Worried about the bounce rate on your website, and wondering what’s causing it? Well, you are not the only one troubled with such a problem. If you are new to digital marketing, you might be wondering – what’s causing a high bounce rate?
A high bounce rate occurs when the website does not do what it actually has to do, i.e. it does not provide the information people are looking for. An alarming bounce rate is a wake –up call to the website owners, but can be seen as an opportunity to improve.
Before we did deep into the causes of the high bounce rate and what you can do it fix it, let us understand more about the “bounce rate.”
Bounce Rate
At times, when analyzing a website, we often come across the bounce rate. It can be low in some cases and very high in some. The bounce rate is actually the number of visitors on your website, who are leaving immediately.
So, is having a high bounce rate bad?
A high bounce rate does not always imply a problem. Imagine a visitor landing on your website is only looking for contact number; he/she would just land and bounce. Such a visit can be called a conversion and not a bounce.
The problem occurs when people visit your website, bounce and conversion do not take place. If the bounce rate if high, you need to know why visitors are bouncing in high numbers.
How can we calculate the bounce rate?
The bounce rate of a website is the % of visitors who have landed on that website and do not browse, providing just the “single-page views.” Most website owners use Google Analytics to find out the bounce rate on their website. This tool provides the bounce rate of each page, including all the single-page views as well. It also provides the average bounce rate your website has. It also provides other metrics like,
- The total number of visitors to your website in a specific period
- Average pages visited
- The average time a visitor spends on your website
Website owners can check the metric available via Google Analytics and compare it to one another. For example, if you notice that the bounce rate on your website is high, and so is the average time, it means that your visitors have achieved their goals without the need for further navigation.
The problem occurs when the visitor engagement on the site is little, and the bounce rate is high. This is when you need to know what is causing a high bounce rate and take action to fix it.
Good Bounce Rate, High Bounce Rate, and Average Bounce Rate
Most of the websites have bounce rates in the range of 25% to 70%. It is important to keep the bounce rate low while working simultaneously on improving the conversion rates.
A bounce rate is termed to be high if it is close to 70% or higher than that, and is accompanied by low conversion rates. Remember that this combination of high bounce rate and low conversions is always bad, and this is something you need to act on immediately.
The Causes of High Bounce Rate
There can be many reasons why you witness a high bounce rate on your website, but the most common of them are mentioned below. Let’s see what they are.
Bad Content
People often visit a website to learn about a topic or a subject. If the landing page does not have quality content that answers to the needs of the visitors, they quickly leave the page to find the same info on your competitor’s website. Thus, website owners always need to understand their target audience completely. Make sure to do a little research as to why people have chosen your website over others, and the best you can offer them.
Once you have the answer to “why,” develop content that meets the goals of your visitors.
Websites that have boring or incorrect content often experience high bounce rates, and their conversions suffer too. So, create compelling content, and engage with your audience while giving them the information they need. This way, you convert a visitor into a loyal customer.
Bad User Experience
A person visiting your website can leave the page due to many reasons. They are the ones who decide if they wish to stay on your website or leave in just a few seconds. A website needs to have pleasing colors, organized layout, and easy navigation. If any of these are missing, the visitors might click the back button and will not navigate any further.
Websites need to stay lean when it comes to UX or user experience. In simple terms, create an appealing website that is easy to navigate and loads fast. Do not fill your website with many images or ads; it adds more clutter and not value. Visitors often get confused and leave the website, increasing the bounce rate. If you are not confident about the changes, you can get them done via a Creative agency Vancouver.
Technical Errors
If you find that the bounce rates on your website are high, it can be due to a technical error, as well. Such errors can occur when you have a malfunction of a JavaScript or a plug-in. Such errors often remain on the site and go unnoticed.
If you find that the bounce rate of your web page is very high, you need to check everything thoroughly.
- Check if the website layout is easy to navigate and eye-catchy.
- Check for the quality of the content
- Lastly, check for any errors which might drive the visitors away
Errors, if any have to be corrected immediately, and website owners can hire the services of a reliable Website design and development company.
Issues with the page load time
Imagine you had to visit a website to gather information on weight loss through a Keto diet. The website you choose does not load even after a few seconds. What would you do? Well, you certainly will return back to the search results and click on the URL of another website.
So, what did we understand by the above example?
Websites that are slow and do not load instantly lose their customers. The page load time more than just a few seconds is considered to be longer and is a matter of concern for website owners.
Web owners or developers can make use of tools to check their website speed and fix errors if any. One of the best tools to use is Google’s Search Console. Remember that even a slight improvement to your website can drive a lot of traffic! So, get started with it.
How can you reduce the bounce rate on your website?
Website owners or developers can take action to reduce the high bounce rate. Mentioned below are the steps you can take immediately.
Start with a page that has a very high bounce rate – If the bounce rate of your site is very high, you can first start with the page that has the worst bounce rate. Then start navigating though the page like how a visitor does and take notes. Check the design and the navigation of the page. Check if the content is relevant or boring. This helps you analyze and make quick changes wherever needed.
Use a recording tool – Several website owners install a tool to check the navigation pattern of their visitors. You can know the links they click or the hover of the mouse. Improvements to the website can be made by checking the recordings.
Use a Heatmap
Heatmaps are tools that can help you understand what the visitors are doing once they are on your website. By using indicators, you can check how the visitor is engaging and where he/she is not. Make changes to the page as per the analysis.
Analyze the data obtained, and make needed adjustments to the page. You can try an A/B test, where the page is closed, and the changes are made to the cloned page to check which one is more pleasing. This action can help you reduce the bounce rate, and can be implemented for every page of your website.
Conclusion
Now that you are aware of what bounce rate is and how to correct it, it is time you check your website and make necessary changes for the same. Access the content on your site, check for any technical errors, use tools or Heatmaps to understand visitor engagement patterns, and finally optimize your website to reduce the bounce rate. For any help, you can always hire the services of a Digital marketing agency Vancouver.
