Bounce Back from High Bounce Rates

What is Bounce Rate?

Avinash Kaushik, author of Web Analytics 2.0, refers to bounce rate as the “sexiest web metric ever!” (Kaushik, 50). A bold title to bestow one metric over other important metrics such as unique visitors, page referrers, and others. The bounce rate is defined as “the percentage of sessions on your website with only one page view” (Kaushik, 50). For most websites the goal is not for a consumer to visit a single page and move on to the next best site on the web, but instead be so intrigued that they interact and browse the website in search of more valuable content.

Leaving So Soon?


According to Inc., “As a rule of thumb, a 50 percent bounce rate is average. If you surpass 60 percent, you should be concerned. If you're in excess of 80 percent, you've got a major problem” (Quinn, 2011). Why do visitors leave after just one page view, and how can we keep this from happening? There are several reasons that might cause a visitor to leave and depending on that reason there are solutions available to improve and optimize your website.


Treat the Problem, Not The Symptoms

Before, you can lower your bounce rate you need to understand the reasons that a visitor might be leaving a website. Reasons might include poor website design, usability problems, pop-ups, bad content, outbound links, or website format, such as a blog. Search engine ranking and poor website optimization may also affect the bounce rate; for example if a website ranks high for certain keywords but is not relevant to the users needs this may cause a user to leave a site without viewing other pages. Google also suggests that if you are experiencing a high bounce rate on multiple pages that it might be a technical error and you will want to verify the tracking code on your website (“High Bounce Rate”, n.d.).


Today’s Internet users have many options to browse the Internet. It is important to ensure that your website works well in the various browsers available including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and others. If the website does not perform well in one browser or another it may negatively affect your bounce rate.


Remember sometimes simple is better, and this applies to web design as well. Avoid using large Flash files or images that load slowly and may frustrate users who impatiently wait for them to load. Also, assess the various points of entry to your website and which are working better than others. Consider why by asking “Who is coming to the page? Why are they coming here? What is it that they probably want to do?” (Quinn, 2012). 


Direct users to the information they are looking for and don’t make them dig for it, this will cause users to become annoyed and search elsewhere. Instead connect users to content that they might also find interesting. Marketing software company, HubSpot’s blog is a good example of this. They are successful in keeping readers engaged by embedding links within their blogs that connect readers to other related content to keep them on their website, and discovering new content. As a frequent reader of the blog, I often find myself clicking to two or three different pages before signing off. 


To learn more view a video of author, Avinash Kaushik explaining bounce rate: http://youtu.be/ppgfjo6IIf4

References

Bounce Rate Demystified. (n.d.). The @KISSmetrics Marketing Blog. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/bounce-rate/

Quinn, M. (2011, January 31). How to Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate.Inc.com. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://www.inc.com/guides/2011/01/how-to-reduce-your-website-bounce-rate.html

High Bounce Rate - Analytics Help. (n.d.).Google Help. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1009409