Heap Product Guide
Ever wondered how Heap’s users think it performs? Our detailed guide, synthesized from honest user experiences, can help you figure out what works well and what doesn’t. Discover the strengths and weaknesses of Heap before making a purchase decision.
Highlight the Right Reviews
Throughout the guide below, there are links directly to reviews. Select the reviewers most relevant to you, and those links will be highlighted in blue.
Table of Contents
- Analytics and Insights
- Optimization and Strategy
- Conversion Rate Optimization
- Marketing and Engagement Strategies
- User Engagement and Retention Strategies
- Data Management and Usage
- Testing, Development, and Integration
- Testing and Performance Measurement
- Development and Engineering Insights
- Integration and Platform Usage
- User Experience and Interaction
- Product Management
- Tracking and Measurement
Analytics and Insights
Event Tracking and Definitions
Users consistently praise Heap’s robust event tracking and custom event creation capabilities. They appreciate the ease of defining and tracking custom events throughout their websites, allowing for in-depth analysis of user behavior and conversion paths. Reviewers highlight the value of Heap’s event visualizer tool in creating and monitoring custom events, enhancing their ability to derive actionable insights from the data. Additionally, users find Heap’s event tracking features particularly useful for retroactive analysis, enabling them to identify and address issues promptly. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap is leveraged for creating custom events throughout our website, which is useful for joining to first party customer data.” – Director in Marketing, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 51-200 employees
“Heap has allowed us to easily track all aspects of our user flow with actionable insights.” – Employee in Marketing, Staffing & Recruiting, 51-200 employees
“Heap does not work for native mobile apps because it doesn’t offer a way to define custom events.” – Administrator in Other, Entertainment, 1-10 employees
User Behavior Analysis
Users consistently praise Heap for its robust user behavior analysis capabilities. They highlight how Heap’s user behavior analysis tools provide valuable insights into user interactions, helping them identify pain points, optimize user experiences, and make informed decisions to enhance their products. Reviewers appreciate the ease of tracking user behavior across various touchpoints and the ability to analyze user engagement patterns effectively. Additionally, users find Heap’s user behavior analysis features intuitive and beneficial for understanding user journeys and improving overall customer satisfaction. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap is really well suited for those that don’t want to rely on the engineering department to implement lots of tracking code. Heap is also great for quickly building and analyzing funnels and the user behavior at each step of these funnels. Heap also has a simple-to-use UI which really helps new team members get up to speed.” – Employee in Marketing, Staffing & Recruiting, 51-200 employees
“Heap allows us to have immediate insight in all our user behavior by analyzing each step they take on our web domain. If a specific step performs less well, Heap will show us exactly where the performance dropped and why.” – Analyst in Finance and Accounting, Information Services, 11-50 employees
“Heap is a great tool for tracking specific user actions, but it can be cumbersome to detect general usage issues. I know they have some new tools for that but it’s a significant additional cost and we haven’t tried it yet.” – Team Lead in Engineering, Computer Software, 51-200 employees
Product Analytics and Insights
Users consistently praise Heap for its robust product analytics and insightful capabilities. Reviewers highlight Heap’s ability to provide in-depth insights into user behavior, track product usage effectively, and facilitate data-driven decision-making. The platform’s automated data collection, pre-set reports, and visualizations are particularly lauded for simplifying the analysis process and enabling users to identify pain points and areas for improvement. Additionally, Heap’s focus on democratizing insights across organizations is seen as a valuable feature that enhances collaboration and understanding of customer behavior. While some users mention limitations in customization and reporting flexibility, the overall sentiment leans towards Heap being a reliable and valuable tool for gaining actionable insights from product analytics data. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“We use Heap to track all of our user behavior, from upper funnel activity to in-product usage. A common issue that businesses face has ready-to-use data out of the box; the time and teams required to set up events can really slow down our ability to understand user behavior. Heap has allowed us to easily track all aspects of our user flow with actionable insights.” – Employee in Marketing, Staffing & Recruiting, 51-200 employees
“Heap is an essential analytics tool at our company. We are constantly using it to dive into the ins and outs of our product.” – Director in Product Management, Food & Beverages, 501-1000 employees
