Lookback Platform Help

Lookback (lookback.com) is a self-serve, video-first user research platform built around the
live moderated session — real-time 1:1 interviews and usability tests with observer rooms
("behind the glass"), timestamped notes, and AI-assisted note-taking — plus unmoderated self-tests
(task recordings with AI follow-ups). Its recognized strength is mobile screen-and-gesture recording
through the Participate app (iOS/Android). It runs the study; it does not sell a participant panel
of its own (recruit through the User Interviews integration or bring your own users).

Its place in the landscape: the self-serve, run-the-live-session peer — lighter than Great Question's
all-in-one recruit+run+repository suite, and the self-serve answer to the enterprise live-moderated tools
(Discuss.io, dscout). It is UI-first: there is no public self-serve REST API or webhooks — only a
partner-gated Recruitment API (embed User Interviews' panel in your own product) and an MCP/Discover
surface for connecting a custom LLM to cross-session insights.

Two things to say almost every time:
- A moderated session is strong signal, but a stated "I'd pay" is still not a purchase. Watching real
people struggle through a task or reason out loud is the "talk to 10 users" rung — keep the why,
objections, and usability behavior; take the willingness-to-pay go/no-go to a real behavior test
(pre-sale, smoke test) → /sales-idea-validation.
- It's UI-first — don't design a pipeline around a REST API that doesn't exist. No self-serve API and
no webhooks. For an API/webhook/MCP-native research pipeline, route to /sales-userintuition (or
Great Question's REST+webhook surface); use Lookback's manual exports (paid-plan only) otherwise.

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

Ask only what you can't infer:

1. What do you want from Lookback?
   - A) Set up a study — Live (moderated interview/usability test, observer room) vs Self-test
   (unmoderated task recording with AI follow-ups); desktop vs the Participate app on mobile
   - B) Fix a session problem — participant can't join / no-show, dropped connection, audio-video
   cutting out, iOS trouble, a video stuck uploading or lost
   - C) Recruit — the User Interviews integration vs bring-your-own participants (no native panel)
   - D) Analyze / get data out — Notes → Findings, Reels/highlights, transcripts, Eureka AI, Discover;
   manual export (paid plans only)
   - E) Choose / price — Freelance vs Team vs Insights Hub vs Enterprise, metered by session count
2. Is the session moderated (live) or unmoderated (self-test), and on desktop or mobile? That decides
   whether the Chrome-extension/Participate-app onboarding friction applies and which recording path runs.

Skip-ahead: if the user wants to compare research tools across the market or the
validate-before-building method, that's a /sales-idea-validation question — route in Step 2.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

When routing, give the exact command: "This is a {domain} question — run: /sales-idea-validation {original question}"

Otherwise, answer Lookback-specific questions using Step 3.

Step 3 — Lookback platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — the module/automation-surface table
(what's UI-only vs the partner Recruitment API vs MCP/Discover), best-effort pricing/plan gates and the
session-metering model, the Project → Session → Participant → Notes/Findings data model, recruiting
(User Interviews vs bring-your-own), and the recipes (MCP/Discover insights, manual export, the partner
Recruitment API). Answer using only the relevant section — don't dump the full reference.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

You no longer need the platform guide — focus on the user's specific situation.

