What is the bounce rate?

The bounce rate also known as bounce rate tells you what actions and behaviors Internet users take on a given page (www subpage). Bounce rate is primarily interested in what percentage of users leave the subpage without performing any action, e.g. switching to a product card, blog, to the next article. The bounce rate is calculated for both the entire site and its individual subpages. Users’ actions that are included in the bounce rate are:

– Closing the card / page / subpage as soon as you enter it,
– Clicking the back button, i.e. back to the previous page,
– Clicking on the outgoing link,
– Entering a new URL after leaving the page,
– No activity on the site for 30 minutes after turning it on.

Where to check the page bounce rate?

The bounce rate is calculated using the formula. Self-calculation is not the best of ideas, however. To get to know him, it’s best to enter Google Analytics. It will show the bounce rate in different shots, e.g. traffic sources, paid campaigns, country or Internet device type. In Google Analytics, you can check the bounce rate for the entire site, as well as the most popular landing pages.

What should the bounce rate be?

The amount of bounce rate spends sleep on both website owners and SEO specialists. One of the most common questions is when the rate is too high, how much should it be, and is the bounce rate a situation that requires intervention?

Certainly the high bounce rate is not interesting for the site. It shows that the website or subpage is not interesting, encouraging for Internet users, and most importantly, it does not find the content they were looking for. A high bounce rate is a signal that you need to look at the website and make changes to it. What bounce rate should alarm and encourage corrective action? You definitely need to work on a page if your bounce rate is 80-90% for all sites or key subpages.

So what should be the correct bounce rate? There is no universal answer here. A different result will be a success for each site. Help in determining whether it falls in the “range”: may be the results published by Google, and telling about the average value of bounce rate for individual industries.

However, it is worth remembering that the bounce rate cannot be minimized to zero (if the bounce rate is actually around 0%, it is worth checking if the Google Analytics installation is not incorrect). Even in the case of the best websites, it has a level of 30-40%. It should also be borne in mind that a worthless visit to the website is not always included in the bounce rate. When measuring bounce rate, you always need to consider when you left the site. If, for example, an Internet user left the page after reading the blog article, then, as a rule, it should not be included in the bounce rate, even if then he did not make any other move. It is a desirable and expected action. Therefore, bloggers, news and current affairs websites may have a high bounce rate, despite the content they are interested in.

Therefore, measuring the ratio should be approached with great care. The recommended solution is to set the time in Google Analytics after which BR will turn on after e.g. 30 seconds.

In summary, bounce rate is an important parameter, but it is not the only determinant of page value. Analyzing it, it is also worth looking at other parameters, e.g. dwell time and on the basis of complete data giving possible corrective actions.

How do you reduce the bounce rate?

To reduce your bounce rate, you can do a number of things. Before you start, however, you must do an analysis of your site. At the beginning it is worth to select subpages that actually have a high bounce rate and analyze why a low bounce rate is recorded. This can be due to various reasons for specific subpages, e.g. home page – too low frequency of adding new content; product card – non-intuitive purchase process, contact subpage – no further way forward.

Knowing what causes a high bounce rate, you can plan and implement specific actions to counteract it. There are many possibilities here and you must always adapt them to the individual situation of the site.

The 3 most important things that reduce bounce rates

If you want to fight a high bounce rate, first of all you have to bet on 3 things. They significantly affect whether the site is friendly and attractive to the recipient.

– The first is good content, i.e. content placed on your website or blog.
– Another is to respond to users needs.
– The last is navigation intuitiveness.

If the first two points pose a problem with high bounce rates, then you need to correct the content and ensure better content. If the third point is a problem, then your site’s technical facilities will need to “fix”.

11 ways to reduce bounce factor

A. Simple and intuitive navigation
An Internet friendly website is the one on which it will be able to navigate simply and easily. It is worth remembering that what seems to be creative navigation for the creator, for the user can be an impulse to quickly leave the site and without getting acquainted with its content. The main menu, site map (larger websites), search engine, navigation buttons, call to action and other navigation elements should be designed so that the user does not think about the next step, but performs it automatically and moves to the next subpages.

B. Service readability
Even the best content or good quality product cannot be defended if it is presented carelessly. Lack of readability means that most Internet users leave the site faster than they appeared on it. So if you want to reduce the bounce rate, you should make sure that the content on the page is readable (large blocks of text are thrown away) – divided by headers, bulleted, bolded, written in clear font. Multimedia (movies and photos) should support the message. Readability is not only content, but also visual hierarchy, so-called whitespace (free space), consistent colors, adequate contrast, the right amount of information and CTA, consistent message delivery, detailing the most important information, e.g. purchase conditions.

