Bounce rate is extremely important
to all digital marketers. It measures the percentage of people who came to your
site and left within five seconds or after viewing only one page (Kaushik,
2007). As Avinash Kaushik puts it, “I came, I puked, I left” (2010, pg. 51).
Kaushik also explains that the bounce rate is great because it is a standard
metric included in most web analytic tools, it is easy to read and understand,
it is actionable, and it helps you to understand customer behavior. It is a metric
that analyzes the engagement of your consumers in relation to your website
(WVU, 2014).
When you run a report and analyze
your bounce rate, you want to see a low number. A high bounce rate indicates
that people are not connecting to your site. “On the Internet, a high bounce
rate is the kiss of death — and a sure sign that your website and marketing
strategy need a major overhaul” (Hartwig, 2013). Hartwig goes on to explain
that a high bounce rate is “an indication that your site isn't providing the
information the user seeks, the site could be taking too long to load or hard
to navigate, or perhaps there's some larger disconnect between your site and
your users. The simple metric is a general way to gauge the efficacy of your
site.”
In
the above example of a report posted on Kaushik’s blog (2007), there is a 70%
bounce rate. This is extremely high, and a sure sign that this company is in
trouble! “This 70% won't even give you five
seconds, or see more than one page. You can't even start to impress them with
your goodness. No matter how great your goodness is” (Kaushik, 2007). In a case
like this, it is important to get to work on your website to make it more
engaging and user friendly.
To find the bounce rate, you divide
the number of single page visits by the number of entry pages (WVU, 2014).
Kaushik (2007) recommends keeping your bounce rate between 20% and 35%. Keeping
the rate on the lower end will help you reach very important goals, such as
increasing customer engagement and conversion rate. Having a website where
people spend a good amount of time is a sign that customers are connecting to
your brand. Your site is making a good impression, and they are likely to come
back and spend time on it again. This increased time will likely lead to a
purchase or an opt-in.
Once
you find your bounce rate, the next step is to measure the bounce rate for
different traffic sources (Kaushik, 2007). Look at the bounce rates coming from
different URLs, the keywords being used in different search engines, the
keywords for your paid ad campaigns, and your top trafficked pages. It is
possible you are getting bad traffic from somewhere and you need to make some
changes.
The
bounce rate is a metric that “will help you focus very quickly on what's
important, show where you are wasting money and what content on your site needs
revisiting” (Kaushik, 2007). By paying attention to this metric, you can
increase your conversion rate and become more connected to consumers. These are
top goals for most companies! There is a ton of information online about
different techniques for reducing bounce rates. More common suggestions include
eliminating pop-ups, increasing user-friendliness, limiting video that takes a
long time to load, and making sure you have quality content.
For an example of how one company reduced their 82% bounce rate by 39% and as a result increased their conversion rate by 400%, click here.
References:
Hartwig,
Elisha. (2013). How to Lower Your Site's Bounce Rate. Retrieved on January 25
from http://mashable.com/2013/11/22/bounce-rate-metrics/
Kaushik, Avinash. (2007). Standard Metrics
Revisited: #3: Bounce Rate. Retrieved on January 25 from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/standard-metrics-revisited-3-bounce-rate/
Kaushik, A. (2010). Web
analytics 2.0: The art of online accountability & science of customer
centricity.Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.
PI
Reed School of Journalism. (2014). Lesson 2: Basic Web Analytics.
Retrieved on January 25 from https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FdisplayLearningUnit%3Fcourse_id%3D_7879_1%26content_id%3D_335298_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue
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