These issues may cause a high bounce rate

Just as offline businesses, sellers devote time and money to decorating their stores, online merchants also would like to create a comfortable online shopping environment for their clients. If consumers have a good experience, they will continue to search for the information, complete purchase, download files or music, and revisit. However, visitors may close the pages in the next few seconds when they click on them. For digital marketers, website page bounce rate is an important metric for examining the quality o of websites. In this article, we will introduce the method of viewing and calculating website bounce rate, criteria of evaluation, and how to reduce bounce rate.

How to calculate bounce rate

Bounce rate is defined as the percentage that the number of visits for a single page divided by the total number of websites visits. If a visitor opens a single page on your website and then exits without doing anything it can be regarded as a bounce. Assuming your website contains Page A, Page B, and Page C, a visitor opens Page A and exits. It can be calculated as a bounce. However, the visitor may open Page B, then come to Page C and Page A. Finally, he closes Page A. The Analytics server will not regard it as a bounce.

You can check the bounce rate using Google Analytics. You need to log into your account and click Overview under Behavior on the left. Then you can find the Bounce Rate on right. You also can check the specific time, such as Hourly, Day, Week, Month, or selecting a period.  

Percentage review of bounce rate

Generally, the bounce rate is between 26% and 70%. The percentage in the following table shows the relationship bounce rates and the quality of websites.

Bounce Rate (%)	Assessment
<20%	Excellent. Check the tracking for errors
20%-40%	Good job! You can set a goal that the bounce rate is below 40%. This depends on your industry.
40%-55%	Average. There are no obvious issues, but it still can improve.
55-75%	The percentage is higher than average. You may need to ask experts to review and adjust your website.
>75%	A high bounce rate, however, is normal for blogs, news, and information related webpages. Or maybe there’s a problem with the accessibility of the webpage.

Bounce rate varies widely by different industries, as shown in the figure below. But that is not the only way to judge the good or bad quality of a website. Conversion rates are more important than bounce rates.

（source：crazyegg）

How to decrease bounce rate

If the bounce rate of your website is high, it is likely to have the following problems

1. The content is not appealing 

The content should be eye-catching, interesting, and resonant to keep visitors on your site and continue to do other activities.

2. Poor UX 

Visitors will exit the webpage when they find slow loading, vague titles, and complex navigation. However, clear structure, easy-to-find information, and high-quality images and videos can make visitors want to keep clicking “Next.”

3. Outdated website design

You should adjust regularly to attract new visitors. In addition, in this period that everyone is inseparable from mobile phones, websites must have both PC and mobile browsing modes.

4. The visitors are not your target audience

Suppose you are running a stationery shop and would like to attract people who live in Auckland to order products on the website. But many visitors come from Sydney or Melbourne who leave when they find they can’t get the service they seek. Moreover, you should update website information and accurately reach your target audience to invest in advertisements more effectively.

Although bounce rate isn’t the only measure of strategy success, it does measure how competitive your website is in your industry. Decreasing bounce rates requires more time to evaluate and analyze visitor behavior and preferences, as well as experience to identify problems. If you need to evaluate your website, please consult Webzilla. Our digital marketing experts will provide professional suggestions and customized strategies.