If you work with data and ever need to interpret it, you may need a website heatmap. A website heatmap is a great way to gather data into easy-to-understand visuals.
Most of us use data in our day-to-day lives. Heatmaps get used in healthcare to analyze data patterns and identify opportunities. Keep on reading to learn why website heatmaps are game-changers today.
What Is a Website Heatmap?
A website heatmap takes data and puts it into a visual pattern that makes sense to anyone looking at it. The website heatmap generator uses colors to show changes.
Heatmaps are great for analyzing statistical data. It breaks it up into areas that the viewer can understand by showing the data in color sections. Decibel shows how users interact with websites, down to where they scroll and click.
These heatmaps show data in hot and cold colors. The hot colors will show popular areas, while the cold colors show the least viewed sections.
What Heatmaps Get Used For
This way of visualizing data is not new. They have gotten used since the 19th century and became more prominent in the 2008 recession. People studied them to see foreclosure rates in different states.
Today, website heatmaps get used in fields like medicine, marketing, research, and engineering. They provide information at a glance, and it no longer takes hours to interpret a large amount of data.
Heatmaps get used in healthcare to show the test ordering patterns of physicians. By displaying these patterns, they can show areas for improvement. Once the data gets analyzed, it reduces confusion and shows hotspots for advancement.
Different Types of Heatmaps
The best website heatmaps fit specific needs. Various businesses may want different styles. It will depend on what you are looking to find.
Scroll maps will show you how visitors scroll through your website. That can be helpful because it shows you if you need to move content to another area or make other adjustments. These get shown in colors and give you percentages on the data collected.
Move maps show where users point their mouse as they move around the page of a site. That gives a view of where people might be looking when their cursor is still.
Click maps show where the viewer points and clicks the mouse. That information gets used to make your website better. If you know what images and links get clicked the most, you know how to direct the traffic.
Desktop and mobile heatmaps show how your website performs on many devices. If you have viewed the same website on your computer and your mobile device, you can see it looks different. Content on the desktop may sit a little further up than it does on a cell phone.
Heatmap Benefits
A website heatmap service will help you see how people interact with your site. You may have many pages on a site, and a heatmap can show where the user goes and stops.
These tools can help you make better decisions. Now you will see what percentage of users click on a certain link or image, and what goes unnoticed. They can let your team know what improvements or changes need to get made.
If users seem to gravitate to certain pages, you may need to move important contact to that page. In other situations, you could make the images large or more appealing to gain more traffic. A website heatmap will let you adjust things to pull the viewers where you want them to go.
Analyzing Website Heatmaps
Analyzing website heatmaps is much easier than interpreting large amounts of raw data. It is all about looking at how the viewer goes through the site. Showing the interaction between the user and the website, you will know what needs to get changed.
One thing you need to know is if people are viewing the content you feel is most important. You want to see the part of the screen people see without scrolling. That is the average fold because it is where they land on the page without having to go further.
The percentage of visitors that go to certain areas is another important measure. If you have a particular page with a lot of valuable content, you want to know that people have viewed it.
Significant color changes, from hot to cold, will show where people stopped scrolling. That might mean they thought they reached the end of the page, and the page can get adjusted.
You want to know if they are clicking on important images and links. They especially need to view the call to action, so be aware of what they click on and what they do not.
Sometimes people get confused. They try to select images that are not meant to get clicked on, and it gets frustrating for the user.
Make sure to compare devices. Many people use their cell phones to view websites, so you want the content to be smooth on any device. If you pick up differences, you can make small changes that will help.
Why You Need One
A website heatmap does not get used for big companies alone. Small entrepreneurs need to know that viewers see specific information on their sites. Whether you run a company or write a blog, heatmaps can help your website perform at the highest level.
If you work with any type of data you need it interpreted in an easy-to-understand way. Heatmaps will give you the tools for the job. Check out our other articles for more guides, tips, and information.
