Bounce Rate: What It Means and Why It Matters

 

(Image sourced from Spinx, n.d.)


What is Bounce Rate?


    Keeping customers engaged is absolutely essential to the success of a website. Customers who are engaged are much more likely to navigate the site, exploring multiple pages and interacting with content. In order to track engagement, bounce rate is a reliable metric to use. As stated by Google, “Bounce rate is single-page sessions divided by all sessions, or the percentage of all sessions on your site in which users viewed only a single page and triggered only a single request to the Analytics server. These single-page sessions have a session duration of 0 seconds since there are no subsequent hits after the first one that would let Analytics calculate the length of the session” (n.d.).


    In most cases, a lower bounce rate is more desirable. A high bounce rate is not as concerning for single page sites, but if a site relies on users viewing multiple pages, a lower bounce rate is ideal (Google, n.d.). Higher bounce rates indicate users visit the page and leave without interacting with the site, while lower bounce rates prove that visitors spend time navigating the site by clicking on links and visiting new pages. According to Semrush, “A bounce rate of 56% to 70% is on the high side, 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” (Lahey, 2020). 


How to Improve Bounce Rate


    In order to produce a bounce rate within the optimal range, it is important to consider what aspects of a website are contributing to the current higher bounce rate. An outdated website design, website errors, bad layout, bad navigation, and bad traffic are all potential factors that can lead to a high bounce rate (Egan, n.d.). However, improving content readability, using enticing call-to-actions, enhancing brand storytelling, targeting traffic with high-value keywords, reducing load time, using more landing pages, and showing credibility can all contribute to lowering bounce rate (Patel, n.d.). WebFX’s Readability Test Tool and Google’s Page Speed Insights are two fantastic resources to analyze the readability and speed of a site in order to improve bounce rate.


Why Does It Matter?


     According to Patel, “Reducing your bounce rate helps to boost your conversion rate” (Patel, n.d.). This direct correlation is observed in Contentsquare’s Verychic case study. Verychic, a travel platform with over 7 million users, noticed a 47% bounce rate on their site and sought out Contentsquare in order to boost conversion rates and visitor retention (Contentsquare, 2019). According to the study, “The immediate challenge for VeryChic was to make sure prospects who arrived on the site via these pages continued their journey by viewing more hotels and exclusive deals. By using Contentsquare to gain insights into which elements of the site were causing users to hesitate or abandon their journey, digital teams at VeryChic discovered that a lack of incentives and options at the start of some journeys was stalling user flow” (Contentsquare, 2019). 


(Image sourced from Contentsquare, 2019)

    By making destinations clickable, encouraging users to view alternative hotel options near their designated area, showcasing other exclusive properties on the same page, and emphasizing the “Book Now” button creating a clearer path to checkout, Verychic website traffic increased by 6.31% and bounce rate went down by 12%, with sessions lasting 16.53% longer (Contentsquare, 2019). Contentsquare’s revitalization ultimately encouraged website users to stay longer and visit more pages during their session, proven through several KPIs with tangible results. According to Contentsquare, “Two days after implementing changes, VeryChic also noticed an overall click-rate increase of 3.7%, and a conversion rate per click increase of 2.3%. Meanwhile, revenue increased by 19.3 Euros per click over the same period” (2019).


    All of these improvements were a result of prioritizing a lower bounce rate. Bounce rate alone is an important metric to consider, but by lowering this rate, many other KPIs improve as well. For this reason, it is essential for businesses to analyze their current bounce rate and develop effective strategies to reduce it. Although average bounce rates vary by industry, achieving a rate below 40% is an ideal goal to set for your site.


References:
Contentsquare. (2019, October). Case Study - Verychic. Contentsquare. https://go.contentsquare.com/hubfs/Case%20Study/US_2019_10_Travel_Industry_Verychic_Case%20Study.pdf 
Egan, B. (n.d.). Case Study: How Web Design Affects Bounce Rate - Simple SEO Group. Simple SEO Group. https://www.simpleseogroup.com/case-study-how-web-design-affects-bounce-rate/ 
Google Support. (n.d.). Bounce Rate - Analytics Help. Google. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409?hl=en 
Lahey, C. (2020, December 15). What Is Bounce Rate and What Is a Good Rate? Semrush. https://www.semrush.com/blog/bounce-rate/ 
Patel, N. (n.d.). 13 Ways to Reduce Bounce Rate and Increase Your Conversions. Neil Patel. https://neilpatel.com/blog/13-ways-to-reduce-bounce-rate-and-increase-your-conversions/ 
Spinx. (n.d.). Bounce Rate [Image]. Spinx. https://www.spinxdigital.com/blog/know-about-bounce-rate/ 


Comments

  1. Mark TietbohlMarch 25, 2022 at 10:40 AM

    This is true in GA. There are a few that will measure the time of the bounce and that is where you can determine how long the person stayed on the page. This is valuable for when you want to know if a person actually read what you posted as opposed to just bouncing.

    ReplyDelete

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