Every website has analytics behind it because companies want to understand how their website is helping them. In the informational age, the need to know what is driving your customers is unsatiable. The need to understand exactly why that customer did, or did not buy your product is overwhelming.
While Google can provide a lot of data, sometimes, you need to dig deeper. We, at OKGlobal have turned to Hotjar. The information they have available is exactly what we are looking for, both for our website, and our customers' sites.
WHAT EXACTLY IS HOTJAR?
Think websites. Hotjar is a tool that helps you understand the behavior of users on your website. It analyzes what your users are doing, and the feedback they provide.
Think Google Analytics. Now think more. Hotjar gives you additional data, using heatmaps, surveys, and session recordings. By giving you additional data, you can understand what is happening on your site and what pages and information your site users care about the more.
Why is the data important?
Data tells you who your customers are, what they are interested in (like buying your product), and what parts of your website turn them away. It also helps you enhance the parts of your website that the users love, meaning more visitors, and more sales conversions. The more data you have about your site, the more informed your decisions can be, so you can create a site that enhances sales, and promotes your product while you sleep.
How does Hotjar give you more data?
HotJar gives you visual data points about what users are doing on your site and it gives you the context about why they are doing what they do. Let's look at how they do this.
You may already be using Google Analytics to see who is doing what on your site. You can see who is on your site, and when. What pages they click on and how long they stay. The data is unlimited.
But why? Why does the user go to that page? Why does the user click that button? Why does the user buy your product? HotJar can show you why.
Heatmaps
Their heatmaps show you what the users are interested in and if they see the most important parts of your page. What if the user didn't contact you because they didn't see your call to action? The heatmap can show you whether they saw it or overlooked it. For data junkies, you can download the heatmap as a .CSV file and tinker with the data to find trends.
Recordings
Hotjar recordings allow you to watch a user session. You can see where the user goes on your site, when they get stuck, and when they leave you. Did they leave because they were done? Or because they were stuck and frustrated?
HotJar just recently added several ways to review your recordings. Instead of watching them all you can sort the videos by rage clicks, U-turns, and referrer URL. This allows you to check specific recordings, to look for problem spots and highlights on your website.
Surveys
Surveys are always a great way to collect information. Most companies send out customer satisfaction surveys, so why not website satisfaction surveys? Now you can do just that with Hotjar. Set up the survey to ask what they think you should improve or what almost stopped them from ordering your product.
An added survey feature surrounds the Net Promoter Score (NPS). HotJar will run your survey and calculate your score, keeping the information available at your fingertips.
Funnels
Funnels show you when people leave your site. They can help you to identify barriers and spot opportunities for website growth. Unlike other funnels tracking web analytics, Hotjar's funnels are retroactive. If the tracking code was present on your webpage, your funnel will contain all data for the past 90 days.
What do you do with the data?
Now that you're gathering information, what do you do with it? You know where your users are getting stuck, but do you know why? Hotjar has a way to find out. You can add a pop-up poll asking them about their experience on your site. Ask your visitors why they are leaving your site. On another note, ask the people who bought your product what motivated them to do so.
Hotjar also has a widget that can be added to the side of your website that allows people to share feedback about the page. This allows users to give very specific feedback about the site. Using this feedback is one of the best ways to improve your site.
Here are a few ways that we, at OKGlobal, use the data after you we have it:
Remove content that isn't valuable, or doesn't get viewed
Check the Call To Action to see if it is attracting people
Prioritize which areas of the website need the most improvement
Identify content that needs to be added or deleted
Compare before/after results of the user experience
Create an FAQ section based on feedback
Show our customers what is working
SUMMARY
These are just a few of the different ways you can use Hotjar's data. Our clients rely on us having solid data, and proof of performance for their website. We rely on Hotjar to get us that data.