We’ve all been in that situation. You’ve spent a long time shopping for the right products. When you try to check out, you click the Next button and …nothing happens. You click a few more times, but the button is dead. You go back, frantically clicking other buttons, but nothing works. Frustrated, you search for the products elsewhere.
When a JavaScript error happens on a website, it’s a showstopper. The error isn’t directly visible for the average user, so not much happens. The sale is lost, and what’s worse: trust is lost.
Read on if you’d like to fix this.
Why JavaScript errors are hard to avoid
JavaScript errors can be really hard to avoid because of the many different client configurations out there. They can be caused by unsupported functions in old browsers or less-known mobile ones (when was the last time you tested your checkout flow on Blackberry 10 browser?). But, they also arise from unexpected client state: users with a strange timezone or who clear a certain cookie after logging in, or who first add a product to the cart, then delete it, then re-add it. You get the point.
And traditionally these errors have been hard to track down – not least because most people are unaware of the errors happening and, alas, can’t report them.
Some websites use dedicated tools for logging all JavaScript errors, but they still have a hard time reproducing the steps that led to the error. And, sadly:
”Too few websites log JavaScript errors.” — Karl Seguin
Mouseflow to the rescue
As a natural extension to our session replay, we’ve added JavaScript Error tracking. Instead of being in the dark, we now give you error tracking super powers. Each time a click triggers an error, we tag the session so it’s easy to discover.
You can see the tag directly in the Recording list and, if you want to find out which pageview(s) had the error, our waterfall view tells you where to look.
During playback, we also show where errors occur in the timeline. This makes it easier than ever to track down, reproduce, and fix the problem.
The warning signs appear above the clicks that triggered the error. The same warning sign also appears next to the click visualization itself so you’re absolutely sure which click triggers the problem. The image below shows a bug we found in the wizard plugin we use for our own application.
How to find these sessions
In Mouseflow, you can search for all sessions containing the “click-error” tag. Just click the filter icon, open the dropdown under “Tags” to select “click-error”, and then click “Apply”. This will display the list of all sessions containing these errors – ready for you to analyze.
Boost your helpdesk and chat
You can integrate Mouseflow with your favorite helpdesk and chat software, attaching the playback URL directly to your support ticket or chat session. Then you don’t have to ask the user how to reproduce the problem – you simply watch exactly how it happened. Read our integration examples for Olark and Zopim. See our integration options here. If you’re using other tools, just ask us and we probably have a way to integrate.
