MouseTrace has launched as a way for website owners to optimize their sites “to better suit their customers and visitors.” It does this via a single line of javascript which gives the owner the ability to spy on their visitors, literally, through a visual replay of how they’ve interacted with the site, including mouse movement, clicks and page scrolling. Additionally, MouseTrace works for pages viewed on an iPhone, recording touch, pinch to zoom, and rotation.
It’s been founded by Dan Field, also founder of ClearMyMail and MailSuite (see recent coverage), in order to scratch a personal itch related to his previous startups. Field says that the technology behind MouseTrace was developed to help improve Google AdWords landing pages and registration processes, “which then lead to much better sales conversions for our other Internet businesses.”
MouseTrace competes closely with ClickTale, which offers something similar, although Field is keen to talk up his service’s ability to keep a full record of the page as seen by every visitor, so that if its content changes regularly, such as a blog’s front page, it’s still possible to see exactly how it was navigated.
The service is paid-for although there’s somewhat of a freemium model. Included in the various pricing options is a free trial which enables up to 50 visitor recordings across an unlimited number of pages on a single site. The tier up provides 100 recordings for $9.95, while 200 recordings and support for 5 sites costs $29.95 and so on.
Unlike Field’s other startuups which are angel and VC-funded, MouseTrace represents his first solo investment.