If you run a B2B company, you’ve probably heard the pitch: “See exactly what your users do on your site, fix your funnel, drive more revenue.” Sounds great, but most tools either drown you in data or never quite deliver. This review cuts through the noise around Smartlook, a session recording and analytics tool that plugs into Google Tag Manager (GTM). Does it actually help B2B teams figure out what’s working—and what isn’t—in the user journey? Let’s get into it.
What Is Smartlook (And Who Actually Needs It)?
Smartlook records what real users do on your website or app. It gives you session replays (think: watching a video of someone using your site), event tracking, and heatmaps. You can plug it into Google Tag Manager without roping in developers every time you want to track something new.
It’s aimed at people who want to see what’s actually happening in their funnel—not just guess based on charts and dashboards. If you’re in B2B SaaS, lead gen, or have a product where user behavior is messy and multi-step, this might be for you.
Who doesn’t need it? If you’re just looking for simple pageview counts, or your product is dead simple (single-page, no real conversion flow), you’ll find Smartlook overkill.
How Does Smartlook Work With GTM?
The big pitch: you drop the Smartlook snippet into GTM once, and you’re done. No more back-and-forth with engineering for every new tracking idea.
How it actually works: - Session recording: Every user’s journey gets captured as a video. You can watch exactly where they click, what they ignore, and where they drop off. - Event tracking: Mark up key actions (like button clicks, form submissions, logins) as events. You can do this directly in the UI—no code needed. - Funnels: Build funnels out of these events to see where people bail out. - Heatmaps: Visualize where users spend time or click.
Pro Tip: GTM makes it easy to install Smartlook, but don’t forget to still use GTM’s triggers/tags to filter who gets tracked. You don’t want to burn through session quotas watching bots or your own team.
What’s Good About Smartlook for B2B Teams?
Let’s skip the marketing fluff and get to the real wins:
1. You See What Actually Happens (Not Just Numbers)
Charts tell you what happened. Replays show you how it happened. If you’ve ever wondered why your onboarding drop-off is so high, watching the session replays is usually the fastest way to spot confusing UI, missed CTAs, or bugs no one reported.
2. Funnels Are Easy to Build—and Adjust
You can build funnels from tracked events without touching code. Just name the steps you care about (e.g., “Visited Pricing Page” → “Requested Demo” → “Submitted Contact Form”). Smartlook shows where users fall off. If you’re testing tweaks to onboarding or a new CTA, you’ll see results fast.
3. Debugging and QA Are Way Faster
B2B products are complex. If a customer says “it’s broken,” you can pull up their session and see what really happened. No more endless email chains trying to reproduce edge cases. For support and product teams, this is gold.
4. GDPR and Privacy Controls
B2B buyers care about compliance. Smartlook lets you mask sensitive fields, block IPs, and avoid recording keystrokes. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than most.
5. Plays Nice With Other Tools
You can integrate Smartlook with Intercom, Slack, Jira, and more. So when a user files a ticket, you can jump straight to their session replay. It cuts out a lot of guesswork.
Where Smartlook Falls Short
No tool is perfect, and Smartlook’s no exception. Here’s what’s worth knowing up front:
- Session Quotas: The free and lower-tier plans have session limits. If your site gets a lot of traffic, you’ll run out fast—and miss data. Pricing can get steep at scale.
- Mobile App Tracking Is Okay, Not Great: Web tracking is solid; mobile SDKs feel a bit behind. Expect more setup and some occasional missed events.
- Search and Filtering Can Be Clunky: Finding the exact session you care about (say, “users from LinkedIn Ads who dropped off on step 3”) can take some digging. Power users get frustrated.
- Data Retention: By default, sessions aren’t kept forever. If you need to analyze trends over quarters, not weeks, plan for that up front.
- No Magic Insights: Smartlook surfaces raw behavior. It won’t “tell you what’s broken” or “automatically optimize conversions.” You’ll still need to dig in and interpret what you see.
Ignore: Hype about “AI-powered insights.” As of mid-2024, this is mostly marketing spin. You’re getting recordings and events, not magic answers.
Setting Up Smartlook via GTM (The Real Steps)
Don’t overcomplicate it. Here’s how most B2B teams actually get started:
- Install Smartlook via GTM
- Grab your Smartlook snippet from the dashboard.
- In GTM, create a new Tag (Custom HTML), paste the snippet, and set the trigger to fire on all (or selected) pages.
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Publish. Done.
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Decide What to Track
- Start simple: key conversion points, onboarding steps, and high-value actions (e.g., “Book Demo”, “Upgrade Plan”).
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Don’t try to track everything on day one. Too much data = analysis paralysis.
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Mask Sensitive Fields
- In Smartlook’s UI, set up masking for passwords, emails, and anything private.
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Test by running through your own flows and checking what’s visible in replays.
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Build Your First Funnel
- Use the event picker to tag steps in your main conversion flow.
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Watch a few real sessions for each step. You’ll spot UI snags or confusing moments fast.
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Share Recordings With Your Team
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Loop in support, product, and sales folks. Seeing real user struggles is a great way to get buy-in for fixes.
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Set Up Alerts (Optional)
- Get notified if a major drop-off or bug shows up. Don’t overdo it—most alerts just become noise.
Pro Tip: Revisit your setup every month. B2B products change fast. Update events and funnels as your product evolves.
Real Use Cases: Where Smartlook Actually Pays Off
- Onboarding Drop-Off: Watch sessions where users abandon onboarding. You’ll spot unclear steps or missing info fast.
- Demo Request Optimization: See exactly why users don’t finish your “Book a Demo” form. Is it too long? Are the questions confusing?
- Bug Hunting: If support gets a vague bug report, pull up the session. No more “it works on my machine.”
- Sales Handoffs: Sales can watch how high-value leads interact before the demo, then tailor their pitch.
What’s Not Worth Your Time
- Watching Every Session: It’s tempting, but don’t try. Focus on key conversion paths or problem areas.
- Overly Complicated Funnels: Three to five steps is usually enough. More than that, and you’re just muddying the waters.
- Chasing Vanity Metrics: Stick to actions tied to revenue, not just clicks or scroll depth.
Bottom Line: Should You Use Smartlook?
If you’re a B2B company with a messy funnel, support tickets that are hard to reproduce, or you just want to stop guessing what users are doing, Smartlook delivers real value. Just keep it simple: install via GTM, set up a few key events and funnels, and revisit what you’re tracking every month.
Don’t expect magic. The real work is in watching what users do, making small changes, and repeating. The best analytics setups are the ones you actually use—not the ones that look impressive in a sales deck. Start lean, and iterate. That’s how you really improve the user journey.