Heatmaps Explained: What They Are and How to Use Them

Heatmaps transform abstract analytics data into visual insights you can immediately understand. Instead of numbers in a spreadsheet, you see exactly where users click, how far they scroll, and what grabs their attention.

This guide covers everything you need to know about using heatmaps for conversion optimization.

What Is a Heatmap?

A heatmap is a data visualization that uses color to represent values. In the context of websites, heatmaps show user behavior aggregated across many sessions.

Warm colors (red, orange): High activity Cool colors (blue, green): Low activity No color: No activity

At a glance, you can see where users focus attention and where they ignore.

Types of Heatmaps

Click Heatmaps

Click heatmaps show where users click (or tap on mobile).

What they reveal:

• Which elements get clicked
• Which elements users expect to be clickable but aren’t
• Whether users find your CTAs
• Click distribution across the page

What to look for:

• Hot spots on CTAs: Good—users are finding your buttons
• Clicks on non-clickable elements: Users expect functionality that isn’t there
• Cold CTAs: Your call-to-action isn’t getting attention
• Distraction clicks: Users clicking things that lead away from conversion

Example insight: “Users are clicking the product image expecting it to zoom, but it doesn’t. Adding zoom functionality could improve engagement.”

Scroll Heatmaps

Scroll heatmaps show how far down the page users scroll, with color indicating the percentage of users who reach each point.

What they reveal:

• Where attention drops off
• Whether users see your key content
• If your page is too long (or too short)
• Where to place important elements

What to look for:

• Sharp drop-offs: Something makes users leave at that point
• Content below the fold never seen: Important info needs to move up
• High scroll depth: Users are engaged, consider longer content
• The “fold” line: What percentage see below initial viewport?

Example insight: “Only 20% of users scroll to our pricing section. Moving pricing higher or adding anchor links could help.”

Move/Hover Heatmaps

Move heatmaps (also called hover or attention heatmaps) track mouse movement. Research suggests mouse position correlates with eye position about 70-80% of the time.

What they reveal:

• What users are reading
• What catches attention
• How users scan the page
• Areas of confusion (hovering without clicking)

What to look for:

• Movement patterns: F-pattern, Z-pattern, or scattered?
• Ignored content: Users skip over without reading
• Hesitation areas: Hovering suggests consideration or confusion
• Attention alignment: Does attention match your intended hierarchy?

Example insight: “Users spend significant time hovering over our pricing but not clicking. They may have questions—adding an FAQ near pricing could help.”

Attention Heatmaps (AI-Predicted)

Some tools use AI to predict where users will look based on design principles and training data, without requiring actual user data.

Use cases:

• Testing designs before launch
• Low-traffic pages where real data is sparse
• Quick directional guidance

Limitation: Less accurate than actual behavioral data. Use for hypotheses, not conclusions.

Setting Up Heatmap Tracking

Popular Tools

Free:

• Microsoft Clarity (unlimited heatmaps, free forever)

Paid:

• Hotjar ($32-$80+/month)
• Crazy Egg ($29-$249/month)
• Lucky Orange ($10-$100/month)
• Mouseflow ($31-$399/month)

Implementation

Most tools require a single script added to your site:

1. Create account with chosen tool
2. Copy the tracking script
3. Add to your site (header or via Google Tag Manager)
4. Wait for data collection (typically need 1,000+ pageviews for meaningful heatmaps)

What to Track

Focus heatmap analysis on:

• High-traffic pages: More data = more reliable patterns
• Conversion pages: Product pages, landing pages, checkout
• Problem pages: High bounce rate, low conversion
• New designs: Before/after comparison

Reading Heatmaps Effectively

Segment Your Data

Overall heatmaps hide important differences. Segment by:

Device type: Desktop and mobile users behave very differently. Mobile heatmaps should be analyzed separately.

Traffic source: Do paid traffic visitors click differently than organic? They often have different intent.

New vs. returning: First-time visitors need more information and orientation than returnees.

Look for Patterns, Not Anomalies

Heatmaps show aggregate behavior. A few random clicks don’t matter. Look for:

• Consistent hot spots
• Clear cold zones
• Predictable patterns (or surprising deviations)

Consider Context

A click on a navigation item isn’t bad—it might be exactly what users need. Interpret heatmaps in context of user goals and page purpose.

