wiki/knowledge/web-analytics/papertube-clarity-implementation.md · 513 words · 2026-04-05

Microsoft Clarity Implementation — Paper Tube Co

Overview

During the April 2026 strategy call, Asymmetric recommended installing Microsoft Clarity on the Paper Tube Co website to gain visibility into user behavior. Parag had asked about Hotjar; Clarity was proposed as a functionally equivalent, free alternative. The tool is already in use across Asymmetric's client portfolio.

The immediate motivation was understanding how visitors navigate a site that serves two distinct audiences — e-commerce buyers and custom-order prospects — and identifying friction points that may be contributing to high bounce rates and low engagement.

"It's a user experience tool. It basically shows you what people are looking at."
— Mark Hope

What Clarity Provides

Feature	Description
Heatmaps	Visual overlay showing where users click and how far they scroll on any given page
Session Recordings	Full playback of individual user sessions, including cursor movement and clicks
Rage Click Detection	Flags elements users repeatedly click expecting interactivity that isn't there
Session Insights (AI)	AI-generated summaries of session patterns and anomalies
Traffic & Engagement Stats	Pages per session, engagement rate, and other aggregate metrics

Clarity is free and installs via a lightweight JavaScript snippet.

Rationale for Paper Tube

Paper Tube's website currently serves two audiences with conflicting needs on a single Shopify domain:

E-commerce buyers — looking for ready-made stock tubes, small quantities, fast checkout
Custom-order prospects — B2B buyers seeking large-volume, designed, custom packaging

The site's engagement metrics are weak (high bounce rate, low engagement rate), but it's unclear why visitors are leaving or which audience is underserved. Clarity will provide behavioral evidence to inform decisions about:

UX optimizations (e.g., CTA placement in the hero banner)
Whether a ^[1] is warranted
Which pages are causing confusion or dead-end experiences

Implementation

Owner: Karly Oykhman
Status: Action item assigned during the April 2026 strategy call

Steps:
1. Create a Microsoft Clarity account (free at clarity.microsoft.com)
2. Generate the tracking snippet for the Paper Tube property
3. Install the snippet on the Shopify site (via theme theme.liquid or a script tag in the Shopify admin)
4. Verify data is flowing (session recordings typically appear within hours)
5. Share access with the Asymmetric team

How to Use the Data

Once installed, prioritize the following analyses:

Homepage & Collections page — these two pages account for the majority of traffic; understand what users do after landing
Custom quote form flow — identify drop-off points in the path to the 100–150 monthly quote submissions
Rage clicks — surface broken or misleading UI elements
Scroll depth — determine whether key CTAs are above the fold for the relevant audience

Findings should feed directly into the UX optimization backlog and inform the ^[2] effort being led by Karly and Sebastian.

^[3]
^[4]
^[5]