Defining Bounce Rate

(SOURCE: DSA Global)

What Is a Bounce Rate?

Regarding web analytics, bounce rate can be one of the more misunderstood metrics in evaluating a website. Google Analytics define the term as “the percentage of single-page visits (or sessions) in which the person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with the page (para. 1).” The term occasionally is confused with exit rate, which is the percentage of website visitors who actively click away from a particular page to a different website after possibly visiting other pages.

A calculation of the web page’s bounce rate is:

             Total number of single visits on a page/Total number of entrances on the page

In web analytics, entrances are the number of times visitors entered a website through that page.

A common misconception is that bounce rate ties in with how much time a person spends on a page. Bounce rates pertain to how many total pages a person visits in one session, whether that person stays on a page for a few seconds or an extended time.

A bounce rate is a good tool to measure the quality of traffic to and the quality of content on a website’s entry page. A high bounce rate is a possible indication that visitors may not like the content and leave. Conversely, an entry page with a low bounce rate means the page causes visitors to view more pages and stay on the website.

(SOURCE: Zero Gravity Marketing)

What Is a Good Bounce Rate?

Defining a good bounce rate depends on the individual website’s purpose. For most businesses, the variable depends on the channel through which the company generates businesses. An e-commerce website wants low bounce rates because it increases the likelihood of sales. Conversely, a brick-and-mortar store that uses a website as an advertising tool to drive takeout orders may not object to a high bounce rate.

Looking at a website with multiple pages, the analytics page for bounce rate may look like this:

(SOURCE: Business to Marketing)

The ad marketing technology company Rocket Fuel estimates that a good bounce rate is within 26 percent to 40 percent (“What is a good bounce rate?” para. 6). Google Analytics benchmark averages for bounce rates are the following:

• Content websites – 40 percent to 60 percent
•  Lead generation sites – 30 percent to 50 percent
• Blogs – 70 percent to 98 percent
• Retail sites – 20 percent to 40 percent
• Service sites – 10 percent to 30 percent
• Landing pages – 70 percent to 90 percent

Also, Zero Gravity Marketing estimates that bounce rates tend to increase by 10 percent to 20 percent when viewers use smartphones and tablets because they tend to bounce around more (“What is a good bounce rate?” para. 9).

How to Reduce Bounce Rate

Several factors can trigger high bounce rates:

Single-page site: Google Analytics does not register multiple page views unless users reload the page. As a result, single-page websites tend to have high bounce rates.

Incorrect tracking code: Tracking page tags (a snippet of JavaScript code that the website owner adds to each page) run a visitor goes to a page, collecting visitor data and sends it to a data collection server. An incorrectly implemented code can misread information as a bounce rate.

Website design: A poorly designed entrance or landing page, poorly optimized images that do not correlate with content or take too long to load or poor navigation tools can lead to increased bounce rates.

User behavior: How viewers reach a page can affect bounce rates. For example, if a user bookmarks a website page, goes to the page and then leaves, that counts as a bounce.

Marketers can review specific pages and traffic sources to see if certain marketing activities influence bounce rate. Marketers also evaluate certain types of keywords to see if they have a higher bounce rate than other keywords, in addition to revisiting landing pages to see if they have issues (loading speed, extensive text, a lack of a call to action). Marketers also can add links to other pages and content on the website to give viewers a guideline on where to search for more helpful information.

The bounce rate can be one of the most useful analytics tools in evaluating a website. While there is no universal standard on what is an acceptable number, marketers can use the information to make the visitor experience useful by tweaking content to capitalize on each visit.

REFERENCES:

Aungst, P. (2016, May 8). “Google Analytics bounce rate explained.” Business 2 Community. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/google-analytics-bounce-rate-explained-01533069#im1aPzfw9YqQQzrA.97

“Bounce rate.” (n.d.) Google Analytics Help. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009409?hl=en

“What is a good bounce rate?” (n.d.) Zero Gravity Marketing. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from http://zerogravitymarketing.com/good-bounce-rate/