Frequently asked questions

How does ClickTale work?
ClickTale captures every mouse move, click, scroll and keystroke that a visitor makes inside a webpage, and then sends this information back to the ClickTale servers in highly compressed packages. You can find a list of data items that ClickTale records in this article. The ClickTale servers take a snapshot of the webpage as experienced by the visitor, and combine it with the visitor actions to recreate the original browsing session. When you then login to your ClickTale account you can see your visitors' recordings, visual heatmaps and other behavioral reports.

For a detailed graphic description, view [[Media:How ClickTale works Wiki.pdf|this downloaded PDF document]].

Does ClickTale support mobile visitors tracking?
Yes. ClickTale® Touch provides you with all the analytics data for the visitors to your site using mobile devices - Phones and tablets. See here for more. To create a new Mobile project, see this article.

Will ClickTale slow down my site?
No. ClickTale has no noticeable effect on webpage load times or site performance. The ClickTale code is loaded at the end of the page, and is highly compressed. It therefore does not affect page load times at all.

How do I set up ClickTale?
Simply add a small JavaScript tracking code to the web pages you would like to record. Follow the Quick Start Guide's Setup section for a step-by-step explanation.

Does ClickTale require any special software or hardware?
ClickTale is a hosted service, so no software installation on the server or client side is required and visitors can browse your website the same way they always have. We use a Content Delivery Network to host the tracking code, ensuring scalability and reliability.

Will ClickTale record all of my visitors?
ClickTale allows each subscriber to select the percentage of visitors they would like to record. You can choose to record between 0 - 100% of your visitors.

However, you can only record up to your monthly recording quota (in pageviews) as determined by your subscription plan.

Will ClickTale affect visitors’ browsing experience or page loading times?
Website visitors don’t notice any difference in their browsing experience since ClickTale is optimized for minimal use of CPU and bandwidth resources. In addition:
 * Only about 5K of highly compressed data per recording is sent back to the ClickTale servers, which has no noticeable impact on site performance.
 * The ClickTale tracking code is small and compressed, and is delivered via a Content Delivery Network that is extremely fast and reliable.
 * Customers usually choose to record only a small fraction of their total traffic, and the extra load is not noticeable on the servers.
 * The ClickTale code is loaded at the end of the page, and therefore does not affect page load times at all.

Can ClickTale provide heatmaps for all of my webpages?
Yes, but which heatmaps are accessible may be restricted by your plan type. Please see the Plans page for more details or contact us for more details.

Will the ClickTale tracking code interfere with other JavaScript code?
No, ClickTale will not interfere with any other JavaScript code. ClickTale has been used successfully in conjunction with many other packages including: Google Analytics, Adobe TestAndTarget, JQuery, Prototype, etc.

How long does it take for a recording to appear in my account?
Depending on several technical parameters, most recordings will appear in your account after a few seconds to a few minutes. Rarely it may take a recording up to an hour to appear.

How long does it take to set up ClickTale?
ClickTale can be set up in a couple of minutes, and can start capturing visitor data immediately.

Can ClickTale record member-only areas and secure pages?
Yes. With paid plans you can record pages protected by a log-in, as well as HTTPS pages such as shopping carts.

What browsers do you support?
Please see our page about browser support.

What site architectures do you support?
ClickTale supports almost every type of architecture including, HTML, PHP, Classic ASP, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, J2EE and many, many others. We also support various platforms such as WordPress, Magento, Joomla!, Yahoo! Store, ColdFusion, and many more.

Does ClickTale work with Flash?
A few simple adjustments to your HTML code will allow ClickTale to work with Flash on a limited basis and enable the recording of mouse movements and clicks over Flash elements. We do not at the moment support dynamic Flash elements or completely Flash based sites, due to the various ways that different browsers handle Flash requests. This is something we’re working on at the moment and hope to get it fully working very soon.

I'm testing my website in an offline development environment. Can I still use ClickTale?
Yes, you can use ClickTale for offline environments and intranet sites by using the ClickTaleUploadPage API command. Development sites that have internet connectivity can run with the standard tracking code, for logins using cookies FetchFromWithCookies can be used.

