A visual heatmap of where visitors click on your web page is not only a stunning way of looking at your traffic and their activities, but it gives a view of your site that you just cannot get any other way. With one simple glance, you can immediately form impressions of what you've done right, and what you've done wrong.
Crazy Egg was the first heatmap application I ever heard of, a year or two ago, but it's not the only game in town. I've listed 5 solutions that may supply your heatmap analytics needs, with each one having its own unique uses.
The first two are more for the geeky DIY'ers, and probably aren't right for everyone. This is code that you can muck around with to your hearts content, but you do have to have some technical knowledge to make use of them. The last three are for the average webmaster who has no desire to get her hands dirty with programming and code, but just wants what she wants - results - right now.
I am removing the following recommendation based upon a report that these guys are injecting hidden links into your site's code back to various unrelated sites. This can get your site penalized by Google, so this one's no longer being recommended.
ClickHeat (from Labsmedia) (DIY)
ClickHeat is a visual heatmap of clicks on a HTML page, showing hot and cold click zones.
Features
Low logging activity: a very few function calls to log a click, no server load rise should be noticedA keyword is used to define the page upon Javascript code load, allowing you to group same pages.Screen sizes and browsers are logged, making possible the tracking of liquid CSS layouts (100% used width).
Price: $0
Download
The Definitive Heatmap (from Corunet) (DIY)
Features
- Flexible configuration
- Multiple URL support
- Much faster execution time
- Manual capture is not needed anymore
- Easier to maintain and extend
Price: $0
Download
Crazy Egg offers more than a simple heatmap.
Features
- Create tests to figure out what people are doing on your website.
- Heatmap - A picture of where people clicked on your site. This tells you what's hot and what's not, so you can make change that matter.
- Dig a little deeper and find out where people click based upon the things like: Top 15 Referrers, Search Terms, Operating System, Browser, etc...
- Overlay - Learn more about each element on your page.
- List - Take a look at the hard data. You can also export the information and play with it using your favorite spreadsheet application.
- Blocking - Block your own clicks
- Automatically archived reports - Test results are saved automatically so you can look at them later. We store an exact copy of your page so you can make design or content changes and compare how those changes affect the results.
- RSS and Email notifications
Paid Features
- Live Reporting - With Crazy Egg your reports are always current; no waiting 24 hours to find out what's been happening on your site. * Free accounts have a 3-6 hour reporting delay. All paid accounts show what's happened right up to time of report viewing
- Share Results - Share data with people who matter to you. Clients, bosses, imaginary friends, and people you are trying to sell ad space to. Pick your own sub-domain on viewheatmap.com or reportsection.com, customize it with you company logo, and give your peeps their own login to view your test results.
Price: Plans from $0 - $99/month
More than heatmaps. A Full usability toolkit.
Features
- Improve information architecture.
- Optimize link & advert placement.
- Analyze and Enhance stickiness.
- Test and Refine content & process.
Price: Plans from $0 - $400/month
Features
- Heatmaps
- Contextual Ad Tracking
- Google Content Network Conversions Tracking
- Track Multiple Sites
- GeoData
- All Standard Web Metrics
Price: $0 - $299/month
About the Author: Donna Fontenot
19 Comments
Comments are closed.
Thanks, good write up Donna. I have not tried one yet. I guess it would be wise to do so.
Since all of them have free options, Dave, there’s no reason not to give at least one of them a try. 🙂
Thanks for the list and the comparison. You may also consider Google Analytics site overlay as a basic entrant into this category.
No thanks. Google’s already reached so far up our tushes, they’ve touched all our vital organs. I’d really rather keep them out of my business as much as possible.
Hi Donna,
Long time reader, first time commenter – We have been using crazy egg of late, it’s really valuable for getting clients to realize the importance of link text and buttons!
Thanks for the other sites, we’re going to check these out too 🙂
~Carrie
Hi, Carrie. Don’t be a stranger any longer! Speak up more often! 🙂
Like, OMG Donna… that is just way to cool!!!
These new toys will be much toyed with.. must feed the precious :0)
No, reallly, thanks a ton. These look like a bunch of fun. I had never seen the ‘free’ ones. Yeeehaa… Now where can I buy U a pint?
Dave
Thanks Donna, giving these a try now. 🙂
Worth pointing out – The Definitive Heatmap *doesn’t* do liquid layouts.
I’ve used CrazyEgg for several months now and I’m quite please with it.
Thanks for this list! We’ve been testing a few including Crazy Egg, and we’re still undecided as to which to use. I think however we may be leaning towards Crazy Egg.
Thank you for this post!
Now we got more options! Hmmm now more confusing which one to use. *LOL* Good post, thanks.
I have been exposed to heat maps in the past but never realized there were free tools out there! I was always told ‘it is too expensive’. I am downloading one as I type this. Great post!