Imagine seeing where everyone looks on your website or app, just like a hidden camera on your website that captures visitors’ navigation. Heatmaps in user behavior analytics do just that, but virtually! They are visual representations of how users interact with your digital product. Like a weather map, heatmaps use color to show high and low activity areas. Red areas show where users click the most, while cooler colors like blue indicate areas with less attention.

Heatmaps are not just about clicks. They can also reveal where users scroll, how far down a page they go, and even where their mouse hovers. This diverse data is crucial for enhancing user experience, as it aids in identifying areas that might be confusing or frustrating for your users.

TL;DR

What Is FullStory?

FullStory is one of the reputed user behavior analytics tools. It offers raw visitor experience data by providing session recordings and heatmaps.

You can see what confuses visitors and where they get stuck so that you can fix any problems on your website. Imagine watching a replay of someone using your site—you will see exactly what they see and understand why they might get frustrated. This helps designers and developers improve the website and make it more user-friendly.

What Are The Features of FullStory?

1. Automatic alerts for frustration signals
2. Session replay
3. Heatmaps
4. Funnels and conversions
5. Journey mapping
6. Dashboards
7. User segments

What Are FullStory's Pricing Plans?

(*Pricing not open, assuming them to be custom or an excellent way to get the people to experience the platform)

Why Do People Ask For An Alternative To FullStory?

According to Google reviews, the following are FullStory's limitations, which is why people are asking for FullStory alternatives.

• Limited Event Tracking: FullStory struggles with tracking custom events beyond fundamental interactions like clicks, page views, and text inputs. For mobile apps, features like taps, scrolls, and user engagement require additional tools and integration through their API.
• Weak Aggregate Analysis: While session replays offer valuable insights into individual user journeys, FullStory lacks robust tools for analyzing large datasets. Many users find it necessary to use other analytics tools alongside FullStory.
• Disjointed User Journey Tracking: Following a single user's experience across multiple sessions can be challenging within FullStory.
• Restrictive Pricing: FullStory's pricing plans often limit users, forcing them to choose options that don't capture data from all users.

Top FullStory Alternatives In 2024

1. riyo.ai

Feeling lost about your website's performance? You're not alone. Many website owners struggle to understand how visitors interact with their pages. This is where riyo.ai steps in—your secret weapon for website optimization.

Imagine uncovering hidden insights; first, see exactly where visitors click, scroll, and abandon pages, and then replay entire user journeys to pinpoint areas of frustration.

Who Can Benefit From riyo.ai?

Anyone with a website can gain valuable user insights! Here are some examples:

What Features Does riyo.ai Offer?

• Behavioral Analytics: Use heatmaps, session recordings, and real-time data to understand user behavior better. Identify pain points and optimize for a smooth user journey.
• Session Recording & Replay: Replay individual visitor sessions to pinpoint moments of confusion or frustration. Understand where users engage most and gain valuable insights into their behavior.
• Heatmaps: Visualize every click, scroll, and mouse movement. Heatmaps provide a clear picture of user interaction, allowing you to optimize page layouts, calls to action, and overall UX.

Also Read: Best Heatmap Tools for Websites

• Live Visitor Tracking: See who's on your website right now, what pages they visit, and what actions they take. Proactively engage with high-value visitors, answer questions, and convert them into leads or customers.
• Live Chat: Integrate live chat functionality for real-time conversations with website visitors. Address concerns, answer questions, and provide instant support to boost customer satisfaction and conversions.
• Form Analytics: Understand how visitors interact with your website forms. Identify areas of confusion and optimize your forms for higher conversion rates. Gain insights into what information visitors are comfortable sharing and customize your forms accordingly.
• Triggers: Set up automated messages with live chat when visitors spend a specific time on a page, indicating they might need assistance. Personalize your approach and engage website visitors more effectively.

What Are riyo.ai's Pricing Plans?

The Comparison: riyo.ai vs. FullStory

When to Choose riyo.ai Over FullStory?

While FullStory offers powerful features, its complexity might overwhelm small businesses. Riyo.ai, on the other hand, caters to businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises. Its user-friendly design and clear analytics make it easy to implement and gain valuable insights to drive data-driven decisions.

