What is bounce rate and how to fix it?

Outside of a marketing context, the word “bounce” seems funny. But in relation to website analytics, this word refers to one of the parameters, the meaning of which is not always clear to beginners: the bounce rate.

The mention of the term must have raised many questions in your mind. If the bounce rate is close to 100%, is it good or bad? Does it have anything to do with bounced emails? Or is it a useless indicator that can be ignored? If I want to improve it for my site, how do I do it?

You are not alone in your misunderstanding. Many marketers have asked the same questions, still not finding a good answer. In this article, we’ll shed some light on the mysterious junk metric. A brief overview explains what it is, what it affects, and how to improve its value.

What is bounce rate or bounce rate?

No, a site’s bounce rate is not related to the number of undelivered emails.

Google’s bounce rate is the percentage of users who land on a page on your site and then leave without clicking a single button or link. They just go to the page, linger a little on it and leave.

Keep in mind that the bounce rate is different from the page exit rate. It only refers to one-time visits, when people enter and leave the site without moving from one page to another.

Google Exit Rate is a more comprehensive measure of the percentage of site exits from a given page or set of pages. It takes into account the percentage of people who left a particular page of the site, even if it was not the only purpose of their visit. The page they left may be the last one in a long chain of visited resources. This is why the exit rate is not as critical as the bounce rate.

Comparison of bounce rates and percentage of exits

Retail cart abandonment rates

Let’s say you compared bounce and exit rates for a Thank you page. A large value for the first parameter will make you worry, because it means that users are not interested in other pages of the site. What’s more, the visitors who got to it didn’t even fill out the standard registration form, and you’re missing out on potential customers.

On the other hand, a high exit rate is not a cause for concern. It just means that this page was the last one in the navigation chain: users leaving it came from the previous landing page, downloaded all the information on the offers and left the site in order to continue to use the downloaded content.

That being said, the above scenario is hypothetical and its key points may differ depending on other page metrics. However, it serves as a simple illustration of the difference between bounce and exit rates.

What is a normal site bounce rate?

If we compare the largest sites on the Internet, we can trace patterns in% of failures.

• For a large portal, media site, this value is approximately 10-30%.
• For an online store – 20-40%.
• For information sites, blogs – 40-60%.

How to reduce high bounce rates?

High bounce rates may indicate that the page is irrelevant or confusing to site visitors. But do not rush to take drastic measures, such as removing the page or redesigning the site immediately. Important steps must be taken before a response can be determined.

Remember: the unneeded pageviews only tell about users who came to the page and left it without visiting other resources of the site. They do not carry any information about what actions the visitor performed on the page. Therefore, it is critical to take “practical steps” to explore other analytics and indicators of web presence on a site to correctly interpret the meaning of bounce rates.

1. Make sure your site is mobile friendly.

Currently, the proportion of search queries and traffic coming from mobile devices is much larger than that of personal computers. This situation requires not only creating a mobile version of the site, but also checking its usability and attractiveness. Wouldn’t it be very annoying if mobile site visitors have to read the text using zoom? Having an appropriate version of the site is no longer sufficient – interaction with the mobile version should be convenient and interactive.

One of the most compelling types of content is video. It can be used to explain complex topics in a concise manner. Statistics also support the presence of videos on the site: 4 times more customers prefer to watch a video about a product than to read about it.

But when it comes to using video on a mobile site, you need to remember that playing long videos requires a significant amount of data transfer and slows down the user experience. Loading delays can cause visitors to leave your site. Therefore, I recommend avoiding long videos on the mobile site or creating shorter versions of them that will reveal the most important points of the topic.

Such improvements are not limited to video. Use an integrated approach in evaluating the performance of a mobile site. Also think about other similar problems and how to solve them.

2. Estimate the bounce rate considering referrals from various sources.

Sometimes the value of the unwanted view rate is related to the sources that refer users to your page.

Let’s say its value is especially high for visitors coming from social networks. Carefully study the text of the message that you use to draw attention to the content. Does its content really match what the site is talking about? Do the title and first image of the page match the expectations of the user who clicks on the link on VKontakte or Facebook? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then your promotion strategy needs some work.

Thinking over the technique of site promotion, you should make sure that its advertising really corresponds to the page to which the link leads. Content must fully meet the expectations of visitors, regardless of the source from which they came.

3. Eliminate other problems that may interfere with the user experience

The article has already talked about the importance of having a quality mobile version of the site that provides an effective user experience, but this requirement is true for all platforms. For example, things like full-screen pop-ups are not only annoying, but can lead to penalties from search engines given Google’s recent algorithm update.

In this case, the key point is always the user himself. You should encourage him to visit your page and stay there until he becomes your client. While pop-ups can be good in some cases (for example, when handling incoming messages that add context to the site), avoid any tool that makes the user’s experience more difficult and may cause them to leave the site.

4. Define the keywords for the page and evaluate if the content covers these topics sufficiently.

Matching the meaning of the keywords with the content is extremely important as it ensures that the natural expectations of the visitors match the actual content.

Let’s assume that a user searches for sites using the keyword “marketing automation software solutions”. It is likely that this person is interested in software that helps generate leads. But if the other person enters “What is marketing automation” in the query, they have not yet reached the stage when it comes to purchasing a product. This person needs information, not a program or anything else.

So when you pick your page rank keywords, make sure they match real content.

Finally

When looking at your spam metrics, you need to make sure you get the full picture of what’s going on. See how much time people spend on your site, where they come from, what devices they use. Check if the content and functionality of the site is consistent with all of these factors.

Think about failure rates, using the analogy of checking a car engine, for example. By the nature of his work, you can guess about the existing malfunction. But in order to accurately diagnose the problem, you will have to check all the systems of the car.

There is no single and universal solution for correct bounce rate correction. However, understanding its meaning and impact on the marketing strategy will help make the site successful.