Bounce Rates: what are they and how to improve
A high Bounce Rate is every digital manager’s worst nightmare and hinders a website’s ranking. This is how some brands got their Bounce Rates under control.
Imagine this: a visitor lands on your website, takes one look, and promptly leaves without exploring further. High bounce rates reflect precisely this: the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your site after viewing only one page. Understanding and addressing bounce rates is crucial for any website owner aiming to capture and retain the attention of their audience. Let’s dive deeper into this metric and explore how it impacts your online presence.
What even is Bounce Rate?
By definition, ‘Bounce Rate’ is the percentage of page visits in which a person leaves your website without browsing further.
A high Bounce Rate means that a visitor’s overall session duration is short; they visit a page on your site and leave. A low Bounce Rate means that visitors are spending time on a page and clicking on links. If a user clicks through to read a blog post but doesn’t visit any other page on your website before leaving, that’s a bounce. If nine out of ten people who visit your website do the same thing, your Bounce Rate is 90%. This is Google’s attempt to define if a person finds the website’s content relevant.
Additionally, a ‘high’ Bounce Rate probably means that the webpage is unaligned with the audience’s expectations. In this context, a Bounce Rate of 56% to 70% is deemed high, although there could be a good reason for this, and 41% to 55% would be considered an average Bounce Rate. An optimal Bounce Rate would be in the 26% to 40% range. These benchmarks will also vary depending on the purpose of your page: Lead Generation pages will tend to have lower Bounce Rates and Blogs the highest.
You can easily check a page’s Bounce Rate using Google Analytics, which also reveals a page’s average visit duration, page visits, and the total number of unique visitors.
If the content is good enough and well-structured, and if the targeted audience is the right one for your business, problem solved. High bounce rates become a thing of the past. This is how some brands have done it.
Why does Bounce Rate matter?
Bounce Rates tell you how many users take one look at your website and run for the door. They matter because they tell you how many opportunities you are losing. High Bounce Rates could signal that your site is not right for your audience- maybe it's not loading fast enough, or the content isn't grabbing attention, or maybe the SEO strategy and keywords you’re aiming at are not suited for your visitors. The lower the bounce rates, the more likely guests are to share or even make a purchase. They indicate that people are finding what they're looking for. Understanding Bounce Rates helps you fine-tune your website – making it more inviting, so visitors want to stick around and explore.
How to calculate Bounce Rates
Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors who land on a single page of your site and then leave without interacting further. So, the formula is:
Bounce Rate = (Total number of single-page sessions) / (Total number of sessions) x 100
Let's say you had 1.000 total sessions last month, and 300 of those were single-page sessions.
Bounce Rate = (300 / 1,000) x 100 = 30%
A Bounce Rate of 30% means that 30% of visitors left your site after viewing only one page. Lower bounce rates indicate higher engagement, while higher bounce rates might suggest that visitors aren't finding what they're looking for. You'll need access to your website analytics tool, like Google Analytics, to collect the data.
How to improve Bounce Rates?
If the content is good enough and well-structured, and if the targeted audience is the right one for your business, problem solved. High Bounce Rates become a thing of the past. This is how some brands have done it.
Improve page speed
Speed is a Google ranking factor in desktop and mobile. For many websites, big conversions opportunities are being lost daily because of this metric. Around half the times, a visitor will leave if a page takes over 3 seconds to load. User-centric performance metrics can be analyzed in tools like PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse.
Improve website navigation
Improving website navigation helps users find their way around with ease. Here’s what to do
Simplify the menu structure. Keep it simple and intuitive by organizing pages into logical categories. Too many options can overwhelm visitors, so aim for clarity over clutter.
Create descriptive labels. Beware of creative, hard to recognize labels. There is a reason a lot of pages go for standard industry labels like "Products", "Services”, “Pricing” or “Case studies” – users expect them and know what they’ll find there.
Use search functionality. Sometimes visitors know exactly what they're looking for and just want to type it in. Incorporate a search bar prominently in your design so they can quickly find specific content without hunting through menus.
Don’t forget to implement breadcrumbs. They show visitors where they are in relation to the rest of the site. This helps them backtrack if they get lost and provides context for their journey.
Enhance user experience (UX)
Put yourself in your visitors' shoes and ask: "Is this site a joy to use?" Streamline the user experience by decluttering your design, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and simplifying the checkout process (for e-commerce sites). Asides from this, here’s what you can do:
Optimize forms and inputs. They can be the gatekeepers of your website, so, make sure they're welcoming and easy to use. Streamline form fields, minimize required information, and provide explicit instructions to reduce friction. Nobody likes filling out endless forms, so keep it short and user-friendly.
Ensure accessibility. More than just a checkbox, it's a fundamental aspect of UX design. Ensure your website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Use descriptive alt text for images, provide keyboard navigation options, and adhere to accessibility standards like WCAG. An inclusive design ensures that everyone can access and enjoy your site.
Deploy micro-interactions. They are little surprises sprinkled throughout your website, adding personality and charm to the user experience. Whether it's a subtle animation or a playful hover effect micro-interactions make interacting with your site a joyous experience.
You Can’t Help But Click
A clever Call to Action (CTA) is not the same as click bait. The easiest way to improve CTA’s is to include the ranking keyword (which you can check on Google Search Console) of your business in the CTA itself. If, for example, a brand is selling schoolbooks, and “schoolbooks” is the best keyword ranked, it is more powerful to insert “Get my schoolbooks” into the CTA, than adopt options such as “Add to cart”.
