How do you decide the best location for your call to actions? How should your website be designed to ensure the key elements are seen first? One tool that will help build an effective site and determine where to place call to actions is heat mapping. Heat mapping tracks where a user’s mouse cursor goes as he/she navigates through your website so you can test and see how your site is being used.
A pattern can be established as website visitors navigate through your site. The mapping software tracks the areas the cursor goes to the most and assigns different color codes. HOT areas, or those users are most attracted to are represented by red followed by orange and yellow. The areas on the website which are barely interacted with are green and blue, while the areas that are not interacted with at all are not colored.
Below is what a typical heat map will show you:
Heat mapping isn’t just for your website. It is also a great tool for ad placement. Typically, the top/center and upper-left regions of a website receive the most interaction. However, it is important to make sure these areas aren’t oversaturated with ads. This can be counter-productive.
Another use for heat maps is as a marketing analysis tool. If you have a link you can determine which part of the link most draws the user. For example if your link is “Free white paper,” a heat map can tell you if the users are mostly focusing on the word “Free” in your link. With this type of analysis you can determine which words will grab your website visitors’ attention and incorporate those words in other links.
For additional information on heat mapping check out “Use a Heat Map to Boost Website Usability!” and “How Heatmapping Your Productivity Can Make You More Productive.” If you are considering heat mapping software check out crazyegg.
Have you used heat mapping before? How has this impacted your website, ads or call to action? Comment below and share your findings with us.