Combine With Other Data

Heatmaps show what; they don’t explain why. Combine with:

• Session recordings (see individual journeys)
• Analytics (quantify the behavior)
• User surveys (understand motivation)

Common Heatmap Findings and Solutions

Finding: CTA Gets Few Clicks

Possible causes:

• CTA not visible (below fold, poor contrast)
• Unclear value proposition
• Users aren’t ready to convert at that point
• Too many competing CTAs

Solutions:

• Move CTA above the fold
• Increase visual prominence (size, color, whitespace)
• Improve CTA copy
• Reduce surrounding distractions

Finding: Users Click Non-Clickable Elements

Possible causes:

• Element looks clickable (underlined text, image with hover state)
• Users expect functionality (image zoom, expandable sections)
• Confusing visual hierarchy

Solutions:

• Make expected functionality actually work
• Change visual treatment to not look clickable
• Add the functionality users expect

Finding: Sharp Scroll Drop-off

Possible causes:

• Content above that point answered user’s question
• Unappealing visual element stops scrolling
• Natural stopping point (end of section)
• Slow-loading content below

Solutions:

• Move important content above drop-off point
• Add visual cues to encourage continued scrolling
• Improve content below to incentivize scrolling
• Fix performance issues

Finding: Distracted Clicking

Users click on secondary elements instead of primary CTA.

Possible causes:

• Secondary elements are more visually prominent
• Users don’t understand what you want them to do
• Too many options compete for attention

Solutions:

• Establish clearer visual hierarchy
• Reduce number of competing elements
• Make primary CTA unmissably prominent

Finding: Users Skip Key Content

Important information gets no hover or attention.

Possible causes:

• Content is too dense or text-heavy
• Poor visual hierarchy
• Content looks like an ad (banner blindness)
• Wrong placement

Solutions:

• Break up text with headers, bullets, images
• Use visual elements to draw attention
• Reposition to areas with more attention
• Redesign to not trigger banner blindness

Heatmaps for Mobile Optimization

Mobile heatmaps deserve special attention because:

• Screen real estate is limited
• Tap targets need to be larger
• Scroll behavior differs
• Users are often in different contexts (distracted, on-the-go)

Mobile-Specific Insights

Tap accuracy: Are users mis-tapping? Elements may be too small or too close together.

Thumb zones: Is the primary CTA in the easy thumb-reach area? The bottom-center of the screen is most accessible for one-handed use.

Scroll depth: Mobile users often scroll more (or less) than desktop. Don’t assume the same content strategy works for both.

Orientation: Some tools track portrait vs. landscape. Behavior may differ.

A/B Testing With Heatmaps

Use heatmaps to understand A/B test results:

Before testing: Analyze current page heatmaps to form hypotheses.

During testing: Some tools let you filter heatmaps by test variant. See how behavior differs.

After testing: Winning variant heatmap reveals why it won. Apply that learning elsewhere.

Example Workflow

1. Observe: Scroll heatmap shows 60% of users don’t reach pricing.
2. Hypothesize: Moving pricing up will increase engagement with pricing section.
3. Test: A/B test current layout vs. pricing moved higher.
4. Analyze: Compare heatmaps of both variants. Winner shows more pricing engagement.
5. Learn: Users want pricing information earlier in their journey.

Heatmap Analysis Checklist

For each key page, analyze:

Click heatmap:

• Primary CTA is getting clicks
• No significant clicks on non-clickable elements
• No distracting elements pulling clicks from CTA
• Mobile tap targets are adequate

Scroll heatmap:

• Key content is above major drop-off points
• CTA is visible to majority of users
• No unexpected sharp drop-offs
• Page length appropriate for content

Move heatmap (if available):

• Users are reading key messages
• Attention aligns with intended hierarchy
• No confusion zones (hovering without action)

Limitations of Heatmaps

They Show What, Not Why

Heatmaps reveal behavior but not motivation. A cold area might mean:

• Users don’t see it
• Users see it but aren’t interested
• Users see it but already know the information
• Users see it but it’s not relevant to their goal

You need qualitative research to understand the why.

Aggregate Data Hides Segments

A heatmap showing “average” behavior may hide that:

• Mobile users behave completely differently
• New visitors need different information than returning
• Different traffic sources have different goals

Always segment.

Sample Size Matters

A heatmap from 50 sessions is noise, not signal. Wait for adequate data before drawing conclusions. Generally, 1,000+ sessions gives reliable patterns for major pages.

Visual Design Affects Interpretation

A red hot spot on a large element might actually have lower click density than a smaller orange area. Some tools offer click count views alongside heat visualization.

Your Next Steps

1. Install a heatmap tool (Microsoft Clarity is free and excellent for starting)
2. Wait for data (at least 1,000 sessions on key pages)
3. Analyze top 5 pages by traffic
4. Document 3 insights per page
5. Form hypotheses for testing

Heatmaps are one of the fastest ways to understand what’s happening on your site. Combined with other research methods, they’re invaluable for CRO.

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