Heatmap applications can be a very useful tool for finding out how people interact with your website. Find out what they are and the benefits of using them by reading the rest of this article.

What is a heatmap application?

A heatmap application is a piece of software that lets you see where people are clicking and scrolling on your website.

You can also get overlay maps which show where people click after arriving from different traffic sources.

Below is an example of a basic heatmap image:

What are the benefits?

Using heatmaps can deliver many benefits and make your website perform better. You’ll find four of these below.

• Increased conversions

By seeing where people click on your website you can re-design it to bring about more conversions. For example, if you run a heatmap test on your checkout page, you might find people are clicking on some text which isn’t an active link. By simply linking this to the payment page, your conversions could increase overnight.

• More newsletter signups

The same principles as above apply to getting newsletter signups. For example, your heatmap may show the majority of people click on the left hand side of your home page. If your sign up box is on the right hand side, you might want to adjust the position to see if it leads to more people signing up.

• Better ROI

If you’ve invested money in your website design, you’ll want it to bring you a good return on investment. Heatmapping can help boost your online sales and number of enquiries generated with very little effort.

• No need to rely on guess work

It’s one thing looking at your website and coming up with reasons why it may not be working as it should, however it’s better to rely on facts.

Heatmapping eliminates guess work and lets you see exactly how people are interacting with your website.

What heatmap applications are available?

There are many heatmapping applications available you can try for free. You can do a Google Search, but personally I would recommend taking a look at Crazy Egg.

Do you want to know more about heatmaps or share your experiences? Please leave your comments below.

Image credits: Lenny Montana & Rosenfeld Media

This entry was posted on Friday, April 13th, 2012 at 8:15 am and is filed under Guides for Beginners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.