Real Ways to Reduce Your Website Bounce Rate
Bounce rate: the number of visitors who left the resource too quickly or after viewing just one page. A high bounce rate signals to the owner of the resource that a radical revision of the pages is required, because the user does not find here interesting and important information for him. For search engines, this is also a signal to lower the position of the site, because it seems uninteresting to users.
It is not possible to analyze the number of failures for each page for large Internet resources. But there are methods that are quite efficient for both landing pages and online stores.
Determining bounces by time on site: when it matters
If the user has been on the site for less than 15 seconds, this is considered a bounce. This approach to counting is important for:
- landing pages where there are no more pages to go to;
- information sites, blogs, thematic portals where the user is interested in one particular article;
- information platforms such as "couponers" or those where "best offers", "fast delivery" are concentrated.
How to determine the bounce rate for multipagers
It is important to determine how many users leave each of the important pages, and how many traffic bounces in general. Average bounce rates from traffic are very important: they demonstrate the correct setting of the advertising campaign. For example, if the parameters in the ad are set incorrectly (in terms of age, gender, geographic location), then the site will receive inappropriate traffic, thereby providing a large percentage of failures. All traffic acquisition channels must be evaluated very accurately.
When you are sure that the traffic is targeted, it is worth evaluating how many users leave the landing page. If a visitor leaves without completing a conversion action, then the page is not doing its job. And in order for “acquaintance” with the site to take place at the level, it needs to be improved.
Several basic pages are checked: the main page, the parent pages, and certain groups of product cards. The first check is for technical errors:
- Site loading speed. Must be high, otherwise the user will leave without waiting for the requested information. You can use the Google Developers service to get the necessary configuration advice.
- Hosting quality. The "correct" resource is always available to the user.
- Navigation. For the user, the convenience of searching is important, and this provides only intuitive navigation. Accordingly, all the "control" and transition buttons should be visible.
- The presence of distracting ads. The page does not need any music or pop-ups - all this is distracting.
- Compliance with requests. The information on the site must exactly match the requests for which the user came.
How to evaluate pages of a commercial resource
Commercial inquiries drive users who are ready to buy. Accordingly, they should see the catalog with prices from the very first page, and not search for it by scrolling through “missions and stories”.
If the user immediately sees that the page matches his needs, he will stay and study the prices. At the same time, there should be a minimum of extraneous information, prices are open, and the current availability of goods is also visible.
If the consumer went from the search engine directly to the product card, then he already has all the necessary motivation for the purchase. He needs to demonstrate: delivery conditions, prices, terms, photos and characteristics. If you do not have this information, the buyer will certainly find it from competitors.
In the event that there are no visible reasons for refusal, but too many users still leave the page, it is worth checking usability using standard Yandex.Metrica tools. This makes it easier to evaluate user behavior. See them through their eyes, which does not suit.
For example, it is difficult for most people to fill out order forms for a long time, enter too much information there, and then also an incomprehensible captcha. In fact, all this can be done much faster and easier, which means that the bounce rate will decrease. Naturally, reducing the number of bounces will lead to higher conversions - and this is exactly what is so important for commercial resources.
Artificially reduce failures - is it possible?
Theoretically, yes, and practically - it is possible. Put on the main interactive game or unusual video. This will keep the user on the site. But as soon as all the fun is over, your page will be closed and they won’t even remember what they actually came for.
Are you planning to attract interesting content? Excellent! Let it be thematic and selling. Moreover, video salespeople are now in the trend.
So, a low bounce rate is an indicator of the success of your site, that the information is understandable and accessible to users, that the advertising campaign is set up correctly. When the bounce rate rises, you should immediately start looking for errors.