The example we like to use around our office references an old proverb, one about a cobbler’s kids not having shoes. The point is, one doesn’t always benefit from their own product or trade.
Let’s take C2, for example. As a service provider, commitment to our clients and their needs come first. So, when it comes to our own site, it hasn't always received the attention it deserves.
That's changed over the last year or so, and Hotjar's visual analytics suite is a big reason for it.
One practice we believe very strongly in is continuous optimization, or the idea of incremental, low-effort, high-impact improvements based on usage trends. These optimizations represent significant wins for both user experience and marketing efforts.
The best part? It doesn’t require reinventing the wheel or putting forth this herculean effort to bring about meaningful changes. You really just have to pay attention.
Last year, we integrated Hotjar into the C2 site. Its features include heat mapping, click tracking, cursor movement, and the ability to record individual visitor sessions. The results are both interesting and revealing, especially when putting yourself under a microscope.
From Hotjar, we were able to identify minor content changes – one specifically to our homepage – that we believed would benefit the site. More importantly, they could be implemented quickly, and without being a burden to internal resources.
This image is a heat map representing clicks on the C2 homepage prior to making our content optimizations (Aug. 2015 to Dec. 2015, roughly). Previously, our primary call to action on the homepage encouraged visitors to reach out to us. However, for a first-time visitor unfamiliar with C2 and its services, the call to “create with us” appears to be too direct in this context based on our visual analytics.
So, why not get to know us a little better? Our idea was to encourage visitors to learn more about C2 and “who we are” while using our “about” page as a jumping-off point. The goal is to tell C2’s story while creating a conversion funnel in the process. By becoming more familiar with C2, users are more likely to reach out to us.
Here is another heat map we started recording in January after making the change to our homepage call to action. As you can see (excuse the missing image; Hotjar’s rendering engine doesn’t always capture 100% of the page), since making this one, minor content change, users have been far more likely to engage our homepage call to action.
By paying attention to how users interact with your site, you can identify opportunities to optimize. This is just one example of how to do just that.
Interested in discussing optimization opportunities and strategies? Let’s talk.