Customer & Marketing
Marketing teams need to choose tools that can not only understand visitor behavior, but also segment data by campaign, and integrate results with other marketing tools. Dashboard customization, integration with CRM or automation platforms and ease of use also play a major role.
| Tool | Marketing benefits | Integrations and segmentation | Pricing | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotjar | Comprehensive heatmaps and user feedback via surveys, segmentation by behavior and user attributes. | Integrates Google Analytics, HubSpot, Slack and Zapier; allows data to be filtered according to GA segments. | Free plan then packages from around $39/month. | |
| Plerdy | E-commerce heatmaps, SEO analysis, real-time A/B testing and conversion tracking. | Integration with popular CMS (WordPress, Shopify), custom event settings and real-time reporting. | From $21/month. | |
| Lucky Orange | Customizable dashboard with live chat, surveys and dynamic heatmaps. | Integrates CRM and chat tools; behavior-based segmentation and ability to send targeted messages. | Free trial; subscriptions from $32/month. | |
| Smartlook | Allows sessions to be tagged and segmented, offers event funnels and retroactive cohort analysis. | Export segments to emailing and CRM tools via API; integration with GA and Slack. | Free plan and Pro from $55/month. | |
| Matomo | Customizable dashboards and privacy protection. | Data import from Google Analytics, CRM integration via API, advanced segmentation. | Free (self-hosted) or paid cloud subscription. |
Digital marketing teams use heatmas for several purposes: optimizing acquisition campaigns, improving landing page conversion, analyzing customer journeys and guiding design decisions. The tools shown in the table above offer different combinations of functions for these purposes.
Thanks to its integrated surveys and heat maps, Hotjar provides a comprehensive view of user behavior. Marketing teams can trigger targeted surveys to understand why a user hasn’t converted after visiting a key page. With Google Analytics integration, it’s possible to filter sessions by acquisition channel (organic, paid, referral) and understand how each segment interacts with the site. For example, a segment coming from social networks may show greater responsiveness to visual elements, while a segment coming from Adwords campaigns is looking for specific information. Feedbacks collected via surveys help to identify barriers not visible in heatmaps, such as the perception of an offer or the credibility of a site.
Plerdy integrates SEO audit and heatmap functionalities, making it a versatile tool for marketers. In addition to analyzing clicks and scrolls, Plerdy provides suggestions for improving title structure (H1, H2), keyword density and meta-description optimization. In this way, marketers can ensure that pages optimized for SEO are also effective for conversions. Plerdy also offers an event funnel module that plots the conversion funnel and displays the percentage of users moving from one stage to the next. Real-time A/B testing lets you modify SEO elements or CTAs and quickly measure impact. Thanks to segmentation by device (desktop vs. mobile), the marketing team can adapt its messages according to the medium used.
Lucky Orange features live chat functionality and a dashboard combining heatmaps and key metrics. Marketers can segment visitors according to their behavior (pages visited, time spent, source) and initiate an automated chat to offer assistance or propose a special offer. For example, if a user visits the pricing page several times without registering, a pop-up message can be displayed inviting them to speak to an agent or receive a promotional code. The “announcements” function can also be used to broadcast messages throughout the site to promote a campaign or event. This interactive approach improves engagement and facilitates data collection for remarketing campaigns.
Smartlook is appreciated for its ability to tag sessions and create personalized segments. Marketing teams can create a segment for “visitors who have viewed more than 3 product pages” or “users who have added a product to the basket without purchasing”. These segments can be exported via API to email marketing or CRM platforms to launch targeted follow-up campaigns. Integration with Slack enables real-time alerts to be received when an anomaly or error is detected in a path, helping to react quickly. Smartlook also offers features for tracking personalized events, such as clicks on social buttons or newsletter sign-ups, to measure the performance of each micro-interaction.
For organizations with strict confidentiality requirements, Matomo is the preferred choice. Data remains under the company’s control and is not shared with third-party services. Marketers can create bespoke dashboards to track relevant KPIs, such as conversions per channel, time spent on a page or average order value. Matomo also offers add-ons for heatmaps and session recordings, but configuration may require technical skills. The tool does, however, integrate with open source solutions such as Matomo Tag Manager, offering an alternative to Google Tag Manager.
VWO Insights: although more oriented towards A/B testing, VWO Insights offers dynamic heatmaps and advanced segmentation, making it a useful addition for marketing teams looking for a complete optimization workflow (test → measure → iterate).
Microsoft Clarity: free and easy to use, Clarity provides heatmaps and session replays. It incorporates an insights tool that highlights frenetic clicks and fast scrolls, useful for marketers just starting out.
Crazy Egg: its confetti module enables clicks to be segmented by source (referral, organic, social), which is ideal for analyzing the performance of advertising campaigns. The tool also offers a simple A/B test editor for testing different versions of landing pages.
Advertising campaign analysis: a company launches a Facebook campaign to promote a new product. Using Hotjar-GA integration, the marketing team creates a GA segment composed solely of visitors from the campaign. Examining the heatmaps, the team notices that these users don’t scroll down to the “Features” section. As a result, it places a summary of features higher up on the landing page and sees an increase in the conversion rate.
Improving a contact form: a B2B services company uses Lucky Orange to analyze its demo registration form. Heatmaps and replays show that many visitors give up at the “Phone number” field. By making this field optional and adding an explanation of its purpose, the team increases the submission rate by 10%.
Reactivation of inactive visitors: with Smartlook, a company identifies a segment of visitors who add items to the shopping cart but do not complete the purchase. It exports these segments to its e-mailing tool and sends them a follow-up campaign containing discount codes. Post-campaign heatmaps show that visitors return in greater numbers and interact more with the offers, reflecting the effectiveness of the initiative.
Multivariate design test: a hotel booking site uses Plerdy to test three variations of a results page. The heatmaps reveal that the design with larger photos and prominent notes generates more clicks on the “Book” button. By combining this data with conversion metrics, the marketing team adopts the winning design and improves its booking rate.
Align business objectives and metrics tracked: avoid focusing solely on vanity metrics (time spent, scroll) if they don’t contribute to conversion. Focus on micro-conversions (CTA clicks, registrations) and their link to revenue.
Use relevant segments: create segments based on traffic source, buying behavior (first visit vs. repeat visit), geographic location and device type. This allows you to personalize the experience and direct marketing budgets to the most profitable segments.
Collaborate with UX and product teams: regularly share heatmap insights with designers and developers. Interface modifications based solely on a marketing point of view can sometimes harm the overall experience. Working together ensures consistent optimization.
Automate actions: use CRM integrations and APIs to trigger automatic actions (send an e-mail, display a message, offer a discount) based on recorded behavior. This makes it possible to exploit collected data in real time.
Measuring impact over time: behavior evolves according to seasonality, trends and algorithm changes. It is necessary to compare heatmaps and conversions over several periods and adjust strategies accordingly.