This article explains how to set up and use the User Identifier feature in Session Replay, so you can find all replays linked to a specific user, for example, to investigate a complaint or reproduce an issue a customer reported.
Before you begin
- Your account must have a Global Sampling Rate of at least 50% for this feature to be available.
- Setting up the User Identifier requires your CSM to enable the feature, and your development team to add a command to your Contentsquare tracking tag.
- You'll need to inform your users , and collect their consent where required, before collecting User Identifier data.
What is the user identifier
A user identifier is a unique value used on websites, apps, or online services to identify a specific user.
For example:
- User name
- Account number
- Email address
How do we encode data?
As these values are typically Personal Identifiable Information, from the moment the Tracking Tag is collecting the user identifier, we immediately encode the value using a hashing algorithm so that the information is hidden and can never be accessed.
Before being hashed, the collected value is first passed through the trim function and then tolowercase function. This means that searches are not case sensitive and leading/trailing space are not taken into account.
Important
To ensure legal compliance our policy is to avoid collecting/exposing personal data. It is your legal obligation to inform and if necessary collect consent from your users of such use of user identifier.
How to set up the User identifier
This is just one part of the user identifier implementation process. Your CSM will work with you to complete the whole process, including eligibility.
Once your CSM has enabled the feature, your development team needs to add the following command to your Contentsquare tracking tag. This tells Contentsquare to collect and hash the user's identifier each time it is called.
window._uxa.push(['trackPageEvent', '@user-identifier@example@email.com']);
Replace example@email.com with the actual identifier value for the logged-in user. For example, their email address, account number, or username. This value will be passed dynamically by your system.
The @user-identifier@ prefix is required, it tells Contentsquare how to process the data correctly.
What is the difference between the CS user ID and user identifier?
These are two separate search options in Session Replay:
| CS user ID | User identifier | |
| What is it? | A number automatically assigned by Contentsquare | A value from your own system (e.g. an email or account number) |
| Who creates it? | Contentsquare — randomly generated | Your system, based on your user's identity |
| Is it personal data? | No, fully anonymous | Private/personal data |
| How is it stored? | Stored as is in the database | Encoded (hashed) before storage |
How to find replays for a specific user
- In Contentsquare, go to Session Replay to view the list view.
-
Click Filters and scroll down to the User identifier field.
-
Enter the unique value for the user you want to find, for example, their email address, username, or account number.
Note
You can only search for one value at a time in the User identifier (CS) field).
- The replay list updates to show only sessions linked to that user.
Note
Searches are not case sensitive. jon.snow@gmail.com and Jon.Snow@gmail.com return the same results. However, searches are sensitive to spaces and special characters — make sure you type the value exactly as it was originally used.