Getsitecontrol Insider

8 Easy Steps to Reduce Bounce Rate on Your Website

February 25, 2020 Getsitecontrol Episode 10
Getsitecontrol Insider
8 Easy Steps to Reduce Bounce Rate on Your Website
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Bounce rate is a tricky metric you should always keep an eye on.
A high bounce rate is often a clear signal that your website’s landing pages don’t meet the expectations of your visitors.

In this episode, we'll cover 8 easy steps to help you reduce bounce rate. We'll also explain how to stop guessing why visitors abandon your website without taking any action. (Hint: you should use website exit surveys and ask them directly).

Useful tools and links mentioned in this episode:

The episode is based on a blog post about ways to reduce bounce rate

Don't forget to subscribe!

Create beautiful email signup forms, coupon boxes, and pop-up surveys for your store with Getsitecontrol.

Speaker 1:

Hi, you're listening to Getsitecontrol Insider, a podcast where we talk about ways to boost conversion rates.

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In today's episode, we'll share eight ideas to help you reduce bounce rate. But first we'll explain what exactly a bounce rate is and why it's such an important metric to keep an eye on. Stay tuned! No matter what kind of website you have, getting more visitors is probably one of your major goals. But once those visitors arrive, your goal should be to get them to take action, whether it's subscribing to your newsletter, purchasing your product, or filling out a contact form. If your website visitors leave without taking any action, your bounce rate will reflect that end increase. And most times, high bounce rate is a bad signal that affects both your website's SEO and conversions. So if you're wondering how to reduce bounce rate on your website, we're going to cover eight easy steps to help you do that.

Speaker 1:

But first, what is a bounce rate?

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Let's quickly recap the most common understanding of a bounce rate. You may already know it: bounce rate is the percentage of single page visits. A single page visit occurs when people landing on your website leave without visiting another page. For example, if a hundred visitors land on your website and 47 of them leave without further browsing, your bounce rate is 47%. That was easy. Now, here comes the tricky part. For some websites, a single page session does not mean a bounce. For instance, if your goal is to get visitors to watch a video, click on a button or fill out a form, when these actions are performed, they can be viewed as important engagement signals for Google Analytics, and technically that's a successful session. In this case, only if a visitor does not interact with the website in any way, that will be considered a bounce.

Speaker 1:

Typically, a bounce happens when a visitor decides to click away, types in a new URL while on your site, clicks the back button, closes the tab or experiences session timeout due to a hosting error.

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While the above is normal user behavior, keep in mind that there is a good bounce rate as well as a bad bounce rate. So let's talk about the average bounce rates across industries because they vary so much. It can be difficult to give a precise answer on what is a good number here, but based on the benchmark averages for different industries, if your bounce rate is lower than 50% you're good. If your bounce rate is 10% you are doing a great job- time to celebrate! And if your bounce rate is higher than 60% you should conduct a thorough website audit and implement changes. Wondering what causes a high bounce rate in the first place?

Speaker 1:

A high bounce rate usually means that a visitor didn't find what they were looking for. This could be because the content they were expecting to find has moved and you didn't implement a redirect. Or the content they were looking for was never there to begin with.

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A high bounce rate could also mean that your website is too difficult to use and there's no clear call to action showing visitors the next logical step. The reason why having a good bounce rate is so important is because it is proportional to the user experience on your website. A high bounce rate means poor user experience, and it means your conversion rates will suffer. For you, that's fewer subscribers, fewer leads and less money in your bank account. On top of that, if search engines notice that your visitors are leaving your website quickly, they will more than likely push your website lower in the search results, and that means less organic traffic.

Speaker 1:

Now that we've established that, let's move on to eight ways to reduce bounce rate on your website.

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1. Display website exit surveys. While Google Analytics can tell you which pages have a high bounce rate, it doesn't exactly tell you why your visitors are leaving. This means you'll be doing a lot of guessing and shooting in the dark, trying to lower your bounce rate. Instead of guessing, consider using website exit surveys and ask people directly why they abandon your website. Basically, it's a survey that pops up right before a visitor is about to exit and it's copy may sound something like:"Why are you leaving?" And then a few options to choose from: I haven't found what I was looking for/ The product is too pricey/ I didn't understand what it is/ I need more information/ I'm going to come back later. You can use Getsitecontrol to easily create a survey like this one and then place it on the most important pages of your website to find out why they underperform.

