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How to start collecting heatmaps from crowd

Last updated on May 27, 2025

How to Set Up and Use Crowd Heatmaps

New to Crowd? Start with our quick setup guide. Get valuable insights about your website visitors from day one! Get Started

Crowd heatmaps show you exactly how visitors interact with your website using colors, blue areas show high activity, grey areas show low activity. This visual data helps you understand user behavior without guessing.

The ultimate goal of Crowd is to help you improve your business by showing you exactly how visitors interact with your website. With these insights, you can make informed decisions that increase conversions, enhance user experience, and grow your revenue.

What is a Heatmap?

A heatmap is a visual tool that shows where users click, move, and scroll on your website, and Crowd Heatmaps continuously collect data across all pages on your site that have the Crowd tracking Script has been installed:

  • Click heatmaps show where users tap or click

  • Scroll heatmaps show how far down your page's users scroll

  • Movement heatmaps show where users move their cursor

Why Use Crowd Heatmaps?

Heatmaps help you:

  • Discover what elements visitors interact with most

  • Find out if people see your important content

  • Identify confusing or ignored areas of your site

  • Make smarter design decisions based on real user behavior

Combined with Crowd's powerful AI Chat feature, heatmaps provide the visual and contextual data you need to transform your website into a conversion machine. While heatmaps show you WHERE problems exist, Crowd's AI helps you understand WHY they happen and HOW to fix them.

Getting Started with Crowd Heatmaps

1. Create Your Crowd Account

  1. Visit CrowdApp.io and click "Sign Up"

  2. Enter your email address and create a password

  3. Check your email for the confirmation code and enter it

  4. Complete your account setup by answering a few quick questions

2. Generate / Install the Crowd Tracking Script

For Crowd to collect data, you need to generate and add our Tracking Script to your website:

  1. From your Crowd dashboard, click "Complete Installation"

  2. Enter your website address (like yourwebsite.com)

  3. Copy the tracking Script provided

Adding the Code to Different Website Platforms

WordPress:

  1. Install the "Headers and Footers" plugin

  2. Go to Settings → Headers and Footers

  3. Paste the code in the Header section

  4. Save changes

Shopify:

  1. Go to Online Store → Themes

  2. Click "Actions" then "Edit code"

  3. Open the theme.liquid file

  4. Paste the code right before the </head> tag

  5. Save changes

Framer:

  1. Open your project settings

  2. Go to "Custom Code"

  3. Add the code to the section

  4. Save changes

Wix:

  1. Go to Site → Settings → Advanced → Custom Code

  2. Click "+ Add Custom Code"

  3. Paste the code and select "All pages"

  4. Click "Apply"

Webflow:

  1. Go to Project Settings → Custom Code

  2. Paste the code into the Head Code section

  3. Publish your site with the changes

3. Check Your Installation

Before collecting data, make sure your tracking Code is working:

  1. In your Crowd dashboard, go to "Settings" → "Installation Check"

  2. Click "Verify Installation"

  3. If you see a green checkmark, you're ready to go!

If verification fails:

  • Make sure the code is in the <head> section of your website

  • Check that there are no typing errors in the code

  • Your website is publicly accessible

4. Create Your First Heatmap

Now you're ready to create a heatmap:

  1. Go to Insights → Heatmaps in your dashboard

  2. Click "Create New Heatmap"

  3. Choose what to track:

    Single page (like your homepage)

    Multiple pages (like all blog posts)

  4. Set how long to collect data (2-4 weeks is good)

  5. Choose which devices to track (desktop, mobile, tablet)

  6. Click "Start Collecting Data"

Creating Your First Heatmap

Now you're ready to start seeing how users interact with your site:

  1. Go to "Insights" → "Heatmaps" in your dashboard

  2. Click "Create New Heatmap"

  3. Select what you want to track

URL Options for Your Heatmap

  • Track a single page: Enter the exact URL (like "https://yoursite.com/home")

  • Track similar pages: Choose "URL contains" and enter common text (like "blog" to track all blog posts)

  • Track pages that start with: Great for tracking sections (like "products/")

  • Track pages that end with: Useful for specific file types (like ".html")

Select Your Settings

  1. Choose which devices to track:

    • Desktop

    • Mobile

    • Tablet

    • All devices

  2. Pick the data collection time (1-4 weeks recommended for new sites)

  3. Click "Start Collecting Data"

(Show Image)

Viewing / Generating Your Heatmap

Once your heatmap has collected enough data (usually 100+ visitors):

  1. Go to "Insights" → "Heatmaps"

  2. Enter the URL you want to view Heatmap for

  3. Select Time period (last 7 days, 30 days, etc.)

  4. Select Filters and view your Heatmaps:

Understanding Your Results

Color meanings in Crowd's heatmaps:

  • Bright blue indicators (like the "18", "20", "16" shown): Represent interaction points or activity hotspots

  • Grey areas: Less interaction or engagement

  • White/empty spaces: Minimal or no user activity

What to look for:

  • Blue numbered indicators showing where users are most active

  • Clear patterns in user navigation through your site

  • Areas with multiple indicators showing high engagement zones

  • Empty spaces that might indicate content users are skipping

  • Menu items that receive more attention (like "Platform" and "Resources" in the navigation)

Interpreting the data:

  • Higher numbers typically indicate more frequent interactions

  • Clustered indicators suggest areas of strong user interest

  • Engagement across both desktop and mobile views (toggle between them to compare)

  • How the top navigation area performs compared to content lower on the page

Remember that Crowd's clean, minimalist interface is designed to make these patterns immediately visible, helping you quickly identify opportunities for improvement without getting overwhelmed by excessive visual noise.

Applying Filters to Your Heatmap

Get even more specific insights by filtering your data:

  1. Apply the "Filters" panel based on:

Saving and Sharing Your Heatmap

Want to save your findings or share them with your team?

  1. Click "Save" to save your filters for later

  2. Use "Export as" to download:

       PDF of your heatmap

Common Questions

How much traffic do I need for a good heatmap? At least 100 visitors to the page is recommended for meaningful results.

How long does it take to collect data? Data starts collecting immediately, but allow 1-2 weeks for enough data to create useful insights.

Can I see individual user journeys? Yes! Click "View Related Sessions" to see recordings of actual users navigating the page.

Why is my heatmap not showing? Check that:

  • The page has enough visitors

  • The tracking code is properly installed

  • You've selected the correct URL format

Using Crowd's AI Chat

Crowd's most powerful feature is the AI Chat that works alongside your heatmaps:

  1. From your dashboard, click on "AI Chat" in the main menu

  2. Select the page you want to analyze or ask about your heatmap results

  3. Ask questions like:

    • "Why are visitors not scrolling past my hero section?"

    • "How can I improve my form conversion rate?"

    • "What elements should I move above the fold?"

  4. Get AI powered recommendations based on your actual visitor data

The AI Chat combines your heatmap data with conversion optimization expertise to give you actionable steps that improve your business results.

Need more help? Contact our support team via the chat bubble in your dashboard or email support@crowdapp.io.