What is a heat map and what is it used for?
Heat maps, also known as heatmaps, are a key tool in web analytics to understand and optimize user experience on websites. The article provides a comprehensive look at this tool.
What is a heat map?
A heat map (en. heat map) is an analytical tool that visualizes the degree to which users are engaged by various elements of a site. Areas of most interest to users are marked in red, while those less popular are marked in blue, with additional intermediate colors. Based on this, it is possible to determine the intensity of users deciding to take a particular action on the website.
Types of heat maps
Heatmaps can be divided into several types depending on the type of data being tracked. Each type is responsible for tracking different user behavior on a website. Therefore, the following breakdown allows you to fine-tune the various elements of your website:
- Clicktracking: analysis of mouse clicks on a page showing which page elements are clicked on most often by users.
- Scrolltracking: page scroll length analysis to understand which parts of a page are viewed most often.
- Attentiontracking: Focuses on the areas of the site that attract the most attention from users.
Heat mapping tools
Depending on the specifications of the heat map and the data needed for analysis, several tools are available to create a heat map:
- HotJar: Offers click maps, cursor movement recordings and other features.
- Crazy EGG: Creates heatmaps depicting page clicks and scrolls.
- Smartlook: A new application offering click maps, scrollmaps and recordings of user behavior on the site.
The use of heat maps in web analytics
Heat maps are used in many aspects of website analysis and its further evolution. Conclusions drawn from the heat map have a huge impact not only on the design and layout of elements on the site, but most importantly on user behavior and, consequently, conversions. Therefore, heat maps have the following applications:
- Improve the visibility of buttons and icons: Helps you understand which elements are most frequently clicked and need to be optimized.
- Content length analysis: Scrollmaps indicate where users are reaching on the page, which helps adjust content length.
- Detecting problem areas: Click maps can point out items that are not working properly.
- Improve site navigation: Helps understand how users navigate the site.
- Moving elements within a page: Helps optimize the placement of important information on the page.
Summary
Heat maps are a powerful tool in web analytics to visually analyze user behavior. Their effective use can significantly improve a site’s usability, which in turn can lead to higher conversion rates. They are a valuable source of data both when changing a website and developing the current one. It can be unanimously stated that the information provided by heatmaps makes a website more user-friendly, which has a significant impact on taking further actions on the website or leaving it. Therefore, any time is a good time to implement a heat map, as it represents a major step to change for the better.
