What is the bounce rate ?

The bounce rate is a digital media term used to describe web traffic reports. It indicates the number of users visited the website and doped/left (“bounce”) calculated in percentage. Bounce rate is calculated by calculating the number of single page visits and dividing that by the number of visits. The total visits are reported in percentage as brief above. Such reports help to understand the performance of website visitors, the lower bounce rate indicates that visitors have more interacted with the website. 

Digital Benchmarks (source – cxl.com)

With reference to the above graphical representation we could see that bounce rate benchmarks may vary based on website type, industry and also based on digital channels of advertising. Hence we always suggest you compare your bounce rate reports at online advertisement level as shown in graphical representation named “Average Benchmark Bounce Rate By Channel” instead of having a look at overall website bounce rate. 

Continuing with the blog subject “10 Best Practises To Manage Bounce Rate” we are sharing general best practices which you could follow to overcome bounce rate. 

• Optimising web traffic at device level – In the last 5-7 years we have seen technology has changed and mostly mobile phones users have increased. As per a report submitted by statista.com worldwide smartphone users have increased from 1.06 billions 2016 to 3.6 billions in 2020. Further predicted that it may upto increase 4.3 billions by 2023. Hence your website needs to be well optimised for mobile.

Identifying traffic report and source level – It is highly advised to find the bounce rate at source and medium level. As traffic sources are different, accordingly set your internal bounce benchmarks against each source/medium to obtain website end goal. Accordingly advise your internal digital media team SEM,SEO,SEM,Email,etc to work for the improvement against their area. Such improvements can be done at target keyword, ad copies, target audiences, landing page content, content readability, content graphics and videos, etc. 

• Site Speed Overview – Regularly compare your traffic data using google analytics or using any third party tool. Fortnight comparison or monthly comparison will give more insights. As per google norms somewhere below 6 Sec is good and below 2-3 sec is best, based on our practical exposure to different industries we advice anywhere below 6 sec load is nominal to manage decent traffic.

• Optimise web pages at browser & screen resolution-  Optimization and browser & screen resolution is very important in today’s world. We have to always match the users trends as we all know uptil the 20s 6” screen mobiles were widely popular but with changing speed users are adapting 6.5” to 6.8” touch screens to fulfill their mobile digital experience. Desktops are changed from mouse clicks to touch, accordingly we have to match the best as per users browser & screen resolution. 

• Creating relevant goals in google analytics – We have seen in most of the cases website owners focus only on result oriented goals and only such goals are added under analytics. Suggest focusing on initial goals such as page scroll, time spent, etc.

Conclusions – Bounce rate is by product of different verticals, we need a wider approval to strengthen our bounce rate. Some of our regular practises used in our media approach are listed above. Incorporate the same and share your observation in comments.