7 Reasons Your Bounce Rate Is High (And how to reduce it)
by
Are you seeing high bounce rates on your website?
The Bounce Rate, as defined by Google Analytics, is the number of people entering a page and exiting from that same page. High bounce rates are not always a bad thing. After all, if your site visitors are finding exactly what they need on the page and it is meeting your business goals, it’s a good thing that they are not having to search your site further.
However, bounce rate is often an indication of the opposite. They aren’t finding what they need and have no confidence that they can find it on your site — at least not quickly.
If users are abandoning your site like a sinking ship, you may need to make some changes.
Here are seven reasons your bounce rate may be high:
1 – Pop-ups
A well-timed pop-up can increase conversions, getting more people signed up for your mailing list or your products and services. There’s only one problem: many visitors find them extremely annoying. Others say pop ups work and don’t hurt conversions. Either way, I suggest you test it.
The timing of the pop-up is also something that could and should be tested. If you are finding that instantly displaying a pop-up is increasing your bounce rate, consider delaying the pop-up them so people can see the site first.
2 – Poor Design
Try to look at your site with an unbiased eye. Is it really appealing?
Readers are not designers, but they can sense poor design. Ideally your design should have a visually harmonious feel which should subtly reinforce your brand.
A poor design doesn’t necessarily mean the colors are a poor choice. As a designer once said to me if your design is really good it will work even if your site is in black and white. Design also goes hand in hand with the other important aspect of the user experience – usability.
3 – Navigation and Usability
As a web user, when you visit a cluttered site where you can’t find the information you want, then there’s no reason to stay. That’s part of having a site that complies with web usability standards. Even if you aren’t interested in becoming a master of Jakob Nielsen’s 113-point web usability checklist, understand these three basic components of web usability.
- Website visitors expect certain things to be in certain places, stick to conventions (like navigation across the top of the site) in most cases.
- Every square inch of your website doesn’t need to contain something, whitespace is your friend.
- Above all else, users should be able to determine what you do and what you offer within a few seconds of reaching any page on your site.
4 – Use of multimedia
Video and audio get phenomenal results on landing pages, but there’s definitely some best practices to consider when using these mediums.
- Be careful with auto play of video or audio content. It makes users feel out of control and often leads to a bounce. That being said, auto play of video might increase conversions as well. Test it.
- Include calls-to-action that tell your visitor what to do next.
- Experiment with the length of your video knowing that visitors will have little tolerance for irrelevant communications.
5 – Speed – or Lack of It
The more you add to your site (especially images, scripts and multimedia), the longer it takes to load. Research shows that website abandonment increases exponentially after the 3 to 4 second mark.
If, in the age of instant gratification, your site doesn’t load immediately, you’re history. If people don’t get the information they need straight away then they’ll go somewhere with a faster more streamlined experience. That’s one of the reasons that page speed is a variable that Google is now using in its ranking algorithm.
Dip into Google Webmaster Tools or the site speed metrics within your analytics program and see how your site speed might be an issue.
6 – It’s Not Mobile
By 2014, more people will be browsing sites on their smartphones than via desktop computers, according to recent Microsoft research.
Many other studies reinforce this trend. That means your site needs a mobile interface that works – NOW! If you have a smartphone, visit your site and see what it looks like and how easy it is to use. Any surprises? If the growing numbers of mobile device users have a poor experience of your site, then they won’t come back – and you can’t afford that.
If you are planning a redesign of your website, now is the time to implement a responsive web design.
If your site runs on WordPress, consider using a plug-in that will make your website mobile friendly.
7 – What’s In It For Them?
Last, but certainly not least, your site must answer what’s in it for me (WIIFM) for the users.
Remember that your website visitors are searching for outcomes. If your website doesn’t instantly give them the sense that they are moving toward the outcome, they will bounce.
The navigation, design, content and calls-to-action must all work together to communicate that you offer what they are looking for.
Instantly communicate your value to your site visitors.
Focus on being useful. Help them to see that you have the information they need.
How have you addresses the issue of high bounce rates in the past? What can you share that could help out The Daily Egg community?
About the author: Sharon Hurley Hall is a professional writer and blogger who has been writing for more than 20 years. Her favorite topics include web tools, social media, copywriting and online business. Find all of Sharon’s social media hangouts on her Google+ profile.