Speaker 1:

2. Ensure your landing page is visually appealing.

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Like it or not, design matters when it comes to your website, and this is especially important if you're using paid advertising. Imagine the confusion your visitors must feel when they click over from a beautifully designed ad and land on a visually confusing or unappealing page. As such, it's important to make sure the page content meets the expectations of a visitor who reads the meta title or the description that shows up in Google search results. 3. Optimize page load time. Nobody likes slow websites. According to the HubSpot studies, 47% of people expect your website to load in less than two seconds. In other words, if your website loads slowly, chances are visitors might not even wait until it loads completely. They'll just close the page to never return. Start by examining how fast your website loads using tools like Pingdom or Google page speed insights. All you have to do is enter your website URL and let the tool analyze your page. Once you get the report, it will tell you how long it takes your site to load and what you should do to boost the performance. 4. Display clear calls to action. Lack of clarity might be another reason why your bounce rate is high. If you don't have a clear call to action, well, then your visitors won't know what you want them to do and they certainly won't stick around trying to guess. Every page on your website should have a clear call to action. The wording, of course will depend on your customer journey and what you consider a conversion at each stage. For example, if you have an online store, your call to action could be to take advantage of a special deal or just to purchase a product. And if you provide services, your call to action could be to book a free consultation.

Speaker 1:

5. Improve user experience on mobile.

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According to Statista, mobile traffic accounts for 52% of all web traffic worldwide. If your website is not mobile friendly, you could be losing a significant chunk of potential customers. If you're not sure whether your website is mobile friendly, use Google's mobile friendly test tool. Within a few seconds you'll be able to get a report and if the results are not as good as anticipated, you can take specific actions to optimize your website. 6. Implement internal linking. Another easy way to reduce bounce rate on a website is to link to relevant pages and blog posts to encourage visitors to browse your website. You can use regular text links in the body of your copy, display related articles under each blog post, or use your sidebar to display your categories or recently published content. 7. Use exit intent popups exit intent.

Speaker 1:

Popups have been long recommended for growing your email list. And they are also a great way to reduce bounce rate on your website. Larry Kim, the founder of WordStream, was able to reduce bounce rate by up to 60% using exit intent popups.

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One of the best practices here is to offer a lead magnet in exchange for an email. Not only does it help you lower bounce rate because it encourages user interaction, but you also get a chance to grow the list of subscribers. Be sure to check out our episodes about lead magnets and exit popups if you want to learn more. We'll link them in the description. 8. Add social proof and credibility to your landing page. People do business with people they know, like and trust. In other words, when people trust you, they will be more inclined to buy from you. A few ways to build trust when a visitor lands on your website for the first time include displaying testimonials from past customers, showcasing product reviews from your store or from third party websites like Google or Yelp, displaying logos from media outlets you've been featured in, and featuring logos or accreditation badges from professional associations. Remember, high bounce rate is often a clear signal that your website's landing page doesn't meet the expectations of your visitors. Start with checking your web analytics to see which traffic channel has the highest bounce rate. Then take a closer look at the messaging you use on that channel. Is your meta data accurate and up to date? Do your ads on Google lead to the right page? Do your social media posts communicate the right message? Once you're able to look at your website from visitors' perspective, you'll get a clear idea of what steps you need to take next. So which tip are you planning to try first? If you decide to start with exit intent surveys or popups, go ahead and register an account@getsitecontrol.com. Give it a spin for a week and get meaningful information about the reasons people abandon your site. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to subscribe if you enjoyed the episode. Until next time.

What is a bounce rate?
Average bounce rates across industries
What causes a high bounce rate in the first place?
8 ways to reduce bounce rate on your website
1. Display website exit surveys
2. Ensure your landing page is visually appealing
3. Optimize page load time
4. Display clear calls to action
5. Improve user experience on mobile
6. Implement internal linking
7. Use exit-intent popups
8. Add social proof and credibility to your landing page