How Audiense used Hotjar to fix a drop in conversions

A startup that uses big data + Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help customers gain powerful insights

Audiense is a Software as a Service (SaaS) startup in the Marketing Technology (MarTech) space. They have two offices—one in Spain and the other in the United Kingdom—and they use big data and AI to help companies better understand their target audiences.

What does that actually mean? Audiense is an official partner of IBM and Twitter, and their flagship software uses IBM’s Watson, the famous AI bot that won big on Jeopardy (an American game show that’s been popular for over 50 years). Watson combs through Twitter and other data sources—giving Audiense users deep insights about their target market. Pretty cool.

Could a startup justify the cost of Hotjar?

Startups usually have strict budgets, and Audiense is no different. When looking for a tool, they must take into account the value it might offer and compare it to the price it carries:

Luckily, Hotjar’s pricing was straightforward and the subscription cheap enough that the team could start using it without issues.

A sudden drop in conversions: the quick fix that saved the day

When Head of Product Juan Fernandez and his team noticed a sudden drop-off on their sign-up page, they used Hotjar’s Session Recordings to observe individual users in action.

They quickly discovered that the password validator feature was broken on their sign-up form, so they fixed it within hours and brought conversions back to life.

Moving beyond urgency: improving with each iteration

The autocomplete bug represented an urgent problem that needed an immediate solution, but Audiense uses Hotjar for more than just quick fixes. They use Hotjar tools to gain greater empathy for their users and improve both their funnels and their products with each iteration.

As Juan explains, with Hotjar “we’ve identified steps in our funnel that were confusing to our customers and caused them to abandon our product. We can easily identify screens that make them get lost and hesitate on what to do next, so then we can fix UX issues and keep improving for them. Every small improvement increases conversions around 10%-20%, which is really significant.”

And it doesn’t end there: Audiense also improves its products by watching Recordings after launching a new feature. The team watches around 100-300 sessions, take notes, look for behavior patterns and identify the challenges customers face. Then, they brainstorm solutions and iterate over the ideas to help them overcome the challenges they have identified.