Data drives the world. Today, we use several different strategies to glean various types of data and this data is then used to modify an already existing process or create a brand new one. Data is what runs every industry, be it healthcare, aerospace, automobile, marketing, or manufacturing.
The combination of cutting-edge technology with the internet has made data extraction and analysis all the more easier.
When it comes to marketing, you cannot stress the importance of user data enough. Marketing departments all over the world are constantly looks for data solutions that will help them understand their customers better.
One such data analysis technique is the heatmap analysis.
What is a heatmap analysis?
Simply put, heatmap analysis is a visual representation of the interaction of users with your website. Heatmap analysis uses color coded schemes to represent the different areas of your website that users interact with. The areas where the most interaction takes place is highlighted.
The interesting fact is that all the information extracted through heatmap analysis can be used to change your web design in such a way as to enhance user experience.
How is heatmap analysis important for web design?
Well, there are a number of ways in which heatmap analysis makes a difference in web design. Let’s explore a few of them.
It tells you what people like and don’t like on your website
Heatmap analysis is the quickest way to find out which areas of your website is getting the most attention and which is getting the least. Is a CTA button on your website barely getting any clicks? Well, a heatmap analysis will quickly point it out to you and you can get down to redesigning it.
A heatmap analysis will also tell you what visitors like on your website so that you can include more of such elements in your website.
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Remove underperforming pages on your website
A heatmap analysis will instantly bring your attention towards any pages in your website that are not performing as expected. Pages that are under-performing can be costly to your organic ranking if not corrected in time.
A heatmap analysis can give you ample visual data so that you can remove any poorly utilized pages from your website.
You can reduce the length of your website
Some websites like product websites are quite text intensive. In some cases, this cannot be avoided but it means that users may miss out the CTA buttons that are often located at the very bottom of such pages. In addition, some users may drop-off from the page at a certain length of the website.
A heatmap analysis can help you to easily figure out such data and you can test the effectiveness of your website at different lengths. Based on the results from these tests, you can adjust the length of your website for a better user experience.
You can figure out the how and when
Heatmap analysis gives you a quick insight into how and when your users use the different parts of your website. Certain users may prefer to visit your website in the mornings while others may prefer to do so at night. All this information can be extracted with the help of heatmap analysis.
This data will help you track conversions which in turn will help you categorize user behavior. Based on this user behavior, you can figure out the time and the type of people that lead to the most conversions. This in turn helps you optimize your web design for an increased number of profitable conversions.
Remove distracting design elements
It is quite easy to get carried away when designing a website. Every so often, we may add certain elements here and there which, unknown to us can be distracting for users. A heatmap analysis will help you narrow down such elements so that you can remove them from your website in order to enhance user experience and increase profitable conversions.
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You can figure out if you are offering too many choices to your users
While it is good to offer your users a selection of options, sometimes too many choices can distract your users as well. When a heatmap analysis shows no discernible data or an equal number of clicks everywhere on your website, it is an indication that you are offering too many choices to your users. This means that your users are no longer able to make a solid choice. Use the data provided by the heatmap analysis to offer only relevant choices to your customers.
You can read mouse movement of users
Heatmap analysis helps you read the mouse movement of your visitors. It can help you see whether certain elements, that are intended to get high attention and activity are achieving these goals or not. For instance, say you have a promotional offer badge somewhere in your website. But if your badge is not visible to your visitors, it will reflect in the heatmap analysis. You can immediately get down to redesigning such elements so that they offer maximum visibility.
Ease your buyer’s sales journey
A heatmap analysis shows you how, when, and where users spend most of their time and what leads to profitable conversions. Using such data, you can easily design your website in such a way as to streamline your buyer’s journey and enhance the overall user experience.
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Improve your CTAs
A heatmap analysis can point out the effectiveness of various CTA buttons in your website. Some CTAs may be resulting in more conversions than others. Once you have an idea of which CTAs are performing better, you can figure out what is it about them that is appealing to the users. Is it their position? Is it the associated text? Is it their accessibility?
See what design and image elements are attracting users
Users tend to engage more with visual elements such as infographics, vivid imagery, logos, and so on. A heatmap analysis helps you understand which of these image elements are attracting the most attention from your users. This is rather important because, users tend to engage more with visual content rather than textual content. This increases the likelihood of profitable conversions.
Figure out where the users stop
Heatmap analysis the areas of your website where your users tend to hover or stop. Hovering can be negative since when a user hovers, it most likely means that the user is thinking about skipping the content and moving on to another website or webpage. Use the data in heatmap analysis to figure out where users hover and why.
