Heatmap Survey Questions

Heatmap questions collect click locations on an image. They are useful for visual social science research, advertising tests, ballot or form design, map interpretation, prototype feedback, attention studies, and experiments where researchers need coordinates rather than a text or scale answer.

Use a heatmap when the location of attention or preference is the data. Use a standard question type when the response can be expressed as a category, rating, or written answer.

• Uploaded images: define the visual stimulus respondents click on, with author-written alt text for screen readers.
• One or more markers: allow single-click or multi-click tasks.
• Minimum required clicks: when a question allows more than one marker, you can require at least a certain number before it counts as answered — distinct from the maximum, which only caps.
• Zones: labeled regions of the image. Zones can drive follow-ups, Skip Rules, branch rules, and quotas (a respondent's zone value is each zone they clicked, or No Zone).
• Mouse tracking: optionally record the cursor path while the respondent explores the image. See Track Mouse Movement.
• Custom marker styling: helps participants see placed clicks clearly.
• Normalized coordinates, with timing: exports include x/y normalized 0–1, plus milliseconds from when the image appeared to each click, usable across display sizes.
• Keyboard-operable: a respondent using a keyboard or switch device can tab to the image, move a crosshair with the arrow keys, and press Enter or Space to place a marker — not only mouse/touch.
• Stable stimuli: keep the image unchanged once collection starts so coordinates remain comparable.

1. Step 1: Open Block Builder. Open the survey and choose the block where the image task belongs.

   Step 1: Open Block Builder

2. Step 2: Add a Heatmap question. Select Heatmap from the question type selector.

   Step 2: Choose Heatmap question type

3. Step 3: Upload the stimulus. Use the final image file whenever possible, because coordinate data depends on the displayed image; place any related instructions in a content block when needed. Then describe the image in Alt text under the preview so respondents using screen readers know what they are clicking on. Without it they hear only "Image", and Instrument Review flags the question.

   Step 3: Upload the stimulus image

4. Step 4: Write exact instructions. Tell respondents what to click, how many clicks to place, and whether order matters.

   Step 4: Write click instructions

5. Step 5: Set marker behavior. Configure the maximum number of clicks, marker appearance, and — when more than one marker is allowed — the minimum number required before the question counts as answered.

   Step 5: Set marker behavior

6. Step 6: Preview on desktop and mobile. Confirm the image fits, click markers are visible, and coordinates map to the intended area; see Mobile-Friendly Research Surveys for phone checks.

   Step 6: Preview on desktop and mobile

Heatmap answers export as normalized x and y coordinates from 0 to 1. Multiple clicks preserve click order, each with the milliseconds elapsed from when the image appeared to that click. Keep the image file stable after launch so coordinates remain comparable across participants.

When the question has zones, each zone also exports as its own 0/1 column, named like question: Zone label, so you can analyze which regions each respondent clicked without recoding coordinates yourself.

That per-click timing is what response-quality speeding checks use to flag a first click placed implausibly fast, or every marker landing on nearly the same point (no real re-examination of the image between clicks). As a general reference point for a well-designed single-click task, published first-click usability research reports typical times of roughly 3–8 seconds and finds that a correct first click strongly predicts overall task success — a first click far outside that range on your own stimulus is worth a closer look, not an automatic exclusion.

• Content Blocks in Research Surveys
• Create Experimental Conditions
• Slider Survey Questions
• Publish and Share a Research Survey