Real User Monitoring And Why It's Not Enough

Why is RUM Needed?

Real User Monitoring (RUM) measures the service-level quality delivered to end users and detects errors or performance issues on websites and native mobile apps. It also evaluates whether website changes achieve their intended outcomes or introduce new errors. Unlike synthetic monitoring, which uses automated tests, RUM collects data from real user interactions to provide accurate insights. RUM helps site owners identify issues, understand user behavior, and uncover what users are experiencing on their site or app.

Real User Monitoring From Glassbox

Real-Time, High-Level Performance Analytics

Performance data is captured and made accessible immediately, enabling instant insights to fix errors and seize opportunities.

Page Resource Performance

Glassbox in-page analytics assess the performance of each resource on your page, allowing you to pinpoint and correct issues quickly.

Core Web Vitals

Glassbox provides realtime insights into how site changes impact Core Web Vitals (CWV), allowing you to address issues proactively-no 28-day wait like with Google's tools.

The Limitations of RUM

• Challenge in Reconstructing Issues
  RUM provides technical data but lacks visibility into user sessions, making
  it difficult to understand the true impact on the user experience. It’s like
  analyzing a basketball game using only the box score–revealing results but not
  the full play-by-play.
• Missing the Full Experience
  RUM focuses on page-level metrics like load times and HTTP requests but
  doesn’t capture the complete user experience. A site might function technically
  well, yet users may still struggle to find what they need, leading to frustration.
• Journey Context
  RUM doesn't capture the full journey or reveal the root cause of abandonment. It cannot place a page experience within the context of an entire journey, such as how an error at one stage impacts the user experience later on. For example, a user might navigate back and forth between pages and abandon the session on a seemingly problem-free page due to issues encountered earlier.

• Prioritizing Based on Business Impact
  RUM doesn't quantify errors by revenue impact or urgency. It doesn't reveal how often an error occurs or how many users abandon due to it, making it challenging to prioritize fixes based on business value.
• Challenges with CWV on Mobile
  RUM struggles to account for Core Web Vitals (CWV) on mobile, where user experiences vary by device, browser or network speed. Understanding these differences requires a deeper, more flexible analysis.

Moving from RUM to RUX (Real User Experience)

While RUM offers valuable technical insights, optimizing the digital customer experience requires more. Glassbox delivers this expanded perspective through Real User Experience (RUX), offering real-time insights into the customer journey from the user's perspective.

• Capture Every Action with Session replay
  Glassbox Session Replay records every interaction across your website and app, providing unmatched visibility into user behavior. It captures all user actions and technical events, revealing root causes, identifying struggles and uncovering revenue opportunities. Plus, with the Glassbox Insights Assistant (GIA), you can leverage Al to analyze behavior faster, transform session data into actionable insights, and search for any session using natural language or filters like errors, rage clicks and abandonment risks.
  

• Understand Behavior Patterns with Funnels
  Create ad-hoc funnels directly from Session Replay for a seamless way to analyze customer behavior in real time. Funnels reveal how many users encounter the same error and its impact on conversion rates and abandonment. They uncover the exact causes of drop-offs, driving data-driven optimizations to improve the customer journey
  
• Visualize Customer Journeys with Digital Journey Maps
  Journey maps provide a comprehensive view of the customer journey, showing behaviors, engagement, actions and struggles. Glassbox's Augmented Journey Ma™ goes beyond page-level insights, visualizing each user's journey across your website or app. Understand the root cause of behaviors within the context of a complete journey-not just isolated pages.
• Deep Dive into Mobile Performance Using CWV
  Glassbox overcomes the challenges of CWV on mobile by mapping all activity and journeys, providing the data needed to understand user experiences across devices, browsers and network speeds. Easily replay any session and break down performance by key metrics to pinpoint issues. Compare these insights across devices to reveal variations in mobile performance and implement precise, data-driven optimizations.

Benefits of Moving from RUM to RUX with Glassbox

• Increase Revenue and Retention:
  Optimize website and mobile layouts to boost engagement and uncover new revenue opportunities.

• Improve User Experience:
  Identify struggle hotspots and problematic element placements to prioritize fixes with the greatest impact on customer experience.

• Enhance Search Rankings:
  Monitor and address site issues affecting Google search rankings in real time, improving visibility and ensuring timely fixes.