When creating a website, we track all previously defined goals. We may want to inform, sell or just build our email list. We then think about it, arrange the content purposefully and maybe try with A / B tests, which is better accepted by the users. But that can cost a lot of time and is actually more of a tool for fine adjustment. In the beginning, the question should rather be how users perceive and use our website.

Bing, the search engine from Microsoft, has now released an open source tool that will help. With Clarity a replay session is made, with which one can follow the user behavior. A heatmap is used, but also a scrollmap is included and mouse movements, clicks, etc. can be tracked in individual user sessions. So website operators can understand exactly how the website is used and where problems may occur, or which areas are not even looked at. With this knowledge, the website can then be adapted to the needs of the user.

The most beautiful website brings nothing if, for example, nobody clicks on the button to buy. But whether this is due to the position of the button or the content of the website can not always be easily recognized – except tools such as Clarity are used. They’ve been around for a while, but often they were just too expensive, especially for webmasters with many websites. However, the Bing tool is free to use and needs nothing more than a registration and a JavaScript code that you can integrate on your own website. Bing also assures that no user data is collected during the evaluation. The sessions will be sent anonymously and will not allow any further conclusions about the user.

As a small but nice extra, Clarity also makes it easy to see if you have become a victim of malware, because the sessions display the content that the user sees. If something else is displayed here instead of your own website, you can react quickly.