Hotjar — a service to increase conversion in severe cases

Hotjar is a powerful website optimization tool designed to help you understand how users interact with your website. With its user-friendly interface and advanced features, Hotjar offers a comprehensive solution for website owners and marketers looking to increase conversions, improve user experience, and optimize their online properties.

Hotjar brings together different analytics tools into one integrated platform, enabling you to collect and analyze data on user behavior, preferences, and feedback. It offers features like heatmaps, visitor recordings, surveys, and feedback widgets that can help you understand your user’s needs and improve your website’s performance.

In this review, we will explore everything you need to know about Hotjar and how it can help optimize your website. We’ll take a closer look at its features, pros and cons, and more.

Installation/Integration

Installing and integrating Hotjar with your website is a straightforward process that can be completed in just a few steps. The first step is to create an account on the Hotjar website and select a pricing plan that best suits your needs.

Once you’ve signed up, you can choose one of two methods to install Hotjar on your website. The first method is to add a tracking code to your website’s HTML code. This code can be found in your Hotjar account settings, and it allows Hotjar to collect and analyze data on your website. Alternatively, you can install a plugin if you’re using WordPress or other popular content management systems.

In order to install Hotjar on the site, you need to add the following tag to the Google Tag Manger Custom html tag:

<!-- Hotjar Tracking Code for https://external.software -->
<script>
    (function(h, o, t, j, a, r) {
        h.hj = h.hj || function() {
            (h.hj.q = h.hj.q || []).push(arguments)
        };
        h._hjSettings = {
            hjid: 1234567, // Hotjar ID
            hjsv: 6 // Hotjar Snippet Version
        };
        a = o.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];
        r = o.createElement('script');
        r.async = 1;
        r.src = t + h._hjSettings.hjid + j + h._hjSettings.hjsv;
        a.appendChild(r);
    })(window, document, 'https://static.hotjar.com/c/hotjar-', '.js?sv=');

</script>

This is the main tracking code, all standard reports and user segmentation will work with it. If we want (and we want) to track users by features that our site can transfer to Hotjar, then we need to add a code that transfers user parameters:

<!-- Install this snippet AFTER the Hotjar tracking code. -->
<script>
    var userId = your_user_id || null; // Replace your_user_id with your own if available.
    window.hj('identify', userId, {
        // Add your own custom attributes here. Some EXAMPLES:
        // 'Signed up': '2019—06-20Z', // Signup date in ISO-8601 format.
        // 'Last purchase category': 'Electronics', // Send strings with quotes around them.
        // 'Total purchases': 15, // Send numbers without quotes.
        // 'Last purchase date': '2019-06-20Z', // Send dates in ISO-8601 format.
        // 'Last refund date': null, // Send null when no value exists for a user.
    });

</script>

Here we can send for segmentation any information on which we want to view reports in the future: user ID, level of immersion in the product, a/b test option in which the user is located, his preferences, city, eye color, presence of a cat, etc. and so on. This is to answer the question «who did».

To answer the question «what \ how did you do» — there are events. They are tracked like this:

<script type="text/javascript">
    (function() {
        hj('event', ['watch_video']);
    })();
</script>

Events allow you to segment records according to logic that is not available in standard filters (url, device, country, etc.)

After installation, Hotjar will start collecting data immediately, and you can access your dashboard to begin analyzing the data. The user interface is intuitive, and you can quickly find the insights you need to optimize your website’s performance.

Features

Hotjar offers several features designed to help website owners optimize their websites, including heatmaps, visitor recordings, funnels, forms, surveys, and feedback. Let’s take a closer look at each of these features:

1. Heatmaps: Heatmaps are visual representations of user behavior that can help you understand how users interact with your website, including which areas of your website they click most, how far they scroll, and where they spend the most time. Hotjar offers three types of heatmaps, including click, move, and scroll heatmaps.
2. Visitor Recordings: Visitor recordings are video recordings of users’ sessions on your website, allowing you to see how users navigate your website, where they get stuck, and how they interact with forms and other elements. These recordings can help you identify issues and optimize your website’s user experience.
3. Funnels: Funnels enable you to track and optimize the conversion rate of specific user flows on your website, such as a signup or checkout process. Hotjar’s funnel feature allows you to segment users by various attributes, such as device or traffic source, and also shows the drop-off rates between funnel steps.
4. Forms: Forms can be a significant source of friction for users, leading to frustration and potentially harming your conversion rate. Hotjar’s form analysis feature enables you to understand how users interact with forms on your website, such as which fields users complete and which ones they skip.
5. Surveys: Surveys give you direct feedback from users, enabling you to learn about their needs, opinions, and preferences. Hotjar’s survey feature allows you to create custom surveys, set targeting rules, and analyze the results.
6. Feedback: The feedback widget is a customizable button that allows users to leave feedback on your website. It’s a quick and simple way to get qualitative feedback on your website and learn about issues or pain points users may be experiencing.

