Engagement
Dead click
Also called no-response click.
Dead click is a click that produces no detectable navigation or visible change. It is a quiet sign that something looks interactive and is not.
How it is measured
A script watches for a click, then waits a short time for a URL change, a DOM change or a network request. If none follows, it logs a dead click on that element with its position.
Tarsier does not watch the DOM for changes, so dead clicks are usually found with a replay tool or by reading a custom click event next to a conversion event that never follows.
Worked example
On a recipe site, people tap the row of stars under each recipe expecting to rate it, but the stars are decorative. In a week the stars take 780 dead clicks, 4 percent of all clicks on the page.
The team makes the stars a real rating control. Submitted ratings go from 0 to 310 in the first week.
How it differs
A dead click gets no response. A rage click is a burst of repeated clicks, and often what a dead click turns into. An error click is a click tied to a script error. All three signal friction, and each needs a different fix.
Common errors
Treating every dead click as a bug. Ignoring clicks on text people are trying to select. Counting scroll taps. Using a wait threshold too short for slow pages. Not separating mobile from desktop.
In practice
List the top five elements by dead clicks and decide, one by one, whether to make them work or make them look inert. Retest after the change.