Have you experienced a moment in your life when you went out for a date but ended up with no conversation with the person at all?
Truly, the scenario mentioned above is disappointing because you’ve given your time and effort for nothing. The same feeling goes when your website visitors click on your website and leave without taking any action because your site doesn’t talk to them directly. They couldn’t find what they needed on your website.The same situation when you can’t find any topic to talk about on your date, right? It’s an awkward scenario but it does happen on your website. This is exactly what triggers your website bounce rate to go up. Having mentioned about bounce rate, Strikingly makes it a point that you’re not just creating your awesome website with us. We want to ensure that you are aware of the things that drive your site numbers.
You’re probably looking for answers about how to reduce bounce rate on your website that’s why you land on this page. We will tackle each question to help you understand how bounce rate goes high and low.
- What is a bounce rate?
- What is a good bounce rate for website?
- What is an average bounce rate by industry?
- How to reduce bounce rate?
Understanding Bounce Rate
Why do visitors bounce on your website? For sure you’ve seen a ball bounce on a surface, right? This is exactly what happens when visitors land on your website page but don't click or touch anything from your side-bar to the exit button. Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that come and go to your page without any further interaction.
The visitors who have clicked at least one or more links to get to an additional page on your website is considered by Google analytics as an ‘interaction’ rather than a ‘bounce’. Sadly, most website owners think that they have no control over the bounce rate. The truth is, there are effective ways on how to reduce bounce rate. We just need to figure out the things that trigger your website bounce rate to go up. For instance, you have to analyze what is the average bounce rate by industry, bounce rate SEO, and what is a good bounce rate for a blog. These are some of the things that you need to determine in order to find out if your site bounce rate is too high, too low, or it’s just normal. What is the bounce rate that is too high or too low if you have nothing to compare it with? Find out what is the good bounce rate.
What is the good bounce rate for website?
A good bounce rate for a website can be determined by so many factors and variables such as the type of website you run, what country you’re catering to, who are your target audience, and what type of device they use to access your site. These important factors affect your website bounce rate. Having a knowledge of an average bounce rate by industry can help you understand if you have a good bounce rate or not.
What is an average bounce rate by industry?
According to Brafton, an average bounce rate for a website is around 58%. But their research shows different results for each type of business. Hence, you should be aware of the ideal bounce rate for each type of business. Beauty and fitness has an average bounce rate of 58.81 % while autos and vehicles only show 40.36%. Meaning, you can’t compare your books and literature site’s bounce rate against business and industrial. Google analytics shows the bounce rate by industry. Here is a screenshot portion of stats as per Google benchmark 2017.
Image screenshot taken from Stats as per Google Benchmarks 2017
How to reduce bounce rate?
If you are wondering how to lower down your website bounce rate, Strikingly got all your questions covered. We will start from the simplest detail to the most effective ways on how to improve your site bounce rate on Google analytics. We guarantee you that there will be no more anxiety the next time you visit your dashboard.
- Make First Impression, A Good Impression that Last
Your website layout design can make or break your visitors' interest upon landing on your welcome page. Choose a design that will not only impress your viewers but also appropriate to the type of website you are running. As you can see, this is the first thing you have to consider in building your business or personal website. Do not welcome your audience with misleading information on your landing page, instead, you can greet them with a nice and soothing image background or a video. With Strikingly, you have three options to put your visitors in awe. You can either choose a pastel color, a photograph, or a video to use as a background on your welcome page. Some viewers find it interesting when you embed a video on your website. It simply showcases what to expect on your website when you put an image or a video on the welcome page. Remember, make the first impression a good impression, but also make it last.
Image taken from Strikingly website
- Your Website Should be Mobile-Friendly
As per Google Benchmark reports, the bounce rate by devices shows that desktop shows 44%, mobile 51%, and tablet at 46%. Most of the time we find out that there is a higher bounce rate for mobile devices. Why? It is simply because people who are using their mobile devices are goal-oriented. They are impatient with the things that are not relevant to what they are looking for. As a result, one user will eventually leave your page by just pressing the “Back” key because he couldn’t find the specific information on your site.
