Are you wondering why people are leaving your website, and does it really matter?
It can be frustrating when visitors leave your site without engaging with it.
In this article, we will address the process of this “bounce” and factors that affect it.
“Bounce” occurs when a user visits your website and exits without further interactions within your website.
These interactions refer to clicking on the menu buttons or any call-to-action buttons. The bounce rate reflects the percentage of your visitors who “bounce” off of your site.
According to Google Analytics, it measures the percentage of single-page visits.
In other words, a “bounce” is recorded when a visitor exits the same page they entered without additional action on the site.
How do I determine my website’s effectiveness?
(image taken from Rocket Fuel)
Bounce rates on most websites fall between 20% and 70%. Anything above 70% may be alarming, but it does not account to the overall quality of your website.
Set a baseline and use bounce rate as a reference to gauge the quality and relevancy of your webpage to your audience.
If your website revolves around informative articles or events-related, visitors will get the information they need and exit the webpage.
The bounce rate will then gravitate towards a higher percentage. The result is justified because the user’s objectives are being met.
In contrast, visitors tend to linger around longer in an eCommerce store. The bounce rate would also reflect on a lower scale.
However, it is not a good sign if the bounce rate is on the higher spectrum as it could translate to lost sales.
Bounce rate does not measure the duration a visitor spends within the site.
Therefore you may want to look at other metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of your website.
If you are wondering about how to retain your visitors and improve website traffic, you may want to consider implementing SEO.
5 Factors affecting Bounce Rate
Content
One of the reasons for a website’s bounce rate is the lack of readability. Have engaging and readable content to connect with your audience.
Write in simple and shorter sentences to keep your reader’s attention. There are various online editing software tools to help you in your writing.
Mobile-Friendly Site
Did you know that mobile accounts for almost half the web traffic worldwide?
According to statistics, mobile devices generated approximately 51% of global website traffic.
This percentage will only be on an upward trend with the increasing number of smartphone users.
A well-optimized mobile website is crucial in one’s user experience. If the page fails to look good and it loads slowly on mobile devices, it will result in a high bounce rate.
Call-to-Actions (CTAs)
CTAs are great for goals conversion. For example, you can convert a potential lead into your client and potential business prospects into profits with CTAs.
You can also use CTAs to direct your visitors to other website features.
The absence of effective CTAs will drive visitors out of your site without directing them to related products and services.
Loading Speed
(image taken from Section)
It is no surprise that a page’s loading speed directly impacts bounce rate. The longer a user has to wait for the page to load, the dissatisfaction level increases.
According to Google findings, the probability of bounce increases by 32% as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds.
The graph shows how page load speed affects user behavior — each second slower results in increasing bounce rate.
External Links
While external links are great to boost relevance and credibility for your website, we have to be careful with them as they can significantly increase the bounce rate.
Create a good balance between value-added information and keep your bounce rate at bay.
Our pro-tip for you is whenever you include an external link, set it to “open in a new window.” In this way, the user will not leave your site upon redirection to another website.
With all that being said, it is a good practice to do regular checks on website performance to provide a better user experience.
While bounce rate is a primary indicator of one site’s effectiveness, we should also consider other metrics to gain better insights.
If you wish to reduce your website bounce rate, there are effective tips you can consider implementing for your website.
