Oh wow. Oh, wee. Oh my. The bounce rate is high!! 

If you have a website, you have a bounce rate. 

A bounce rate is data that tells you an awful lot about how well users are or aren't engaging with a webpage's content & user experience. 

Your site's bounce rate increases when a user lands on a page, does nothing and then leaves the site. Specifically, a bounce rate measures how many visitors leave a page without performing actions like clicking links, filling out a form, or buying a product. 

Side note: They can scroll, then leave, which counts toward an increase in the bounce rate. 

A poor bounce rate (a high rate which I'll define shortly) can indicate bad SEO, slow site load times, inefficient user experience, and more! 

We'll review what makes a good bounce rate, how to improve poor bounce rates, and thus increase conversions & search rankings! 🥳

Pitter patter. 

What's a Good Bounce Rate? 

I guess you'll need to know the difference between a high and low bounce rate, huh?  

High Bounce Rate: Greater than or equal to 56% 

Average: 41% to 55% 

Optimal (the sweet spot for conversion): 26% to 40% 

Higher bounce rates are a result of short session durations. They come, they don't eat, they leave. - Opposite of grasshoppers in bugs life. 

Lower bounce rates tell us users are spending time on a page, clicking links, and engaging with your content. 

Buuuut. Not all site success is determined the same way. 

Take a blog, for example. A high bounce rate might not be negative. 

So to be clear, if you're running a single-page site like this, high bounce rates are entirely normal. 

If your page's success depends on users viewing multiple pages or buying, then a high bounce rate is... bad. 

What About the Exit Rate? 

Curveball. 

Exit rates are pretty similar to bounce rates, so they're often brought up or analyzed in the same conversation. 

An exit rate is how many users leave a specific page, even if it wasn't the original page they landed on. So follow me through an example. 

User sees an ad on social > clicks ad > lands on page > clicks a navigation link taking them to another page > user leaves the site.  

-- The page they exited from would see an increase in its exit rate. The page they landed on initially would see a decrease in bounce rate. 

Boom. You got it!

When we consider analyses, a high bounce rate can signify a lack of interest from your users. On the other hand, a high exit rate could be an example of conversion rate optimization (CRO) issues. 

Lowering Bounce Rates. 

Here's a list of items that can impact your bounce rate. 

• Slow site speed and loading times
• Pop-ups - Be careful with these; a lot of data shows these can be frustrating to users. They work; they have to be executed the right way. Pssst. We know the right way. 😉
• Unnecessary back-end plugins.
• Inefficient User Experience and Interfaces.
• Poorly optimized site maps or footers.
• Blank pages and 404 requests.
• Low-quality content.
• Site not optimized for mobile.
• You didn't set up Google Analytics correctly.

Now that you have a healthy and well-made list of items that can help fix your bounce rate let's hop into some of the more important ones. 

Conclusion 

It's easy to check a site's bounce rate using google analytics. It's also free! I don't think I've mentioned that yet. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Be sure to go through each item on the list, and improve it to the best of your ability. Once completed, monitor your data for at least two weeks. 

Rinse, wash, repeat until your bounce rates, exit rates, and conversion is where you want them to be. 

If you're having trouble or need to delegate this stuff to the company with tons of experience, let's chat! 

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