Using Heatwave
Heatmaps
Choose a page, device and map type, and read what each heatmap tells you.
Heatmaps is the first page you see when you open Heatwave. It shows a picture of your page with shopper behaviour drawn on top, and a panel of numbers beside it.
Choosing what to look at
The bar above the heatmap works like a browser:
- Page. Pick a whole page type, such as “All product pages”, or one specific address, such as a single product. Each option shows how many views it has.
- Back and forward arrows step through the heatmaps you’ve looked at.
- Period: Last 7 days, Last 30 days or Last 90 days.
- Device: Phone, Tablet or Computer, each with its number of views. Phones and computers show very different layouts, so look at them separately.
Links on the picture are live: click one to open the heatmap for that page, and browse your store the way shoppers do.
The summary line shows the number of views and clicks, frustrated clicks if there are any, and how far down half of visitors scroll. Watch recordings of this page opens the recordings of visits that included it.
Map types
| Map | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Clicks | Where shoppers click or tap. Red is where most clicks land. Numbered markers show the most clicked elements. |
| Scroll | How far down shoppers get. Red means everyone saw it, blue means few scrolled this far. Lines mark where half of visitors stop and where only a quarter are left. |
| Attention | How long each part of the page was on screen. Point at the page to see seconds. |
| Frustration | Only problem clicks: angry repeated clicks, clicks on things that did nothing, and clicks followed by an error. |
| Mouse | Where the mouse rested on computers, a hint of what people read. Only available for the Computer view. |
The panel beside the map
The first card follows the map type, like a legend with numbers:
- Top clicks (Clicks map): the most clicked buttons and links, with their share of all clicks. Hover a row to highlight its marker on the page. “Not on this picture” means the element wasn’t visible when the picture was taken, for example a menu that opens on click.
- Frustrated clicks (Frustration map): the elements with problem clicks, split into angry, did nothing and errors.
- How far visitors scroll (Scroll map): the share of visitors who reach the top, 25%, 50%, 75% and the bottom of the page, plus how much of the page fits on a typical first screen.
- Where attention goes (Attention map) or Where people read (Mouse map): the theme sections that are seen longest, with how many visitors saw each one.
Below that you’ll find:
- Seen without scrolling: whether price, Add to cart and other key elements are on the first screen. See Fold analysis.
- Problems on this page type: the most common behaviour patterns here, each with a Watch these visits link.
- Recommendations: open AI suggestions for this page, if any.
If a page has fewer than 20 visits, a note tells you the patterns aren’t reliable yet.
Sections on this page
Under the heatmap, a table lists each section of your theme with:
- Seen by: share of visitors who saw it
- Time seen: average viewing time
- Clicked by: share of visitors who clicked inside it
- Added to cart after seeing: add-to-cart rate for visitors who saw it
Turn on Sections below the map to outline each section on the picture with its seen rate.
The first-screen line
By default the map shows where the first screen ends. Choose First screen to show it or Hide line to remove it. Fold analysis explains what the lines mean.
The page picture
Heatmaps are drawn on a picture of your page that Heatwave’s own browser takes at your visitors’ real screen size. Shoppers’ screens are never captured. The first picture for a page takes 10 to 20 seconds.
If you’ve changed the page since, click Retake picture. The button shows the date of the current picture. Clicks are matched to page elements, not screen positions, so they still line up after small layout changes.