Why heatmaps matter
Analytics counts what happened; heatmaps show where: the button nobody notices, the image everyone clicks that links nowhere, the content below the point most visitors stop scrolling. It’s the cheapest way to see a page through visitors’ cursors.
Heatmap types and what they reveal
- Click and tap mapsWhat gets pressed, including non-links
- Scroll mapsHow far down the page attention survives
- Move mapsCursor hover as a rough attention proxy
- Segment viewsMobile versus desktop behaving differently
Questions
What do heatmaps catch that analytics misses?
Intent without outcome: rage clicks on dead elements, clicks on unlinked images, key content sitting below the scroll line. Analytics shows the conversion rate; the heatmap shows the furniture in the way.
Which pages deserve heatmapping first?
The money path: top landing pages, key category and product templates, and checkout steps. One template’s insight fixes every page built on it.