Knowledge Base

Your website is the digital storefront of your business. However, you cannot fully measure how effective this storefront is without understanding the behavior of your visitors. This is where Hotjar comes in. Hotjar is a powerful behavior analytics and feedback platform that helps you understand, improve, and increase the conversion rates of the user experience (UX) on your website. In this article, we will take an in-depth look at what Hotjar is, how it works, what features it has, and how you can improve your website.

1. Introduction to Hotjar: The Art of Understanding User Experience

Hotjar is a tool that complements the shortcomings of traditional web analytics tools. While tools like Google Analytics provide basic metrics such as the number of visitors and page views, Hotjar allows you to visually understand how users behave on your website. Hotjar helps you deeply understand how your users interact with your website by offering features such as heatmaps, session recordings, feedback surveys, and form analysis.

1.1. The Main Purpose of Hotjar

• Understand User Behaviors: Understand what your visitors do on your website, where they click, which pages they visit, and where they struggle.
• Increase Conversion Rates: Increase your rate of converting potential customers into customers by improving the user experience.
• Optimize Website Design: Continuously improve the design and functionality of your website using user feedback and behavioral data.
• Improve Marketing Strategies: Measure and improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns based on users' behavior on your website.

1.2. Advantages of Hotjar

• Visual Data Analysis: The ability to visually analyze user behavior through heatmaps and session recordings.
• User Feedback: The ability to get feedback directly from users with surveys and feedback tools.
• Easy Integration: Easily integrates with other tools like Google Analytics.
• User-Friendly Interface: Even users without technical knowledge can easily use it.
• Affordable Pricing: Offers pricing options to suit different needs.

2. Key Features of Hotjar and How It Works?

Hotjar offers a variety of features to help you understand user behavior on your website. These features allow you to visually understand how users interact with your website, collect feedback, and identify problems.

2.1. Heatmaps

Heatmaps are a visual report showing which areas of your website users click on, how long they look at, and how far down they scroll. This allows you to identify the most popular and least noticed areas of your website.

2.1.1. Click Maps

Click maps show which links and buttons users click on your website. This allows you to identify the most popular links and buttons on your website and make improvements to increase click-through rates.

2.1.2. Move Maps

Move maps show which areas of your website users hover their mouse over. This allows you to identify the areas that attract and do not attract users' attention.

2.1.3. Scroll Maps

Scroll maps show how far down users scroll on your website pages. This allows you to identify which sections users read and which sections they skip. This information can help you place important content at the top of the page and make improvements to attract users' attention.

Example: On an e-commerce site, it may be determined that the "Add to Cart" button on product pages does not receive enough clicks in the click map. In this case, click-through rates can be increased by changing the color, size, or location of the button.

2.2. Session Recordings

Session recordings are video recordings showing how users navigate your website, which pages they click on, how they fill out forms, and what problems they encounter. By watching these recordings, you can better understand how users interact with your website and where they struggle.

2.2.1. Benefits of Session Recordings

• Observe User Behavior: See how users navigate your website and what steps they take.
• Identify Problems: Identify points where users get stuck, make mistakes, or get confused.
• Improve User Experience: Make your website easier to use by solving the problems users experience.

Example: If a user is constantly getting the same error on the payment page, the source of the error can be identified and resolved by watching the session recording.

2.3. Feedback Polls

Feedback polls are tools that allow you to ask your users questions about your website and collect feedback. These polls can be displayed on specific pages or after specific actions and help you learn about users' thoughts and suggestions about your website.

2.3.1. Usage Areas of Feedback Polls

• Satisfaction Measurement: Measuring how satisfied users are with your website.
• Problem Detection: Identifying the problems users encounter.
• Suggestion Collection: Gathering users' suggestions regarding your website.
• Understanding the Target Audience: Learning about users' demographic characteristics and interests.

Example: On a blog site, after reading an article, users can be asked a question such as "Did you find this article helpful?" and the feedback can be used to improve the quality of the article.

2.4. Incoming Feedback

The incoming feedback is a tool that allows users to send general feedback about your website. This tool can be displayed on any page of your website and allows users to easily send feedback.

2.4.1. Incoming Feedback Use Cases

• General Feedback Collection: Gathering users' general thoughts and suggestions about your website.
• Error Reporting: Allowing users to report errors they encounter.
• Support Request: Allowing users to submit support requests.

2.5. Form Analysis

Form analysis is a report that shows how users fill out forms on your website and which fields they struggle with. This allows you to identify problems in your forms and make improvements to increase conversion rates.

2.5.1. Form Analysis Metrics

• Form Start Rate: The rate at which users open the form.
• Form Completion Rate: The rate at which users successfully complete the form.
• Field Completion Time: The time it takes users to fill out each field.
• Field Abandonment Rate: The rate at which users abandon the form without filling out a field.

Example: In a contact form, it may be determined that the "Phone Number" field has a high abandonment rate. In this case, making the field optional or adding a more descriptive label may reduce the abandonment rate.

