How to Use a Heat Map in 7 Simple Steps

Conversion rates drop up to 20% for every additional second of site load time. Meanwhile, about 70% of online users have abandoned their carts due to poor design. If you’re not considering your website’s design and development, you could lose customers. 

With a heatmap, you can gather important information about your online customers. Then, you can make result-driven decisions when improving your site. By updating your website, you can improve the user experience (UX) and keep people online longer.

Then, you can boost leads, conversions, and sales, supporting a higher ROI!

Not sure how to use a heatmap? Here are seven tips that can help. With these heatmap tips, you can gather the information you need to succeed.

Improve your website using these tips on using a heatmap today!

1. Choose a Type of Heat Map

Before you can learn how to use a heatmap, you need to consider what type of heatmap you want to use. You can use a mix of these different maps to gain more insights into your visitors.

For example, you might want to consider using a scroll map. Scroll maps will help you determine the percentage of visitors that scroll to any point on the page.

You’ll likely notice that the top of the page is red. Red indicates more visitors saw that portion of the page. The color will shift to blue as the number of views decreases.

Do you want to learn about engagement and site interactions? Consider creating a click map.

Click maps will help you determine where people clicked (using a mouse) or tapped their finger (on mobile devices). Mobile device click maps are also called touch heatmaps. 

The map will appear color-coded to tell you which elements are clicked on the most. Elements with more clicks appear in red, orange, and yellow.

You can also determine where a user’s mouse travels while they’re on your site. You can use a move map to track where the mouse travels on the page. The hotspots on these maps indicate more users lingered their cursor to that part of the page.

These maps can help you determine where people are looking on your pages. 

You can learn more about creating a path analysis here.

When using a heatmap, it’s important to compare your desktop and mobile data. How does your website perform on separate devices? You might find that desktop users travel further down the page than mobile users.

You might want to consider condensing your mobile version with that in mind. 

2. Study How Far They Scroll

About 94% of a website’s first impressions are due to its design. In fact, 75% of your credibility is due to design, too. If your website isn’t organized and eye-catching, it could hurt your brand’s reputation.

Learning how to use a heatmap can tell you what people think about your business. 

If they leave without scrolling or clicking around, it could indicate you’ve left a negative impression.

Consider using a scroll map to study whether or not people are seeing your important content. Remember, a scroll map will show you how far people travel down the page.

First, review the position of the average fold. The fold is the portion of the page that people see without scrolling. The average fold helps you determine that starting point for the majority of your website visitors.

Finding the average fold helps you determine whether people are accessing the most important information when they land. What content do you place above the fold? If your persuasive content is below the fold, you might want to move it further up.

That way, you can capture the attention of more users and encourage them to scroll down.

You can analyze this data to determine how many visitors make it to specific page points. Then, you can make informed decisions when adjusting your landing pages.

If people are ignoring your content, you can adjust the page structure.

3. Consider Every Click

Using a heatmap can also tell you whether or not people are clicking on:

• Call-to-action language
• Links
• Buttons
• Videos

You’ll need to use a click map to determine if people are clicking on your page elements.

What goals do you want to accomplish with your landing page? Do you want people to fill out a form or click a call button? Your click map can help you better accomplish your goals.

You can determine which elements people interact with most, then make changes to the page. You can also use A/B testing to determine what button colors and CTA language is more effective.

Then, you can improve your clickthrough and conversion rates!

4. Check Your Non-Clickable Elements

Do people get confused while they’re on your website? They might click on certain elements, assuming they’re links. Confusion can lead to frustration, which could lead to a higher bounce rate.

You can learn how to use a heatmap to recognize these wanted clicks.

For example, do people click on your testimonial logos? You might want to move those elements further down the page.

Then, you can focus more time and energy on conversion opportunities instead.

5. Look for Distractions

Do people get distracted while they’re on your website? Are they losing focus and not converting?

You can use your heatmap to pinpoint cursor activity. Then, determine what elements are distracting the user. Redistributing your content will help people remain focused.

6. Consider Different Devices

You might find users are experiencing issues on different devices. What information needs to appear above the fold? Are buttons easy to use on mobile devices?

You can make more informed decisions per device moving forward. 

7. Evaluate Your Analytics

Once you create your heatmap, you can start gathering and analyzing your data. You can even compare your heatmap data to your Google Analytics reports. Heatmaps can help you better understand changes in dwell times, clickthrough rates, and other metrics. 

How to Use a Heatmap: 7 Simple Steps for a Quick Data Analysis

Learning how to use a heatmap is essential. With these tips, you can gather the data you need to make more informed decisions with your website. Then, you can optimize your site for conversions and boost your ROI.

Are you searching for more helpful tips and tricks? We have you covered! Explore our latest blog posts today for more useful guides.