Critical issues with user ID, session definition, and inaccurately labeled smart events in Clarity

Hello Clarity team,

I’m reporting several issues that are making Clarity’s data unreliable for my site (Squarespace-hosted, mid-traffic, ecommerce enabled).

1. Returning users misclassified as unique users I have a returning user from Corsica who visits repeatedly. Clarity consistently marks this person as a “unique user,” which breaks:

Returning user metrics

Pages per session

Scroll depth

Average time spent

Any attempt to observe behavior over time

This appears to be basic IP-based or session-based identity logic, not advanced user recognition. By treating the same person as a new user on each visit, the aggregate metrics become misleading to the point of being moot. The only workaround is manually filtering by city and matching timestamps across sessions, which defeats the purpose of the product.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0xmxyhkbmpapi7m3yegqb/Clarity.mov?rlkey=9svz35kkwv3887nrph5rsgz07&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vrjp4fjywdol5idakydzp/Clarity-vs-SQSP.mp4?rlkey=m40uek0xt0kua47svtlb1i18t&dl=0

Sessions ending at interaction instead of true navigation I watched a user add an item to cart and click the Checkout button. The button state changes, indicating navigation occurred — yet the recording ends exactly at the click. There is no recording of the checkout page, even when the user clearly reached it.

This suggests Clarity defines a “session” as ending on certain interactions rather than following the user through navigation. As a result:

Checkout behavior cannot be analyzed

Abandonment cannot be diagnosed

Funnels are incomplete by design

This compounds the identity issue above: sessions are being fragmented both across visits and within a single journey.

1. Incorrect “Checkout” smart events I’ve also observed Clarity firing “Checkout” smart events when users click unrelated UI elements (specifically the Shipping Details link in the top navigation). These elements are near each other visually but are not overlapping, and the interaction does not trigger checkout on the site. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/n5tr7v6hu2v73uvnc9qks/clarity-Incorrect-smart-event.mov?rlkey=a987szhhmhevwh8vsrhv8shdh&dl=0

This raises concerns about:

Event detection accuracy

Heatmap proximity misclassification

False positives in conversion tracking

Taken together, these issues mean Clarity currently cannot be trusted for:

Funnel analysis

Returning user behavior

Conversion diagnostics

Session replay accuracy

I’d appreciate clarity (no pun intended) on:

How user identity is actually determined

Why sessions terminate at key interactions

How smart events are detected and validated

Whether these behaviors are expected or known issues

Happy to provide recordings if helpful — but the screenshots and recordings already show the problem clearly.

Thanks,Hello Clarity team,

I’m reporting several issues that are making Clarity’s data unreliable for my site (Squarespace-hosted, mid-traffic, ecommerce enabled).

Returning users misclassified as unique users
I have a returning user from Corsica who visits repeatedly. Clarity consistently marks this person as a “unique user,” which breaks:

Returning user metrics

Pages per session

Scroll depth

Average time spent

Any attempt to observe behavior over time

This appears to be basic IP-based or session-based identity logic, not advanced user recognition. By treating the same person as a new user on each visit, the aggregate metrics become misleading to the point of being moot. The only workaround is manually filtering by city and matching timestamps across sessions, which defeats the purpose of the product.

Sessions ending at interaction instead of true navigation
I watched a user add an item to cart and click the Checkout button. The button state changes, indicating navigation occurred — yet the recording ends exactly at the click. There is no recording of the checkout page, even when the user clearly reached it.

This suggests Clarity defines a “session” as ending on certain interactions rather than following the user through navigation. As a result:

Checkout behavior cannot be analyzed

Abandonment cannot be diagnosed

Funnels are incomplete by design

This compounds the identity issue above: sessions are being fragmented both across visits and within a single journey.

Incorrect “Checkout” smart events
I’ve also observed Clarity firing “Checkout” smart events when users click unrelated UI elements (specifically the Shipping Details link in the top navigation). These elements are near each other visually but are not overlapping, and the interaction does not trigger checkout on the site.

This raises concerns about:

Event detection accuracy

Heatmap proximity misclassification

False positives in conversion tracking

Taken together, these issues mean Clarity currently cannot be trusted for:

Funnel analysis

Returning user behavior

Conversion diagnostics

Session replay accuracy

I’d appreciate clarity (no pun intended) on:

How user identity is actually determined

Why sessions terminate at key interactions

How smart events are detected and validated

Whether these behaviors are expected or known issues

The screenshots and recordings linked above already show the problem clearly.

Thanks!