Eyetrack III? Old news. Passé. The print world's translation of online usability. Throw it out.

OK, maybe don't throw it out, but if you are in a position to change your company's site traffic analysis software, I strongly suggest you check out Omniture's SiteCatalyst. It blows away the handful of other programs I've used on many fronts, but then I discovered ClickMap.

What is ClickMap?

Besides the coolest thing since WiFi, it is a feature of Omniture's SiteCatalyst tracking software that allows you, from your browser window, on any page of your site to click an icon and voilà: It highlights the most-clicked items on the page in varying shades, the brighter, the more clicks.

Mouse over any highlighted area and it tells you exactly how many people clicked there. How many people were on the page. How long they stayed. It defaults to just that day but you can change it to any range you want. Think of it as an instant Eyetrack study for YOUR site with your headlines and graphics etc etc, not one of three templates that may match your site in some ways.

And the little tags that pop up to tell you how many clicks on each item? You can "push pin" them so they stay out, so when you take a screenshot to send to your boss or the publisher (or a potential client etc etc) you can easily highlight all the info you want.

No exaggeration, ClickMap has revolutionized the way we design. When we are debating whether or not to make a change, we no longer volley back and forth hypothesizing what our users are doing on a particular page. Now when questions are posed we say, "Hold on, let's see exactly what our users are doing." Click. Wait 3-5 seconds. Change date range to YTD. "Well there you go, no one's clicking on it from this page, we need to try something different."

In short, it's the greatest Web usability tool EVER!!!!!!!!

I'd throw up a screenshot but they have a pretty threatening and prominent TOS that prohibits sharing any info on their reporting technology, but I'm sure they'd be happy to tell you all about it if you request a demo.

And for heaven's sake if you happen to be working for a Gannett newspaper (or any other company that uses SiteCatalyst) log back onto version 9.5, download the plug-in and check it out.

More thoughts on this

February 19, 2005