On the Observe Basic plan, recordings can only be filtered by date
The Observe Basic plan only allows for filtering recordings by date. Additional filters are available on our paid Observe plans which you can find out more about on our pricing page.
Filters are based on session data and can help you focus on specific subsets of your users. You can also save filter configurations in Recordings as Segments. This allows you quick and repeated access to your most relevant recordings by saving your preferred filtering criteria for regular use.
Hotjar Observe Business and Observe Scale customers have additional filters for User Attributes, as well as advanced behavioral filters. In this article, we'll look at all the filters available and how they work.
- Date filter
- Applying filters
- Available filter categories on Observe Plus, Observe Business, and Observe Scale plans
- Available filter categories on Observe Business and Observe Scale plans
The date filter
All Hotjar Observe plans include a date filter. The date filter allows you to focus on Recordings that were taken during specific timeframes and can be adjusted based on a relative or absolute date range.
The relative date presets allow you to look at recent time-frames: Today, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 3 months, etc. The absolute date options allow you to set a custom date range using a date picker: select a Start and End date in the calendar provided.
Not seeing all your Recordings?
If you see fewer Recordings than expected, it’s a good idea to check the Date Filter settings. Selecting a wider date range will reveal more Recordings.
Applying filters
Hotjar offers a wide range of filtering options to help you drill down into your Recordings data. These filters can be applied independently or in combination with each other. Combined filters are applied using 'AND' logic, meaning that the data shown in the Heatmap will meet the criteria for every filter applied.
Most of the filter configurations include positive and negative options, such as "does contain" or "does not contain". However, Page count and Duration filters don’t offer negative filters. They use comparison logic ("Greater Than", "Less Than" etc.) which is more relevant to the metric.
Available filter categories on Observe Plus, Observe Business, and Observe Scale plans
Users on paid Observe plans have access to a number of filter categories in addition to the date filter. However, some additional filter categories are only available on Observe Business or Observe Scale plans, as outlined later in this article. Note: User Attributes are only displayed if you've implemented custom attributes on your site.)
Filters can be applied based on the following attributes:
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Path |
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Viewed page |
See Recordings that include a specific page - and jump to that page in the Recording straight away! Example: you have identified an issue with a specific page and you want to focus your attention on it; you want to watch how users get to and navigate away from the page during a larger journey. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with”, and “Exact match”. |
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Exit page |
Recordings where the user left the site on a specific page. Example: you have a valuable page and want to understand if and why people leave the site from it. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with”, and “Exact match” |
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Referrer URL (Observe Business and Observe Scale plans only) |
Recordings with the URL of the page the user was on before the Recording began, if available to Hotjar. HTTP headers where no data is passed will have no Referrer URL. Example: you want to understand where people visit before entering your site. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with”, and “Exact match” |
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Landing page |
Recordings where the user entered the site on a specific page. Example: you use ads to direct traffic to a page and you want to see where people go after it. Supports “Does” and “Does not” for “Contains”, “Starts with”, “Ends with”, and “Exact match” |
Filters available on Observe Business and Observe Scale plans only
Observe Business and Observe Scale plans gain access to a number of additional filter categories, including custom attribute filters for sites that are using the User Attributes feature. They also have access to filtering by user sentiment as left using our Feedback tool and you'll find more details on this in the video below.
User attribute must be implemented, in order for user attribute filters to be available.
This filter will only be available if the User Attributes feature has been implemented and Hotjar has received user attribute data via the Identify API.
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User attributes |
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| User ID |
This allows you to identify specific users based on an ID passed to Hotjar from your own data. Example: You want to identify a user who has reached out to you for customer support, and you want to observe where they got stuck. Hotjar cannot capture every user who visits your site, meaning you may sometimes lookup User IDs you know had a session on your site, but may not appear when filtering. |
| Strings |
String User Attributes are great for categorizing users by a text value. Example: If your service offers multiple subscription tiers, you could assign this to a string User Attribute. |
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Numbers |
Number User Attributes are great for... numbers! Filters support rules such as "Greater Than", "Less Than", "Equal To", "Is Between". Example: perhaps you're only interested in Recordings from your high-value Recordings. |
| Booleans |
These are great for basic categorization where the only options are either true or false. Example: filtering by users with an active subscription. |
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Dates |
Dates allow you to understand when users performed specific actions on your site. Example: filtering by users who signed up in the past 30 days. |
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Feedback |
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Feedback |
Filter Recordings by users who sent Feedback of Love, Like, Neutral, Dislike, or Hate. Example: you're looking to find Recordings from users who disliked or hated your cart. |
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Net Promoter Score® |
Filter Recordings for users who filled out an NPS Survey for your Promoters, Passives, or Detractors based on their NPS scores. Example: you're looking to identify pain points users mention in their NPS survey results in their Recordings. |
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Behavior |
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Event |
Find moments where users took a specific action that triggered an event in Hotjar. Learn more about tracking events with our Events API guide. Example: Focus on sessions of users who clicked on a specific CTA button or element on your page. |
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Identify multiple clicks on the same element during a user journey. Defined as 5 Clicks, within 500ms of one another. Example: find a bug or broken UI when multiple clicks on the element don't trigger any response. |
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U-turn |
Find moments where users return directly to the previous URL, within 7 seconds of leaving that URL. Example: checkout flow isn't as clear as you originally thought after seeing multiple users U-turn and stop because they cannot find "Edit Cart". |
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Experiments |
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View recordings of users who were also part of a Google Optimize Experiment. Example: You notice that one of your Optimize experiments performed better, but you aren't sure why. Use Recordings to see how users actually behaved while in the Optimize experiment group. |
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Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.