Welcome to Heatmap
Welcome to Heatmap! 🔥We’re excited to help you unlock powerful insights about your visitors and turn them into actions that drive revenue.
Heatmap is the world’s first revenue-based heatmap tool, built to show you the complete story of your customers from the moment they land on your site to the point they convert. You’ll see which traffic sources bring in valuable visitors, how people interact with your pages, where they drop off, and which elements actually lead to revenue.
With our features Analytics, Funnels, Heatmaps, Recordings, and Surveys, Heatmap transforms raw behavior into actionable insights. Instead of relying on guesswork, you’ll have clear, revenue-backed data to guide smarter decisions, optimize the customer journey, and grow your business faster.
This guide will walk you through setup, help you interpret your data, and get you to your first quick wins 🚀.
What to Expect
Getting started with Heatmap is fast and easy. When you sign up for Heatmap, you’ll unlock the full behavioral analytics suite and start uncovering insights right away. Here’s how your journey will look:
Setup (just a few minutes): Install your Heatmap scripts using our installation guides
Day 1-3: Data begins flowing in as we start tracking your visitors’ behavior. This is the “warm-up” phase.
Day 7: AI insights unlock, giving you quick, best-practice recommendations to spot your first wins.
Day 10: Funnel analysis gets richer, showing you exactly where customers drop off and where revenue may be leaking.
Unlocking Continuous Insights: With full access to analytics, heatmaps, funnels, recordings, AI insights, surveys, and more, you’ll unlock a steady stream of actionable data to optimize your site, boost conversions, and drive revenue growth.
Install Heatmap in Under 5 Minutes
Getting Heatmap up and running only takes a few minutes. Once installed, we’ll start tracking your visitors so you can begin uncovering insights right away.
Quick Setup Steps
Grab your script: Find your Heatmap tracking script inside your Heatmap dashboard. Please note that you may have to install two scripts depending on your CMS (ie: Shopify will have two scripts for you to install).
Install it: Most heatmap scripts need to be pasted into your site’s <head> tag. For your specific CMS, be sure to follow our installation guides and installation video linked in your Heatmap portal. Our guides are also available in our Knowledge Center linked here.
Verify your installation: Use the “Verify My Snippet” button in your Heatmap dashboard to confirm installation. We’ll be able to identify if the script was installed.
That’s it, you’re live! Within 24-48 hours, you’ll see data starting to flow into your account.
💡 Pro Tip: If you don’t see data right away, double-check that all required snippets are installed as some CMS providers need two. Make sure the Tracking Code snippet is pasted first in your site’s <head>. Once everything is in place, give it 24-48 hours for data to start flowing.
If you run into any specific issues, please contact our customer support team through the support chat, by scheduling a quick onboarding call, or by emailing us anytime at support@heatmap.com. We’re here to help!
Understanding Key Features
Once you’re set up, Heatmap gives you access to a full suite of behavioral analytics tools designed to show you the real story behind your visitors’ actions.
Here’s what you’ll find inside:
Web Analytics
Our analytics gives you a clean, revenue-first view of how real shoppers behave on your site: no bots, no instant bounces, no vanity metrics. Instead of inflated numbers, you’ll see heatmap-defined engaged sessions, conversion rate, average order value, and revenue per session (your north-star metric). You can quickly identify which pages, landing pages, traffic sources, devices, or even browsers drive the most value.
Funnels
Map and visualize the customer journey step by step from landing on your site to completing a purchase, so you can clearly see where visitors drop off and where revenue leaks occur. You can view default purchase and cart abandonment funnels, or create custom funnels around specific pages, products or campaigns. Reports show how many users advance versus abandon at each step, making it easy to identify friction points and uncover opportunities for A/B tests or UX improvements. By continuously reviewing and refining your funnels, you’ll focus your optimization efforts where they can have the biggest impact on conversion rates and revenue growth.
Heatmaps
Visualize exactly where users click, scroll, and engage on your site layered with revenue data so you can see which actions truly drive sales and which elements may be costing you money. With scrollmaps, you can measure how far visitors actually make it down the page, while the Data Table gives you detailed metrics like Revenue per Click, Revenue per Session, and element-level conversion rates to pinpoint what’s working (and what isn’t). Use Interactive Mode to capture insights from dynamic elements like pop-ups, dropdowns, and hidden menus, so you never miss what’s happening in the spaces traditional heatmaps overlook. You can also apply filters to explore behavior across different user segments, compare page groups, and tap into weekly AI Recommendations to identify quick, revenue-driving opportunities.
