5 Reasons Heat Mapping Helps Online Retailers

Talk about easy! In less than 10 minutes, a developer can embed the html code used for heat mapping onto your website and begin the heat mapping analytics process. Within weeks you will have a clear picture of exactly how your customers are using your website, detect flaws in your business flow and identify any wasted space, or as I call it 'virtual real estate'.

Here are 5 reasons why heat mapping helps online retailers:

1. Easy to install and even easier to understand. Heat mapping reports are some of the easiest to read because they are literally a map of your web page with a spectrum of colors red, orange and blue representing the hot, warm and cool areas on your site requiring your attention.
2. Detect Flaws. Heat mapping shows you what areas your visitors are visiting most and what design or development flaws may be affecting your customer's experience on your site. For example, if you notice a high number of shoppers are clicking 5 buttons before reaching checkout, you need to look at why this is happening and consider how to improve that process. It may be as simple as adding a larger CHECK OUT button or move the location of the CHECK OUT button to an area on your site that is easier to see on various devices and browsers.
3. Target visitors more effectively. Detailed reports will show visitor patterns, areas where users are clicking most and help you determine the value of each section for advertising and content. For example, if you know that the majority of your visitors are clicking on your specials page you may want to develop more content for that section and cater to that segment. You may even want to consider shifting your marketing budget to focus on those popular areas and reduce the space and focus on any areas that are not as popular.
4. Maximize your advertising potential. Heat mapping tells you exactly what your users are looking for when they go to your site and how they engage within specific areas. For example, your results may show you that the majority of users clicked on the featured banner from the top right corner instead of the center. This could indicate that users were not able to view the full banner without scrolling down the page or they did not see the CLICK NOW text. Instead of playing the guessing game, share your report with advertisers (or internal team) and guide them on where they should be placing their ads and how to design the ad to get the most value.
5. Save time and money year-round. Developers and online marketing specialists often recommend heat mapping for clients that have an existing website and are looking to redesign their existing site. The data collected translates into valuable advertising or 'virtual real estate' for high traffic sections, can help determine how your marketing team or advertisers create custom content for particular areas on your site and enhance the shopping experience for your clients. Although heat mapping can be done as a one-time service by most developers or online marketing specialists such as SHIFT Digital, you may want to consider keeping the service year round and allow professionals to monitor and report their findings each month. By making small changes to the design of the site throughout the year you will undoubtedly improve your site's performance and user experience.

Have you tried heat mapping? Would you like to schedule a call to discuss heat mapping your website? Contact me directly at erika@shiftdigitalmedia.com.