Hotjar

Hotjar answers the question that Google Analytics cannot: "Why are users not converting?" While Google Analytics tells you that 80% of users leave a page without buying, Hotjar shows you exactly where they clicked, how far they scrolled, and what they were doing when they gave up.

The signature feature is the heatmap. Hotjar generates visual overlays of your pages showing where users click (click maps), how far they scroll (scroll maps), and where their mouse hovers (move maps). A scroll heatmap that shows 70% of users never see your call-to-action button is immediately actionable — move the CTA higher, and watch conversions improve.

Session recordings are where the real insights come from. Hotjar records anonymized videos of actual user sessions — mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, and the exact path through your site. You can watch a session and see exactly where a user gets confused on your checkout page, clicks a non-clickable element, or rage-clicks a broken button. An hour of session recordings often reveals more than a month of analytics reports.

Feedback tools complete the picture. Hotjar's on-page surveys let you ask users targeted questions: "What's stopping you from completing your purchase?" or "What brought you to our site today?" These qualitative responses, combined with heatmaps and recordings, give you everything you need to run evidence-based conversion optimization.

Hotjar integrates with Google Analytics so you can create segments in GA and view only the sessions that match — see recordings of users who abandoned your checkout, or heatmaps generated only by your paid traffic.

The free plan is genuinely useful for small sites: 35 daily sessions recorded, unlimited heatmaps, and basic feedback. Growing teams need the Plus or Business plan for higher session volumes and advanced filtering.