Bounce Rate: Why Users Leave Your Site
Bounce Rate is the percentage of people who visit a page and leave without clicking on anything or navigating to other sections.
Bounce rate vs. exit rate: what's the difference?
It's important to note that Bounce Rate differs from Exit Rate. Bounce Rate measures visits without any further interaction—users arrive at a page and leave immediately.
Exit Rate, on the other hand, represents the percentage of users who leave the site specifically from a particular page, even if they viewed other sections before. Therefore, a high Exit Rate doesn't always indicate problems with the site.
For example, a high Bounce Rate on a Thank You Page (a page displayed after completing a desired action) is a red flag because it means users are viewing only that page and leaving right away.
Example of Thank You Page from Storybrand
At the same time, a high Exit Rate on such a page is normal. It indicates that users likely came from a landing page and completed the desired action (made a purchase, downloaded something, or subscribed).
What is a normal bounce rate for a website?
There is no single correct answer to what constitutes a good or bad Bounce Rate (BR). According to Admix Global, the average bounce rate is approximately 40–50%. However, what is considered "normal" varies greatly depending on your industry and traffic sources. For example, Custom Media Labs found that different types of websites have vastly different bounce rates:
Online stores: 20–45%
B2B websites: 25–55%
Lead generation platforms: 30–55%
Nonprofit content sites: 35–60%
Landing pages: 60–90%
Dictionaries, blogs, news sites: An expected bounce rate of 65% or higher, as visitors typically leave after retrieving the information they were looking for.
Below are generalized benchmarks that do not account for specific industry nuances:
Above 75%: A very high bounce rate, indicating significant issues with the site. You’ll need to investigate why users are leaving quickly. The content might not match their expectations, or something could be malfunctioning. Typically, a bounce rate over 90% signals a specific issue, such as poor design, lack of a mobile-friendly version, or compatibility problems with certain browsers.
50–75%: An average bounce rate, often seen with newer websites. This is acceptable but leaves room for improvement.
30–50%: A good result, indicating that the site engages users. However, there is still potential for optimization and further engagement.
Below 26%: The site is well-structured, has high-quality content, and visitors are spending time on it enthusiastically. When assessing a website's performance, it’s important not to rely solely on the Bounce Rate. Always conduct a comprehensive analysis, taking into account various other performance metrics.
Bounce Rate is increasing: what can be done?
This metric can rise for various reasons. One of them is inaccurate ad campaign settings. If banners are displayed to people who have no interest in your product, they will close the site immediately. A high bounce rate can also result from poor-quality text or an ill-conceived offer on the landing page. When visitors don’t understand what is being offered or cannot find the price, they leave the site.
Of course, bounce rate can increase for other reasons as well. For instance, if pages are too heavy and take too long to load, visitors are likely to leave.
Complex navigation combined with an unattractive design can also deter potential customers.
Technical issues, such as a high number of errors on the site, incorrect redirects, and broken links, can significantly impact the bounce rate. The absence of a mobile version or its poor quality also affects user behavior.
Finally, site content that fails to meet visitors' expectations will drive them to leave quickly.
Below are some steps to reduce the bounce rate on your website:
Step 1: Begin by identifying the cause of the high bounce rate: is it a general issue affecting the entire site, or is it specific to certain parts? Here’s what to focus on:
A high bounce rate is often associated with mobile devices, particularly if the mobile version of the site is not functioning properly. To pinpoint the exact issue, it’s essential to analyze visitor behavior with tools like Ahrefs. This will help you identify which elements attract users' attention and where they most frequently leave the site.
Traffic channels differ in terms of user readiness to make a purchase. For instance, visitors from search engines are typically already looking for a specific product or service and are more likely to engage with your offering. In contrast, users who arrive via advertising banners may not yet be ready to buy and, therefore, tend to leave the site more frequently.
If you have a high bounce rate from advertising platforms, it’s worth optimizing your campaigns to attract a more relevant audience.
By the way, how to properly work with a target audience? Read in the article "Target Audience: Why to Define It, How to Classify and Segment It.”
Some pages, despite having high traffic, may exhibit a very high bounce rate. By improving these specific pages, you can reduce the overall bounce rate for your site. Try checking the page loading speed using specialized tools. You may need to remove unnecessary elements or compress images to an acceptable size (typically 150–200 KB).
Step 2: Once you’ve identified the causes of the high bounce rate, you can proceed with site optimization.
Enhance the site structure to ensure users can easily find the information they need. Remove broken links or incorrect redirects. Verify that links do not result in a 404 error.
Revise the textual content of your pages to better align with the interests of your target audience and make it more digestible. Consider adding a headline to the page so visitors immediately understand where they are.
Introduce interactive elements to engage customers, such as a form to collect potential buyers' contact information, an online chat for quick communication with a manager, and a callback request feature.
Optimize the resource for mobile devices. Pay attention to the content offered on the platform. Video is one of the most engaging content types. Many people prefer watching a video over reading text. However, on mobile devices, long videos can significantly slow down performance, especially if the user has a poor internet connection. This may prompt users to leave the site. Therefore, it’s better to avoid long videos on the mobile version.
Review your site’s ranking. Determine which keywords your page is found for in searches and whether your content matches those queries. It’s essential for materials to address user questions—organic visitors should get what they expect. For example, if someone searches for "Best CDP platform," they’re likely looking for a product. But if they search for "what is a CDP platform," they’re probably not ready to make a purchase yet.
Work on the design. If your platform looks outdated or simply unattractive, visitors are likely to bounce.
Remove unnecessary blocks from the page that are rarely used. For example, pop-ups redirecting users to other sites. You might also make advertisements less intrusive. Your goal is to keep visitors engaged with your page and ensure they stay long enough to complete the desired action.
It’s not necessary to remove all pop-ups immediately, but avoid those that degrade the user experience, annoy visitors, or drive them away.
How can you make the user experience as pleasant as possible? Read the article "Usability: What It Is, Why It Is Necessary, What Are the Criteria for Evaluation, and How to Improve It."
A popup on the Contently service. Such a big popup can scare people away
Reevaluate your advertisements, as they may confuse users. For example, someone might be trying to sign up for fitness classes but ends up on a page with reviews of gym equipment. As a result, the ad attracts the wrong audience, and the budget is wasted on people who are unlikely to become customers.
How Bounce Rate is calculated
The bounce rate (BR) on a website can vary depending on the web analytics system used. This is due to differences in calculation algorithms. For example, Google Analytics uses the following formula:
In Google Analytics, if a person visits a page and immediately leaves without taking any action, this is considered a "bounce." The system assumes that the user was not interested in the site. Even if a person spends some time on the page but does not click on any links or perform other actions, the system still counts it as a Bounce Rate.
Due to how Google Analytics calculates bounces, this metric is typically inflated on one-page sites and landing pages.
In Yandex.Metrica, visits lasting less than fifteen seconds are automatically classified as bounces. This time threshold is fixed and cannot be changed.
A visit is considered a bounce if only one page was viewed and there is no "non-bounce" event, which could indicate potential technical issues with page loading.
Conclusion
Bounce Rate is the percentage of people who visit a specific page and then leave without clicking on anything. It is an important metric that helps you understand how appealing your content is to users and how well your site performs.
To reduce BR, it is necessary to analyze various factors such as page load speed, content quality, site navigation, and other aspects of user experience. By improving these elements, you will increase visitor engagement and reduce Bounce Rate.