“Heap is our core solution used across a large scope of business processes. Heap gives an understanding of customers’ digital journeys, so we can improve conversion, retention, and customer delight. For example, we can now discuss on client journeys in detail, and pinpoint where our pipeline is robust – and where improvements can be made.” – Advisor in Professional Services, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 201-500 employees
Optimization and Strategy
Conversion Rate Optimization
Users consistently highlight Heap’s strong performance in increasing conversion rates and optimizing product performance through its conversion rate optimization capabilities. The platform’s ability to analyze conversion funnels, conduct split tests, and track product feature usage has been particularly beneficial for users in identifying and addressing key issues that impact conversion rates. While some users have suggested areas for improvement, such as the need for more granular event details and criteria-based segmentation, the overall sentiment remains positive towards Heap’s conversion rate optimization functionalities. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap helped us to improve and optimize our product at every step of the way.” – C-Level Executive in Marketing, Real Estate, 51-200 employees
“Heap is well suited for any product with a flow to its usage. This would be beneficial in eCommerce shopping cart experiences, or any kind of checkout experience.” – Employee in Product Management, Computer Software, 51-200 employees
“Heap doesn’t work well where you want to create segments based on certain criteria or user behavior.” – Analyst in Marketing, Financial Services, 10,001+ employees
Marketing and Engagement Strategies
Users generally praise Heap’s capabilities in marketing analytics and engagement tracking. They appreciate how Heap enables them to track user journeys, analyze campaigns, and measure interactions effectively. Reviewers highlight the tool’s ability to provide transparency in insights and reporting, track user behavior across different channels, and offer flexibility in creating a wide range of insights. While some users find Heap’s event setup and customization slightly challenging, overall, users find Heap to be a valuable asset for optimizing marketing strategies and enhancing user engagement. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap’s a great tool for both Marketing and Product teams when it comes to tracking site traffic and better understanding prospect/user behavior. The flexibility that Heap provides when setting up the environment allows us to cater events, properties, and reports specific to each team’s need.” – Manager in Marketing, Information Technology & Services, 1001-5000 employees
“Heap is great for product and marketing analytics. It offers good features if you want to do customer segmentation, customer journey mapping, and behavioral analysis. It allows your team to get a good picture of how the customers are interacting with your product and what steps you need to take in order to optimize your product.” – Analyst in Research & Development, Research, 1-10 employees
“Sometimes Heap is too generic and overarching and other times it seems way too detailed for our needs. It’s hard to know how to run the best query because it collects so much data.” – Consultant in Marketing, Financial Services, 10,001+ employees
User Engagement and Retention Strategies
Users across various reviews consistently highlight Heap’s user engagement and retention strategies as key strengths of the platform. They appreciate how these strategies have led to increased engagement within their products, higher conversion rates, and even improved retention rates. The ability to identify friction areas, optimize user experiences, and align product roadmaps based on user engagement metrics has been particularly valuable for users. Additionally, the platform’s impact on renewals of contracts by proving the value delivered to clients showcases the effectiveness of Heap’s user engagement and retention strategies. While some users mention ongoing improvements and the potential for even greater engagement in the future, the overall sentiment remains positive towards Heap’s approach in this area. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Increased engagement within the product; measuring KPEs; We’ve been able to determine what products are worth keeping around and maintaining vs which ones customers don’t use/don’t like to use and could be discontinued.” – Engineer in Engineering, Marketing & Advertising, 1001-5000 employees
“One of our metrics around user engagement led us to make some small improvements to our product that have increased our engagement in noticeable ways.” – Manager in Engineering, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1-10 employees
“Increased engagement within our platform; Has led to renewals of contracts as it proves out the value we serve to clients.” – Account Manager in Customer Service, Marketing & Advertising, 501-1000 employees
Data Management and Usage
Dashboards and Reporting
Users consistently praise Heap for its intuitive dashboard creation process and robust reporting capabilities. The platform’s ability to generate visually appealing and insightful reports is highly valued by reviewers. While some users mention minor issues like slow loading times for dashboards, the overall sentiment leans towards Heap being a reliable and effective tool for data visualization and reporting needs. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Dashboards can be a bit slow to load if you have a lot of reports on it; The relationship between date ranges in different rows as you’re building a report can be a bit confusing.” – Contributor in Product Management, Insurance, 501-1000 employees
