Predictive analytics are a fantastic way for businesses to collect some truly valuable data about visitors on their websites. Conventional website analytics are able to tell businesses where their visitors are coming from, what they’re clicking on, how much time they’re spending on the site, and more. As a digital marketer, this information could be stronger. There is something called heat mapping technology that can tell you a great deal more about visitors’ habits on a specific website.

Heat mapping can tell you a number of things about visitors’ habits.  The heat maps show you where your customers are looking, clicking, and reading on your website by giving you a real time overlay of those points that you can view.  Another big thing that they show you is what people are ignoring or overlooking. 

As a marketer, there are a lot of benefits to this technology.  You are able to see what headlines are catching attention from visitors and which are being ignored.  You can see how customers are truly using your website, which can help you to tell how functional and user friendly it is.  It can also help you to develop valuable content for your site.  You have the ability to see which articles or sections that customers are spending the most time looking over. You can take that information and build on it.

There is some software that allows you to view video of where a user’s mouse travels as they use your site.  The key, as a digital marketer, is to take the information that you collect and make appropriate alterations to your website and your marketing strategy.  You can decide from user’s habits what content to use, what titles need to be changed, what topics people are most interested in, and so much more.  What you do with the information is what is going to make all the difference between a successful or an unsuccessful marketing strategy.

Have you had any experience with heat mapping technology? What do you think the most valuable piece of information it tells you is? What should marketers be doing with the analytics that they are collecting? Comment below!