{"id":49685,"date":"2020-02-11T18:28:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T12:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/?p=49685"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:12:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:42:01","slug":"heatmap-visualization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/heatmap-visualization\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Heatmap Visualization? When And How To Use?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By definition, heatmap visualization or heatmap data visualization<\/a> is a method of graphically representing numerical data where the value of each data point is indicated using colors. The most commonly used color scheme used in heatmap visualization<\/a> is the warm-to-cool color scheme, with the warm colors representing high-value data points and the cool colors representing low-value data points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Heat
Image source: Color-hex<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason that visualization of data through methods like heatmap<\/a> has become so popular is that humans, in essence, are visual beings. Many studies on human psychology and perception suggest that we view and process visuals way more efficiently than written text or written data. In fact, according to the Social Science Research Network<\/a>, 65% of human beings are visual learners; and that is why visualizing data of any form makes so much more sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the world of online businesses, website heatmaps<\/a> are crucial to visualize visitor behavior<\/a> data so that business owners, marketers, and UX designers can identify the best-performing sections of a webpage based on visitor interaction. More importantly, heatmaps help to classify the sections that are performing sub-par and need optimization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog, we will understand heatmap data visualization by taking website heatmaps<\/a> as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n

Types of website heatmap data visualization<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Due to their dynamic and robust nature, website heatmaps enable the graphical representation of data in many forms based on the nature of the data sets. Businesses use website heatmaps with an online presence to visualize the visitors\u2019 clicks, scrolls, mouse and eye movement, and so on, on their website, in real-time. Visitor interaction on webpages is visualized in heatmaps, scrollmaps<\/a>, click maps, mouse-tracking heatmaps, and eye-tracking heatmaps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s explore the kind of data each of these methods of heatmap visualization methods chart and present:<\/p>\n\n\n

Heatmap<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

Heatmap is a graphical way to visualize visitor behavior data in the form of hot and cold spots<\/a> employing a warm-to-cool color scheme. The warm colors indicate sections with the most visitor interaction, red being the area of highest interaction, and the cool colors point to the sections with the lowest interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"heatmap\"
Image source: Talkroute<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

Scroll ma<\/strong><\/strong>p<\/h3>\n\n\n

Scroll maps visually present the state of your webpages in the form of a heatmap where all the scroll data (scroll depth, scrolling pattern, etc.) are plotted. A scroll map indicates the number of visitors scrolled to each section of a webpage, the section after which the percentage of people scrolling drastically falls, the maximum depth till which people scrolled, and more. This data is visualized using colors in a single scroll map, with each color signifying varying intensity of interaction. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Scrollmap\"
Image source: Hotjar<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

Click map<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

Website heatmaps also offer click maps that track and visualize click data on the webpages to help you <\/span>understand visitor behavior<\/span><\/a> at a granular level. Click maps visually presents clicks on each element of a page like clicks on links, missing\/broken links, images, CTA, pop-ups, and so on. With each and every click registered on the webpage, click maps present multiple variables and data points in one single heatmap.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"clickmap\"
Image source: Hubspot<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Download Free: Website Heatmap Guide<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n

Mouse tracking heatmap<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

While the first three forms of website heatmap visualization present data on explicit visitor behavior, the underlying and implicit behavioral patterns are tracked in the form of mouse movement. A color-coded heatmap is generated that visualizes mouse movement data of each visitor as well as data where the individual reports are combined to trace patterns in the mouse movement of the visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the most general level, mouse tracking heatmaps<\/a> visualize where visitors\u2019 cursor hovers the most, which section\/s of a webpage the cursor keeps coming back to, and more such mouse movement data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mouse<\/figure>\n\n\n

Eye-tracking heatmap<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

Like mouse tracking heatmap, eye-tracking heatmap<\/a> also visualizes viewing patterns, but instead of cursor data, data on visitors\u2019 gaze is visualized. Eye-tracking heatmap<\/a> tracks visitors\u2019 eye movement and visualizes gaze data. These data include fixation length based on the number of times an image is looked at, which elements attract the visitor\u2019s gaze the most, which irrelevant elements are distracting the visitors\u2019 eye away from the main CTA, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"eye
Image source: Lifehack
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, you may wonder why such a color-coded visualization of data is important to you.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Heatmap<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

When to use heatmap visualization?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Website heatmaps help you uncover hidden behavioral insights through many visualization options discussed in the above sections. Here are some scenarios where you can leverage them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n