Heat maps are a powerful tool to visualize data and understand user behavior. They can show you where users click, scroll, hover, or tap on your website or app. But how do you analyze heat maps and get insights from them?
Here are some tips to help you get started.
- Define your goal. Before you create or look at a heat map, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to learn from it. For example, do you want to improve conversions, engagement, usability, or something else? Having a specific goal will help you focus on the relevant data and metrics.
- Choose the right type of heat map. There are different types of heat maps for different purposes. For example, click maps show you where users click on your page, scroll maps show you how far users scroll down your page, move maps show you where users move their mouse cursor on your page, and attention maps show you where users spend the most time on your page. Depending on your goal, you may need to use one or more types of heat maps to get a complete picture of user behavior.
- Segment your data. Heat maps can show you the aggregate data of all your users, but sometimes you may want to dig deeper and see how different segments of users behave differently. For example, you may want to compare how desktop and mobile users interact with your page, or how new and returning users behave differently. You can use filters or tools like Google Analytics to segment your data and create heat maps for each segment. Most softwares also allow you to toggle in between mobile, tablet, and desktop so pay attention at the behavior between each user group.
- Look for patterns and anomalies. Once you have your heat map ready, you can start analyzing it and looking for insights. You can look for patterns and anomalies that indicate user behavior, preferences, pain points, or opportunities. For example, you can look for areas that get a lot of clicks or attention, areas that get ignored or skipped, areas that cause confusion or frustration (aggressive clicking, or ‘rage’ clicking), or areas that have potential for improvement (as evidenced by low engagement).
- Test and optimize. Heat maps are not the end of the analysis process, but rather the beginning. They can help you identify problems and opportunities, but they cannot tell you why users behave the way they do or what solutions will work best. To get deeper insights and validate your hypotheses, you need to test and optimize your website or app using methods like A/B testing, user feedback, surveys, interviews, etc. (You should also always consider supplementing your heat maps with video recordings to help understand the specific context and behaviors surrounding what you see in heat maps.)
Heat maps are a great way to visualize user behavior and get insights from data. By following these tips, you can analyze heat maps effectively and use them to improve your website or app performance, ultimately improving your goal conversion rates.