Introduction
There are various web analytics software tools that provide a wide range of services. Some of them use a simplified interface and have a limited number of features, while others offer an in-depth analysis of customer experience and behavior. This paper analyzes Hotjar, a web analytics tool that has a complete set of tools for evaluation. The report addresses its features and benefits, as well as shows how it can support managerial decision-making.
The Purpose of Hotjar
Hotjar is a web analytics tool that provides information about user’s behavior and preferences. It allows for enhancing individuals’ experience and improving performance/conversion rates (“What is Hotjar”?). Hotjar uses various instruments, including those related to analysis and feedback, which will be discussed in detail below. Like other web analytics software tools, the program is designed to measure the website data and optimize its usage (“Web Analytics Tutorial”).
Its purpose is to provide a clear understanding of the site’s trends, monitor traffic, and user flow, identify potential keywords, outline areas for improvement, and locate referring sources. For businesses, the goal of using Hotjar is to make effective decisions, understand the value of advertising and evaluate its usefulness, as well as find weaknesses of the website and eliminate them. The tool allows improving each area of the site’s work, including the average time users spend on it and their engagement with the content, exit rates, the number of page views per individual, and contact form submissions. The implementation of Hotjar can reduce costs on the advertisement and make the website and services more user-friendly.
Hotjar: Operation
Hotjar operates by using various tools to collect data about individuals’ behavior. One of the most notable analytic features of this instrument is heatmaps, which provide a visual representation of users’ taps, clicks, and scrolls. Another analysis tool is visitor recordings, which allow seeing individuals’ mouse movements and analyze their behavior on the website. Hotjar offers conversion funnels, too; this feature shows the data on the pages and steps when most visitors choose to leave the site. Form analytics helps to identify which forms require much time to fill and which are usually left blank, as well as why individuals leave the page without interacting with the field (“What is Hotjar?”).
Feedback tools of Hotjar include polls and surveys, which allow to adjust questions to particular users and collect responses in real-time. This feature enhances the website’s performance and reveals individuals’ needs and the barriers to fulfilling them. In addition, Hotjar helps to recruit participants for user research directly from the website and offers rewards, which can help to enhance the company’s relationships with its customers and improve the quality of services. Finally, the incoming feedback feature allows receiving comments and responses from individuals.
Hotjar operates similarly to other web analytics tools, such as Piwik and Open Web Analytics. Both of these instruments are designed to analyze user experience on the website. At the same time, Hotjar has more benefits than the presented tools as its interface is more user-friendly compared to the other programs; its sections are highlighted in different colors to enhance readability, and it is not overloaded with information. In addition, the instrument offers a complete set of necessary features and allows for working with feedback as well.
Supporting Managerial Decision Making
Organizations need to review their performance to enhance the quality of their products and services. Web analytics tools can help them to apply the knowledge about users on a daily basis and improve their productivity (Balkan and Goal 17). Hotjar can support managerial decision-making in the following way. First, the company should establish the purpose of collecting data. For example, the goal can be a reduction in advertising costs.
Then, the organization can use Hotjar to track which banners are more attractive to users by utilizing heatmaps and visitor recording tools. Moreover, it is possible to identify which advertisements may be triggering or inappropriate by implementing conversion funnels that show the pages on which individuals usually leave the site. Such an approach can help managers to see what promotional campaigns are ineffective and can be closed.
Another example is the utilization of Hotjar to enhance the effectiveness of the company’s online services. It may be challenging for managers to make decisions about the strategies that can be used for improvement. By implementing Hotjar’s feedback tools, the company can collect individuals’ opinions about their experience on the website and its convenience. Moreover, managers can ask customers to participate in testing in exchange for rewards, which will allow for the utilization of individuals’ perspectives in the decision-making process. This method can not only improve the organization’s performance but also enhance its reliability for users.
Conclusion
Hotjar is a notable web analytics tool that features a wide range of instruments for the evaluation of customers’ behavior on the website. It provides visual representations and video recordings of individuals’ mouse movements, as well as offers conversion funnels, form analytics, and feedback tools. Hotjar can support managerial decision-making by allowing for estimating the company’s performance and user experience through analysis and individuals’ comments.
Works Cited
Balkan, Sule, and Michael Goul. “Advances in Predictive Modeling: How In-Database Analytics Will Evolve to Change the Game.” Business Intelligence Journal, vol. 15, no. 2, 2010, pp. 17–25.
“Web Analytics Tutorial.” TutorialsPoint, 2019. Web.
“What is Hotjar?” Hotjar, 2019. Web.