Hotjar

What Is Hotjar?

Hotjar is a product experience insights platform used by over 1 million websites worldwide. Founded in 2014, it has become the go-to tool for understanding how people actually use websites — combining behavior analytics (heatmaps, recordings) with feedback tools (surveys, widgets) in a single platform. For ecommerce stores, this dual approach is particularly powerful: you can identify where visitors struggle and then ask them why.

PrestaShop store owners face a constant challenge: you know your conversion rate, but you don't know why it isn't higher. Are visitors confused by your navigation? Is the checkout process creating friction on mobile? Do visitors trust your payment options? Hotjar gives you the tools to answer these questions with evidence, not guesswork.

Behavior Analytics Features

Heatmaps

Hotjar generates visual heatmaps showing aggregate visitor behavior on your pages:

• Click heatmaps — see where visitors click most frequently. Identify if important CTAs are being missed or if visitors click on non-interactive elements (indicating confusing design).
• Scroll heatmaps — know exactly what percentage of visitors see each section of your page. If 80% of visitors never scroll past the fold, your product descriptions, reviews, and trust badges below it are invisible to most shoppers.
• Move heatmaps — track cursor movement patterns (desktop only), which correlate with eye tracking and attention patterns.

Heatmaps are especially valuable for product pages and checkout flows. You can see if visitors engage with product tabs (description, reviews, specifications), whether cross-sell sections get attention, and if your "Add to Cart" button is in the optimal position.

Session Recordings

Every visitor session can be recorded and replayed in Hotjar's dashboard. Recordings show:

• Actual mouse movements, clicks, scrolling, and page transitions
• Form interactions (with sensitive fields automatically masked)
• JavaScript errors and console warnings
• Rage clicks and U-turns (automatic frustration detection)

You can filter recordings by page URL, device, country, duration, and frustration signals. Watching 20-30 recordings of visitors who abandoned checkout will teach you more about your UX problems than any analytics dashboard.

Feedback and Survey Tools

Feedback Widget

Place a small feedback button on any page that lets visitors rate their experience (thumbs up/down or emoji scale) and leave an optional comment. This gives you continuous, unsolicited feedback about what visitors like and dislike about specific pages. Common insights from ecommerce feedback widgets:

• "I couldn't find shipping information"
• "The size chart didn't help"
• "I wanted to see more product photos"
• "Checkout was confusing on my phone"

On-Site Surveys

Deploy targeted surveys that appear based on specific conditions:

• Exit intent surveys — ask visitors why they're leaving before they close the tab
• Post-purchase surveys — ask buyers about their experience immediately after ordering
• Page-specific surveys — "Did you find what you were looking for?" on category or search results pages
• NPS surveys — track Net Promoter Score over time to measure customer satisfaction trends

How Hotjar Differs from Microsoft Clarity

While both tools offer heatmaps and recordings, Hotjar provides several additional capabilities:

• Feedback tools — Clarity has no feedback widgets or surveys. Hotjar lets you collect qualitative data directly from visitors.
• Funnels — Hotjar allows you to define conversion funnels and see visual drop-off reports.
• Events API — track custom events and use them to filter recordings and trigger surveys.
• Integrations — Hotjar integrates with Slack, HubSpot, Zapier, and other business tools for workflow automation.
• Team collaboration — share recordings, highlight clips, and leave comments for team members.

Clarity is free and excellent for basic heatmaps and recordings. Hotjar is a more complete product experience platform, particularly valuable if you need feedback tools and team collaboration features.

Privacy and GDPR

Hotjar takes privacy seriously and provides robust compliance tools:

• Automatic text suppression — all text on the page can be automatically suppressed in recordings so no personal data is visible.
• Form field masking — input fields are masked by default in recordings.
• Consent controls — Hotjar respects Do Not Track signals and integrates with consent management platforms.
• EU data storage — data is stored in EU data centers (Ireland) for GDPR compliance.
• Data retention controls — configure how long data is stored (365 days maximum).

Setup

1. Create a Hotjar account at hotjar.com (free plan available with limited features).
2. Copy your Site ID (a numeric value from your Hotjar dashboard).
3. Install this module in PrestaShop, paste the Site ID, and save.
4. Hotjar starts collecting data immediately — heatmaps build within hours.