What Are Scrollmaps and How to Understand Them

Scrollmaps show how far visitors scroll down your page. They use horizontal color bands to highlight which sections are seen most often:

• Warm colors (red/orange/yellow) → highly viewed areas
• Cool colors (blue/green) → areas fewer visitors reach

Scrollmaps help you understand where visitors lose interest and how much of your content they actually see.

How Scrollmaps Work in Nelio A/B Testing

When you create a Heatmap Test, Nelio automatically collects scroll behavior from visitors on the tested page. The scrollmap is generated by aggregating the vertical scroll position of all users.

Scrollmaps are also created automatically when running certain A/B tests (for example, Page or Post tests), giving you scroll insights without extra setup.

Interpreting a Scrollmap

Scrollmaps help you understand:

1. Which sections visitors actually see

Warm colors indicate the parts of the page most visitors reach. If an important section is in a cold area, many users never scroll that far.

2. Where users start scrolling

Scrollmaps show the first fold—the area visible without scrolling when the page loads. Elements in the first fold are seen by nearly all visitors.

3. Where visitors drop off

Sudden transitions from warm to cold areas indicate where users stop scrolling. This usually means:

• the content is too long
• the layout doesn’t encourage scrolling
• something above the fold consumes attention
• the page structure needs improvement

Using Scrollmap Insights

Scrollmaps help you answer key questions:

• Are visitors reaching your main CTA?
• Is important content hidden too far down the page?
• Do users scroll past unnecessary sections?
• Should you move key elements higher?
• Where should you focus A/B testing efforts?

If your primary CTA or important messaging appears in a cold zone, consider:

• moving the section higher,
• simplifying the top of the page, or
• breaking long content into shorter sections.

Then validate changes with an A/B test.

Scrollmap Summary and Data Export

The left sidebar includes:

• test status
• total page views
• test duration
• start and end dates

You can also export scrollmap data as a CSV file, which includes:

• click details (element, coordinates)
• browser and device information
• operating system
• window width
• country
• date and time of interactions

This is helpful for deeper analysis or external reporting.

Why Scrollmaps Matter

Scrollmaps reveal how visitors actually consume your content. They provide:

• real user behavior
• easy-to-understand visuals
• insights that analytics alone can’t show
• clear ideas for improving page layout and conversions

Combined with heatmaps and clickmaps, scrollmaps offer a complete picture of user engagement.

Refer to the following article for more details:

• How to Limit Participation in a Heatmap