What Are Rage Clicks?

In a world where customers expect the best customer experience possible, it is more important than ever for companies to understand how their users are feeling about their products. One of the clearest signs of customer frustration can be seen in rage clicks.

A rage click is when a user repeatedly and aggressively tries to click or tap on a web element that isn't working or responding quickly enough.

It's essential that companies are aware of this behavior in order to take action and make improvements before customer frustration leads to them losing out on potential business. In this article, we'll break down what rage clicks are, why they're important, and how companies can take steps to improve user experience.

What are rage clicks?

Rage clicking occurs when a user is clicking or tapping an element on the page with an expectation that it will respond quickly — such as a submit button or link. If the expected response doesn't happen, the user may become increasingly frustrated or impatient, resulting in them rapidly and aggressively clicking or tapping the element multiple times.

Rage clicks can be caused by:

• Slow load speeds
• Broken elements
• Poor design 
• Too many steps in a process
• Invisible overlays

Identify rage clicks with Fullview

Fullview automatically flags user sessions with rage clicks, so you can quickly and easily identify issues and deploy fixes.

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What can rage clicking indicate?

A rage click can be indicative of a user's overall experience with an application or website. It could indicate that a user is frustrated by some aspect of:

• The UX
• The UI
• The onboarding flow

It could mean that a user is becoming impatient and annoyed with an application's features or functionality. It could even be an indication that a user is about to leave the application altogether if their expectations aren't being met.

Don't believe that unresponsive elements can lead to user frustration and churn?

‍Bing explained that 4% of site visitors were having an unsatisfactory experience using the search box on Bing because they kept clicking the box, but nothing was happening.

This makes it essential for companies to take notice of rage clicks and address any issues they may have before it threatens the customer relationship.

Differences between rage clicks, error clicks, dead clicks, and thrashed cursors

While all of these behaviors can indicate user frustration, there are some key differences to be aware of between each of these terms when it comes to analyzing user experience.

• Rage clicks: A rage click indicates user frustration and is characterized by a user repeatedly clicking or tapping in the same area over a short amount of time. The user could be clicking on buttons or just clicking empty spaces because they are impatient or frustrated. ‍
• Error click: An error click, on the other hand, is when users click on elements or buttons that do not work or are broken. For example, they try to click on a button or link, and nothing happens. Error clicks can cause user frustration and in turn lead to rage clicks. ‍
• Dead click: A dead click is when a click or tap has no effect on the page. This typically indicates that an element looked interactive to a user but was actually not. For example, a user clicks on a button, but the page doesn't change. Dead clicks can also cause user frustration and lead to rage clicks. That's why it is essential to make sure you nail your UI, so that clickable and non-clickable elements are clear for everyone to see. ‍
• Thrashed cursor: A thrashed cursor is when a user moves their mouse erratically or in circles.

How can companies identify rage clicks?

There are many ways to identify rage clicks. However, the most effective way to identify rage clicks is by implementing any software that collects DOM events and recreates user mouse movements and steps — like session replays software. 

The Fullview session replays software, for example, automatically detects and alerts you to rage clicks. In addition to that, it also records user sessions in your app so you can playback those recordings to see exactly what a user's mouse movements, clicks, and navigation behavior were in your app. 

You can also use filters and apply them to your session replays list to find only those sessions that included rage clicks, which makes it even quicker and easier to identify issues and fix them.

With Fullview's session replays feature, you can see user issues in context and easily diagnose bugs because Fullview also collects and displays console information like user journey, network & device info, errors, and warnings. 

Benefits of using software to identify rage clicks

Using software to identify rage clicks can provide many benefits. These include:

• Showing you aspects of your UI/UX that are confusing to users
• Indicating problems with your onboarding flows
• Helping your customer support team provide proactive support to users

Identify aspects of your UI/UX that are confusing to users

Many times, rage clicks can indicate that a UI/UX element or feature is confusing or unresponsive. By analyzing the user behavior and session replays, you can determine what elements users are having trouble with and how to improve them.

Indicate problems with your onboarding flows

Watching session recordings of users during their onboarding can show you where a lot of people are abandoning onboarding or getting confused and frustrated, so you can see exactly what you need to do to improve it. For example, if you watch a session replay and notice that people are clicking the same link over and over again, but the page isn't loading, this could be a sign of slow loading speeds.

Help your support team provide proactive support to users

One of the best ways to understand user issues is by providing your support team with the ability to watch a session replay of those users. Suppose a support agent reviewing user sessions notices that a user has rage clicked a lot during a particular session. In that case, they can reach out to the user immediately and offer assistance without waiting for an inbound support request. 

Adopting a proactive mindset like this helps to keep both user frustration and support volumes down, but problems like rage clicks can be hard to spot without a dedicated tool, so it's important to find the best session replay tools for your use case. 

Rage clicks and GDRP: protecting user data

Rage clicks are a valuable tool to help companies identify customer frustrations and take action. However, it is essential to note that because rage clicks involve session replay tools that may record personally identifiable information (PII), they must be GDPR compliant. As such, it is essential to use a tool that takes security seriously and is fully compliant with GDPR regulations to ensure the privacy and safety of customers.

Some tools, like Fullview, automatically blur all GDPR-sensitive data and further allow you to customize elements you want to blur out during session recordings. 

Wrapping things up

Rage clicks can provide companies with valuable insight into user frustrations, journey issues, and onboarding flows. By implementing a session replay software like Fullview, you can easily detect rage clicks and take action quickly to improve customer experience. Just make sure that you are using a GDPR-compliant tool so that users' data remains secure.