How to Limit Participation in a Heatmap

In the premium version of Nelio A/B Testing, you can choose which visitors are included in a heatmap, scrollmap, or clickmap. This helps you analyze how a specific segment behaves — for example, mobile users, visitors from a campaign, or people browsing at certain times.

By default, all visitors contribute to your heatmap. To restrict participation, go to the Participation section inside the heatmap editor.

1. How Participation Rules Work

• You can add one rule per type (for example, one Browser rule, one Language rule, one Referring URL rule).
• Visitors must match all rules to be included.
• The more rules you add, the smaller your audience becomes.

To add a rule, click Add Rule and choose from the categories shown in the UI:

2. Available Participation Rules

Your screenshot shows the full list of rules available in Nelio A/B Testing 7.0+.

SOURCE

• Query Parameter. Include visitors who arrive with a specific URL parameter (e.g., ?campaign=spring-sale).
• Referring URL. Target visitors coming from (or excluding) specific sources such as Facebook, Google Ads, or partner sites.

VISITOR

• Language. Filter visitors based on browser language (you can select multiple).
• Location. Include or exclude visitors based on geographic region (country/region/state inferred from IP).
• User Login. Decide whether logged-in WordPress users, logged-out users, or both should be included.
• Visitor Type. Identify whether the visitor is new or returning.

DAY/TIME

• Day of Week. Track only visitors who view the page on specific days (e.g., weekends).
• Time Period. Limit participation to certain hours or ranges (e.g., 18:00–22:00).

TECHNOLOGY

• Browser. Target visitors using specific browsers such as Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.
• Device Type. Filter by desktop, tablet, or mobile.
• Operating System. Include only visitors with certain OS (e.g., Windows, macOS, Android, iOS).
• Window Width. Match visitors based on browser viewport width — useful for analyzing specific breakpoints.

OTHERS

• Cookie. Include visitors who have (or don’t have) a specific cookie, or whose cookie value matches certain patterns.
• IP Address. Include or exclude specific IPs — ideal for removing internal team traffic.

3. Best Practices

• Keep rules simple to maintain a healthy sample size.
• Avoid combining rules that only a tiny percentage of visitors meet.
• Use Query Parameter for campaign targeting.
• Use Device Type or Window Width for layout-specific analysis.
• Exclude internal staff using User Login or IP Address rules.

4. Start the Test

Once you’ve added your rules, click Start. Nelio will only record heatmap data from visitors who match your participation criteria.