Some people who want to use
heatmaps
to analyze websites may be thinking, “I want to know what Microsoft Clarity can do,” or “I want to know how to use Microsoft Clarity.”
Microsoft “Clarity” is a free yet excellent heat map tool provided by Microsoft.
In this article, we will explain the functions and benefits of Microsoft “Clarity”, usage examples, and how to use and configure it. If you would like to try Microsoft “Clarity” or use Microsoft “Clarity” to analyze site visitor behavior, please refer to this article and use it to improve your site.
What is Microsoft “Clarity”?
Microsoft “Clarity” is a free heat map tool provided by Microsoft. It is a tool that shows what parts of a page a user looks at and clicks on when visiting a website, which is useful for analyzing site content.
There are other heatmap tools like this, but Clarity is a very high-quality tool with so many features that it’s hard to believe it’s free.
Features included in Clarity
Clarity has the following features:
I will explain each in turn.
Heat map function
Clarity has a heatmap feature that lets you see which parts of your website are clicked by users. Clarity’s heatmap feature allows you to filter results by device, country, time period, and more.
When you select the target page from the project screen, the elements will be displayed in the left menu in order of the number of clicks. A preview of your site will appear on the right screen, clearly showing the location of the element you clicked on.
In addition to click position data, there is also a function that shows how far the screen has been scrolled by what percentage of users using the “Scroll” item, and a feature that shows what percentage of users clicked where using the “Area” item. Equipped with
Recording function
The recording function is a function that records the actual movements of users visiting a website and records them as video data. With the recording function, you can check the following information in a video.
You can visually check what movements the user actually made.
dashboard
A dashboard
is a page that displays all the information about users visiting your website.
You can check the number of accesses, how many pages are viewed per access, and the average length of time users spend on your website. The Clarity dashboard also displays the following data:
This gives users an opportunity to find out which pages have bad reviews.
Benefits of using Clarity
Clarity offers the following benefits:
I will explain each in turn.
Can be linked with Google Analytics
Clarity can be linked with Google Analytics. By linking Clarity and Google Analytics, you can view some of the data held by Clarity on Google Analytics, and conversely, you can view some of the data from Google Analytics on Clarity.
It is convenient to be able to refer to a lot of data related to access analysis just by using either Clarity or Google Analytics service.
No limit on number of sessions
Clarity has no limit on the number of sessions. Some heat map tools have limits on the number of sessions (PV), such as “Free for up to 100,000 PV per month” and “XX Yen for up to 500 sessions per day.”
It’s great because it’s free and can also be used for sites with a large number of sessions.
can be used for free
The biggest advantage of Clarity is that it can be used for free.
There are many heat map tools, both paid and free, but tools that can be used for free are safe because even if the service is not what you expected, there will be no financial loss.
If you are wondering what a heat map is or want to try out Clarity’s ease of use, you can easily get started by trying it out.
No limit on data retention period
Although Clarity is a free tool, there is no limit to how long your data can be retained. Therefore, long-term access data can be analyzed for free.
Other free versions of tools have a service that says, “The data retention period is up to one month, and if you want to extend the period, you need to sign up for a paid plan.” Clarity is also a tool you can use if you want to perform analysis on long-term access data for free.
Clarity usage examples
Now, let me introduce an example of how Clarity is used. Using Clarity’s features, you can:
I will explain each in turn.
See where people are clicking
By using Clarity’s heat map function and recording function, you can see which parts of the page visitors click on. If you can see where people are clicking most, you can see which links people click on and what information they are interested in.
Also, if a link is not clicked, it can be determined that the content is not in high
demand
, so you will know that you need to review it.
Check the mouse cursor position
By using Clarity’s “Recording Function”, you can check the position of the mouse cursor as the user operates it on the web page.
The mouse cursor position is close to the user’s point of view, allowing us to infer which part of the web page the user is primarily looking at. This allows you to understand which parts of a web page users are interested in, which can help you improve your content.
Also, by checking the clicked position, you can check whether the layout has proper conductor lines. If the mouse cursor position and the clicked related link position seem far apart, you may want to review the layout.
Check scroll movement
With Clarity, you can check the scrolling movement using the “recording function” and the percentage of the scrolled area using the “heat map function”.
By checking the scrolling movement using the recording function, you can see which parts are scrolling slowly and which parts are scrolling quickly. You can see that the parts that are scrolling slowly are the ones that the user is reading properly, and the parts that are scrolling quickly are the parts that the user is not interested in and skipped over.
Also, by knowing the percentage of scrolled area, you can see which parts of the page are being read the most and which parts are being read the least. You can determine that parts that users did not read need to be revised.
How to use and configure Clarity
Finally, we will explain how to actually use and configure Clarity. The steps to use Clarity are as follows.
1. Account registration
2. Create a new project
3. Tag installation
4. Cooperation with Google Analytics
5. Start measurement
I will explain each one in order, so please refer to it.
Account registration
First, you need to register an account on
the official Microsoft “Clarity” website
. Previously, the official website only supported English notation, but as of February 2023, it also supports Japanese notation.
To register for a Clarity account, you must sign up with one of the following services:
If you do not have any of the above accounts, you will need to create one in advance. After signing up and agreeing to the terms of use, you will be taken to the screen to create a new project.
Create a new project
On the new project creation screen, register the information for the site where you want to use Clarity. Enter any name in “Name” and enter the URL of the site where you want to use Clarity in “Website URL”.
After entering the above information, the project will be created. Note that multiple projects can be created.
Tag installation
Once you have created a project, embed a tag on your site to collect data with Clarity. Tagging is done from “Setup” on the left side of the Clarity screen.
The recommended tag installation method varies depending on the state of the site being analyzed. Specifically, the main tag installation methods are as follows.
In addition, if you are using Shopify or WIX, there are instructions on the setup screen about how to install it, so if you are using it, please refer to it.
Cooperation with Google Analytics
If you use Google Analytics, you can link Google Analytics and Clarity.
By linking Google Analytics and Clarity, you will be able to view Google Analytics data on Clarity.
The steps for collaboration are as follows.
1. Click “Settings” at the top right of your Clarity account screen.
2. Click “Setup” on the left menu
3. Click “Start” under “Google Analytics Integration” item
4. Click on the Google account you want to link
5. Check each item in “Select the information that Microsoft Clarity can access” and click “Continue”
6. Select the URL of the site you want to connect to and click “Save”
7. If “Logged in” is displayed in the “Google Analytics Integration” item, the integration is complete.
A new menu called “Google Analytics” will be created at the top of the Clarity account screen, and the content of Google Analytics will be visible from Clarity.
Start measurement
After tag installation is complete, measurement by Clarity will begin several hours later. When someone visits your site, data is reflected in Clarity’s dashboards, recordings, and heatmaps.
summary
In this article, we explained the functions and benefits of Microsoft “Clarity”, usage examples, and how to use and configure it. Clarity is a very high quality heatmap tool that can be used for free.
The layout is easy to understand, and the functionality is sufficient to analyze user paths. It is a free and convenient tool that can be used safely for sites with a large number of sessions and for long-term access analysis, so please try using it for heat map analysis.