“Heap is great for umbrella dashboards to show lots of data in one place. I think it is impactful and useful in telling a story of a product. It works!” – Employee in Product Management, Computer Software, 51-200 employees
“I love the customization that Heap allows in creating dashboards. I enjoy the collaborative data points that all can reference in their dashboards. I love the clean UI of Heap, making data beautiful!” – Employee in Product Management, Computer Software, 51-200 employees
Data Collection and Implementation
Reviewers consistently highlight Heap’s data collection and implementation as key strengths of the platform. Users appreciate the ease of implementation, automated data tracking, and the wide variety of report options available. The platform’s ability to capture real-time interactions and provide detailed customer behavior insights is particularly lauded. However, some users mention that Heap may not be as suitable for large enterprise-level companies with complex web/app products that require more customized tracking and implementation processes. Despite this, the majority of reviewers find Heap’s data collection and implementation functionalities to be robust and user-friendly, making it a valuable tool for tracking and analyzing data effectively. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap is really meant for Product analytics with its fast chart creation and dashboard capabilities. It is great for small to medium websites and apps but might go short on big enterprise-level companies.” – Analyst in Product Management, Human Resources, 501-1000 employees
“Heap is great for websites that have a systematic and standardized approach for how pages are set up, items are named, etc. since it makes data collection and event definition easy and simple.” – Analyst in Other, Information Services, 10,001+ employees
“If you don’t have a team dedicated to tagging, Heap is an incredible tool for being able to tag (and retroactively) what you are hoping to analyze. For a startup or early-stage company with lean teams, Heap can accomplish most pieces of key analysis that you would need to perform.” – Director in Product Management, Insurance, 501-1000 employees
Segmentation and Targeting
Users generally praise Heap for its segmentation and targeting capabilities. Reviewers highlight the ease of defining events, filtering, and grouping data for fast custom analysis. The platform’s ability to provide customizable filters and grouping options is well-received, making ad-hoc analysis straightforward for users. However, some users have expressed a desire for better event grouping and more detailed error reporting when connecting events. Despite some minor drawbacks, Heap’s segmentation and targeting features are generally regarded positively by users, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of user behavior and enhancing data management processes. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap is great for behavioral analysis, user segmentation, and integration with CRM platforms. It allows us to define cohorts and analyze trends based on actions taken in our product funnels.” – Manager in Marketing, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1001-5000 employees
“Heap is very well suited for tracking on-site behavior. I typically use it at least once a day both for regular dashboard monitoring as well as investigating new ideas/building reports.” – Strategist in Marketing, Accounting, 501-1000 employees
“But however, the segmentation is quite easy to use in Heap as compared to google analytics.” – Analyst in Marketing, Consumer Goods, 201-500 employees
Testing, Development, and Integration
Testing and Performance Measurement
User feedback on Heap’s testing and performance measurement capabilities is generally positive, with many highlighting its effectiveness in tracking and analyzing A/B testing performance, user interactions, and website performance metrics. Users appreciate the ease of use in setting up purchase funnel analysis and the segmentation functionality that provides valuable insights into user behavior. However, some reviewers have expressed concerns about the lack of statistical analysis for A/B tests and the need for improvements in testing environments and homepage experience. Despite these minor drawbacks, Heap is widely regarded as a valuable tool for businesses looking to enhance their testing and performance measurement strategies. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“If you are looking to monitor the patterns of a cohort or the performance of a page or feature – heap is one of the best tools to assess and strategise and measure the effectiveness of the same, with the multitude filters available.” – Employee in Product Management, Information Technology & Services, 1001-5000 employees
“Heap is well suited for product teams to analyze their products. It is not the right tool to measure qualitative data.” – Team Lead in Other, Computer Software, 5001-10,000 employees
“Heap allows us to have immediate insight in all our user behavior by analyzing each step they take on our web domain. If a specific step performs less well, Heap will show us exactly where the performance dropped and why.” – Analyst in Finance and Accounting, Information Services, 11-50 employees
Development and Engineering Insights
