All you need to Know about Heatmaps: A Complete Guide

Heat maps are an excellent tool for the graphical representation of complex statistical data. It makes data analysis sets understandable and actionable. Heatmaps are used by many professionals, including designers, marketers, UX Specialists, sociologists, doctors, and researchers. 

But what is a heatmap? What does it do? And what are the benefits of heatmap? This article will help you with all the answers!

Let's jump into this article to get an idea about heat map and their benefits. 

What is a Heatmap?

Knowing what a heatmap is important to identify user behavior on specific website landing pages or templates. A heat map shows shades of different colors to graphically depict numbers so that complex data points can be easily understood. 

Heat maps can be created manually. But most of today's heat maps are created using specialized software.

Although heat maps are used in many analytics applications, they primarily show user behavior on certain web pages or web page designs. Heat maps can show visitor activity on a page, including where they clicked, how far down visitors scroll, or the outcomes of eye-tracking tests.

What are Heat Maps Used For? 

A heat map can be used with any data. It can start from the real estate market to depict the number of foreclosures or CDS spreads to website analysis to indicate the number of visits a website receives. 

They assist you in gathering information about visitors' behavior, which you can use to tailor your website to meet visitors' needs. It can include enhancing conversion funnels, raising conversion rates, lowering bounce rates, or increasing sales, among other objectives.

Heatmaps are a straightforward approach to contextualizing overall user behavior for any web page.

With a heatmap tool, you can avoid the following:

• Utilizing trial-and-error techniques;
• Accepting the data points that are NOT converting visitors; 
• Going with your gut instinct; 
• Asking others for their experience and opinions.

How do Heatmaps Work? 

Now that you know what a heatmap is, let's dig in to learn how a heat map works. 

It depends on the type of Heat map and how it is made. Although there are many varieties, they can generally be divided into two groups: Interaction heatmaps and Attention heatmaps:

• Interaction Heat Maps 

A user's interactions with a website, such as clicks, scrolls, mouse movements, and other actions, are recorded using mouse tracking heat map codes and measured by interaction heatmaps.

• Attention Heat Maps 

Attention heatmaps track complex visitors' eye movements to determine how they interact with the material on your website.

Working Process of the Heat map 

A heat map shows portions of a website that attract the most attention using a warm-to-cool color spectrum.

They are employed to display clicks and taps on a website, where each piece is color-coded based on its level of popularity and visits. Bright red represents all the elements that receive the most hits, while parts that receive fewer clicks tend to fade into cooler hues. 

The level of involvement or participation alters the colors that are layered. The more action there is, the more vibrant the colors get - and vice versa; the less activity there is, the cooler the hue becomes. Interactions for website heatmaps include clicking, movement, attentiveness, geographical location, and how far the visitors scrolled. Mouseflow handles the tracking code of these data analysis points.

Still, trying to figure out how to read a heatmap? You can check it out here. 

Types of Heatmaps 

Here are the types of heat maps used to determine the visitor's interests : 

1. Click Maps 

One of the most used heat map types is Click Maps showing where users clicked on your page. It provides information about how users engage with your website’s landing page. You can also identify whether parts of your website are frequently clicked using Click Maps. It can help you identify any navigational problems. 

Click maps can also help you increase website ROI in the following ways : 

• By positioning and tracking practical CTA buttons. 
• By identifying and removing areas that are causing user friction.
• By raising bounce rates and displaying the most popular areas of your site.
• By tracking conversion rates for both new and returning visitors. 

2. Scroll Maps 

Scroll Maps take the shape of heat maps with all the scroll data plotted (scroll depth, scrolling pattern, etc.). These maps help in depicting the visual representation of your web pages. The number of visitors who scroll to each portion of a webpage is shown on a scroll map. 

This heat map shows the section after which the percentage of visitors who scroll dramatically drops. It depicts the significant depth to which visitors scroll and other information. A single Scroll Map of this data is colored, each color denoting a different level of interaction intensity.

3. Mouse Tracking Maps 

Instead of recording mouse clicks, Mouse-Tracking Maps record every mouse movement. 

By highlighting areas on a web page where users are hovering, hesitating, or thrashing their mouse, they assist in identifying irritated visitors.

The informational value of mouse-tracking heat maps comes from the relationship between users' gaze locations and the location of their mouse cursor, which has been demonstrated through research.

You can also improve complicated web pages with dynamic features using mouse-tracking. You can identify hover patterns that reveal visitor friction or irritation. You can also determine the relevance of search results by counting the number of clicks.

4. AI-Generated Heat Maps

To construct visual representations of user attention based on data produced by software algorithms, the AI-Generated Heatmaps use artificial intelligence (AI). Many businesses specializing in AI-generated heat maps show what visitors are most likely to focus on rather than what people are paying attention to on your website.