Inverted Pyramid Writing
The inverted pyramid style of writing started in 1845, after portrait painter Samuel Morse invented the telegraph. It is most often used in journalism, as a way of sharing a story concisely and make sure readers get the most important information first.
Inverted pyramid writing goes something like this:
The Lead is where the most important information lies. This means Who? Where? When? And How? All under 30 words and, ideally, with a provocative quote or question.
The Body is the place for crucial information such as your argument, details, quotes, photos and videos.
The Tail is great for additional details including interesting, related items, extra context, columns and editorials.
Savvy web content writers know that to keep readers engaged throughout the page or blog article, this structure requires some spicing up. That could include introducing eye catchy bits and pieces of information across the content or using ‘cliff hangers’ to make the next section irresistible.
Translate website for international traffic
If a large percentage of your current customers come from countries where English is not widely spoken, high Bounce Rates might have a simple explanation. Most users simply don’t interact as much with a webpage that’s written in a language they don’t fully understand. A foreign page usually translates to something rather distant and unwelcoming. Start translating, based on the countries that most access your website.
Create custom 404 pages
A 404 page is what a user sees when they try to reach a non-existent page on your site. This may happen if they’ve clicked a broken link, the page has been deleted, or they’ve mistyped a URL.
It is important that these pages are useful in helping customers find what they are looking for:
Include a search box on a 404 page
State that the page they’re looking for can’t be found
Use friendly language
New Windows
Another cause of high Bounce Rates has to do with what happens when users click a link on your website. Every external link should open in a new tab, so customers can view new info without closing your webpage. This is most common in blogs.
Luckily, plugins are fast at hand. You can easily set it up with Wordpress, and automatically open all external links in a new tab. Looking for another solution? Simply add ‘target=”_blank”’ to all your external links.
Optimize for mobile
A responsive design is non-negotiable. Ensure your website looks and functions flawlessly across all devices, from smartphones to tablets to desktops. Ensure that text, images, and buttons resize and reposition smoothly across all devices. Opt for a simple, streamlined menu that's easy to access with a thumb. Consider collapsible menus or hamburger icons to save space while maintaining functionality.
Don’t forget to optimize images and media. Mobile devices often have slower internet connections and limited data plans, so optimize your images and media for mobile consumption. Compress images, use lazy loading to prioritize content above the fold, and consider replacing heavy videos with lightweight alternatives.
Related content
Another important aspect to reduce Bounce Rates is to think about related content that a user might appreciate being exposed to. Blog posts usually have the highest Bounce Rates of all page types, but that doesn’t mean they have to. When trying to reduce the number of single-session blog post visits, Nielsen recommends offering information in “a linear path.”
Ask yourself, “What’s the next logical step for this visitor?” Then, guide them to it at the bottom of a blog post. You can also do this in the body of your content with internal linking. You’ll notice throughout the article you’re reading that there are various hyperlinked phrases that give you the option of navigating to more articles.
Beyond Bounce Rates: other key digital marketing metrics
Beyond Bounce Rates, there's a whole universe of digital marketing metrics waiting to be explored.
1. Conversion Rate
This metric tells you how many visitors take the desired action on your website, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a contact form.
2. Traffic Sources
Whether it's organic search, paid advertising, social media, or referrals from other sites, knowing your traffic sources helps you focus your efforts where they'll have the most impact.
3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
CTR tells you how many people are clicking on your ads or email campaigns. A high CTR means your messaging is resonating with your audience, while a low CTR might indicate that it's time to switch up your approach.
4. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
CPA tells you how much it costs to acquire a new customer or lead. By comparing your CPA to the lifetime value of a customer, you can determine whether your marketing efforts are cost-effective or if you need to adjust your strategy.
5. Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI indicates whether your marketing efforts are delivering a positive return on investment. By tracking the revenue generated from your campaigns against the cost of running them, you can gauge their effectiveness and allocate resources accordingly.
6. Engagement Metrics
Likes, shares, comments, and retweets show how engaged people are in your content. Monitoring these metrics helps you understand what echoes with your audience and tailor your content accordingly.
7. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
CLV tells you how much revenue you can expect from a single customer over their lifetime. By understanding the value of your customers, you can prioritize retention efforts and focus on maximizing long-term profitability.
8. Website Traffic and Pageviews
This metric shows how many people are visiting your site and which pages are attracting the most attention. This data can help you identify popular content, optimize user journeys, and uncover areas for improvement.
You may find all these metrics useful, but how to manage and make sense of them all? Here at Articulate, we've developed our very own app to help brands streamline efforts and drive traffic. It provides a comprehensive view of a brand’s digital marketing metrics and tools – all in one convenient space. No more jumping between multiple platforms or drowning in spreadsheets.
It gives you a bird's-eye view of your performance, identifies areas for improvement, and helps you make data-driven decisions. By integrating your communication plan and improvement opportunities into the same space, you can align your marketing efforts with your overall business goals and drive success across the board.
Traffic from every source in one place with Articulate App
Articulate, bringing Bounce Rates down
Expert content writers don’t obsess over optimizing for Bounce Rate but improving the user experience. Then, bounces will naturally fade away. The easier your content is to access and the more relevant it is to your visitor, the more pages they’re likely to check out. For more details, check our guide to writing the perfect blog post.
But if those Bounce Rates are giving you a headache, we've got your back. Here at Articulate, we're all about helping you turn those quick exits into longer stays on your website. We've got the tools and the expertise to help you keep visitors engaged and coming back for more. Ready to team up?