Communicating information through visuals is efficient and effective. For example,
dashboards and
infographics are able to convey important data quickly while successfully getting the attention of viewers. Many experts consider data visualization as both an art and science for combining numerical or tabular data and various types of charts to graphically represent patterns and relationships in a new and meaningful way. Another popular data visualization technique is a heatmap.
What is heatmap software?
A heatmap shows magnitude information through a variation of brightness or color. For example, a heatmap of an on-screen keyboard can show which letter keys are more frequently used over others. One of the most important uses of heatmapping today is understanding what online users do on a website. Heatmap software is software that provides a website owner the information of how hot (popular) or how cold (unpopular) the elements are of a web page. A heatmap tool gathers and analyzes web page activity data such as locations where users click, how far they scroll, and areas they stay or ignore.
Heatmap software is a general term that can be further divided into the types of heatmaps they show. For instance, a scroll map or attention map can show how many or what percentage of visitors have scrolled down to any part of the page. A click map or touch heatmap can collect data on where visitors clicked their mouse or tapped their finger on a web page. Move maps or hover maps, on the other hand, track where visitors move their mouse as they navigate the page looking for areas of interest.
Benefits of heatmap software
The best heatmap software can help companies understand how online visitors are interacting with their web page. The data can be used to maximize what is effective and to adjust what can be improved upon. A heatmap tool can:
- Increase conversion rates by showing which web page elements in a sign-up page are highly utilized, under utilized, or ignored. By removing unnecessary options or simplifying fields, conversion rates are increased and drop-offs reduced.
- Increase visitor engagement by showing which content should be at the top or upper part of the web page, where visitors spent most of their time.
- Drive up conversions by showing where to place good call to action (CTA) in areas where viewing time is increased.
- Increase new user sign-ups by showing which CTA buttons to emphasize in terms of size, color, or contrast to get more attention.
- Help improve the design and functionality of landing pages.
Best Heatmap Software & Tools for 2021
Heatmap software can provide important information to marketers and sales teams to influence the online choices of visitors and customers. Here is a list of the best heatmap tools in no particular order based on reviews from multiple sites, features, and company ranking.
Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg is a website optimization software that includes heatmaps and A/B testing features. Tools such as heatmaps, scrollmaps, and click reports help small businesses, e-commerce and retail companies, digital agencies, and education companies increase their sales and subscriptions or get more page views. The heatmapping tools can provide insights, show how visitors are behaving on-site, and make sure CTAs are seen.
Mouseflow
Mouseflow provides heatmaps, session replay, funnels, forms, and user feedback. It includes a full suite of heatmaps that cover clicks, movement, scrolls, attention, and geography. Users are able to track their visitors’ activity and uncover patterns in behavior to improve the overall page experience in an anonymous way. It gives website owners a way to understand their customers’ journey and find out how to make them happy.
Smartlook
Smartlook is a free heatmap software that also includes features such as user recordings and analytics for websites and mobile apps. The software can generate heatmaps from retroactive data, so users can generate it in minutes. It can show different types of visitors, whether new, returning, or both. The heatmaps can be downloaded and
used in presentations or be shared via public links. They can also be segmented by device so users know where to improve them.
Matomo
Matomo Analytics is a web analytics platform with a focus on data and customer privacy. The software can be deployed on-premise or hosted in the cloud. Heatmaps is a premium feature included in cloud-hosted Matomo. It can provide information such as pointing out confusing colors or elements that visitors confuse as clickable. It also shows what they look for or where they go next.
Inspectlet
Inspectlet is a heatmap tool that also provides session recording, A/B testing, error logging, and form analytics. Its heatmap visualization tools let users find out where in the website people are really looking. Eye-tracking heatmaps show what parts of the site visitors are reading. Click heatmaps show which button, link, image, or text they are clicking on. The software also shows how far visitors are scrolling down on web pages.
Freshworks CRM
Freshworks CRM is a cloud-based CRM with website integration features. It has website tracking tools that can show hotspots on the website for each contact. Learn which are the frequently visited pages and clicked links. Other features include dynamic maps, website analytics, element analytics, and behavioral mapping.
FullStory
FullStory is an analytics platform with features such as session replay, heatmaps, and developer tools. It can index every digital interaction with a website or app and allows teams to measure, validate, and act on these data. The software can show how users interact with a site or app using session replays and intelligent heatmaps. Users then are able to visualize shopper or visitor frustration, understand the issues, and communicate to their customers effectively.
Lucky Orange
Lucky Orange offers dynamic heatmaps, visitor recordings, live chat software, and conversion funnels in an all-in-one conversion optimization suite. A fully interactive heatmap shows users toggle menus, open popups, or move through the steps of a form in real time. The software works with various development technologies, provides user segmentation, has element analytics, and includes clicks, moves, and scrollmaps.
VWO
VWO is a leading provider of A/B testing tool for the enterprise. Its VWO Insights product allows users to analyze visitor behavior with a number of tools including a heatmap tool. It combines funnels, session recordings, heatmaps, on-page surveys, and form analytics to diagnose problems that visitors may experience. Heatmap reports can be downloaded and shared with different stakeholders.
Hotjar
Hotjar offers website heatmaps and behavior analytics tools to help businesses understand how users are experiencing their website. The heatmap software is built for marketers, product designers, and UX designers. It has click, move, and scroll heatmaps to help visualize visitor behavior. Users can split heatmaps by device type, whether desktop, tablet, or smartphone. The heatmaps can also be downloaded and shared.