Clarity, Microsoft’s revolutionary user behavior analytics tool, made a big splash several months ago as a way for hoteliers to can gain greater insight into how customers engage with their site. However, since it was first launched in October 2020, we have heard very little about the platform in marketing news.  This doesn’t mean you should forget about it.

This article will discuss ways hotels can use Clarity, the powerful secrets hotels need to know about the platform, how Clarity differs from Google Analytics and how it can be used to drive revenue for your hotel. You can also listen to our team of marketing experts discuss this topic in more detail on a recent episode of the #1 ranked Hotel Marketing Podcast.

First of all, what is Microsoft Clarity?  It’s a free, very easy to implement, visual analytics tool that allows hoteliers to see click maps, screen recordings and more. Remember, Clarity is NOT a full-featured analytics platform and is NOT a tool meant to take the place of Google Analytics.

4 Ways Hotels Can Use Clarity 

1. Friction Finding Tools will help hoteliers find missed opportunities.  These include three very helpful tools such as “rage clicks,” “dead clicks,” and “quick backs.”
   • Rage Clicks – User rapidly clicked or tapped in same small area.
   • Dead Clicks – User clicked or tapped on a page with no effect.
   • Quick Backs – User navigated to a page and quickly returned to the previous one.
2. Screen recording will giver hoteliers greater insights and qualitative data to serve as a STARTING point for site optimizations and updates.
3. Data-rich heatmaps will show hoteliers where and how customers navigate their hotel’s site.
4. Scroll maps will allow hoteliers to see what data is shown on any given page and where their “average fold” is for consumers by device type.

5 Powerful Secrets of Microsoft Clarity for Hotels

1. The filters within Clarity are very helpful and allow hoteliers to filter data by referring sites, sources, mediums or even specific campaigns. This is beyond the basics of pages or entry/exit locations. Best of all, Clarity works with Google’s UTM tags so you don’t have to do anything in advance to be able to unlock these insights.
2. Hoteliers can also filter data by the individual user level.  By knowing a unique user ID, hoteliers can isolate and view a single user’s recordings, heatmaps and more.
3. Microsoft Clarity allows hoteliers to view screen recordings based on device type, operating system and browser type. This can help identify UX issues associated with those filters and start a CRO optimization plan. 
4. Clarity and Google Analytics can work together and allow you to get the most out of both platforms.  By connecting a hotel’s GA account with Clarity, you are able to find anomalies in GA and then seamlessly jump to Clarity to see the event in action.
5. Developers can benefit from Clarity via the JavaScript error tool that shows (with recordings) where customers are having technical issues.

Frequently Asked Questions About Microsoft Clarity 

Is Clarity easy to install?

Incredibly easy.  Clarity has a single code snippet that, once installed, does the rest.  Since it relies on your existing GA UTM tracking there’s no need to do anything else to start using the platform.  However, we suggest that hoteliers integrate their Google Analytics and Clarity accounts to make the most of both systems.

How does Microsoft Clarity handle privacy?

Clarity does a decent job with privacy, even considering they are recording site engagement.  All personal information is cloaked and all data entered in form fields is blocked from view.  However, Clarity can go overboard and hide ANY information that could be seen as personal, including the phone numbers on your site, your property address and more.  Fortunately, this can be avoided with proper tagging of contact information in your code.

Will Microsoft Clarity replace Google Analytics?

No, Clarity won’t replace GA.  While there’s great information in both platforms it is different types of data.  We would think the bigger question is, “Will Google Analytics create their own version of Clarity (probability named “More Clarity”)?”

What’s the future for Microsoft Clarity?

If adopted, Microsoft Clarity has a bright future. While it may not mean as much to hoteliers, for developers, Microsoft Clarity is huge. Since it is open-source, there are endless ways to tailor the system to meet your hotel’s individual needs. If hoteliers and their analytics teams would lean in on Clarity, it has the potential to create an amazing opportunity for data insights. Combing the data from Clarity and GA will allow hoteliers to better understand the gaps in the user experience and quickly solve problems.

Need help installing, monitoring or implementing Microsoft Clarity on your hotel’s website? We can help!

Reach out to our team at info@travelboommarketing.com or fill out our Contact Form. Start booming your hotel’s business today!