• Say the caveat: a session is not a purchase. Whatever the user asks, make explicit that Lookback
  watches real people (genuine reasoning, objections, real usability behavior — the "talk to 10 users"
  rung), but a stated "I'd pay" in an interview is not observed demand. Keep the why; take the
  go/no-go from a real behavior test (pre-sale, smoke test) → /sales-idea-validation.
• Lead every session-logistics answer with the onboarding-friction fix — it's the #1 pain. Participants
  must install the Participate app (mobile) or the Chrome extension (desktop) and grant screen/mic
  permissions before they connect, which drives no-shows. Tell the user to send the join link early
  with setup instructions, have participants test their setup ahead of time, over-recruit, and (desktop)
  warn non-Chrome users up front since the extension is Chrome-only.
• For mid-session drops / audio-video cutting out, don't assume it's the participant's connection.
  Reviewers report this even on good connections. Advise a wired/strong connection, closing other
  bandwidth-heavy apps, keeping the tab focused, and — because videos can upload slowly or fail with no
  local-save fallback — confirming the recording finished uploading before ending the session, and taking
  timestamped live notes as a backup so insight survives a lost video.
• State it's UI-first and route pipelines out. There is no self-serve REST API and no webhooks —
  only a partner-gated Recruitment API (apply; for embedding User Interviews' panel) and an
  MCP/Discover insights surface. Don't invent endpoints. For an automated study→CRM/warehouse pipeline,
  point to /sales-userintuition or Great Question; Lookback's data-out is manual export, paid plans only.
• Price by session count, and flag the panel is separate. Plans (Freelance/Team/Insights Hub/Enterprise)
  are metered by sessions; there is no built-in panel — panel participants are pay-as-you-go on
  top (recruited via User Interviews), while bringing your own users is the cheapest path. Present all
  pricing as best-effort and point to lookback.com/pricing.

If you discover a gotcha or tip not in references/learnings.md, append it there with today's date.

Gotchas

Best-effort from research (2026-07) — pricing (session-metered tiers, per-participant panel add-on),
plan gates (exports/Recruit paid-only), and the API/MCP surface all move; verify at lookback.com/pricing.

• Session ≠ demand. A moderated interview or usability test reveals the why better than a survey, but
  a stated "I'd pay" is not a purchase — the go/no-go belongs to a real behavior test (pre-sale, smoke test).
• Participant onboarding is the #1 no-show cause. The Participate app (mobile) / Chrome extension
  (desktop) install + permissions block the join; send setup instructions early, test ahead, over-recruit.
• Chrome-only on desktop; iOS can be flaky. Non-Chrome participants can't use the desktop extension, and
  reviewers report iOS connection problems even when other tools work — verify the participant's setup first.
• Connections drop and audio/video cut out mid-session. Reported even on good connections; take
  timestamped live notes as a backup and confirm the recording uploaded before ending.
• Videos upload slowly and can be lost — no local-save fallback. Don't close the session until the
  upload finishes; a failed upload loses the recording.
• No participant panel of its own. Recruit via the User Interviews integration (pay-as-you-go) or
  bring your own users (cheapest). Participants must enter name + email (a stated privacy concern).
• UI-first: no self-serve REST API or webhooks. Only a partner-gated Recruitment API + MCP/Discover;
  exports (and Recruit) are paid-plan only, not on the free trial. Route real pipelines to /sales-userintuition.

Related skills

• /sales-idea-validation — The tool-agnostic validate-before-building method + the full research/usability/validator tool landscape (a research "yes" is not demand — this decides build-or-not). Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-idea-validation -a claude-code
• /sales-great-question — The all-in-one recruit + run + repository suite (own 6M+ panel, moderated + unmoderated + surveys, and a real REST API + webhooks + MCP) — reach for it when you want end-to-end research ops rather than Lookback's run-the-live-session focus. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-great-question -a claude-code
• /sales-userintuition — Real-human AI-moderated interviews with a self-serve REST API + HMAC webhooks + MCP — the pick when the research must sit in an automated pipeline (which Lookback can't). Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-userintuition -a claude-code
• /sales-respondent — The recruit-only marketplace (recruit, screen, schedule, pay real B2B/professional participants, then hand off) — pair it with Lookback when you need participants but Lookback has no native panel. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-respondent -a claude-code
• /sales-customer-feedback — Analyze existing NPS/CSAT/VoC feedback across tools (Lookback runs new moderated studies; this is the post-launch feedback-strategy peer). Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-customer-feedback -a claude-code
• /sales-funnel — Build the smoke-test / fake-door landing page that turns a research hypothesis into a real demand test. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-funnel -a claude-code
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code

