Every brand wants customers to visit and engage with their websites in the business world. Customers do check out but not all of them stay. We know that having a website is essential for brand growth. So, what happens when a certain percentage of users just visit your website and leave without viewing additional pages, this situation is called bounce rate.
The higher it becomes, the worse it affects your website. So, you must be thinking about how to reduce bounce rate. Luckily, there are ways through which this can be reversed. But first, we need to understand the causes of high bounce rates so that we have an idea before diving into the tips and tricks, let’s get started.
What leads to a high bounce rate?
High bounce rates are not something everyone wants to have in their online business. The reasons behind high bounce rates cannot be pinpointed to a specific factor rather it is a combination of them. This can include a poorly designed website, the presence of irrelevant webpage content, slow load times, etc. If you want to know how to reduce bounce rate on website, it’s crucial to keep an eye on it because it gives you insight into how well your website is to the users.
But, how do we know that the bounce rate is high or low? For that, let’s consider this simple formula. If you are wondering how is bounce rate calculated, the total number of single-page visits on your website is divided by the total number of website entries. Imagine that your website got 200 entries and 120 among them were single page visitors. As per the formula, your bounce rate would be 60%. This is pretty much on the higher side.
So, what is a good bounce rate for website? you might wonder. The lower the percentage, the better your website is in the long run. Even though this can vary by the type of industry and the web page, having a bounce rate of 40% or lower is considered good.
Tricks to reduce bounce rate
Still, figuring out how to reduce bounce rate? We have compiled a list of factors that can help lower bounce rates and ensure your users stay and engage on your website. Let’s see what they are:
Page speed optimization
The first tip on how to reduce bounce rate on website is to have a fast-loading website. No matter what your website is, it must load within seconds when a customer clicks on it. Slow-loading websites hurt your conversion rate, affects user experience and can drop your SEO rankings as well. This is why it is crucial to improve your website if it feels sluggish to load. Several technical strategies such as image compression, using a content delivery network (CDN), etc can help.
Mobile Optimization
You know that the majority of the population uses smartphones to browse the web and a significant portion of the web traffic comes from mobile. Your website must effectively be optimized for viewing on mobile screens. Developing a responsive website that seamlessly adapts and provides an optimal viewing experience across various devices is the key to getting more organic traffic, better search engine rankings and minimal bounce rates.
Perform A/B Testing
One of the ways to learn how to reduce bounce rate is by performing A/B testing. This works by creating two different versions of the same web page and making users explore them. Through this method, you can know which version performs better and engages well with customers. This makes A/B testing a highly valuable tool in fine-tuning your website and eventually lowering bounce rates.
Keep track of 404 errors
The infamous 404 error is not what customers want to see when they load up your website. Not only this results in a negative browsing experience but it also leads to a higher bounce rate. Various website audit tools can be used to crawl your website and find out broken links, if any. Or you can use Google Search Console which provides reports that help identify issues so that you can rectify them.
Use promotional content to a minimum
Websites are often used to display promotional content, ads, and other relevant information apart from the main content. However, there should be a limit to such activities as stuffing them at every nook and corner distracts the users, making them overwhelmed and resulting in leaving your website. The key to learning how to reduce bounce rate on website is to provide users with sufficient time to explore the web page and add promotional materials with time.
Implement a clear CTA
The purpose of CTAs is to make customers take action once they are engaged with your content and driving them to the sales point. One of the effective tricks to reduce bounce rate is by placing a single clear recognizable call to action button that prompts customers to take action. Spamming multiple CTAs on a webpage will only confuse customers and drive them away. This will result in higher bounce rates.
Improve website readability
What’s the point of having a website if the contents in it aren’t readable? Readability is a crucial factor in websites and can affect bounce rates. Therefore, if your website is experiencing higher bounce rates, it’s time to improve its readability. From content placement, and font size to line spacing between contents, every factor counts. This is one of the most common tricks to reduce bounce rate.
Ask for customer feedback
Customers visit your website, browse a couple of pages and leave and this causes higher bounce rates. That part is understood but do you know exactly why they left? Google Analytics might tell you which pages are experiencing high bounce rates but won’t tell why customers left. This is why you should ask your customers the reason why they left.
This can be achieved by using exit intent pop-ups and surveys. These factors help you understand the specific reasons why visitors abandon your website. Once you know the reason, you can swiftly make the necessary changes to the website and make it attractive for users. Looking to know what would contribute to a low bounce rate? this is it.
Focus on easier website navigation
You saw a website and opened it anticipating compelling content and appealing visuals, only to find the page unorganized, cluttered and difficult to navigate. This is more than enough to drive them away and lead to a high bounce rate. If your priority is finding out how to reduce bounce rate on website, just ensure that all the web pages are designed with a user-friendly approach and the navigation is made easier. This allows customers to stay longer and lower bounce rates.
Implement content diversity
Still figuring out how do you keep bounce rate low? Implement content diversity. Not all customers have the same mindset and content preferences. This is why it’s important to diversify your web content strategy so that it appeals to varying degrees of customers, drives them towards your site and minimizes bounce rates. Content types can include blog posts, infographics, videos, social media posts, etc. The point is to get your visitors’ attention and make them engaged on your website.
Winding up
Alright, you have finally learned and understood what is a good bounce rate for website and the various tips & tricks to lower them. However, this isn’t the entire list, but the tips mentioned above should give an idea of how to reduce bounce rate. If your business website is dealing with high bounce rate issues, you can either try out the tricks mentioned in this article or consult the best search engine optimization services in Dubai and get it professionally sorted out.
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