Users appreciate Heap’s development and engineering insights capabilities for enabling non-technical users to easily build queries and analyze user behavior without extensive coding requirements. The platform’s ability to auto-capture user behavior and provide real-time data insights has been particularly lauded, reducing the burden on engineering teams and streamlining the process of generating valuable insights for product development. However, some users have noted limitations in customizing presentation-ready charts and the need for technical knowledge in certain areas, indicating room for improvement in enhancing the platform’s engineering insights functionalities. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap is really well suited for those that don’t want to rely on the engineering department to implement lots of tracking code. Heap is also great for quickly building and analyzing funnels and the user behavior at each step of these funnels.” – Employee in Marketing, Staffing & Recruiting, 51-200 employees
“Heap is ideal for our use case as a data-driven organization, but one with limited resources to implement and manage an analytics platform. Because we have a small engineering team, it’s impractical for that team to be managing any requests to create/add/remove new events as would be required for other platforms.” – Employee in Product Management, E-Learning, 1-10 employees
“It’s great for our web application. It’s easy for design and products to go in and add tracking themselves without having to ask an engineer, data engineer, or anyone else for help. It’s not well suited for our iOS app, so we had to implement custom events there, which took more engineering time and bandwidth than we wanted or anticipated, unfortunately.” – Employee in Engineering, Financial Services, 501-1000 employees
Integration and Platform Usage
Users generally praise Heap for its integration capabilities and platform usage functionality. Reviewers highlight the ease of integrating Heap with various tools and the value it adds to their data analysis processes. While some users mention minor drawbacks such as lacking integrations with industry-standard tools, overall, Heap’s integration and platform usage features are seen as beneficial for tracking user interactions, analyzing adoption rates, and improving overall user experience. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“The biggest differentiators for me are the auto-capture feature and integrations with other tools in our stack. It effectively removes any Engineering resources as requirements for so many things.” – Director in Other, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 201-500 employees
“Heap is much better compared to Google Analytics/Adobe Analytics as I can label the user tracking events on an adhoc basis. It allows me to get insights quicker and make much better-informed decisions.” – Engineer in Engineering, Logistics & Supply Chain, 1001-5000 employees
“Heap is very well suited for analysing and tracking user behaviour across tech apps- more so mobile apps. It is extremely useful for deep diving into engagement metrics, user journeys, user funnels and segmentation and understanding A/B test metrics for your product apps.” – Consultant in Marketing, Information Technology & Services, 51-200 employees
User Experience and Interaction
User Interaction and Experience
Reviewers consistently praise Heap for its user interaction and experience capabilities. Users appreciate the ease of analyzing customer interactions and understanding the full user journey. The tool’s flexibility in displaying context-relevant data layers and its intuitive dashboard UI are highlighted as strong points. However, some reviewers mention minor drawbacks such as a simpler UI and the need for more detailed data on the interface. Despite these minor criticisms, Heap is generally regarded as a valuable tool for enhancing user experience through in-depth analysis of user interactions. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap has made the product team’s life tenfold easier to understand user interactions. Decide on which features are helpful, and work on user experience based upon audience segment.” – Engineer in Information Technology, Computer Software, 501-1000 employees
“Heap is well suited to provide analytics for your user experience. Finding log-in issues, connectivity issues, interactions, etc. very quickly will positively impact your company overall.” – Manager in Information Technology, Information Technology & Services, 51-200 employees
“Heap was used and tested for an insights platform. It can enhance the understanding of any type of customer behaviour and path. These insights can be used for better design of processes, understand the user experience, as well as make them use the platforms more.” – Team Lead in Other, Banking, 5001-10,000 employees
“CONS: Simpler UI” – C-Level Executive in Marketing, Real Estate, 51-200 employees
Website and Application Analytics
Users generally praise Heap’s website and application analytics capabilities. They appreciate the ease of defining events and triggers for analysis, as well as the automated user behavior analysis features. However, some users have noted limitations, such as slower loading times with massive amounts of data and the need for improvement in mobile app tracking. Despite these minor drawbacks, Heap’s analytics tools are seen as valuable for understanding user behavior and making data-driven decisions. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap allows us to clearly segment between users based on actions taken in our application. It has allowed us to create and test various product experiences, both in-app and through our CRM platform.” – Manager in Marketing, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 1001-5000 employees