Examples

Example 1: "Half my Lookback participants never make it into the session" (top pain point)

User says: "I keep getting no-shows — people join the link and then can't get into the actual session."
Skill does: Names the #1 cause — the Participate app (mobile) / Chrome extension (desktop)
install and screen/mic permissions that participants hit before they connect. Advises sending the join
link early with setup instructions, having participants test their setup ahead of time, over-recruiting,
and warning non-Chrome desktop users because the extension is Chrome-only. Notes iOS is a known
trouble spot, so verify mobile participants' setup first.
Result: The researcher pre-empts the onboarding friction and cuts no-shows instead of blaming the panel.

Example 2: "Can I auto-sync completed Lookback sessions and transcripts into our warehouse?" (developer/automation)

User says: "I want completed interviews and transcripts flowing into BigQuery automatically — what's the API?"
Skill does: States plainly that Lookback is UI-first — no public self-serve REST API and no webhooks;
the only programmatic surfaces are a partner-gated Recruitment API (for embedding User Interviews' panel,
not data-out) and an MCP/Discover insights surface (custom-LLM cross-session analysis, undocumented
publicly — discover at runtime, don't invent endpoints). For an automated study→warehouse pipeline, routes
to /sales-userintuition (REST + HMAC webhooks + MCP) or Great Question; for Lookback specifically, the
data-out path is manual export, available on paid plans only.
Result: The user stops looking for a Lookback API key and either exports manually or picks an API-native tool.

Example 3: "Is the cheapest Lookback plan enough, and where's the panel?"

User says: "I'm a solo founder — does the entry plan cover 10 interviews, and do participants come included?"
Skill does: Explains plans are metered by sessions (the entry Freelance tier includes a small session
allotment; Team/Insights Hub scale up), and that Lookback has no participant panel of its own — panel
participants are pay-as-you-go on top (recruited via User Interviews) with a participant minimum on
higher tiers, while bringing your own users is free, often the cheapest answer. Flags that exports and
Recruit are paid-plan only (the free trial excludes exports). Presents all pricing as best-effort and
points to lookback.com/pricing.
Result: The founder picks a plan by session count and brings their own users instead of paying for panel.

Troubleshooting

"My participant can't get into the session / keeps no-showing"

Symptom: Participants click the join link but never reach the live session, or don't show at all.
Cause: Lookback requires installing the Participate app (mobile) or the Chrome extension
(desktop) and granting screen/microphone permissions before connecting — a friction step that causes
drop-off, worsened by the desktop extension being Chrome-only and reported iOS trouble.
Solution: Send the join link and setup instructions well ahead of time, ask participants to test their
setup before the session, over-recruit to absorb no-shows, and confirm non-Chrome desktop users switch to
Chrome (or run the session on mobile). Verify iOS participants' setup first.

"The connection dropped / audio and video cut out in the middle of my session"

Symptom: Observers or the moderator lose audio/video mid-session, or the call drops.
Cause: Reviewers report dropped connections and mid-session audio/video cutouts even on good
connections — a known reliability gripe, not always the participant's network.
Solution: Use a wired/strong connection, close other bandwidth-heavy apps, keep the tab focused, and
always take timestamped live notes as a backup so a lost stream doesn't lose the insight. If it recurs,
try a self-test/unmoderated recording as a fallback for that participant.

"My session video is stuck uploading / I lost a recording"

Symptom: A recording takes a long time to appear, or a video never uploaded and is gone.
Cause: Videos upload to the cloud after the session and can be slow or fail, and there is no
local-save fallback, so a failed upload loses the recording.
Solution: Don't close the app/browser until the upload completes; keep the device awake and connected.
Take live timestamped notes and mark key moments during the session so findings survive even if a video is
lost. For anything you must not lose, run a local screen recording as a parallel backup.

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