In terms of page readability, it’s best to follow the KISS principle and remember that if the readability of the page is bad, all the rest doesn’t matter. It is also worth remembering that readability is closely related to design. And it’s not just about making the site look nice. Designing on a website should focus mainly on emphasizing the most important content, data, information, graphics and products.

C. Fast website loading
Today, nobody likes to wait – Internet users open their websites even more. You can check the page loading speed using Page Speed Insights. You should strive to make the tag as fast as possible, especially for mobiles devices. If the tool shows that the speed of the site is unsatisfactory, then you will need, among others image compression, reducing the number of scripts or using the browser cache.

D. Compliance of website content with promises
Do you promise the client that he will go to the site, where he will find his dream vacation in France, and when he enters the site, he gets a vacation in Bali? Most likely, this means that it will leave the website quickly and thus be included in the bounce rate. To avoid this, you should work on matching your landing pages to search engine and keyword search queries. It is also worth suggesting immediately alternative articles / products on similar subjects and give the user a chance to make the next move, not to leave the site immediately.

It is worth mentioning here that in the title and meta description of a subpage, content should not use phrases that are readily searched, but have little in common with the content on the subpage. Even if a customer enticed by finding out something that interests him, enters such a subpage, it is almost a 100% guarantee that he will leave it quickly.

E. A large amount of practical information
Very often the reason for leaving the website quickly, if it lacks the most important information for the user. To help him find them, it’s worth including
– create a FAQ subpage,
– make sure the product card contains current and most important product information; the use of generalities is not recommended;
– is the website lacking information on how to order a service / product, price list, directions.

F. CTA leading to subsequent events
The CTA buttons are intended to persuade the Internet user to perform further actions on the website and move to its next parts. They should be designed and arranged so as to create a clear and legible path, e.g. for product purchase, contact form, quote. Call to action on the site can appear in the form of buttons, banners or external links. It’s best to mark them with a different font color that will stand out from the rest of the texts. On a site without CTA, the user will have to look for subpages to which he must go in a given order. This lack of help may result in you leaving the site quickly.

G. Social evidence
One of the conditions for staying on the website by the Internet user is its credibility. If he finds that the site does not inspire trust, he will deny the content on it in advance and leave it quickly. To avoid a high bounce rate, it’s a good idea to social evidence. Thanks to this, users will be shown from a good side. References, opinions, reviews, customer photos are considered social evidence.

H. Lack of intrusive advertising and pop-ups
Pop-ups, video gadgets and consent messages can effectively discourage you from staying on the site for a long time. If at the very beginning the user is attacked by various messages and cannot reach the information he is looking for, he will quickly leave the page.

I. Responsive website
It would seem that today you do not need to talk or remind anyone about responsiveness. However, it turns out that still many sites are not adapted for mobiles devices. Meanwhile, much of the traffic comes from them – on average 70%. The user who browses the pages on the phones will almost certainly leave those that display incorrectly.

J. Accompanying events
There are subpages that naturally don’t generate any further activity. These include, for example, a subpage with a blog article or contact tabs. The user, finishing reading the article or checking the phones number, closes the subpage and leaves the website. However, there are ways to extend his presence on the site and encourage these activities. How to do it? It is enough to attach accompanying events to a given subpage. Behind this concept is, e.g. subscribing to the newsletter, completing the form / survey, clicking on the phones number or reading the product cards.

K. Regularity of content
If you run a blog, regular delivery of new content will affect your bounce rate. Most readers follow social media entries and reach their destination from there. Permanently sharing and redirecting to one and the same article means that the reader will quickly leave the text he has already read. Providing up-to-date content is not just important on a blog. If, for example, the data from the 2000 landing page is given, the customer may be discouraged and look for fresh information.

Summary

Many bounce rates are awake at night. Taming him is often not as difficult as it seems. The ground is a good analysis of the reasons for high bounce rate. In some cases it may turn out that it is not a bad thing. However, when the bounce rate is high, it’s worth starting to act. And then verify if the actions bring results. This is best done using A / B testing. They consist of saving the bounce rate for a given page, then implementing change (one) and verifying whether the bounce rate has decreased.

What is a conversion?

A conversion is an action that converts a passive user into an active one. Conversion occurs when he makes a purchase, is interested in the service, clicks on the link or subscribes to the newsletter.

Properly selected and implemented conversion ultimately translates into profit, not only for stores and websites, but also online training conducted by specialists who want to make contact with a potential customer and sell their knowledge via the Internet.

What is conversion then? It is a process that occurs when you manage to attract the user’s interest – through entries, the appearance of the page, text, graphics, newsletter. The idea is to attract recipients who will stay for longer and become not only temporary visitors to the site, but active users and clients. If you expect such effects at home, then take care of proper optimization and positioning of websites.

