Bounce Rate is one of the important part of web site traffic analysis. It essentially represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.
For example: if 100 users visit your site and 25 of those 100 users stay to see one page only then your Bounce Rate is 25%.
The formula used to calculate bounce rate is:
Bounce Rate = Total Number of Visits Viewing Only One Page / Total Number of Visits to that page
When bounce happens?
Any of these actions can result in a bounce:
- The visitor clicks on a link to a page which takes him to another site
- The visitor closes the window or that particular tab
- The visitor enters a news URL in the same window or tab
- The visitor clicks the “Back” button to leave the site
- The visitor’s browser remains idle for a long time and the session expires
What Bounce rate signify?
Generally speaking, the bounce rate of less than 30-35% is fine, around 50% is cause of little concern and more than 70% needs attention.
There is no absolute scale to derive a conclusion based on bounce rate as the significance depends on the type of the website. For example- in the case of an ecommerce site or online store, the user tends to browse for the product of choice. There may be lot of options for the same products or number of related products. This leads to lot of clicks due to which the bounce rate of an ecommerce site will tend to be low.
Whereas in the case of niche based blog, a user visiting the site may be looking for a specific topic and was led by the search engine or a link from an external site to that particular blog post. This way, the visitor will leave the site after going through that post leading to a higher bounce rate.
So, it is important to analyze the type of website and the page views per visit before jumping on conclusions about the bounce rate.
What results in a poor bounce rate?
There are some specific reasons for a poor bounce rate which should be worked on not just to improve the bounce rate but overall betterment of the website:
- Website design and usability
The user is very short of time nowadays. It takes seconds for him to leave the site if the website is not professional looking or the content is not precise or the navigation is hard to follow. So, its really important for the website to be user-friendly. - Site speed
The website speed is another factor for turning off the user. Its also now a criteria by search engines like Google for the site rankings. So, prefer a fast loading site with optimal of heavy elements like flash. - Linking from reliable site
If a visitor comes on the site by clicking on a link in the blog post of one of his favorite blog, he will stay longer as the link is on his trusted site. So, its important to link your website from good websites and directories. - Browser compatibility and accessibility
It may be possible that your website is not rendered properly on a user’s browser like Safari or Chrome. The website should be cross-browser compatible and accessible as per the W3C standards. - Target audience profile
Its important to know your audience profile. If your audience is not internet savvy, its preferred to have easy controls and navigation on the website. A proper help section and search feature will help tremendously. - 404 Error page
If a user comes on your website page directly by clicking on a link in the search engine or another website and that page is no longer available on your website, its important to have a 404 error page which contains the complete sitemap of the site. This way, the user can find the correct page. A search would also be an additional help.
