As a disclaimer, if you don’t already have Google Analytics enabled, do so now. It’s free and is amazingly helpful when you need to measure and improve different aspects of your business and website like bounce rate. Got it installed? Continue on!
What is Bounce Rate?
A “bounce” is defined as a single-page session on your site. It happens when a single request to the analytics server is made, but the user exits the site before making any further requests. Your “bounce rate” is determined by the total number of “bounces” divided by the total number of sessions on your site. Simply put, it’s the percentage of instances people don’t explore your site and everything it has to offer… Sounds kind of lame huh?
This is generally something you want to minimize provided your site is more than one page. Which in that case, a high bounce rate would be expected and be completely normal. However, for most of us, that’s not usually the case.
Why Should I Care?
The bounce rate is a way to guage user participation on your site. When somebody “bounces” off of your site, the session duration will be equal to zero. This is because the server had no way of calculating the time the user was on the site because it received no further requests from the user (learn more about how Google calculates session duration here). As this analytics tool, it also helps diagnose user interaction. It’s your way of seeing if users are finding what they need on your site.
Well then, how do I lower my Bounce Rate?
There are also different reports and different ways to perceive your bounce rate as well. Such as; which channels, which source/medium pairs, or which pages specifically, are causing your bounce rate. If you see any of these as the cause, then you may need to review your content and marketing efforts to make sure they align or ensure that your users are having an easy time seeing where you want them to go next on your site.
Then, of course, there is your overall site bounce rate. If there’s no clear issue and the problem is more widespread, you’ll need to re-evaluate your site entirely. Make sure the language you use, the colors, media, calls to action, everything is all readily available, functional, visible, and easy to use.
So go, check your analytics, clean up those loose ends, and get users clicking everything in sight! If you want to learn more about Google Analytics, check out this blog post on our site about GA as well as Pop up Blockers:
Important Market Resources: Google Analytics & Pop-Up Blockers
Need More help?
If you would really just prefer to hand off getting a lower bounce rate to the pros, give us a shout here at Raio and we can help get you on the way to having users that never want to leave your page!
