Intro

So, you’ve landed here, presumably hoping to decipher the ever-mystifying world of bounce rates in the vast cosmos of Google Analytics. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.

 

• Bounce rate: we will explain within this article, bounce rates are
• It’s not just about how many leave, but how quickly they scarper. So for example, if you have a main menu that’s difficult to use, say on a smartphone, this can lead to a high bounce rate.
• Pogo sticking: Not a sport, but should be!
• Slow-loading pages? More dreaded than spilt tea. So a slow loading page, can often increase your bounce rate substantially.
  Cracking UX could save your bounce stats.

 

So, what does bounce rate even mean?

So, let’s get down to brass tacks. If you’ve dipped your toes into Google Analytics, chances are, you’ve stumbled upon this elusive thing called ‘bounce rate’. And, digital marketing agencies like ours spend a large amount of time, helping businesses to lower their bounce rate In the Queen’s English, a ‘bounce’ happens when someone pops onto your site, that’s to say the click your meta title or description, takes a quick glance at just one page, and then leaves your company website altogether. The bounce rate? Well, it’s how often this exit happens. If they stick around to peek at a second page? Well, that isn’t a bounce, my friend.

So, if the business has a high bounce rate, then the digital marketing agency, will try to work out why a large percentage of the visitors are leaving a page or blog posts, without visiting another page.

For example, somebody was looking to purchase running trainers, then the most likely to go on to the homepage, and start browsing various running trainers that are for sale.

However if the just visit the homepage, and don’t visit any of the pages which sell running trainers, then this can mean that’s the business has a high bounce rate, and the digital marketing agency has to work out why the bounce rate is so high.

Could it be because, the main menu is difficult to use? Could it be because the page is simply very slow to load, could it be because there are broken links?

 

Factors affecting your bounce rate (and not just bad weather):

 

Landing Page Type:

Perhaps your blog posts are like a quick newsagent stop, in that, you’ve offered advice on your company’s blog, and it could have a high bounce rate on each blog post, because people are just reading the blog post for advice and then not wanting to buy a product. They nip in, grab what they need and they’re off. Or maybe your homepage acts like the local pub, beckoning them to visit a few more pages.

 

Loading times:

No one fancies waiting longer for a page to load than it takes for the kettle to boil! So for example, let’s say somebody is looking to buy an air fryer, on their way home from work on the train, if your website is too slow, then what’s going to happen is the shopper will simply choose another business, so all businesses should have a fast website, but especially so if you have an e-commerce business. The reason is because if you have an e-commerce business, it’s likely that the shopper will be looking at many products, and if one page load slowly, and they may go to one of your competitors to buy a product from them instead of you.

So your web developers, and your seo agency need to make sure that every page and blog post loads quickly on your company website.

 

Time to what now?

When someone comes to your site from Google, hangs about, and doesn’t immediately scarper back to Google? That’s a ‘long click’. But if they hit your site, think “this ain’t my cup of tea,” and dash back to Google? That’s a ‘short click’ or ‘pogo sticking’—a term that, frankly, sounds more fun than it is.

 

Bounce rate & SEO:

Before you lose sleep over bounce rates, widen your horizon. Look at average session durations, pages per session, and maybe even how far users scroll. And if you’re feeling fancy, tools like Hotjar can even let you see where users click, tap, and hover. Modern magic, innit?

 

Conclusion

Navigating the world of bounce rates is like trying to find your way through the maze of streets in the heart of the city. But remember, it’s not just about those who leave; it’s about understanding why.
While having a low bounce rate might have you feeling chuffed, it doesn’t always paint the full picture. Don’t get bogged down with just one metric; it’s like judging a fry-up on the quality of the beans alone.

F.A.Q

Q: What’s a bounce rate in layman’s terms?

A: so we always describe a bounce rate, a bit like how long a shopper spent in a shop. For example let’s say you set up a new shop in Cardiff Bay, if most your shoppers, within the first week, enter the shop, don’t buy anything and then leave in under one minute, you know there’s a problem with the product you’re selling.

However if they stick around, make a purchase and browse the items for a long period of time, then you know you are selling items that people want to purchase.

This is the same when selling products online, you can want people to stay on your company website, for as long as possible, to purchase products from you and to stay on your website for a long period of time, browsing all the products that you sell.

So if your digital marketing agency, sees that there is a really high bounce rate, let’s say over 80%, on most of you product pages, then the marketing company should work to lower your company’s bounce rate.