Read the Offline recordings article for more information.

Which timezones are recordings listed under?
The times saved on your account are according to the local time of your machine. This includes times listed in project dashboards, search results, and individual recordings' playback pages.

However, when searching for a visitor or a recording, or selecting a date range of recordings during generation of an aggregated account, the results are offset according to the Project Time Zone (PTZ) defined for the project.

See more in this article.

Can ClickTale track visitors across websites?
Yes, ClickTale currently supports tracking visitors across sub-domains (such as www.example.com, example.com and blog.example.com). Tracking visitors across two distinct domains (such as www.example.com and www.othersite.com) may also be available for your plan. Please contact your Account Manager.

Will the way ClickTale operates interfere with my site's events?
ClickTale attaches to all events in a way that gracefully handles any other listeners that could be listening on the same events. For example we use element.addEventListener and not element.onX properties.

How will visitors’ privacy be affected?
Your visitors’ privacy is a top priority for us. That’s why we make every effort to protect your visitors’ personal information.


 * ClickTale does not collect any personally identifiable information unless a visitor voluntarily and knowingly submits this type of data.
 * Password fields are never recorded. During session playback asterisks are displayed instead of the input.
 * Any text that a visitor enters into a form but does not submit is hidden. You can still generate Form Analytics reports on these fields, but you are not able to view the text.

Can ClickTale be used to record sensitive personal or financial information?
We require that you block recording of any sensitive personal or financial information about your visitors by using the ClickTale API (please see the Terms of use, section 7, for more information on this). Breaking these Terms of Use will instantly invalidate your ClickTale subscription and revoke your access to all past, present and future recordings. You can use the ClickTaleSensitive class to censor information entered into form fields or the ClickTaleExcludeBlock method to prevent the recording of any element on your page.

Do my visitors know they are being recorded?
The recording process itself is completely transparent to the end user. However, all ClickTale subscribers should place a disclaimer in their Privacy Policy letting their visitors know that they may be recorded. For more information please see our Terms of use.

Can ClickTale track visitors after they leave my site?
No, ClickTale can only track visitors on the specific web pages that contain your ClickTale tracking code.

Can my visitors choose not to be recorded?
Yes, we offer an opt out option for anyone who does not want to be recorded. This inserts a cookie within your visitor's browser that will prevent them from being recorded by any ClickTale customer.

How secure is my data?
Very secure. ClickTale takes several steps to ensure your data’s security.
 * We restrict employees’ access to your data. ClickTale employees cannot access your data unless you provide us with your password and specific permission to access your account.
 * HTTPS page data is passed to the ClickTale servers via SSL and is fully encrypted.
 * Our servers are hosted at SAS/70 Type II certified data centers.
 * We use firewalls to limit access to the ClickTale servers.
 * We regularly apply updates to servers, OS, firewalls and all software to prevent security vulnerabilities.

Can I use ClickTale to find 'bugs' in my website?
Yes, ClickTale provides a Most Errored Page Report to help you find which pages are generating the most JavaScript errors. In addition, ClickTale can show you when a visitor encounters an error and which line of your site's code is generating the error.

How is ClickTale different from traditional web analytics?
Most traditional web analytics tell you where visitors come from and which pages they go to within your site. We tell you everything your visitors do inside those web pages using playable videos of customers’ entire browsing sessions as well as powerful visual heatmaps and behavioral reports.

Does ClickTale provide aggregated data about links and visitors?
Yes, ClickTale provides several reports based on aggregated visitor data. These reports include Heatmaps, Link Analytics, and Form Analytics among others.

You can find a list of data items that ClickTale records in this article.

I've upgraded my account - can I use the same tracking code or do I need to change it?
Please see this page for answers.

What is considered a standard HTML form?
Please see this page for answers.

Can I add more users to my account?
Yes, depending on your plan. See this article for details.

Why isn’t my question listed here?
If you have a question that is not listed on this page, please use the search page of the Wiki to look for the article that answers your question.

You can also post your question on our ClickTale Support Forum and get answers from our support staff. Make sure you grant access to your account to the ClickTale support team.