respectively. The new ratios are calculated by multiplying the suggested ratio by the fraction of the quota you want to assign to each specific project.

Summary In order to calculate the recording ratio for a project within an account with multiple projects please:
 * 1) Decide how much of your quota you wish to allocate for the specific project (for example: 'I would like to allocate 60% of my quota to this project)
 * 2) Enter the average number of visitors/page-views for the site associated with the project in the tracking code generation page, and set the slider control to the point marked by the small green arrow.
 * 3) Multiply the automatically calculated ratio with the percentage of quota you wish to allocate to the project (60% X 50% = 30%)
 * 4) Generate the tracking code and set the recording ratio to 30% using the slider control.



Why is it Important to Set the Optimal Recording Ratio?
By using the optimal recording ratio (based on your site traffic and quota) you can prevent your quota from running out prematurely while using all or almost all of it. Setting a recording ratio which is too low might not enable you to take advantage of your recording quota fully; setting the ratio too high is also not advised: ClickTale attempts to record entire visitor sessions (by identifying the visitor via a first-party cookie). Visitors who reach your website before the quota runs out, and then continue their visit past the point when the quota runs out and prior to the quota regeneration time, will stop generating recordings. Therefore, if your quota reaches its limit several hours before it is due to refill it increases the chance of incomplete sessions and may cause you to lose valuable data about your visitors.

We suggest you use the ratio determined for your site traffic, and monitor your quota usage - alter it if you see your quota reaching its limit prematurely or never reaching its limit.

How to Change the Recording Ratio of an Existing Project
The recording ratio is easy to change, using the slider control in the "Account Management >> Manage Quota" page of the account.

Just move the slider to the percentage you want to record. Avoid selecting a ratio that causes your quota to be exceeded. You will get a warning if you do.