AI-generated heat maps are often used to simulate the first three to five seconds of a user's attention on a website to determine which components are glanced at most and the least. This aids in the heat maps' ability to forecast users' future behavior.

5. Desktop and Mobile Heat Maps 

You may compare the performance of your website across various devices using desktop and Mobile Heat maps. You must determine how user engagement varies when material that is prominent on a desktop page appears much further below the fold on the phone.

6. Confetti Maps 

Confetti maps depict every click, unlike Click Maps, which show areas of activity. These reports can assist you in identifying a subset of users interested in a particular page element or indicate whether users are getting upset while interacting with non-interactive page components.

7. Error Click Maps 

Error Clicks Maps determines when a user clicks on a web page element that causes an error, such as a console error or a client-side JavaScript problem.

You can utilize error clicks to analyze console problems or uncaught exceptions mainly. Even though the user may or may not be aware that they have caused an error.

You can easily find and solve defects using Error Click Maps, dramatically improving user experience.

8. Dead-Click Maps 

Users occasionally mistakenly click on non-clickable items on a website or app, believing it to be a button, resulting in a dead click. Dead clicks allow you to identify which non-functional components are mistaken for buttons on your website or app. It allows you to figure out how to minimize user confusion and annoyance.

They can also be used to proactively remove user uncertainty to optimize conversions and understand behavioral trends over time to spot new opportunities.

You'll gain valuable insights once you comprehend how to evaluate data from heat maps and resolve any potential issues.

You will get to know the following: 

1. What is Effective?

Suppose there is a concentration of red located precisely over your CTA, and there aren't many errant clicks. In that case, your element is working as intended and directing visitors to the next stage of the funnel.

2. What is Incorrect?

On the contrary, something about your website isn't engaging if there aren't many activity clusters or perhaps a sizable cluster over the "back" button. If you experience this, rearrange the content and do an A/B test.

3. When Users are Displeased!

When prospects attempt to click on non-interactive areas of your website, they might drop off. You need to fix a broken link or a website with a perplexing layout.

4. How Long are Prospects Able to Engage?

Finally, you can determine whether your material is compelling enough to hold your users' attention. You can combine confetti maps with scroll maps to see who clicks on the CTA button and how many visitors are reading most of your material.

Benefits of Heat Map 

After learning what is a heat map, let's know about how a heat map can be a boon for your business:

1. Deliver Precise Stats

Analytics systems like Google Analytics or Site Catalyst are excellent at delivering stats to show which sites are visited the most. Still, they might need to be more extensive in explaining how users respond to those pages. A heat map can provide a more thorough picture of how consumers act.

2. Illustrative

The heat map is far more illustrative than regular analytics reports, which can facilitate quick analysis. This makes them more approachable, especially for those who have yet to get used to processing big data.

3. Segmentation

Analysts can segment and filter the data using effective heat mapping tools. This implies that it can be simple to see how various user types interact with a specific page.

When to Use the HeatMaps? 

After gaining insights into what is a heat map, you should know when to use the heat map. A heat map is best used when you want to direct viewers toward areas on data visualization that matters extensively. Following are the conditions when using a heat map can be beneficial: 

• Testing A/B

Does moving a website piece above the fold or changing color improve clicks and conversions? You can use a Click Map, and the distinction is readily noticeable.

• Redesigns or Updates to Websites

If your website has been updated with a classy new look, are customers drawn to it? Use eye-tracking heat maps or hover maps for more information on what is grabbing their attention.

• Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

The aesthetics and functionality of a website must work together effortlessly, according to web designers. In other words, are visitors clicking through despite how nice your website seems? Scroll-and-click maps are valuable tools for assessing a design's efficacy.

• Content Marketing 

Users must be drawn into your blogs and white papers until they locate the CTA. Place your CTA buttons following the amount of text your users read using scroll maps.

• Testing Usability

Your website must, above all, be usable and accessible to the typical user. A heat map can show consumers where users tend to drop off when surfing your website.

Final Thoughts 

You know what a heatmap is and how it can help your website grow. But now you are also aware that heat maps will not answer all your queries about how users are with your website, but they will provide insight that other analytics tools won’t. 

Understanding the data each heat map reflects is the most crucial aspect of the project. The statistics that will help you achieve your goals will depend on what you are aiming to achieve. Thus, a heat map can be a potent weapon in the web analyst's arsenal if used correctly, and inferences are not derived from small amounts of data. 

Here's where SquidVision comes into action. 

SquidVision is a web analytic software that helps you see users' interaction with your website and content. It helps in knowing how much revenue is generated from every button. 

The platform also lets you analyze whether a user buys a product or clicks on a service. Moreover, the platform allows you to see what buttons, images, and links generate the most revenue on your website. With the information provided by SquidVision, your website's conversion rate will boost and help you gain prospective clients.