Good user experience (UX) design can increase conversion rates up to 200%. In fact, every $1 spent on UX design can generate a $100 ROI. About 80% of consumers are willing to pay for a better user experience.
You could struggle to improve your website’s user experience without the right tools, though.
Don’t make assumptions about your website’s design. Instead, use heat mapping. Heat maps can help you learn more about customer behaviors.
Then, you can make changes to your website with the user experience in mind.
What is a heat map, exactly, and how can heat mapping benefit your business? Keep reading to find out!
After reading this guide, you can make more informed decisions when updating your website. Read on to learn more.
Table of Contents
What is a Heat Map?
What are heat maps, exactly?
Heat maps offer a visual representation of your website data. You can study how people interact with your website based on clicks, scrolling, and other interactions. The user’s engagement will display as colors on the page.
Warm colors like red indicate high levels of user interaction. Warm colors like blue indicate lower levels of interaction.
If you notice a lot of blue on a page, you’ll know it’s time to update the design.
Heat maps can help you determine how well a page is performing. You can determine which parts of a page are performing well, too. For example, you might notice people are using the form at the top of the page, but not the one at the bottom.
You can use different types of heat maps to gather the data you need. For example, you can use a click map to determine where people click on a page. You might notice clicks on the:
- Navigation bar
- Logo
- CTA buttons
- Internal links
- Videos
- Images
- Interactive content (polls and quizzes)
If an image isn’t linked, people might get frustrated. For example, someone might click on your logo, expecting it to link to the home page. You can then update the link to improve the user experience.
You can also use scroll maps to gather data. Scroll maps can show you how far down a page someone travels before they leave.
If part of the page is red, you’ll know the majority of your visitors studied that part of the page.
Otherwise, you might want to use a hover map. Hover maps tell you where people place their cursor on a page.
Each of these heat maps can help you learn more about your customers and how they use your website.
How to Use a Heat Map
There are a few different ways you can use heat mapping.
First, take a moment to consider the type of data you want to gather. For example, are you worried your pages are too long? Consider using a scroll map.
You can use a scroll map to determine whether or not people are accessing important information on your website. If people aren’t scrolling down the page, you might want to rearrange your content. You might want to use a stronger call-to-action at the top of the page, too.
If you’re concerned about on-page engagement, consider using a click map instead.
Click maps can tell you if people are interacting with your content. If your content isn’t relevant to their needs, they won’t click. Maybe your call-to-action button doesn’t stand out on the map.
You can study their multi-click behaviors, too.
You can use a cursor map to look for distractions on the page. If an element is distracting users, you might want to remove it.
Choosing the right type of heat map will ensure you gather the information you need.
Once you gather the data you need, compare it with your Google Analytics reports. For example, you might notice a page has a high bounce rate. You can use heat mapping to determine why people leave the page frustrated.
Then, you can start making changes to the page design.
The Benefits of Heat Mapping
What are the benefits of heat maps?
For starters, heat mapping can help you pinpoint potential flaws across your website. For example, you can find broken links and forms. If a page element is broken, people might leave without interacting with your website.
You’ll miss a chance to generate leads and conversions as a result.
You can use heat maps to improve your page structure, too. For example, a page element might take too long to load. If the page takes too long to load, people might bounce off the page.
Over 50% of mobile users will leave a website after three seconds. In fact, slow image loading can cause nearly 40% of users to leave.
A high bounce rate can hurt your search engine ranking. Ranking higher on search engines will help you appear in front of more customers. It can help you generate website traffic and leads, too.
Using heat maps can help you reduce your bounce rate. You can increase interactions on your website, which could help your search engine ranking.
You can also use heat maps to improve the user experience across your site.
A positive user experience indicates your website is easy to navigate and use. A negative user experience, on the other hand, means you’re frustrating visitors. They could leave, remembering that frustrating experience.
They might even tell others about their experience, impacting your brand’s reputation.
Instead, you can use heat maps and other tools to learn more about how people interact with your content. Then, you can update your website to improve the user experience. People will remember the convenience you offered and come back for more.
Experiencing the benefits of heat maps can set your business up for growth and success.
What is Heat Mapping?: Your Guide to Getting on the Map
- Don’t let a negative user experience cost you customers. Instead, consider the benefits of heat mapping. Using a heat map can help you understand visitors.
- Then, you can update your website with their needs in mind.
- Searching for more helpful tips and tricks? We’re happy to help.
- Explore our latest guides today to get started.
Also Read: 5 E-commerce Tools To Increase Website Traffic And Revenue
