Session replay is an analytics method that records a user's operations on a website (mouse movement, clicks, scrolling, keystrokes, page transitions) so that they can be played back later like a video. It makes it possible to understand visually, rather than through numerical data, how a user who arrived through a short URL behaved on the landing page.
Technically, the mainstream approach is to record DOM changes as an event stream. Representative tools include open source libraries such as rrweb and SaaS products such as Fullstory, Hotjar, and Microsoft Clarity. Because it records DOM differences rather than taking a continuous series of screenshots, it can reproduce sessions with high accuracy while keeping the data volume down.
In integration with short URL marketing, linking session replays to UTM parameters and referrer information makes it possible to pinpoint concretely "which short URL a user came from and where they dropped off." It is especially effective for understanding A/B test results not only as numbers but also as behavior patterns.
As a privacy consideration, a setting that automatically masks sensitive fields such as password fields and credit card numbers is essential. In the EU, when an analytics script stores information on a user's device or reads information already stored on the device, it is regarded as a condition that clear and comprehensive information be provided in advance and consent be obtained. This is set out in Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive (as amended in 2009). In practice, notice and consent collection through a consent management banner corresponds to this, and if the recorded content includes personal data, the GDPR also applies.