heatmap-analysis

An online heat map tool is valuable for learning about your audience's preferences and making improvements that allow you to meet your objectives.

At QuestionPro, we illustrate everything you need to know about this incredible tool and how to start using it in your research projects.

Types of heat maps

Although the primary function of a heat map may seem simple, there are several types that allow different types of analysis to be carried out and display the information in different ways, depending on the project's needs.

• Scroll maps: These maps highlight which part of your page or image the visitors view most, how much area is visible without scroll and how far people scroll before leaving the page.

• Attention maps: Depending on the time spent by visitors, these maps show which part of the image or page gets the most attention.

• Click maps: These maps highlight the areas that get the most clicks.

• Hover maps: These maps show which part of the page did people hover their cursors most on.

Benefits of Heat Maps

The benefits of a heatmap analysis are extensive; many of them will allow you to delve into the audience's mind and understand them better.

Below you can learn some of the significant advantages of the tool so that you can contemplate this methodology as part of any project.

Use of Heat Map Analysis

Heat maps have many practical uses; market research and marketing teams often use them to improve their processes. We are also talking about a vital backer for offering digital experiences to offer an adequate User Experience.

Among the most popular uses are:

• Gather feedback on website design: The respondents can be asked to share their feedback on different web page designs and select the one they like most. They can also be asked to select the areas or click on the elements they find most attractive. The designers can then analyze the heatmap report and find out where the visitors are clicking.

• Concept testing: You can use a heatmap analysis question to show respondents different visual designs or call to action buttons, and ask them which one they will prefer.

• Find the best version: Heatmap report can be used to find the best performing variation among all the options. From the report, you can find out which is the most popular area in the image.

• Convert qualitative data in quantitative: Without heatmaps, it would be difficult to find out what respondents like within an image. Even if asked with an open-ended question, it won't be quite easy for them to describe in words and why they like. Heatmaps tap this information well and convert qualitative data into quantitative. Market researchers can visualize heatmap data analysis and generate reports based on the responses.

• Save resources: As these advanced question types can be used for preliminary research and A/B testing, they save resources and offer insights in the early stage of research.

• Deeper insights: If you ask survey participants to choose one of the multiple images, they will select one option and submit their answer. However, you won’t come to know what they like in the image and why they chose any specific image. With heatmap analysis, you can make out what your respondents like in an image.

• Higher conversion rates: With data available on customer choices, you can be sure about where to invest your resources such that they drive maximum conversion rates.

Example of heat map analysis in surveys

Consider a restaurant that wants to include new dishes on its menu. So, they can show an image of various sample dishes and ask customers about which they find most tempting.

Below image shows what part of the image was most clicked or dragged by the respondents. The heat map analysis displays the density visually with different gradients of colors.

Heatmap click analysis report

Heatmap drag and drop analysis report

Heat Map Analysis Question in Surveys

The more detailed and specific you get before sending your survey, the better insights you'll be able to discover from the results. Heatmaps can be used in primary research to get an overview of high-level information about user behavior or the choices of the respondents.

You can perform heatmap research in surveys by uploading images as the answer options and asking respondents to click their preferred areas.

With QuestionPro, you can configure the below settings for your heatmap question.

• Maximum areas of selection: Set the number of regions the respondent can select on the image. The maximum number of choices can be 20.

Types of heat map analysis available on QuestionPro: You can choose which action of the respondent should be recorded to log the data. Below two options are available in the settings tab.

On click: The answer will be logged when the respondents click on the image.

Drag and drop: The answer will be logged when the respondents select an area by dragging and dropping mouse cursor.

• Selection border color: Select a color of the border of the selected area.

Validation in heatmap analysis question

• Request response: This option will display a pop-up message to respondents requesting them to answer the question. The respondents can, however, choose to submit the survey with or without answering the survey.

• Force response: You can force respondents to answer the heatmap question. Without answering the question, they won’t be able to submit the survey. You can also force a minimum number of clicks or area selections out of the total number of choices available for this question.

Click here if you want to know more about our validation options for your surveys.

Analyzing heatmaps

The heatmap analytics tool uses color-coding to represent the area that was dragged most often by the respondents in dark red. The lesser number of times a section is pulled, the fainter red color it would be highlighted in. The dragged areas that do not overlap with the responses of other participants are highlighted in blue.

With such a graphical representation of data, market researchers can quickly identify the respondents' interests or the area of focus by just viewing the image. You can also download the heatmap report in the form of a PDF file.

As we learned in this article, using a Heat Map can represent a complete change in your results. If you want to delve even deeper into the subject, we provide you with our most recent masterclass on this feature and how to make the most of it.

Heatmap image testing question: Set-up your surveys with QuestionPro

Using this function is very simple; you just have to have a QuestionPro account to access multiple research tools. Once inside your account, you just have to create a survey, click on the Add Question button, and go to the Advanced Questions section to find the option to Add Heatmap Question.

Done! Now all you have to do is customize this question and distribute your survey to start learning what your audience thinks.

If you want to inquire how to set up and use this feature, access our help file on the Heatmap Analysis question.