Our Recordings feature allows you to easily capture your participants' faces, screens, and audio as they complete tasks during your test. These recordings are meant to help you identify potential usability issues by gauging your users' initial reactions and providing valuable insight into their thought processes as they navigate your design or information architecture. Recordings are only available on paid plans.
Enabling recordings is crucial for capturing think-aloud sessions and other valuable insights during prototype tests. Without enabling this feature, you may miss critical insights from participants.
Enabling test recording
Recording is enabled per section and is supported for the following section types:
Card sort test
First click test
Five-second test
Preference test
Navigation test
Design survey
Prototype test (both free flow and task flow)
Tree test
Live website test
Follow-up questions will also be recorded by default, but you can disable this if you only want the task recorded.
To enable recording for a section, simply follow these steps:
Ensure that recordings are enabled before launching your test, as this cannot be retroactively applied.
Add a new section or navigate to an existing section
While hovering over the section, click on the Record button that appears
Select the recording requirements for your test
When enabled, recording is mandatory for all participants. However, due to iOS and Android restrictions, screen recording is not possible on mobile devices.
If you select screen recording but do not target desktop devices, you may still receive responses from users on mobile devices. If that happens, you will only be able to hear their audio; you will not be able to see their screen.
Viewing test recordings
On the Results page, you'll find your recordings at the bottom of the test section:
They will appear in a list on the right-hand side — a blue dot will appear on unwatched recordings that will disappear as soon as they're watched. You can click the star to favorite any recording that you want to save for later.
Renaming recordings
You can rename individual recordings from your study’s Results page to make them easier to identify and reference later.
To rename a recording:
Navigate to the results of a test with screen recordings.
Hover your mouse over the title of a recording to show the edit icon.
Click the edit icon and type the new name. Click the 'Save' button, or press 'enter' on your keyboard to save the new title.
To remove a custom name, click the edit icon again and delete the name you entered.
If the field is left blank, the recording will revert to its original auto-generated name.
Recording transcriptions
Recordings with audio are transcribed automatically in the recording's detected language. To view a selected video's transcription, click the Transcription button underneath the video player:
You can play the video and follow along with the text at the same time, or click a word in the transcript to skip to that part of the video:
If you'd like to download the transcripts in bulk, click Download all transcripts in the top right corner of the recordings section:
You can also copy the full text of the transcription by clicking the three dots in the top right corner of the text box and selecting Copy to clipboard:
Transcription storage
The amount of transcription storage you have access to depends on your Lyssna plan. Limitations are as follows:
Plan | Storage limit |
Free | 5 hours (one-time offer) |
Growth | 50 hours per month |
Transcriptions for both interviews recordings and unmoderated test recordings count toward your storage limit.
If you reach your storage limit, you won't be able to create more transcriptions until the month in your billing cycle restarts. Transcription storage does not roll over month-to-month.
Participant experience
When recording is enabled, participants will be guided through a setup process at the start of the test. If your test contains a screener, those questions will be asked first.
At the beginning of each test section with recording requirements, participants will be reminded that recording will begin:
Recording is mandatory for all participants. If permissions are not granted at the beginning of the test, the participant cannot proceed. If revoked partway through, their test session will be terminated. You will not receive results for sessions that are terminated before completing the test.
Common questions
How can I preview the recording feature from a participant’s point of view?
Our test preview will only display the recording requirements on the welcome screen. If you would like to preview the full recording experience, we recommend using the recruitment link for your test instead.
Can I record the entire test from beginning to end?
Only individual test sections and their follow up questions are recorded. If you would prefer to have one recorded session of the entire test from beginning to end, please reach out and let us know.
Can I record participants from the Lyssna panel?
Yes! Orders from the Lyssna panel incur an extra charge when recordings are enabled, you can learn more from our Pricing article. At this time, recordings are not supported for orders from our partner panel.
Enabling recordings for any test type incurs an additional per-participant fee. Review your plan details to understand the associated costs.
How can I share feedback about this feature?
Our Support team is available to answer your questions or take feedback. Reach out to us at any time from the chat bubble in your account or by emailing support@lyssna.com.