HeatmapAI Recommendations
HeatmapAI delivers weekly, AI-powered recommendations that combine your site’s behavioral and revenue data with CRO best practices to highlight the biggest opportunities for improvement. On the dashboard, you’ll see performance trends and top-level insights, while each Heatmap page provides up to 10 page-specific suggestions on design, layout, and calls-to-action that could boost Revenue Per Session (RPS). AI also analyzes survey responses, clustering feedback into clear themes so you can quickly understand what customers are saying at scale. These insights give you a practical, prioritized roadmap for optimization, helping you focus your efforts where they’ll have the most impact.
Filters for User Cohorts
Filters in Heatmap let you zero in on specific user groups or behaviors so you can uncover more actionable insights. You’ll have access to pre-built filters like Entry Page, Traffic Source, Ads Platform, Viewed Page, New vs. Returning Users, Rage Clicks, Purchasers, Non-purchasers, and Average Order Value, plus the ability to create unlimited Custom Filters tailored to your needs. Filters work across multiple features like Analytics, Funnels, Heatmaps, and Recordings, making it easy to analyze how different audiences engage with your site, where they drop off, and how they respond to experiments. You can even use Comparison Mode in Heatmaps to view two segments side by side, helping you spot key differences in engagement and identify the most impactful optimization opportunities.
Screen Recordings
Watch real user sessions as visitors move through your site, capturing clicks, scrolls, mouse movements, and hesitations to reveal the why behind the data. Recordings provide full context showing where users get stuck, what they ignore, and where friction leads to drop-offs. You can filter sessions by factors like purchase value, device, or browser, then replay journeys to spot confusing navigation paths, missed CTAs, or technical issues. This feature is invaluable for troubleshooting performance drops, validating A/B test results, and understanding how design changes impact the customer experience.
A/B Testing Integrations
A/B Test Filters in Heatmap let you analyze both live and completed experiments to see exactly how users interacted with different page variants. You can integrate supported A/B testing platforms like Shoplift, Visually, or Intelligems, then pull in specific experiments or variants to compare clicks, scroll depth, revenue, and engagement at the element level. For live tests, data updates as it runs, while for ended tests, you can use the date filter and View Previous Versions to revisit historical performance. This makes it easy to identify winning variations, learn from what didn’t work, and confidently apply those insights to future optimizations.
Surveys
Gather direct feedback from your customers to better understand their needs, frustrations, and motivations. Those insights can form stronger messaging, design, and site offers. You can build and launch branded surveys in minutes using a simple drag-and-drop editor, with flexible question types like Short Answer, Paragraph, Checkboxes, Single Choice, and Rating Scales. Once responses start coming in, HeatmapAI automatically analyzes open-ended feedback to surface themes and customer language, so you can quickly spot patterns without sifting through every response. The result: clearer messaging, more relevant visuals, stronger value propositions, and a site experience that truly resonates with your audience.
Where to Start with Heatmap
Getting started with Heatmap doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Here’s a simple sequence to follow so you can uncover meaningful insights quickly and start making impactful changes:
Begin with the Main Dashboard
Start each session here to get a high-level snapshot of performance. The dashboard shows top trends, key KPIs, and AI Insights that surface opportunities you might otherwise miss. This is your “command center” for deciding where to dig in first.
Example: You notice RPS and Conversion Rate are slightly down compared to the previous period. Use this as a signal to dig deeper into Analytics.
Use Analytics to Review High-Value Pages
Head into Analytics to see which pages, traffic sources, or devices are driving the most revenue per session (RPS). This helps you focus your time on areas that are already high-value or underperforming relative to their potential.
Example: You notice sessions nearly doubled on some of your top pages, but at the same time overall RPS and Conversion Rate are trending down. This suggests new traffic may be less qualified or those pages aren’t converting at the same rate as before. Head into Funnels to check the health of your overall customer journey and see if there’s particular steps having significant drop-off.
Build or Review Funnels to Spot Drop-Offs
Use Funnels to map the customer journey and identify where visitors abandon the path to purchase. They will highlight your biggest leaks and the highest-impact opportunities for optimization.
Example: You see a significant drop-off between the Product Page and Add to Cart step. This suggests that elements like the buy box or above-the-fold content may not be compelling enough to drive action. Head into Heatmaps or Screen Recordings to analyze those elements and understand what users may not be resonating with.
