Heat maps are useful for a website tracking mechanism. These days it is the analysis of eye versus mouse tracking. Here is an interesting fact, analysis shows that only 10% hovered over a link and then continued to read the page looking at other things. A heat map is used to show which areas of the page are viewed most by the browser user. Following are some interesting types of heat maps on a website:
- Algorithmic heat maps – gives low traffic sites and idea of how people use their site
- Click heat maps – gives an idea where people are clicking and where they aren’t
- Attention heat maps – help you see which parts of website are most visible to users
- Scroll heat maps – Scroll maps are interesting way to till what limit users scroll down and where users tend to drop off. This helps business to prioritize the content.
Heatmap tools are used with interesting algorithms to analyze the user interfaces. Analyzing user interface takes into account colors, contrast, visual hierarchy etc. The analytics tells the business what is working and what is not, further, helps them to optimize their website. If business wants to introduce something new on the website, the heat map can be used what could be the best place for it. This is helpful for business to enhance the areas that are getting more clicks and removing the areas not getting enough clicks.Text can be altered to see what is holding the attention of visitors
Disadvantages:
- Business uses it for support instead of illumination
- Ignoring some data inaccuracies can open up to a completely different results
- Heat maps can be helpful at a high level and as a way to communicate problem areas to less analytically savvy in the organization.
Overall, this is a great tool for optimization of a web page but should not be used as the only source of determining project and test planning.
References: https://conversionxl.com/heat-maps/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140915173712-76871428-what-are-the-benefits-of-using-a-heat-map-for-a-website