You’ve taken a look at your website’s analytics and noticed that your bounce rate is through the roof. Unfortunately, a higher number isn’t better when it comes to this metric.
When your bounce rate is high, you probably won't get the conversions you want.
Here is what you need to know about your bounce rate, why that figure matters, and some digital marketing strategies you can use to lower that figure and improve your results.
What is a Bounce Rate?
Your website’s bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who land on your website and leave after only viewing that single page on your site. You can find this figure in Google Analytics by clicking on Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages. Your site can register a “bounce” whether a user spends two seconds or 45 minutes on your page.
Bounce rates can vary by industry, but the rule of thumb is that anything over 80% is terrible, around 50-70% is about average, and below 50% is excellent. If your bounce rate is lower than 20%, you might have a tracking error that is providing erroneous results.
Why Your Bounce Rate Matters
Bounce rate isn’t necessarily a ranking factor with Google. So, why should you care? Well, much like everything else, it comes down to the user experience.
If visitors are arriving at your site and then leaving from the same page, it could be a sign of trouble. It might mean that you don’t have a well-organized page, you haven’t provided a call-to-action, or your content just isn’t that useful or engaging.
7 Ways to Lower Your Website’s Bounce Rate
If you have a high bounce rate, it’s a good idea to see what you can do to lower it. When visitors spend more time on your website, you are creating more brand awareness, and there is a greater chance they will become customers.
Here are some digital marketing strategy tips for lowering your website’s bounce rate:
1. Check Your Site Speed
Page load speed is important to consumers. How important? Most expect a page to load in about two seconds or less. Any longer, and they’re likely to hit the “back” button and try your competitor’s site.
Check your page load speed. If your website is sluggish, take the necessary steps to improve it, and you’ll probably see a reduction in your bounce rate.
2. Use Clear Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
When visitors arrive at your web page, are they getting the content they expect based on the description in the search engine results? If it’s something entirely different, you can’t blame a visitor when they decide to leave.
Make sure your title tags and meta descriptions are an accurate depiction of what is on your page. If they are vague or misleading, update them.
3. Improve Your Content’s Readability
Consumers increasingly want to read content that is pleasing to the eyes. Your words might form a masterpiece. But if your page consists of a single paragraph or a “wall of words,” it’s going to be difficult to read.
When writing for the web, limit your paragraphs to a maximum of three sentences. Keep your sentences short and break up your content with headers. Finally, include plenty of bullet points, lists, and visuals that make your content easy to read.
4. Avoid Annoying Popups
You might think you’re being strategic with pop-up ads, but consumers overwhelmingly dislike them. How much? Roughly 70% of users admit that irrelevant popups are annoying.
When you interrupt a visitor’s experience with a popup and make them search for that little “x” to close it out, you’re probably pushing them towards leaving your page. If you’re going to use any kind of popup, it’s better to make it unobtrusive, such as a banner on the top, bottom, or side of your page.
5. Include Compelling CTAs
Once your visitor has satisfied their needs on your page, what’s the next step? If you don’t tell them, most will just leave your website and do something else. You might have succeeded in answering their question, but you’ll also get a bounce.
You can lower your bounce rate by giving them something else to do with an effective call-to-action (CTA). Some examples are signing up for a free email newsletter or leading them to a resource page with additional content.
6. Set External Links to Open in a New Window
There’s nothing wrong with citing external sources in your writing and linking to them. But, when your external links open on the same page, you’ve just bounced your visitor. If they want to return to your content, they have to hit the “back” button, and you might lose some folks if they get distracted.
A better strategy is to have external links open in a new tab. When you add a link, you can generally just select “open in new window,” or you can add the code target=”_blank” attribute to your links.
7. Optimize Your Content
Part of your content marketing strategy should be optimizing your new and existing content. This will help lower bounce rates by ensuring you are attracting the right audiences to your page and providing them with what they need.
Your content should include your target keywords without stuffing them or making the reading awkward. Finally, you’ll want to use internal links throughout your content to send visitors to other pages on your website and lessen the chance that they will leave from the same page they arrived on.
When visitors land a page that contains the information they expect to see that is presented in a useful and engaging way, they are less likely to leave or “bounce.” This inbound marketing strategy sounds simple in theory, but brands can find it challenging to execute without help.
At Connection Model, we specialize in delivering result-driven solutions to digital marketing clients, including lowering bounce rates and driving conversions. Contact us today to start a conversation about how our services can help your business achieve its goals.
Written By: David Carpenter