Dig Deeper with Heatmaps & Recordings
Once you know where drop-offs happen, Heatmaps and Recordings will show you why. Heatmaps reveal which elements drive revenue (not just clicks), while Recordings let you watch real user journeys to uncover friction and hesitations.
Example: Looking at the main product page, we’re seeing that the Add to Cart CTA is getting solid engagement and driving high value, but the product gallery is attracting even more value. This could suggest that visitors want to better understand the product before committing and taking the next step (ie: purse size, product materials, etc). Creating an A/B testing roadmap to improve elements on the page could validate these insights.
Test What Matters
Once you see what’s working (and what’s not), you can prioritize fixes with A/B tests. Focus on changes that move users from one funnel step to the next (like optimizing CTAs or reducing checkout friction). You can then analyze test variants by connecting your A/B testing platform to Heatmap directly to monitor user behavior. This ensures your efforts drive measurable results.
Keep Improving with Continuous Insights
Optimization is an ongoing process. Revisit your funnels, dashboards, and heatmaps regularly to track progress. Layer in Surveys to collect direct customer feedback and refine messaging or offers based on what matters most to your visitors.
For more educational content on how to use and maximize Heatmap, reference our Education Center.
Analyzing Heatmap Data
Heatmap’s data is designed for one thing: helping you optimize your website for growth. Unlike other analytics platforms built for accounting or broad reporting, Heatmap filters out “junk traffic” (like bots, instant bounces, and non-interactive sessions), so every number you see reflects real shopper behavior. That’s why your data may look different compared to platforms like Shopify or GA4, it’s intentional. We want you to make decisions based on clean, actionable insights that tie directly to conversions and revenue.
Introducing RPS and RPC as Standard Metrics
One of the most unique parts of Heatmap is that we introduce RPS (Revenue per Session) and RPC (Revenue per Click) as standard, primary KPIs. While most analytics tools push CVR (conversion rate) as the key metric, CVR only tells you how many visitors purchased, without showing how much value those visits or clicks actually generated. By focusing on RPS and RPC, Heatmap gives you deeper visibility into what drives real revenue growth.
RPS (Revenue per Session) - Your north-star metric. RPS measures the average revenue generated per engaged session (Total Revenue ÷ Sessions), giving you a clear picture of overall site health and the true value of your traffic.
When to use RPS: Track overall performance, compare traffic sources, and measure the impact of site-wide changes. It’s best for holistic analysis, like which pages in Analytics or which areas in Heatmaps are most valuable to visitors. If RPS rises, you’re extracting more value from your traffic.
RPC (Revenue per Click) - The element-level metric. RPC measures the average revenue per click on a specific element (Revenue from an Element ÷ Clicks on that Element), showing you which CTAs, buttons, links, or product tiles actually drive value.
When to use RPC: Compare elements within a Heatmap to see which content, CTAs, or design features are pulling their weight. This helps you identify which elements deserve more visibility, testing, or refinement.
Why Both RPS and RPC Matter
Together, RPS and RPC give you a balanced view: RPS shows the big picture of how effectively your site converts traffic into revenue, while RPC zooms in on the details of how individual elements perform. Unlike CVR, which only measures purchase completion, RPS and RPC connect user behavior directly to revenue impact—making them the most actionable KPIs for website optimization.
The Heatmap Data Model
Heatmap’s data model is intentionally different. We focus only on website-driven performance, filtering out bots, non-interactive sessions, and off-site sales like Shop App, POS, or subscriptions, so your numbers aren’t inflated by irrelevant activity. Our engaged sessions use a simple 5-second rule to capture valid visits, we include shipping and tax in AOV for a truer view of customer spend, and we use privacy-friendly LocalStorage instead of cookies for more reliable tracking. While your numbers won’t always match Shopify or GA4, they’re designed to be cleaner, more actionable, and better aligned with optimization, not accounting.
Read more about our Data Definitions, how Heatmap compares to Shopify, and how Heatmap stacks up against GA4.
Next Steps & Resources
You’ve got the basics covered. Now it’s time to dive deeper and start getting wins with Heatmap. Here are a few resources to help you along the way:
Knowledge Base - Step-by-step guides, feature documentation, and FAQs to help you master Heatmap
Education Center - Tutorials, best practices, and CRO strategies to level up your game
Customer Support - Have a question or need a hand? Our team is here to help. Reach out anytime via chat, schedule an onboarding call, or email us at support@heatmap.com
Time to help you generate some serious revenue 💸🔥.