Which One Is Better? Mouse Tracking Or Eye Tracking?

We obviously write a lot about eye tracking here at Eye Tracking Update, and a lot of articles pass over our desks. One that seemed particularly relevant had to do with the difference, pros, and cons between eye tracking and mouse tracking.

Usability studies, of course, are used to test and optimize a website’s usability. Both lab eye tracking and remote mouse tracking studies are used for businesses to create results upon which they can fix problems, make changes, increase efficiency, and enhance design. Mouse tracking is when the movements of a user’s mouse are followed in order to simulate eye movement on the page, and as a study, it’s come a long way, developing it’s own features and accuracy that have made it credible.

If both methods are done simultaneously, research shows a high correlation between results, as they move at similar rhythms and focus on similar areas on the page. But of course there are both pros and cons of each, as laid out in the original post at Clicktale’s blog.

Eye tracking, they say, is extremely accurate. They say 100%, which is a big claim, but there’s no argument that it’s pretty far up there. It shows precisely what a user looks at on a page. Still, interpreting those results makes for a little bit of a stretch to call it 100% accurate, though I see how they’re defining it. As for functionality, this seems to be true. Eye tracking is done in a controlled environment, and users can perform tasks as asked, knowing the various objectives of the researchers. There’s an open dialogue and users can give in depth feedback on what they’re doing.
Of course, eye tracking is incredibly expensive traditionally. It requires experts and special equipment, which can be inhibitive. For the most part it makes for a limited scope, number of participants, screen size, measurements, and so on, so data is based on a small sample.

A far wider audience from home or an office can employ Mouse tracking, providing accurate actionable results from afar if so desired. There’s not observer effect, and visitors view the site in a natural way, unobtrusively. Also, it’s pretty cheap. But still, there are no predefined tests for the most part. You have to rely on user’s own objectives. There’s also not much feedback as researchers can’t ask visitors questions from afar on their experience and thought process in addition to the decisions they’re making.

Eye Tracking vs. Mouse Tracking

Related articles:

1. Using Eye Tracking & Mouse Movements to Analyze Search Behavior
2. Eye Tracking and F Patterns: Recurring Theme in Web Usability
3. Shocking Revelation: Eye Tracking Has Problems
4. Moodle Using Eye Tracking to Study Usability and eLearning
5. Eye Tracking: Evaluating Landing Page Usability With Surveys
6. Eye Tracking and Style Guides
7. Framework for Eye Tracking Patterns and Usability Problems: Pt 3
8. Eye Tracking: Which Web Photos Are Crucial For Usability?