Analytics

Hotjar’s feature set brings together different analytics tools designed to help you optimize your website’s user experience, conversions, and engagement. Here’s a closer look at how you can use each of Hotjar’s features to analyze data and gain valuable insights that can help you improve your website.

Heatmaps:

To analyze user behavior through heatmaps, first, you need to decide which type of heatmap you want to use (i.e., click, move, or scroll heatmap). Once you’ve selected the type of heatmap, select the webpage you want to analyze. Hotjar will generate a heatmap overlay for the selected webpage, highlighting areas where users are clicking, moving, or scrolling the most.

For instance, using a click heatmap, you may discover that most of your visitors are clicking on a particular menu item, suggesting that this item is of high interest to them. You can use such data to optimize the website’s navigation and make vital calls-to-action more prominent.

Visitor Recordings:

To use visitor recordings to analyze user behavior, you can filter recordings based on various attributes, such as location, browser, devices, and referral source. Once you’ve set these parameters, you can watch recordings of the selected users’ sessions on your website.

For example, using visitor recordings, you may identify that users are abandoning the cart during the checkout process. You can use this data to optimize the checkout process to make it more seamless and user-friendly, leading to increased conversions.

Funnels:

To analyze user behavior through funnels, create a funnel in Hotjar that includes the steps you want to track. Once you’ve set up the funnel, Hotjar will track the conversion rate between every step of the funnel, allowing you to identify where users are dropping off.

For instance, when analyzing a signup form funnel, you may notice that users are dropping off after the second step of the signup process. You may then optimize the steps to make them more user-friendly, resulting in a higher conversion rate.

Forms:

To analyze user behavior through forms, select the form you want to analyze in Hotjar, and then generate a heatmap. You can then analyze the heatmap and view data on which form fields users are filling out and which ones they’re skipping.

For example, if a significant percentage of visitors are abandoning a lengthy checkout form, analyze it using Hotjar’s form analysis feature. You may notice that users are leaving the form field blank because the input field is asking for data that the user does not have. You can then optimize the form by adding placeholders in the input field to guide users, leading to increased form completion rates.

Surveys:

To analyze user feedback through surveys, create custom surveys in Hotjar and set targeting rules. The survey feature offers various question types and customization options, allowing you to tailor the surveys to your specific needs.

For instance, after analyzing survey feedback, it may appear that the website’s visitors are finding it hard to navigate to the checkout page. You may consider adding a prominent call-to-action button or revising the site’s navigation menu to make it more straightforward, with clear links to essential pages.

Feedback:

To analyze user feedback, analyze the feedback widget responses that users leave on specific pages of your website. This feature allows you to gather visitor feedback without them having to leave your website.

For example, a feedback widget may reveal that visitors are finding it challenging to find critical contact information on your website. You can then optimize the page by making the contact info more visible, making it easier for visitors to communicate with your business.

Hotjar’s analytics capabilities offer an in-depth understanding of user behavior and feedback. Using these insights, you can optimize your website’s user experience and increase conversions, making Hotjar an essential tool for any web optimization strategy.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

1. Comprehensive Data Insights: Hotjar offers a wide range of analytics tools, allowing users to gather in-depth data insights into how visitors interact with their website. This data can help improve website usability, increase conversions, and optimize user experience.
2. User-Friendly Interface: Hotjar’s interface is easy to use, even for those who are new to data analysis. The user experience is intuitive, and the analysis tools come with explanations, making it easy for users to understand and use.
3. Customization and Flexibility: Hotjar’s tools are highly customizable, allowing users to tailor them to their specific needs. The features can be set up according to different parameters and criteria, enabling users to analyze data in a way that suits them best.
4. Affordable Pricing Plans: Hotjar’s pricing options are affordable, even for small businesses and website owners on a tight budget. There is also a free plan available for those on a budget.

Cons:

1. Limited Analysis for Large Websites: Hotjar’s data analysis is limited in scope and may not provide enough data for larger websites with high traffic volume.
2. Limited Data Storage: Hotjar only stores user data for 90 days, which may be insufficient for some users who need to track user behavior over an extended period.

In summary, Hotjar is an affordable and user-friendly website optimization tool that provides comprehensive data insights. However, its limited data storage and analysis capabilities may not be suitable for larger websites, and the customer support can be improved. Nonetheless, Hotjar remains a valuable tool for website optimization, offering customized and flexible features that help create a positive user experience.