“It’s great for our web application. It’s easy for design and products to go in and add tracking themselves without having to ask an engineer, data engineer, or anyone else for help.” – Employee in Engineering, Financial Services, 501-1000 employees
“Heap is really meant for Product analytics with its fast chart creation and dashboard capabilities. It is great for small to medium websites and apps but might go short on big enterprise-level companies.” – Analyst in Product Management, Human Resources, 501-1000 employees
Product Management
Product Management and Decision Making
Reviewers consistently highlight Heap’s ability to streamline product management and decision-making processes within their respective teams. Users appreciate how Heap enables them to track user behavior, validate feature requests, and identify areas for improvement in the product’s user experience. The platform’s data-driven approach empowers teams to make informed decisions based on real-time usage data, ultimately leading to more effective product strategies and enhancements. While some users mention occasional challenges in understanding the data being tracked, overall, Heap is recognized for its valuable contribution to facilitating data-informed decision-making in product development. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap allows us to track engagement with our website to see how different products or features are being utilized. It helps us make decisions on where to focus our energy based on what the data is telling us.” – Manager in Marketing, Furniture, 201-500 employees
“We use Heap to help make more data-driven product decisions. The event visualizer allows anyone in the product team, from product designers to product managers to easily create events without having to know how to code. This means that we no longer have to go through different bottlenecks to get the data we need to make decisions.” – Team Lead in Product Management, Computer Software, 1001-5000 employees
“Heap has made the product team’s life tenfold easier to understand user interactions. Decide on which features are helpful, and work on user experience based upon audience segment. It helped understand the full user journey who is using multiple product within our portfolio.” – Engineer in Information Technology, Computer Software, 501-1000 employees
Tracking and Measurement
User Session and Activity Tracking
Reviewers generally praise Heap’s detailed user session and activity tracking features. Users appreciate the granular insights provided by Heap, allowing them to analyze individual sessions and track user behavior effectively. However, some reviewers express concerns about the learning curve associated with using Heap for session tracking and the lack of robust support in certain areas. Despite these challenges, users acknowledge the value of Heap in monitoring user activity and making informed marketing decisions based on session data. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap provides an extremely granular look at web traffic data. Heap allows users to look at individual sessions so you can see what a particular user did during their entire session.” – Manager in Marketing, Financial Services, 201-500 employees
“Heap is well suited to providing an extremely granular look at web activity, by session, by the user, by time, etc.” – Manager in Marketing, Financial Services, 201-500 employees
“I really only use heap for one activity. I think it is well suited to aggregating and providing a data repository of mobile app data.” – Professional in Marketing, Financial Services, 5001-10,000 employees
“Heap has allowed us to easily track all aspects of our user flow with actionable insights.” – Employee in Marketing, Staffing & Recruiting, 51-200 employees
Custom Events and Tracking
Users generally praise Heap’s custom events and tracking capabilities, highlighting its flexibility in defining and tracking events without the need for extensive coding. The ability to easily create and monitor custom events, such as adhoc events and specific use-cases, has been a valuable feature for many users. However, some reviewers have expressed concerns about the lack of support for defining custom events in native mobile apps, which has been a drawback for those needing mobile tracking capabilities. Despite this limitation, Heap’s custom events functionality has been lauded for its ease of use and effectiveness in providing valuable insights for various analytics needs. (Source Reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
“Heap does not work for native mobile apps because it doesn’t offer a way to define custom events” – Administrator in Other, Entertainment, 1-10 employees
“Heap is great for product analytics, analysis of user flows, and where folks may or may not be dropping off in an intended workflow within your app. It is also great for tagging events on the fly without the need for development resources.” – Manager in Marketing, Computer Software, 501-1000 employees
“Heap is leveraged for creating custom events throughout our website, which is useful for joining to first party customer data.” – Director in Marketing, Health, Wellness and Fitness, 51-200 employees