Microsoft Clarity: the tool that shows what’s really happening on the web (and why it matters)
Even if you create a quality advertising campaign, the results often depend on other factors, such as the website itself. You can have great audiences, creatives and budgets, but if the site isn’t functional, clear and trustworthy, the conversions may not come.
What is Microsoft Clarity and why is it worth getting to know?
Microsoft Clarity is a free visual analytics tool that allows you to track how users actually interact with your website – not just through numbers, but through specific actions. This helps to better understand the obstacles in the purchase or contact path.
Functionally, it is very similar to Hotjar, but with one major difference – Clarity is completely free and Microsoft guarantees that it will remain so.
What exactly does Clarity offer you?
- Heatmaps – show where users click and how far they scroll
- Session recordings – shows how visitors move around the page
- Dead clicks and rage clicks – reveal broken elements or signs of frustration
- An overview of the most frequently clicked elements – for example, the questions in the FAQ section, so you can easily find out what users are most interested in and tailor your content or communication accordingly
All of this can be found in a simple and intuitive interface that anyone can use – even those with no previous experience in UX analysis.
Fast implementation
If you use Google Tag Manager, implementing Clarity is literally a matter of two minutes. Once the systems are connected in the Clarity settings, the system creates its own tag and from that point on it starts collecting data automatically. Already during the first hours you can see the first heatmaps, recordings or behaviour on specific subpages.
What every marketer will appreciate – Clarity is suitable for virtually every client. It takes minimal time to set up, and while the analysis itself requires some attention, often just a glance at the dashboard is enough to uncover underlying issues – such as dead clicks, rage clicks or low intent campaigns.
New: Connection not only with GA4, but also with Google Ads, WordPress and Bing
A fresh new feature is the ability to connect directly with Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. This means that in Clarity you will see specific heatmaps, recordings and so-called. intent score by campaigns. If a campaign has low intent, the tool is telling you that visitors are coming, but their behavior indicates disinterest or misalignment with the content. In this case, it’s a good idea to rethink your campaign targeting or landing page content.
Clarity can be linked within WordPress using a plugin. Once the plugin is set up, you are redirected to the login page where Clarity will automatically create a new project for the desired site after registration.
When is Clarity really worth using?
Clarity is not just about pretty heatmaps – its real benefit is in its practical use. With specific records and data, you can quickly identify weak spots on the site and gain valuable insights without complex analysis. Here are a few real-life situations where Clarity has helped significantly:
1. Visitors click on elements that don’t work
On the homepage, users repeatedly tried to click on visual elements that were not active. Clarity using the so-called. dead clicks a rage clicks revealed that this is a common phenomenon. This was causing confusion and frustration for users.
What did it mean in practice?
After visual adjustments and removal of misleading elements, the bounce rate decreased and interaction with the site increased.
2. Důležité CTA bylo příliš nízko
Heatmaps showed that a large proportion of visitors from the campaigns did not scroll to the main CTA button. The result was a low conversion rate, even though the traffic from the ads was of high quality.
How was that handled?
The button has been moved higher, improving the conversion rate.
3. High share of mobile traffic but poor results
The campaign brought the majority of visits from mobile devices. At Clarity, they filtered the recordings for mobile devices only and found that the forms were cluttered, the layouts were broken, and some elements were invisible.
Conclusion?
Mobile interface modifications, form simplification and better navigation have led to a significant improvement in mobile user behaviour.
4. Multi-step form with no results
The client had a form with several steps on the page, but the conversions weren’t coming. Clarity recordings helped to identify exactly where visitors most often stopped or left the form.
The result?
Reduced the number of steps in the form, added microcopy explanations and made the form easier to understand. The conversion rate subsequently rose.
5. High cost per conversion (CPA), but advertising works
The campaigns performed well within Google Ads, but the overall cost per conversion was higher than expected. Clarity showed that the reason was the poor structure of the site – complex information, poor navigation and few visible calls to action.
Change in approach:
After modifying the page structure and better visual guidance to the user, the CPA was reduced without changing the performance of the ad itself.
6. Identification of the most frequently clicked FAQs
The FAQ section often contains questions that are for informational purposes only. However, Clarity showed that some issues attracted significantly more attention than others. Thanks to the percentage of clicks, it was possible to identify the top topics that users were actually interested in.
How could it be used?
These findings were incorporated into content strategy planning – for example, creating blog articles or adjusting advertising communications to better answer real customer questions.
What about the disadvantages? Clarity isn’t perfect, but it’s still great to work with
While Microsoft Clarity offers a lot of options, especially since it’s free, it has a few shortcomings.
1. Cookies bar can spoil heatmaps
When analyzing heatmaps, it sometimes happens that the cookie bar covers important parts of the page. While Clarity captures real screens, it can’t always distinguish what’s part of the UX and what’s just a temporary overlay.
The solution?
It is recommended to adjust the screenshot selection (Change screenshot) in the tool settings (a little higher up).
2. Working with filters can be unintuitive
For new users, the filter system can be a bit tricky. Clarity automatically creates a new filter after each click (e.g. on a specific subpage, traffic source or device). When returning to the dashboard, the user often sees completely different numbers or views than expected.
To solve this, just check the top filter bar and remove all active filters to return to the overall overview. After a while, most users get used to this principle.
Extra tips to get the most out of Clarity
Microsoft Clarity isn’t just about tracking records and clicks. As time goes on, more features are being added to make everyday work easier and save time – especially for larger sites or more complex conversion paths. Here are three specific features that are worth noting:
1. Clarity Live – Chrome extension
For even faster work, we recommend downloading the Microsoft Clarity Live extension available for Google Chrome. With it, you can directly click through to your website and instantly see heatmaps or recordings for a specific subpage without having to go into the system interface.
This is a convenient way to have analytics literally “in plain sight” without having to click through the Clarity interface.
2. Summarize recordings – artificial intelligence as a filter
If you have dozens or hundreds of records in your account, it’ s not necessary to play them all. In the upper right corner of the recordings section there is an option “Summarize recordings”. It uses AI to pull out the most important observations – such as recurring issues, user frustrations or substandard behavior.
This feature is a significant time saver, especially for web projects with more traffic.
3. Smart events and funnel creation
In Clarity you can directly in the dashboard set your own so-called. smart events – that is, to track clicks, interactions, or transitions between steps that are important to you.
You can then use these events to create a simple visual funnel that shows you where users are dropping off in the conversion path. It is an ideal solution for example for multi-step forms, bookings, purchasing process or configurators.
Conclusion: clarity as an indispensable part of digital analytics
Microsoft Clarity is not a replacement for traditional analytics – it is the ideal complement to it. Combined with additional data from Google Analytics and Google Ads, it helps to decipher the most important thing: what’s really happening on the web and why users behave the way they do.
With easy deployment, zero cost and a growing number of features, Clarity is an affordable tool for everyone – regardless of business size or budget. You can deploy it for a client who is just launching new campaigns, or use it for long-term site performance improvement for a large e-commerce store.
And while the analysis itself can take some time, just a clear dashboard, heatmaps or the recordings summary function often reveal problems that would otherwise go unnoticed.
So if you’re looking for a tool to help you better understand your users, optimize your website and save costs on your campaigns – Microsoft Clarity is the place to start.
Source : https://clarity.microsoft.com/blog/july-2025-recap/
Karolína Ondášová
PPC Specialist
In the MAIRA team, I manage PPC campaigns, but what I enjoy the most is connecting different marketing areas – from data to strategy to UX and more. I like to find new ways to push the client’s business and make marketing more meaningful. In my spare time, motorsport and travelling recharge me the most.