Your website design should also be mobile-ready and mobile-friendly at the same time. Most business owners know the potential of investing to add a responsive or adaptive kind of mobile design. They are fully aware that their audience varies from their interests and preferences. One user might be frustrated if your web design doesn’t fit on a smaller screen. In the end, leaving your website without any interaction at all. Hence, causing your bounce rate to go through the roof.
Image taken from PackPoint website
- User Friendly Site Navigation
If you think that this is nothing but a small detail on your website, then change the way you think. Most people browse on a website because it is user-friendly. They can easily navigate the page and go back to the “Home” section without going through endless scrolls or swipes on the screen. A user-friendly site with good navigation gives visible cues to its audience. For example, DMC website shows an easy-to-find button to “Schedule a Call”, they even have arrows on the left and right sides that indicate what direction to go to. This and more easy navigation sections on your website will entice your visitors to stay longer and click at least one or two buttons on your page.
Image taken from DMC website
- Relevance of the Content on Your Site
Most blog writers understand the importance of the word relevance on their website. We choose a set of keywords to optimize a specific content or blog. It is important that each keyword we use is relevant to the overall thought of the content. You’re not putting a certain keyword just because it is one of the frequently-searched on Google. Make sure that the keyword you use will justify the visitor’s query and why he landed on your website. If your content doesn’t seem to be relevant to the set of keywords you used, most likely a visitor will leave your page without doing anything.
Image taken from The Project Nomad website
- Know What to Put on Your Product Pages
Putting too much information on the product section can overwhelm your viewers, while a very short product detail might be enough to describe an item. Be careful when you add products to your online store. Make sure that the vital information that your customers need to know is clearly indicated on your product details. Quality images, pricing, product details, shipping, and even refund and replacement guidelines can be added on your simple store. Strikingly lets you add a Simple store on your website without going through hard steps. In fact, with the Pro plan access, you can add up to 300 products to your website.
Image taken from Hayashida Rice website
- Add Easy-to-Find Site Search
Help your visitors find what they need on your website by adding an easy-to-find site Search field. Some visitors dismiss the idea of going through each page just to look for a specific item that they want. This is an effective way to reduce your website bounce rate but empowering your visitors with readily available solutions to find what they need. Also, do not forget the relevance of the search keywords you add to show what they’re looking for. A site search field should easily take them to the item/s they prefer to see. Usually, a site search is located at the top right of your website along with the header section.
Image taken from Runway website
- Your Site Call-to-Action Should Be Clear
Your site CTA (Call-to-Action) is one powerful tool to reduce your bounce rate on your website. Most people are tempted to click an ‘inviting’ call-to-action button. Some effective examples are Book Now, Make a Reservation, Send us your Question. Your Call-to-action should be clear and simple. Do not add two or more CTA on your website that will confuse your visitors. Make a clear statement of what they need to do. An example of a not-seem-so-interesting kind of CTA is Learn More. It simply puts your audience in a situation that they would feel there is so much information to digest. While “Learn more” can be effective on online courses websites, it won’t do good for eCommerce sites. People want specific information about the exact item they are looking for. Strikingly website editor lets you add your site call-to-action with the “Add a Slider” option. You can create a website, make simple edits, and add the things that you need later.
Image taken from For Many Reasons website
- Use Internal links wisely
Internal links, if used and positioned properly, are effective ways to reduce a website bounce rate. Make sure you don’t make your content ‘crowded’ with internal links or it will look like a reference section on a research study. By distributing internal links properly, you are giving your audience a chance to read and digest the content without being intimidated. These internal links when clicked by a visitor can either take them to another tab or leave your page completely. Make sure you set the proper action on this part.
Image taken from Repurposeful UK website
- Keep Track of Your Dashboard
Your website dashboard can be your best friend or mortal enemy depending on the numbers that it shows you. Make sure to keep track of your dashboard to understand what causes your bounce rate to go high or low. Also, it will help you analyse which page is getting more traffic and which page is causing visitors to bounce off. This way you know how to improve your site. What are the things you need to add or remove?
Strikingly empowers our users with the best tools and services that will help them improve their site ranking. We have our knowledge base, help center, and blog content to guide them how to improve their numbers on your dashboard and Google analytics. You can also make the best choice now and sign up to build your own website with us. We’ll back you up with the features you need to make your site stand out.
