Everything You Need to Know About Bounce Rate and 7 Tips for Improvement

Maybe you know what bounce rate is, but have no idea how it measures website effectivity. Maybe you understand why this metric is so important, but have no idea how to improve your percentage. Or maybe you’re new to the whole concept! Regardless of what stage you are in, it’s never too late to learn more about this critical metric and its impact on your business.

What is a bounce rate?

A bounce rate is a metric that measures the effectiveness of your website. The bounce rate of a website represents the percentage of users who arrive at a website then leave, or “bounce”, without interacting with any other pages within the site. Any good marketer knows you want to keep your users on your website, moving to different pages, and consuming your content. By paying keen attention to your bounce rate you can learn how well you are retaining your visitors, which pages outperform others, and learn on which pages you need to optimize your content. For more advantageous information on website analytics, check out our analytics and strategy blog.

What is a “good” bounce rate?

Since bounce rate measures the number of people that navigated away from your website, the lower the percentage the better. Bounce rates vary from industry to industry, but below is a general guide to help you understand the health of your website.

Under 25%: You’re a website optimization guru! Or you’re analytics reporting is broken. Double check your reporting is accurate to ensure your site really is a super star!

26% - 40%: Woohoo! This bracket is classified as an excellent bounce rate. Way to go! Most websites yearn to fall into this group.

41% - 55%: You’re an average Joe. While falling into this bracket is normal, keep reading to learn how to improve your percentages.

56% - 70%: This is a little higher than average, but not a cause for alarm. Try out some of our tips below and see if you can make it to the average bracket.

Over 70%: Es no bueno. First, double check your website tracking to ensure it’s accurate. If it is accurate, start your optimization right away. This means you are either driving the wrong audience to your site or your users aren’t finding your content useful, or both.

7 Tips to Improve Your Bounce Rate

[if !supportLists]1) Include CTAs - If your website is generating a good amount of traffic, but no one is sticking around, try adding call-to-actions. By adding a call-to-action, you can drive the way your users interact with your website. Tell them where to click next, don’t assume they’ll go clicking on their own! Make sure your CTA is relevant and guide that traffic!

[if !supportLists] 2) Add internal links - Adding internal links to the static pages of your site will encourage users to click around. Sure, they could go to the navigation and click around, but placing appropriate links throughout makes it so much easier for the user. Easy = clicks.

[if !supportLists] 3) Check your acquisition sources - How are people finding your website? Are they being referred? Coming from a search engine? It’s quite possible that you need to try changing up your acquisition efforts.

[if !supportLists] 4) [endif]Change up your images or design - If your website contains few images, or even worse low quality images, try changing them up! Is your design outdated? Fork out the dough for a new website design. Aesthetics are extremely important to users! If you’re website is cluttered or has a low quality appearance, you can bet the user will click away.

[if !supportLists] 5) Change up your content - If users are landing on your website, but don’t find the information you’re providing useful, they’ll bounce. Try changing up your content. Think of your users perspective. What will they find useful? What will they find intriguing? Does it take too long to read? What will make them want to stay and click around? Change up your content to see what works for your audience.

[if !supportLists] 6) Check your highest bouncing pages - It’s quite possible you have a few, low performing pages that are outliers and throwing off your percentage as a whole. If there are just a few offenders, either remove or optimize the pages with tips 4 & 5.

[if !supportLists] 7) Check your load time - How long does it take for your website to load? Did you know that the average user expects websites to load in less than 2 seconds? You heard right, less than 2 seconds! Users are impatient and expect you to keep up with the competition. Decrease your load time to decrease bounces.

Want to implement these tips, but aren’t sure how? Hire a pro! Get in touch with us today and see that bounce rate drop like it’s hot.