What is the conversion rate?

A conversion rate or indicator is a term that describes the number of conversions that have taken place on the number of visitors to a page. The result helps determine the page’s effectiveness and the number of visitors who have made purchases or otherwise responded to the conversion goal.

Conversion Goals

Goal conversion is an important strategic element that will allow you to create website or online store assumptions and optimize your website. It will help determine the strategy of action targeted at the given target group. Set conversion goals will help turn users into active customers.

Conversion goals can vary – depending on your company’s business profile. The goal in the online store will be to finalize the purchase, for websites – the customer using the service or simply establishing a relationship with the company (e.g. by contact or newsletter). The goal of the conversion is not just a one-time visit. We want the user / client to remember the page, stay on it as long as possible, use the offered service, but also to come back and make further transactions.

What goals can the conversion have?
– Purchase made by the customer,
– The user will remain on the page as long as possible,
– Returning to the site,
– Registering customer account,
– Subscribing to the newsletter,
– Leaving your contact details,
– Filling out the form, statistics, surveys, studies,
– Clicking on the banner advertising made available on the website,
– Watching the movie on the site,
– Viewing and clicking graphics and infographics, downloading them,
– Going to subpages within the website,
– Customer sharing e.g. of an article or product on social media,
– Downloading free graphics, pdf files or e-books that are available on the website.

Conversion goals are set in Google Analytics, and individual elements are implemented through Google Tag Manager.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is all actions on the website that are to improve the overall conversion rate. This will ultimately translate into the purchasing process, contact with the customer and his later return to the site. Conversion optimization should be preceded by setting goals, determining who is the recipient of the content, services or products that appear on the page. Appropriate optimization is to achieve these goals and adapt the appearance and content of the site to the needs of the client/recipient. The final result is to be a satisfactory conversion rate. Conversion optimization is also called the CRO strategy and aims to improve on the website all elements that will help achieve the intended goal.

CRO should be combined with SEO optimization, because organic traffic and increased activity on the part of the recipients increase the chance of conversion. In addition, Google’s crawlers take into account behavioral factors when indexing a page. Conversion optimization combines with SEO and web analytics, User Experience (UX) and SXO, so these aspects should be taken into account when implementing goals.

The site’s appearance and functionality adapted to the recipient

User experience – the first impression is important. The appearance of the page, its intuitiveness, accessible functions and general design affect the positive user experience, which allows you to decide on the purchasing process. Pages that do not have interesting graphics, their service is unclear, they do not display well on mobiles devices – they will generate a low conversion rate. Therefore, it is important to work on optimizing user experience (SXO) that affects conversion.

Clear and intuitive page – each of the elements on the page should work properly, the purchasing or contact process must be clear and concise. Users may not be distracted by pop-up advertising windows or functions that are out of order. Even if he made a choice and put products in the basket that interested him, he will not complete the purchasing process if the site in the last stage is suspicious for him. The website must be useful, well-structured with a clear menu and appropriate navigation. The clear interface makes the user want to stay on the site.

Minimalist look, clear messages – a page that contains too many graphics, screaming banners or bright colors will cause overstimulation, and a potential customer will not want to stay on it. It is worth using clear messages, e.g. about discounts, promotions, new offers that are striking. Website design trends show that websites that are transparent and intuitive, with bright colors and concise messages work best.

The target group – the appearance of the site, offer, content, graphics or photos – all these elements must in terms of content and design reach a specific target group. If customers’ needs are not specified correctly, it will negatively affect the conversion rate.

Page loading speed – a site that takes a long time to load or does not display some subpages will generate a bounce rate and thus will not convert. There is a risk that an impatient user will leave the site if he doesn’t see the home screen quickly.

Safe, fast and convenient shopping

Encrypted SSL protocol – security certificate definitely improves the comfort of staying on the website, and in the case of SSL online stores it is even necessary. This element also affects trust in the brand and affects the sense of security of the user who is to leave his data on the site.

Online feedback – positive feedback increases reliability and trust in the company. The user is more willing to use the services of an enterprise that has good opinions on the web.

Cross-selling and up-selling – cross-selling and complementary sales are other factors that are designed to maximize profits. It is worth introducing such an option in the online store and proposing additional or similar items to the customer, but for example with a higher and lower price range.

Simplified purchasing method – a user who already decides to buy should go through this process as soon as possible. The icons that tell the client how many steps he will have to complete to complete the transaction work well.

Expert position, building brand reliability and efficient communication with the user

Industry content – the position of an expert increases credibility, but also helps the customer make the final choice. Expert blog content not only builds the content that is needed for website positioning, but also provides industry knowledge, dispels doubts, enriches with new issues and enables you to make a choice (e.g. through an article on the topic on which saw to choose). It is worth sharing knowledge on your website. Users can get to the site through keywords and queries that have been included in the content, and if they like the text, they are likely to share it, e.g. on social media. Content can greatly increase the conversion rate.