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Contact20 COMMENTS
Sharon Hurley Hall
Thanks for those additions, Yury. They will definitely keep people on the site longer.
October 8, 2012
Jim Murphy
Interesting recommendations, especially with load speed and mobile support.
Thanks!
October 6, 2012
Sharon Hurley Hall
I don’t think you can over-emphasize how important mobile is becoming, Jim.
October 8, 2012
MaAnna
The bounce rate on my site is high, but so are the stats for return visitors and time on site. I do a lot of how-to posts. So, a high bounce rate is expected. But, found several tips here that have given me ideas for reducing it, especially on the non-tutorial posts. Thanks for all of the good suggestions.
October 8, 2012
Sharon Hurley Hall
If you’re getting repeat visitors, then you must be doing something right, MaAnna. 
dino@dinomiteseo.com
What an incredibly valuable post this is! I think points number six and seven really hit home more than anything. Mobile traffic is up tremendously and still not many website owners have done anything to accomodate their mobile visitors. Then point number seven, What’s In it for me? Here’s a question we ask ourselves all the time but forget that others ask themselves the same. Thanks so much for sharing!
October 8, 2012
Sharon Hurley Hall
Glad you enjoyed the post, Dino. We’re all looking for something when we visit a website. The thing is to make it easy for visitors to find.
October 8, 2012
Rajesh Namase
Really you’ve shared useful tips to decrease bounce rates, I personally hate popups, and good design also helps to reduce the bounce rate.
October 8, 2012
Aniruddh
I do have very high bounce rate. I think i need to write more effective posts. Any ways thanks for sharing this useful informations.
December 31, 2012
Plaban
I’m following most of the tips but still bounce rate is high. I’ve used related posts plugins and interlinked old posts but that didn’t help much.
February 4, 2013
krishna
Interesting recommendations, especially with load speed and mobile support.
Thanks!
February 4, 2013
Christian
Yeah, that’s some helpful information! Thanks
I just set up Google analytics and I’m pretty amazed with all the statistical data.
But at the same time I’m a little bit worried for my bounce rate 
, it’s above 75% and I think that is really bad.
Could you tell me please for example what bounce rate you have, I would really appreciate that
Russ Henneberry
What kind of website are you running Christian? Blog, ecommerce store, corporate brochure site, etc?
March 5, 2013
Sherwood
The website for my tree farm, http://sherwoods-forests.com, is primarily a brand awareness/ customer education tool. I don’t sell directly from it at all. I’ve been running a 60% bounce rate, but a 2.5 minute time on site. So I think I’m writing pages that target what people are looking for.
Yeah right. Some of them.
Some of the bounce rate is from people out of my marketing region. I’d rather they never hit even once, and have done what I can to target my adwords that way.
I try to write pages that I would like to read:
* I don’t use pagination. Sure, it will lower your bounce rate, but it’s an artificial lowering. It only does this by splintting a long page into a bunch of shorter ones that you have to wait to load.
* My pages are static — but rebuilt every night. They load FAST. The only javascript on my site is for google analytics.
* I need more images on a lot of my pages. My goal is to have two images on screen at any given time. (E.g. If a page has to scroll through 5 screens, there are *always* at least two images visible.
* I hate video. But there are some things that a video is the best device for. Bite the bullet.
* I like the idea of a delayed popup to get newsletter signups. Is there a clever way to have a popup show up ONLY after 40 seconds after the 3rd page has loaded? And then if the person dismisses it, remembers that dismissal for two weeks?
April 24, 2013
Kathryn Aragon
Hi Sherwood. It sounds like you’re doing a lot of things right. Impressive! To answer your question, it may be a matter of selecting the right plugin. Most of them let you set the number of seconds before the popup appears. I just haven’t heard of one that lets you set the number of pages. If you find one that does that, be sure to check back and let us know what it is.
April 28, 2013
yury rush
Ahhh Sharon great post…. who does not love bounce rate optimization. Here are a few key factors I suggest to decrease the bounce rate:
>> Pagination
>> Series of articles/content pieces
>> Related content in the content area of the site
>> Good content – lets say that again – good content
Yury
October 2, 2012