2. Smartlook

• Founded: 2016
• Typical users: Engineers, business analysts, product managers
• Typical customers: Enterprise retail and eCommerce websites and apps

Smartlook provides basic analytics with heatmaps and session recordings of how users interact with your mobile app, data visualizations, crash reports, and overall product analytics. This gives you a comprehensive view of user behavior, allowing you to pinpoint issues and optimize your app for better engagement. Heatmaps reveal which areas of your app screen receive the most user attention, increasing their focus on mobile apps.

Key Features

1. Heatmaps
2. Session recording
3. Event-based analytics
4. Funnel and paths
5. Crash reports

The Comparison: riyo.ai vs. Smartlook vs. FullStory

When To Choose SmartLook?

When a smaller company or startup firm needs basic user analytics, it can choose SmartLook over FullStory.

3. Heap

• Founded: 2013
• Typical users: Product and marketing teams
• Typical customers: B2C SaaS and eCommerce companies wanting to monitor and improve user experience.

Heap is a digital insight provider brand that helps businesses know user behavior using session recording and heatmaps. A marketing and eCommerce analytics firm named Contentsquare acquired Heap in September 2023 and announced plans to integrate the two products.

Key Features

1. Event autocapture
2. Session replay
3. Heatmaps
4. Analysis suggestions
5. Managed ETL

The Comparison: riyo.ai vs. Heap vs. Smartlook vs. FullStory

When To Choose Heap?

If you aim for a comprehensive understanding of your users, complete with detailed data and insights into how their actions influence your core product metrics, Heap is the best solution.

4. Glassbox

• Founded: 2010
• Typical users: Business analysts, product support, marketers
• Typical customers: Enterprise B2C companies, retail, and financial services

Glassbox targeted enterprise B2C businesses, offering  "digital experience intelligence" specifically designed for mobile apps and eCommerce. This helps business analysts and support teams gain deep user insights through session replay and analytics.

Key Features

1. Session replay
2. Product analytics
3. Performance Analytics
4. Click, scroll, and heatmaps
5. User Feedback

The Comparison: riyo.ai vs. Glassbox vs. Heap vs. Smartlook vs. FullStory

When To Choose Glassbox?

When you want valuable insights from genuine user reviews and comparisons.

5. LogRocket

• Founded: 2016
• Typical users: Product managers, engineers, support teams
• Typical customers: B2B SaaS, B2C retail companies

LogRocket is a standard analytics platform that offers an all-in-one platform for product teams.  It equips product managers, engineers, and support staff with a powerful suite of tools, including product analytics, error tracking, session replay, and performance monitoring. This unified approach allows them to pinpoint issues impacting users, fix them efficiently, and ultimately improve the overall product experience.

Key Features

1. Session replay
2. Error tracking
3. Product analytics
4. Heatmaps
5. Performance monitoring

The Comparison: riyo.ai vs. LogRocket vs. Glassbox vs. Heap vs. Smartlook vs. FullStory

When To Choose LogRocket?

When you want to collect and analyze digital product usage data to understand better customers and how they interact with product features

FAQs

What are heatmaps used in UX?

Heatmaps are visual representations of user behavior on a website or app. They use color intensity to show where users click, scroll, hover, or focus their attention. This helps UX designers understand how users interact with the interface and identify areas that need improvement.

When not to use heatmaps?

Heatmaps are best suited for analyzing user behavior on specific pages or functionalities. They might not be ideal for understanding complex user journeys across multiple pages or tasks requiring high-precision clicks (like filling out forms). Additionally, heatmaps on low-traffic websites might not provide statistically significant data.

Why is it called a heatmap?

The term "heatmap" comes from using color to represent intensity. Like a weather map, where warm colors indicate high temperatures, a UX heatmap uses warm colors (reds, yellows) for areas with high user interaction and cooler colors (blues, greens) for less interaction. This creates a visual "heat" gradient, hence the name.

Are heatmaps useful?

Heatmaps are a valuable tool for UX professionals. They provide a quick and easy way to visualize user behavior patterns, helping to:

• Identify areas of confusion or frustration
• See if users are noticing important elements
• Evaluate the effectiveness of calls to action (CTAs)
• Optimize page layout and content placement

What is a heatmap data visualization?

A heatmap data visualization is a specific type of chart that uses a color gradient to represent a range of values.  In the context of UX, the values displayed on the heatmap represent the frequency of user interactions on different parts of a webpage or app screen.

Does Google Analytics do heatmaps?

Google Analytics doesn't offer built-in heatmap functionality. However, many third-party analytics tools integrate with Google Analytics to provide heatmaps and other user behavior visualizations.