Running a successful website requires a lot of planning, optimization, and monitoring. Right from Keyword analysis, SEO optimization, back-links analysis, and other website error, user behavior analysis is also part of the process. In this review post, we will discuss the benefits and features of using one such free heatmap tool called Clarity by Microsoft.
Microsoft user behavior & heatmap tool – Clarity
User behavior analysis is a process of understanding how your website visitors are interacting with your website pages. In other words, user behavior is tracked, recorded, and analyzed to optimize the website for attaining desired results from visitors. The desired result could be filling up forms, buying, or submitting an email address for further sales.
Here is a study identifying and studying the effect of user behavior analysis tools on the website. The study proves that the use of user behavior analysis tools has a positive impact on website performance in terms of sales and other desired outcomes. In this Microsoft Clarity review, we will also see the other paid options available.
However, before that, the below chart shows an increase in profit and sales after using a UBA tool on the website for monitoring and recording. Report By Mckinsey
Reported by mckinsey
Although just like other website tools, UBA tools are also costly and bloggers and small business owners are not able to bear the cost of such software and gain its benefits. However, with the launch of Clarity by Microsoft as a free heatmap and analytics tool, every webmaster can start optimizing their website for user behavior.
Microsoft Clarity Review
Clarity was launched on 10/29/2020, It comes mainly with 4 features that we have covered in this review of Microsoft Clarity.
- User session recording
- Heatmaps
- Insights
- Scalability
User Session recording
Session recording / Screen recording helps you with analyzing your user behavior on the website. You get a recording of all the activity done in a particular recorded session, you can see on which part users are interacting the most and on which part/pages users abandon a page.
Heatmaps are used to find out the most clicked element on a page. You can see the scroll pattern, user flow and analyze the part which get most attention.
In insights sections, you can identify the part of the website where users feel stuck, broken paths, rage clicks, or excessive scrolling.
Microsoft Clarity claims to be able to deliver to a website that has a huge amount of traffic without affecting their load time in desktop and mobile versions of web pages.
Clarity is easy to implement and customize. There is no significant impact on the loading speed of websites and data is available to analyze within 30 minutes after installation. The tool also utilizes Artificial intelligence and machine learning features to understand users’ behavior on the website.
It is also GDPR and CCPA Compliant. The data recorded is stored in Microsoft Azure and is available to watch again up to 12 months after recording. In this Microsoft Clarity review we haven’t focused on data safety, if you require more knowledge on that then let us know in the comment section.
How to use and Implement Microsoft Clarity on WordPress website
Sign Up for Clarity on here and follow the steps mentioned:
How to Sign up for Clarity – Click here
Installation of Clarity on WordPress website –
Go to the Setup Page on your Clarity Account
Copy the Clarity Tracking Code
Copy this Tracking code on your website Header
If you are not a developer then you can use WordPress plugins like Insert Head and Footer
If the installation is perfect then you would be able to see the impression of your website visitors in your Microsoft Clarity Account within 30 Minutes. Microsoft recommends creating a new project in case you have more than 1 website to track.
Does Clarity record Usernames and Passwords?
According to Microsoft by default, the sensitive content is Masked before sending it to Microsoft Clarity. You also get the option to mask other content also as per your need. You can use the following code to add as an attribute in a DIV on your DOM
data-clarity-mask="True"Permission levels in Microsoft Clarity
While creating Microsoft Clarity Review we noticed that there are two roles available:
- Admin – Has complete access to projects and more than 1 admin can also be added.
- Team members – Read and Write access of projects
A detailed view of permissions in Clarity:
| Actions | Admin | Team member |
|---|---|---|
| Change roles | Yes | No |
| Add a team member | Yes | No |
| Remove team member | Yes | No |
| Delete project | Yes | No |
| View Heatmaps | Yes | Yes |
| Delete Heatmaps | Yes | Yes |
| Share Heatmaps | Yes | Yes |
| View Recordings | Yes | Yes |
| Save filters | Yes | Yes |
| Update filters | Yes | Yes |
| Access saved filters | Yes | Yes |
| Manage settings | Yes | No |
| View shared Heatmaps | Yes | Yes |
| View shared Recordings | Yes | Yes |
Best Paid UBA tools available in the market
Moreover, even after going through this Microsoft Clarity review, If you have some money to spend on an already established heatmap analytics tool or CRO Tools then here are your Microsoft Clarity and Hotjar alternate options available options –
- Hotjar
- Crazy Egg
- FullStory
- VWO
- Inspectlet
- Mouseflow
- EyeQuant
- SessionCam
- Lucky Orange
- Clicktale
- Decibel
Conclusion
In the end, being a free tool Microsoft Clarity doesn’t lack any features when it is compared with other tools in the market. Moreover, backed by software giant Microsoft, it is bound to get more future updates and features. There might be some bugs in the initial phases but the future updates will be better than ever.
let us know in the comment section about your feedback on Microsoft Clarity.
