8 Best Heat Maps for Affiliates in 2020
There are dozens of different tools that affiliates can implement to track, monitor, and optimize their campaigns. However, heat maps are among the most powerful because they give you a visual that helps you understand how your traffic behaves.
Let’s take a look at the definition of heat maps, discuss why they are essential to success, and give you our picks for the top heat maps for affiliates in 2020.
What are heat Maps?
Heat maps are a type of tracking tool that gives you a visual of how users behave on a specific landing page. Developed decades ago, heat maps have become a staple in the world of online marketing because they provide data in a unique format.
When compared with other forms of tracking, heat maps require the collection of large volumes of data, but they are an awesome way to understand how visitors view and navigate pages as well as your ads.
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Why are Heatmaps Essential for Affiliates?
Although they don’t play a stellar role when you’re setting up your campaign, heat maps take center stage when it’s time to optimize your landing pages. The optimization process is crucial because it helps you improve the performance of your ads, so heat maps should be a part of every affiliate’s toolkit or van, if you will.
In simple terms, heat maps allow you to:
- Learn where your most important content is and identify hot areas that help you convert
- View information in an easy-to-understand format (instead of drowning in large data sets)
- Improve your CTAs and help you develop better tests
Types of Heat Maps
Users can take different actions on your landing pages, so you can implement a combination of different heat maps to understand what these mean.
Heat maps usually track behavior based on different actions. These include:
– Mouse Movements
Also known as a hover map, this type of heat map tracks the movements of the mouse and where users focus their attention most in terms of the cursor. Hover maps can help you understand where users look and how they read the page you’re analyzing.
– Clicks
Click maps are a type of heat map that allows you to see where your visitors are clicking. These are used to identify areas that elicit a response, so you can strategically place CTAs that improve your chances of success.
– Attention
Attention maps help determine how engaged users are. Similarly to hove maps, they measure which areas visitors are more interested in, but it gives you a better idea of the specific content users are reading. It’s worth noting that attention is measured based on horizontal and vertical scrolling in these maps, so you can use the results to design better sites.
– Scrolls
Scroll maps are easy to understand because they simply tell you how far down visitors are scrolling before they stop. This is an awesome tool if you’re developing long-form landing pages where most users don’t make it to the bottom of the page.
– User Session Recordings
User session recordings are not a type of action, but a literal recording of each user’s session. This feature allows you to see a video of how each interaction took place. This is not a type of heat map either, but it’s a good idea to find a tool that has this option available.
Best heat Maps for Affiliates in 2020
Now that we’ve extensively covered heat maps, let’s go over our picks for the top options for affiliates in 2020.
Hotjar
– from $39 per month
Hotjar is one of the leading heat maps in the world of digital advertising. The platform supports click maps, hover maps, and scroll maps, plus you can download these and share them offline with your team members. Plus, it also allows you to split traffic by device type, replay session recordings, and track your conversions funnel.
Affiliates who are learning the ropes can opt for Hotjar’s free version, which collects data from 2,000 views every day. More experienced marketers can choose one of their paid subscriptions that start at $39 per month, but offer a wide range of powerful features.
Hotjar is packed with amazing features, but it has a relatively simple interface with a short learning curve, so it’s a suitable alternative for newbies and experienced affiliates alike.
Lucky Orange
– from $10 per month
Lucky Orange offers an innovative take on heat maps. The company allows you to record and track user sessions in real-time, so you can see the heat map in action while visitors are on the page. It can help track hovers, scrolls, and clicks, plus the data on the platform is updated immediately.
This tool offers different subscription tiers that start at $10, plus you can take advantage of a free 7-day trial. You’ll be able to try out the different features, like session recordings, dynamic heat maps, and conversion funnel monitoring.
That said, the platform is relatively complex and offers intricate features depending on the tier you select, so it’s a great choice for seasoned affiliates.
Plerdy
– from $29 per month
Plerdy is used for UX developers and marketers alike to identify areas that need improvements. This tool supports scroll, click, and hover tracking, plus you’ll also have the ability to record and view user sessions. And, you’ll also have the ability to track certain events as well as view the click path clients took before exiting your page.
In addition to a free version that allows up to 2,000 page views per day, Plerdy also offers different paid tiers starting at $29 per month, but can go up to $99 and more depending on the features you need.
This platform is user-friendly and ideal for beginners because you can start simple and add more features as you progress.
Crazy Egg
-price upon request
If you already had some knowledge about heat maps before reading this article, you’ve probably heard about Crazy Egg. The platform allows you to see hovers, scrolls, and clicks, but the true magic comes with its additional features.
Crazy Egg can integrate with your other analysis tool, plus you can record and view the most interesting sessions. This tool also features an A/B testing tool that allows you to run tests in 3 simple steps, but the results you get can dramatically improve the performance of your campaign.
Additionally, Crazy Egg has a free trial available, but you need to request a quote to find out how much it will cost in your specific case.
Crazy Egg is one of the leading heat map tools, so it’s best left for more experienced affiliates that will be able to implement all of its features.
FullStory
-price upon request
FullStory can help you analyze different behavioral patterns and view recordings of your visitors’ sessions. It’s also packed with features that promote collaboration and it’s easy to integrate to other tools affiliates commonly use. And, you can even import data from other platforms to create custom heat maps for your campaign.
There are two different subscription tiers available at FullStory as well as a free trial. Affiliates need to request a quote and a demo in order to find out the cost of this specific tool, but it’s mostly reserved for expert marketers.
Capturly
-free version available
Capturly may have the most memorable name in the heat maps industry, but this isn’t the reason it made our cut. In addition to hover and click maps, the platform also supports segment maps, which provide a different angle in terms of optimization.
With Capturly, you’ll also be able to record sessions, track conversions in your funnel, and look at events analytics.
This platform is relatively easy to use so it’s a good fit for affiliates that are just learning the ropes.
Feng-GUI
-from $99 per month
Feng-GUI was the runner up for our most memorable name, but the platform has nothing to be ashamed of in terms of performance.
This tool supports attention maps but it also has the ability to track areas of interest, create gaze plot reports, and generate opacity maps. All of these features give you the ability to view behavior from a different perspective, so you can understand complex patterns and make adjustments accordingly.
As for pricing, you can start at their basic plan for $99 per month, plus you can get a one-month free trial to test out the plan you’re interested in.
The features in Feng-GUI are most suitable for knowledgeable affiliates because they require an extensive understanding of user behavioral patterns.
MouseFlow
-from $24 per month
Last but not least, MouseFlow focuses on showing you why your visitors are turning into conversions. Used by renowned companies like Dyson and Deloitte, this tool can help you record sessions and collect feedback from your visitors. And, it supports click, hover, scroll, and other types of heat maps.
Known as a budget-friendly alternative, MouseFlow’s basic plan starts at $24 per month, but experienced affiliates can request a customized plan that supports dozens of landing pages.
With this in mind, the platform is also suitable for newcomers that are getting acquainted with the different parts of the ecosystem.
Interested in learning more about the best tools for affiliates? Follow our blog or join our Telegram chat where you can continue your affiliate journey.
