How Session Replay Works (and How Ours Privacy’s Session Replay is HIPAA-Compliant)

First things first: it’s not a screen recording.

Session replay is not a literal recording of what visitors see on their screens.

Instead, it’s a secure, event-based reconstruction of how someone interacted with a website.

When a replay is viewed, it’s not showing a live feed — it’s displaying a visual playback rebuilt from interaction data. This approach provides valuable insight into user experience without ever capturing sensitive patient information.

What Session Replay Does

Session replay provides visibility into how visitors experience a digital property, where they click, scroll, or pause, to help teams understand what’s working and what may need improvement.

In healthcare marketing, this capability transforms complex analytics into a clear, human-centered view of the patient journey. It allows organizations to identify points of friction in forms, appointment flows, or navigation pathways — all within a HIPAA-compliant environment.

How It Works Behind the Scenes

1. Page structure is mapped

When a visitor lands on a site, a secure script records the layout and structural elements of the page such as buttons, form fields, and content areas.

2. Interactions are captured as events

Clicks, scrolls, field changes, and navigation actions are stored as lightweight events. No video files or screenshots are created.

3. Replays are reconstructed from event data

During playback, the system rebuilds what happened using those recorded events — essentially recreating the session rather than showing a direct recording.

4. Data and replays are connected

Within Ours Privacy’s HIPAA-compliant CDP, every replay is linked directly to event analytics. Teams can move seamlessly from a data point, like a conversion or form error, to the corresponding session replay, creating a unified view of both metrics and experience.

Built-in Privacy Protections

Session Replay is part of Ours Privacy’s BAA-backed, HIPAA-compliant customer data platform It operates within the same secure infrastructure and is fully covered under each customer’s existing Business Associate Agreement. Because it’s built into the broader Ours Privacy ecosystem, it works seamlessly alongside other products such as the Consent Management Platform, enabling continuous protection and unified compliance across every feature.

• BAA-backed and HIPAA-aligned

Ours Privacy signs a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with every customer, ensuring that session replay data is covered under the same compliance and audit standards as the broader CDP.

• Sensitive data masked by default

Form fields and other personal inputs are automatically hidden during recording and playback to ensure that protected health information (PHI) is never displayed.

• Customizable privacy settings

Additional site elements can be blocked or masked through configurable privacy controls, giving each organization flexibility over what is captured.

• Secure storage and automatic cleanup

All replay data is encrypted, access-controlled, and automatically deleted after a defined retention period to support ongoing compliance.

Why It Matters for Healthcare Organizations

For healthcare marketers and digital experience teams, understanding how patients navigate online experiences is key to improving access and engagement.

Session replay bridges the gap between quantitative analytics and real-world behavior — showing not just what happened, but how it happened.

By pairing these insights with strict privacy controls, organizations gain a deeper, more accurate view of their digital experience without compromising trust.

To learn more about Ours Privacy, schedule a demo here.