Heatmaps and Session Recordings
So far, LunchLoop's research has involved dozens of people. But thousands of subscribers open the app every evening, and nobody has asked them anything. What are they actually doing on the plan screen? Behaviour analytics tools can show you without a single question, as long as you remember what they cannot show.
The rule
Heatmaps show where, recordings show how, neither shows why.
A heatmap combines many visits into one picture of a screen, coloured by activity:
- Tap or click maps show where people press. Hot areas get the most presses.
- Scroll maps show how far down people get. A cold band means most visitors never saw what sits there.
A session recording replays one real visit: every tap, scroll, pause and back-and-forth. Recordings reveal confusion that averages hide:
- Rage taps: rapid repeated taps on one spot, usually because nothing happened.
- Dead taps: taps on something that is not interactive but looks as if it should be.
- U-turns: opening a screen and leaving it straight away.
Neither tool tells you motive. A hot spot on a label might mean interest or confusion. Pair behaviour data with interviews or usability tests to learn the reason.
Two practical rules. Protect privacy: mask names, addresses and payment fields, record only what you need, and say in your privacy notice that you record sessions. Mind the sample: a heatmap of thirty visits is noise, and phone and desktop visitors should be read separately.
The shortcut
Treat behaviour data as a question generator. Every hot spot or odd sequence becomes "Why would someone do that?", which you then answer with a method that can hear reasons.
The tap heatmap
After 9 p.m., the greyed-out "Tomorrow" tile is the hottest spot on the screen, even though it does nothing once locked.
Three methods now point the same way: interviews, the survey and the heatmap. That agreement is what makes the finding strong enough to act on.
Drills
Answer fast — trust the rule.
A scroll map shows that only 30% of visitors reach the Pause plan link at the bottom of the screen. What does it tell you?
What is a rage tap?
The heatmap shows heavy tapping on a meal photo that is not a link. What is the best next step?
What should the team do before switching on session recording?
Remember
- Heatmaps show where, recordings show how, neither shows why.
- Shortcut: turn each hot spot or odd sequence into a "why?" and answer it with interviews or tests.
- Trap: reading motive into behaviour data, and recording sensitive data you never needed.