I've been using heat map software for a while now and I am impressed with the various data from the software. If you aren't familiar with the software then you are in for a real treat. Heat maps are one of the ways that people can see how visitors are using their website by showing them all of the places that they click, scroll, and tap – all in real time with recordings of user sessions. It sounds like some crazy futuristic software but it's common in the marketplace. You can upload this script on your website and start viewing what visitors are doing on your site after they exit your site. This gives you more information about your website than just basic analytics like the popular Google Analytics. Heat map software shows you things like if your visitors are too distracted by all of the choices on a page, how you can get more email subscriptions, what needs to be removed or modified on your pages, and can also help you find the right images to use for ads, email, and more. Before you get the software, there are a few things you should know that will give you the best results when using heat map software.
1. Focus on A Single Page Initially
Choose the two most popular pages on your website to test first. I'd be willing to bet that 99.99% of the time that the most popular page on your website is your definitely your homepage (www.yourwebsite.com). So set up heat map software on your homepage and on another page maybe your sales page for example. This will show you where your visitors click and can tell you what you need to add, take away, or tweak on those pages. Good pages to start with are home pages and product pages because those usually receive the most traffic on your website and will end up giving you the highest boost in conversions whether it's subscribers or sales.
2. Various Applications of Heat Map Software
Think of why you want to use the Heat Map software, is it to get more people to sign up to your email list, get people to read your blog, subscribe to your site, and so on. Make a list of what you want to get out of the software so you know what pages to install it on. In order to succeed you have to know what you want to accomplish.
3. Improve Your Website Conversions
You want to run the Heat Map software for at least a week or longer if you have less than a few thousand views a week. If you don't have tons of traffic to your site than that's ok but you won't be able to have reliable split testing data since your sample size is a bit small. After you go through all of the date that the software collected then you can start to improve on the objectives that you wanted before you installed it like which text converts more on a purchase button. Buy It Now or Check It Out? This is just one of the things you can test on your site and the possibilities are endless. Start testing out different things and see what works.
4. Where You Should Stick Stuff & Why
Heat Map software shows where you should put stuff on your page by showing you where your visitors click and spend their time. And if you want to sell an item on your website, you need to put it in plain view and make it easily accessible. Heat Maps can show you where they click the most and you can put those items in that area of your website. The general rule of thumb is to keep important items you want visitors to see “above the fold” on your websites. This is generally the top and most visible portion of your website.
5. Where Are Your Visitors
When you are looking at the data on the Heat Map software, you will see where is the best place to different material by where they click and what catches their attention when they are on the page. Go to where your visitors are clicking and see where they are scrolling on your site. Maybe you need to put a subscribe button at the end of your posts or even have a popup appear when they are halfway down the page. For these types of events I use Thrive Themes.
6. How Visitors Read Your Page
The average visitor reads most webpages in an F pattern. They look down the page and then start to read from the top. This will help you figure out where to put certain information on your pages and show where to put material you want read. Remember that most blogs have a popular sidebar which you need to plan out if you want visitors to engage in the content in the sidebar widget.
7. Are Ads Costing You Sales?
Most people think that having ads on the screen can help them make money but in some cases, it can actually make them lose money. If they are looking at your product and then click on the ad instead of the product you are selling then you lose out. You can see if that is happening on your website with your Heat Map software. Sometimes it can be shocking what users are doing on your page and what distracts them.
8. Photos vs Videos?
Photos can be a great way to catch people’s attention but if they don’t click on them, they your might want to get rid of them or replace them with a video! Heat Map software can help you find the photos and videos that don’t work and then you can fix them. When you have a video on a website you can see how long the user spends watching the video which is almost magical. Hopefully the user watched your full video but that doesn't always happen and you then know which parts of your videos need improving.
9. Are Your Visitors Reading Everything on Your Page?
The short answer is almost always no they are not but I'm not just saying that! I have seen it with heat map software on my website. People are busy and don't have time to read all of the content. They need the main point to get back to what they were doing and if your blog doesn't help them then they will leave your site quickly (which increases your bounce rate) which is never good. Blog posts are clicked more if they are promoted with a catchy title and then you have to click on them to read the whole thing. This makes it better to get more of your content on one page and use the Heat Map software you can find out if this would be best for your website.
10. (Spoiler Alert) People Buy With Their Eyes!
When someone is visiting a website they are viewing it and deciding if they want that product. If it is hard for them to find what they are looking for on your page then they will go find if from your competitors. Using Heat Map software you will be able to find the best place to feature your products and ensure that they will be seen and purchased.
