Heatmap insights: where users actually click

Heatmaps can feel like a toy. A bright visual of clicks and scroll depth that looks nice in a deck but does not always lead to action. Used correctly, though, they are a fast way to separate layout ideas that feel good to us from those that users actually respond to.

Across a set of creator and business sites, we reviewed more than one hundred thousand sessions of heatmap data. The goal was simple. We wanted to see where people acted, where they hesitated, and which changes consistently improved conversion without turning pages into dark patterns.

The three layout changes that kept showing up

The details varied by niche and asset, but three patterns kept repeating:

• Primary calls to action were too low on the page. Users were clicking logos and nav items instead of the next step we wanted.
• Sidebars and boxes competed with each other. Attention was split between multiple options, and no single path received enough focus.
• Key proof points and benefits lived below the fold, so users had to work harder than necessary to justify a click.

When we moved CTAs higher, simplified the number of simultaneous choices, and pulled real proof closer to the top, we saw consistent improvements in click through and downstream metrics.

How this fits into our analytics and CRO work

We do not treat heatmaps as the only truth. They are one input in a broader system that includes analytics, funnel data, scroll depth, and qualitative feedback. Their main value is speed. It is often easier to see that a layout is confusing than it is to infer that from numbers alone.

For Margin Media clients, we use heatmaps to decide which hypotheses are worth formal tests. They help us pick between variations, reduce the number of ideas we push into live experiments, and keep our attention on the parts of the page that users actually touch.