2.6. Surveys

Hotjar's survey feature allows you to collect more in-depth feedback from your users. Surveys can include questions on various topics such as demographic information, user experience, and satisfaction level. You can set different conditions to trigger surveys, for example, you can show surveys to users who visit a specific page or perform a specific action.

Example: A SaaS company, after launching a new feature, can send its users a survey about this feature and get their feedback. This feedback can be used to develop and improve the feature.

3. How to Integrate Hotjar into Your Website?

Integrating Hotjar into your website is quite easy. By following the steps below, you can integrate Hotjar into your website:

1. Create a Hotjar Account: Go to the Hotjar website and create an account.
2. Add Your Website: Log in to your Hotjar account and add your website.
3. Get the Hotjar Tracking Code: Hotjar will provide a tracking code to track your website. Copy this code.
4. Add the Tracking Code to Your Website: Add the tracking code you copied to the <head> section of your website.
5. Verify the Integration: Hotjar offers a tool to verify that the tracking code has been added correctly. Use this tool to verify the integration.

Example Code (HTML):

<head>
  <!-- Other meta tags and style files -->
  <script>
    (function(h,o,t,j,a,r){
        h.hj=h.hj||function(){(h.hj.q=h.hj.q||[]).push(arguments)};
        h._hjSettings={hjid:YOUR_HOTJAR_ID,hjsv:6};
        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>
</head>

Note: Don't forget to replace YOUR_HOTJAR_ID with your own Hotjar ID.

4. Ensuring Data Privacy with Hotjar

When using Hotjar, it is important to protect the privacy of your users. Hotjar offers various features to ensure data privacy:

• IP Masking: Hotjar anonymizes users' IP addresses by masking them.
• Data Encryption: Hotjar ensures the security of all data by encrypting it.
• GDPR Compliance: Hotjar complies with data privacy regulations such as GDPR.
• Data Retention Period: Hotjar stores data for a specific period and then automatically deletes it.

It is also important to inform your users that Hotjar is used on your website and to offer them the option to disable data collection.

5. Website Optimization with Hotjar: Real-Life Examples

Hotjar is a powerful tool for optimizing your website and improving user experience. Here are some real-life examples of website optimization with Hotjar:

5.1. E-commerce Site Case Study

An e-commerce site noticed a high cart abandonment rate. Using Hotjar, they identified that users were getting stuck on the checkout page and having difficulty filling out certain fields. Using form analysis, they removed unnecessary fields and made the field labels more descriptive. As a result, the cart abandonment rate decreased and conversion rates increased.

5.2. Blog Site Case Study

A blog site noticed that the read rate of their articles was low. Using Hotjar, they identified that users were only reading the first few paragraphs of the articles and then leaving the page. Using scroll maps, they identified the sections that attracted and did not attract users' attention. They then made the introduction sections of the articles more engaging and placed important information at the top of the article. As a result, article read rates increased and the time users spent on the website increased.

5.3. SaaS Company Case Study

A SaaS company wanted to learn how users were using and what they thought of a new feature after it was launched. Using Hotjar, they sent users a survey about the feature and received their feedback. Using the feedback, they improved the feature and increased user satisfaction.

6. Hotjar Alternatives: Other User Behavior Analysis Tools

While Hotjar is a popular tool for user behavior analysis, there are many alternatives on the market. Here are some Hotjar alternatives:

When deciding which tool is best for you, it is important to consider your website's needs, budget, and technical requirements.

7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• What is Hotjar?
• Hotjar is a behavior analytics and feedback platform that helps you understand and improve the user experience on your website and increase your conversion rates.
• How do I use Hotjar?
• To use Hotjar, you must first create an account and add the tracking code to your website. Then, you can analyze user behavior and optimize your website using the various features offered by Hotjar (heatmaps, session recordings, surveys, etc.).
• Is Hotjar paid?
• Hotjar offers free and paid plans. The free plan offers a limited number of features and data. Paid plans offer more features and data and are more suitable for larger websites.
• Is Hotjar safe?
• Yes, Hotjar is safe. Hotjar takes various measures to ensure data privacy (IP masking, data encryption, GDPR compliance, etc.).
• Can Hotjar be used with Google Analytics?
• Yes, Hotjar and Google Analytics can be used together. Google Analytics provides basic web analytics data, while Hotjar helps you understand user behavior in more depth. By using these two tools together, you can gain a more comprehensive understanding of your website.

8. Conclusion and Summary

Hotjar is an indispensable tool for improving your website's performance and enhancing the user experience. With features such as heatmaps, session recordings, surveys, and form analysis, it helps you understand how your users interact with your website and identify problems. By using this information, you can optimize your website's design, content, and functionality and increase your conversion rates.

Remember, your website is a continuous improvement process. By using Hotjar regularly, taking user feedback into account, and making continuous improvements, you can maximize your website's potential.