Click Map: Enhancing User Engagement
Overview
This project enhances Clevertap’s email analytics by integrating click maps, giving marketers a visual view of where users click within emails. It helps them understand user behavior, optimize content placement, and boost engagement with actionable insights.
Role
Individual contributor
UX Research
Drive MVP project
Collaboration with PM, Dev's & Designers
April 2024
Background
CleverTap, a SaaS platform for personalized marketing, aimed to deepen email insights beyond open and click rates.
🧠 Problem:
Marketers lacked clarity on where users were clicking in their emails.
💡 Solution:
Introduced a visual heatmap layer to email analytics to show click density across sections as MVP Project.
📈 Outcome:
Marketers now optimize layouts faster, improve engagement, and refine content strategy using visual feedback.
🎨 My Role:
Owned UX research, heuristic evaluation, UI design, and prototyping.
THE CHALLENGE
Mixed research methods- MVP
In this projects with tight timelines or MVP (Minimum Viable Product) goals, mixed research methods is often used by me instead of full user validation. This approach helps:
Speed up insights when user interviews or testing aren't feasible
Leverage existing patterns and benchmarks from similar tools
Allow quick iteration while still grounding decisions in evidence
It's a trade-off: depth vs. speed. For MVPs, the focus is on validating core functionality quickly and refining with real users post-launch.
Mood Boarding
🎯 Objective?
To establish a visual language and interaction style that makes heatmaps easy to read, intuitive, and consistent with Clevertap’s branding.
Explored Elements
Gradient Heat Visualizations
Studied warm-to-cool schemes (red = high engagement, blue = low)
Compared blur levels and opacities to avoid overwhelming email content
Interaction Cues
Hover effects, tooltips, click highlights
Inspiration from analytics tools like Hotjar, CrazyEgg, and Mailchimp
Email Contextual Overlays
Explored how heatmaps appear directly on email previews
Balanced data readability with content clarity
Device Toggle Interfaces
Mobile/Desktop switch UI from real tools
Goal: let marketers compare behavior across platforms easily
Minimalist UI
Clean, card-based layouts
Neutral backgrounds to support bold heatmap colors
Design Takeaways
Chose blurred gradients with subtle transparency to preserve readability
Integrated microinteractions (like hover indicators) for detail on demand
Used tabbed toggles to keep mobile/desktop switches intuitive
Emphasized contrast control to ensure overlays never obscure text
Competitive Analysis
🎯 Objective?
To understand how existing email marketing and analytics tools implement click heatmaps—what works, what doesn’t, and where Clevertap can innovate.
🔍 Tools Analyzed
Mailchimp
Hotjar
Crazy Egg
Campaign Monitor
HubSpot
Findings & Insights
Mailchimp provides basic visualizations but lacks real-time interactivity.
Hotjar excels in UX and clarity but is not tailored to email.
Campaign Monitor heatmaps often overwhelm email visuals.
Device segmentation and real-time feedback are gaps Clevertap can fill.
The opportunity lies in simplicity, context preservation, and speed of insights.
Competitive Advantage for CleverTap
Context-aware overlays tailored to email performance
Integrated into existing analytics with minimal learning curve
Mobile + desktop views from the same screen
Real-time data updates for immediate optimization
Heuristic Evaluation
The heuristic evaluation for the click heat mapping feature in Clevertap focused on identifying usability issues based on established principles of user experience design. Below are key findings categorized by common usability heuristics:
Issue: Users may not immediately understand how to interpret heat maps or the metrics displayed.
Recommendation: Incorporate clear legends and tooltips that explain color coding and data points to keep users informed about what they’re viewing.
Issue: Terminology used may be too technical for some marketers who are not data-savvy.
Recommendation: Use familiar language and context, avoiding jargon. For example, replace technical terms like "click-through rate" with simpler alternatives when appropriate.
Issue: Users may feel trapped in a specific view without an easy way to navigate back or reset filters.
Recommendation: Implement clear navigation options and an “undo” feature to allow users to experiment with different views without the fear of losing their original context.
Issue: Inconsistencies in color coding or iconography compared to other analytics features can lead to confusion.
Recommendation: Ensure consistent use of colors, icons, and terminology throughout the platform, adhering to established guidelines for similar analytics tools.
Issue: Users may misinterpret data due to a lack of context or guidance on what certain data points imply.
Recommendation: Provide contextual help or onboarding tips that explain how to analyze heat map data effectively, minimizing the chances of misinterpretation.
Issue: Users may struggle to remember how to access or interpret different features of the heat map.
Recommendation: Create an intuitive layout that emphasizes frequently used features and integrates instructional cues that remind users of available functionalities.
Issue: Advanced users may find the interface too simplified, limiting their ability to delve deeper into analytics.
Recommendation: Include customizable settings or advanced filters for power users, allowing them to tailor the heat map display according to their specific needs.
Issue: A cluttered interface can overwhelm users, making it difficult to focus on key insights.
Recommendation: Adopt a clean, minimalist design that emphasizes essential information and reduces visual noise, ensuring the heat map is the focal point.
Issue: If data loading fails or there’s an error in displaying the heat map, users may not understand the cause.
Recommendation: Implement clear error messages and recovery options, guiding users on how to resolve issues.
Issue: Users may require guidance on how to best utilize the heat mapping feature.
Recommendation: Provide easily accessible help documentation or tutorials that walk users through the functionality and best practices for interpreting the heat maps.
Icons are used from google
Technical Limitations Identified - Game changer
Final Design Solution
🎯 Key Takeaways
This project wasn't just about designing another feature — it was about balancing user empathy, business goals, and technical realism to create something valuable, feasible, and future-ready.
Impact and Learnings
Positive User Feedback: Marketers found it intuitive, clear, and easy to use.
MVP Delivered on Time: Shipped a working version within tight timelines without sacrificing usability.
Scalability in Mind: Left room for future expansion into richer visualizations once tech infra grows.
Product Mindset: Reinforced the importance of aligning vision, technical feasibility, and user needs early in definition phases.
Email editor Tool
The Email Editor is a powerful tool that simplifies crafting and refining email communications. With its user-friendly interface and advanced features, users can easily create polished, professional messages that leave a lasting impression.
View case study
Quick Demo
Domain reputation
Domain reputation refers to the trustworthiness and credibility of a website's domain as perceived by email servers and security systems. A strong domain reputation enhances email deliverability and reduces the likelihood of messages being marked as spam
View case study
Quick Demo
Let's Work together
Get in touch for opportunities or just to say hi!👋
