Bounce Rate is a metric that all website owners pay close attention to especially if utilizing web tracking tools such as Google Analytics. It is relevance indicator that portrays the level of interaction the average visitor has with the domain. More precisely, it is based on the amount of single-page sessions where a person left your website from an entrance page without actually interacting with it.
This metric has many website owners scrambling around for a definitive solution to lowering their bounce rate. In the reality of things such thing is non-existent. However, like anything else there are certain fundamentals that will assist with lowering your bounce rate. What does it take to lower your bounce rate? What time frame will you be faced with to be truly successful?
Common Reasons for High Bounce Rate
Some of the most common reasons a website would incur a high bounce rate percentage includes the following elements:
- Poor content structure and lack of a succinct brand voice
- Inadequate mobile experience
- Outdated design, aesthetics, and usability
- Lack of a clear user flow and interaction elements
- Undefined conversion funnel
It is most definitely a tall order to curb a high bounce rate percentage. As stated above, there is no definitive solution that would help decrease the bounce rate percentage but certain fundamentals can assist you in the course for refinement.
5 Simple Ways to Decrease Your Website Bounce Rate
There’s a variety of different things you can do to help lower your high bounce rate and ultimately improve engagement, retention, behavior, goals, and obviously conversions. At the center of everything there should be a consistent and proactive data assessment to help with identification of key areas that web visitors are engaging with. Ok, so onto the good stuff.
None of these suggestions are in any particular sequential order either. You can exercise each in any given order then track, measure, and assess performance.
#1 Authoritative Content
Authoritative content plays a factorial role in the bounce rate metric. If visitors to your site are not finding the information relevant, helpful, or simply informational then chances are Google will not react in similar fashion. It’s imperative to consider ways you can improve your content marketing initiatives. Think of content marketing as the new way of selling. For example, during the old days of car buying dating back to two decades ago, selling was based on clout. In other words, you were told that a certain vehicle is the best choice for you based on budget, performance, and some miscellaneous misconception to earn your business. Nowadays, the consumer wants to test drive, feel, experience, and connect with the vehicle. There’s a much more personal level of interaction that impacts the decision buying process. So, for content marketing think of it as a soft-selling approach. The consumer wants to feel engaged, acknowledged, and embraced. Content marketing creates a platform for engagement, authority, brand recognition, and opportunity for building brand advocates.
#2 Mobile UX/UI
The epic growth of mobile usage and technology advances has allowed consumers to interact with brands more frequently with websites on the internet. Mobile traffic now accounts for approximately 50-70% of traffic across multiple industries. Quite the substantial amount of activity. In a recent article, Facebook makes predictions for a mobile-centric future approach indicating the significant importance of mobile and how brands should shift their attention in that direction. The Big G event made an announcement regarding mobile-search friendliness turning into it a ranking factor as of April 21, 2015. So, what does this mean for your website? A mobile-responsive website may be feasible but not quite the optimal solution for lead generation. It requires nurturing, upkeep, maintenance, and refinement on the User Experience and User Interaction front. Eloquence plays an intricate component in ensuring visitors on mobile devices feel engaged and find interaction with your brand. Google PageSpeed Insights and the Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool are excellent resources for identifying compliance of search standards. Last but not least, the Webmaster Mobile-Friendly Guide is the ultimate resource for refining your mobile visibility.
#3 The On-Page Experience
The on-page experience as it pertains to search specifically involves a combination of multiple aspects that must align almost succinctly to create an optimal effect on the end user. These elements consist of the following areas:
- Unique content value
- Great UX/UI elements
- Topical keywords and integration
- Multi-screen support
- Sharing capabilities for social media
- Search engine robot accessible
Moz wrote a phenomenal article with a thorough explanation outlining details for comprising a targeted on-page experience. It’s one that I reference to on more than one occasion. It serves in multiple ways by clearly outlining how versatile and granular a page should be attended to in order to grab a user’s attention. The attention span of consumers nowadays is significantly more peculiar. There’s a higher demand and level of expectations that one seeks from brands and a seamless on-page experience allows the user to interact and engage.
#4 Special Effects and Interaction
Users appeal to things that offer multi-functionality. Special effects or transitions such as parallax allow for interaction and user input. It is most definitely recommended that you utilize only so much interaction on your website without overdoing it though. Under this section it is recommended that you collaborate with a graphic/web designer and a UX/UI engineer to understand what specifics are feasible for your brand. Determining the type of interaction you can integrate within your website that will make it stand out from the rest of them. From a search perspective, it is recommended to have certain special effects and interaction built into the website and something that attributes to organic search improvements.
#5 Conversion Funnel
A website represents the virtual face of a brand, its voice, and mission. In addition to all of those it also acts as a conversion funnel for lead generation and new business opportunities. From a bounce rate perspective, if the conversion funnel is undefined or skewed it may be creating complexities for users and therefore impacting performance. A clear conversion funnel should provide an easy path to a contact form or product purchase.