If you want to know how customers experience your website or mobile app, an online user feedback tool is ideal. Online user feedback tools have the ability to collect customer experience in various ways, including via surveys, heatmaps, behaviour-triggered feedback forms and much more. However, there is one tool in particular which combines various user experience (UX) tools in one and that tool is Hotjar.
Hotjar has the ability to show you how your online users are really experiencing your website through various feedback collection methods. Users can visualise visitor behaviour using the click, cursor movement and scroll heatmaps. On the other hand, users can also collect visitor recordings (by tracking sessions on the page) and carry out feedback polls, or send out surveys and forms to receive feedback directly from the website visitors. Polls and surveys can be triggered within conversion funnels, when the visitor wants to abandon the page, after an x amount of time or when the visitor has scrolled halfway down the webpage.
However, as with many user feedback tools, there are some disadvantages to working with Hotjar. Because Hotjar combines multiple UX tools in one, it lacks a solid CX solution. Users can visualise behaviour but there is no real feedback analysis and reporting system available. Additionally, there are some risks involved in using visitor recording tools, including an increased vulnerability to function creep and the fact that this type of data collection falls under profiling…
So what’s the alternative? Visual feedback is a risk-free solution in that the initiative to provide the user with data lies with the visitor. This is also a much more trusted approach as it doesn’t involve the company having to ‘peak over the shoulder’ of the visitor while they are browsing the website. Of course, we’ll let you decide what’s best for your business.
Here is an overview of the best alternatives and competitors of Hotjar, including both feedback-oriented tools as well as visitor recording tools. Check it out:
1. Mopinion
Mopinion is a user feedback software that collects and analyses both website and mobile user feedback (via a mobile SDK) in real-time. Users can build, design and configure feedback forms however they like as well as deploy them in multiple different languages. They can also target specific groups of online visitors with feedback forms and gain insights into why they are struggling to convert. This is done using advanced triggers that are set off based on digital visitor behaviour. Users can deploy forms either in modal, slide-in or embedded on the page. Upon collection, feedback items can be visualised in customisable dashboards and charts for advanced analyses. Additionally, digital teams can share and take action on these feedback items in a timely manner with the help of smart alerts.
Website: www.mopinion.com
2. MouseFlow
MouseFlow is a tool that is actually very similar to Hotjar, albeit it’s been around much longer than Hotjar. With MouseFlow you can visualise website visitor behaviour using the click, scroll, movement and attention heatmaps. User activities can also be recorded. One of the greatest advantages of this tool is that it has a form analytics feature which allows you to see and understand why website visitors are abandoning your forms. It is also possible to track different funnels and see how visitors from various traffic sources behave on your website. Unfortunately, however, Mouseflow does not offer anything in terms of surveying or polling visitors.
Website: www.mouseflow.com
3. Freshmarketer
Freshmarketer, a product of Freshworks (which previously acquired Zarget) is an online feedback tool that helps you to analyse and understand the user experience of your websites. Freshmarketer offers A/B testing, heatmaps, session replay, split URL testing, funnel analysis, form analytics and polls & feedback. Using polls and surveys, users can prompt visitors to provide feedback whenever an important event occurs on the website. You get five built-in polls and feedback sessions. You can view this feedback in the form of word clouds for text analysis purposes.
Website: www.freshworks.com
4. Smartlook
Smartlook is a qualitative analytics solution for websites and mobile apps helping over 200,000 businesses of all sizes and industries answer the “whys” behind their users’ actions. Eliminate the guesswork and discover real, actionable reasons. With a unique feature set, Smartlook finally gives you a way to understand user behavior at the micro level. Always-on visitor recordings show you what every last visitor does on your website or app, while automatic event tracking lets you know how (and how often) your visitors do specific things. You can then build conversion funnels to see your conversion rates as well as uncover why people are churning. Heatmaps for websites give you mass data about where most people click, scroll, hover, and otherwise interact with your pages.
Website: www.smartlook.com
5. Feedbackify
Feedbackify is an easy-to-setup online feedback tool for your website. With Feedbackify, you can create feedback forms with a drag-and-drop editor. Website visitors can leave ratings and comments, including compliments and suggestions. A real-time dashboard can be used to see and analyse all received feedback. Unfortunately, however, this tool doesn’t offer advanced reporting or text analysis capabilities, but if you’re going for cheap and simple this is a great tool for you.
Website: www.feedbackify.com
6. CrazyEgg
Similar to Hotjar, Crazy Egg offers multiple types of heatmaps that shed some light on visitor behaviour, include where they click, how far they scroll, what they’re looking at on any give page, etc. Additionally, users can view traffic segments and how the behaviour of these segments differ from one another. This growth hacking tool is also very easy to implement. Keep in mind, however, that CrazyEgg is a fairly expensive alternative and users are required to pay on an annual basis rather than monthly.
Website: www.crazyegg.com
7. Usersnap
Usersnap allows users (typically web designers) to collect visual feedback through a JavaScript tag on their website. Often this feedback is used to determine if a new design is suitable for the website. By means of the feedback button you start a screen in which the user can make notes, add comments and circle certain elements. All visual feedback is sent as a screenshot. Unfortunately there are reporting options, but Usersnap does offer some nice integrations with several project management tools such as Slack, Basecamp, Trello and Jira.
Website: www.usersnap.com
8. SessionCam
SessionCam is a tool that enables users to watch recordings of live customer sessions. This tool’s real-time API feed can be used to basket abandonment campaigns or pass on customer data to other parts of your business. To save time SessionCam uses an advanced algorithm to detect struggle and from that algorithm it creates a Customer Struggle Score for each recording.
Website: www.sessioncam.com
9. Medallia
Medallia for Digital is an enterprise-grade software and key component of Medallia Experience Cloud. This software, which recently acquired Kampyle (VoC platform), captures customer feedback on websites, mobile websites and in-app and integrates it with offline data from contact centers, retail stores and several other touchpoints. The software also makes use of powerful AI-based text analytics, role-based reporting and real-time alerts.
10. ClickTale
ClickTale is an enterprise, cloud-based analytics system that collects visitor recordings from mobile or desktop sessions. Users can filter session replays by user environment, demographics, mouse movements, traffic sources, in-page behaviour and more. The client has control of which pages and text input is recorded. This tool also offers heatmapping, conversion funnels and form analytics.
Website: www.clicktale.com
Take your pick…
I hope this article helps you to find a good alternative to Hotjar, whether you choose the visual feedback or visitor recording route.
Keep it mind. Sometimes it can be very difficult to find or to choose (alternative) tools that suit your wishes. This is mainly because there are so many different tools out there to choose from. In fact, it can be seemingly overwhelming process. Our advice? Just focus on the various techniques they offer for collecting, reporting or analysing online user feedback from your websites or mobile apps and go from there!
Ready to see Mopinion in action?
Want to learn more about Mopinion’s all-in-1 user feedback platform? Don’t be shy and take our software for a spin! Do you prefer it a bit more personal? Just book a demo. One of our feedback pro’s will guide you through the software and answer any questions you may have.
