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Bounce Rate

Definition

Bounce rate is the percentage of website visitors that leave a website after looking at only one page.

Bounce rate is reported by the common website analytics tools, including Google Analytics, and can be used to get a better understanding of how to convert website visitors into leads or customers. A high bounce rate means that more people leave your site without viewing additional pages; a low bounce rate means that people tend to view at least two pages within one visit to your website.

High bounce rate is not necessarily cause for alarm. Bounce rate does not take into account the amount of time someone stays on your website – a high bounce rate with a long time-on-page may indicate that you’ve answered all the visitor’s questions without requiring them to visit additional pages.

You can reduce your bounce rate by employing the principles of good UI and UX web design. Additionally, calls to action to visit other pages of your website may entice readers to stay on your site.

What is a good bounce rate?

Ideally, we would want at least half (50%) of a website’s visitors to take some sort of action on the page. Typically we see bounce rates from some channels be higher (organic search is typically 80-90%) and others lower (email marketing is typically 30-40%).

What does a 100% bounce rate mean?

A 100% bounce rate indicates that every single person that viewed the page left without taking any action. If over 1,000 people have viewed the page and the bounce rate is still 100%, check both tracking and how visitors are coming to the page for clues on how to improve.

Why is my bounce rate high?

5 reasons your bounce rate may be high:

  • Confusing offers
  • Intrusive advertisements
  • Page not matching intent the user had when clicking to your site
  • Visitors confused where to find the information they came for
  • Slow page load times

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