Unique content – content cannot be copied from other sites. Content on the page must be unique. It is important to know how to write SEO texts so that they are accessible to users and search engine robots. This is an important element not only of conversion, but also positioning of the page. A site with an internal and external duplicate will lose the trust of users as well as crawlers. Create consistent and targeted content, share knowledge, and personalize product descriptions. Think about what content the recipient can expect and what knowledge to gain from it.

Optimization of photos – it is important to have good photo titles, especially to correctly describe the alt attribute. In addition, photos should be encouraging and allow a thorough view of the product from all sides. At the same time, the graphics must be optimal in size so that they do not slow down the page loading speed.

Video – a short film about a company, product, assembly or how it works, is another factor that affects website conversion. Video placed on the site with some products may affect the final purchase decision.

Header optimization – not only for valid h1-h3 markings, but also for naming. Do not use summary information in product titles and names. Article, category or product description should be properly written using key phrases, long tail and product specification.

Communication – a quick and comprehensive answer to customer doubts helps to increase the conversion rate. In addition, real-time communication (live chat or Messenger) generates a greater number of satisfied customers who return to the store. According to research conducted by Paraphrase-Online.com, as many as 79% of customers prefer live chat because it offers an immediate response. However, as many as 92% of users are satisfied with the level of service, and 63% of consumers return to the store that provides such a way of communication.

There is no one good way to optimize and thus increase the conversion rate. Each time you need to adapt it to a given page, think about what the potential customer expects from it, what can interrupt it in making the final purchasing process and what to do to change it.

How to measure the conversion?

Google Analytics is an indispensable tool for creating goals and measuring conversion effects. Through this tool you can analyze whether the implemented optimization elements give the desired results in the form of new customers and completed purchasing processes. Measuring conversions should include analyzing user needs, implementing them, and correcting what is not working properly.

With the help of this tool you can specify:
– how many people went to the homepage,
– how long they stayed on the site,
– what and how many pages the user viewed at that time,
– what actions did it perform on the site.

Reports from Google Analytics will allow you to analyze the quality of the page and tell you if you will need to implement new facilities on it that will interest the user and lead to a conversion resulting in the purchase or use of the service.

A / B tests

This is another way you can see if your conversion rate is increasing. The A /B test involves creating two versions of the page, in which the interface, layout of graphic elements and content as well as the overall design are different. Then it is measured and analyzed which version attracts more recipients. A/B tests can be performed in Google Optimize, which allows you to edit and correct HTML code, Javascript rules or cascading style sheets (CSS) – without the help of programmers. This tool allows you to later test different variants of the page. The conversion of A and B pages is also measured via Google Analytics or tools that track customer traffic on the website (heat map website).

How to increase the conversion/conversion rate in the online store and on the website?

The basis for increasing the conversion rate is setting goals that minimize the effect of empty traffic (i.e. short visits to the site that are not profitable). What is the reason for this situation? That the customer did not find what he was looking for on the page. He could have been addressed to her via keywords, but the content and products ultimately did not match his expectations. Work on every detail of your website – headers that will reach a specific target group, a category tree that should be legible with overall consistency and credibility. Find out what other ways are there to increase conversion on your website or online store.

Newsletter – it is worth encouraging the user to subscribe to the newsletter. A good way to convince him of this is a bonus, e.g. a discount for first purchases or a free e-book with practical knowledge. It’s worth using the tool to create personalized emails here.

Choice of payment and delivery – customers have their own preferences regarding the choice of payment and delivery methods. It is worth providing some of the most popular options on the site.

Call to action – visible buttons calling to click work well. They can be placed directly on the page or in the text (also in the form of internal linking).

Graphics and infographics – illustrating the purchasing process, graphic category tree, photos that make the product seem more tangible – these are the elements that affect the conversion.

Banners promotions and sales – clear and legible messages about discounts and promotions available on the site encourage potential customers to click on them and take advantage of the promotion.

Social media – consistent actions on social media (matched to the business profile), builds reliability and increases the brand’s position in the eyes of the customer.

Web push – web push notifications are small pop-ups that engage the user. It is also a way to generate leads.

Countdown clock – countdown clocks, which, for example, counts down the time to end the promotion, increases the user’s sense of uniqueness and transience of an attractive offer, which speeds up the purchasing process.

Exit Pop-up – a pop-up window appears when the customer wants to leave the site. The banner that appears at the time of exit should arouse interest and keep the potential customer for longer, e.g. through a discount on purchases, if he subscribes to the newsletter.