Stop losing valuable and potential customers! High bounce rates can hurt your website’s conversion rates. Here are the top 4 common causes of high bounce rates and 4 strategies to improve your bounce rates.
1. Slow Pages
Source: Backlinko
People these days get bored easily. A website that takes a few seconds to load is considered slow. Nearly 70% of consumers claim that page speed affects their decision to buy from an online business. Conversion rates also drop by an average of 7% with each additional second of delay in page response. There are loads of factors that affect a website’s page speed. For example, large images, hosting, widgets, etc. Google’s Page Speed Insights can give you an idea of what is causing your website to slow down.
2. Misleading Meta Descriptions
Ask yourself: Is the content on your website accurately summarized by your meta descriptions? If not, then visitors may be more likely to exit your website if they realize that your content is not what they expected it to be.
You can do two things to improve your bounce rate. Either edit your meta descriptions to match your website content or rewrite your content and adjust it according to the search queries you want to attract visitors for.
3. Low Quality Content
Users visit a website and expect high quality content. If the content on your website does not meet the expectations of your visitors, your bounce rate will not go down. The best tip we can share is to put yourself in the shoes of your customers and think about what content you expect from your website. Remember every piece of content on your site from images, texts, design, etc. needs to clearly convey your brand value.
4. Not Mobile-Friendly
You’ll be surprised at the number of websites that are not mobile-friendly. The number of users accessing websites primarily from mobile devices is increasing every year. Research shows that 62% of users are less likely to purchase a service or an item from a website if they get a bad mobile experience. Plus, 57% of users do not recommend a website that is poorly designed in mobile which loses their opportunity to get good word of mouth and sharing (Think With Google).
Tips to Improve Your Bounce Rates
1. Embed Videos on the Website
Videos are the latest and top trends when it comes to websites and it’s not going anywhere. A study by Backlinko found that embedding videos on websites can reduce the bounce rate by up to 11%. People also spend an average 2.6x more time on websites that have videos than without. When adding videos, remember that all videos must also be high quality and relevant for the users.
2. Include Bucket Brigades
A bucket brigade is used by copywriters to encourage users to keep on reading. As mentioned earlier, people get bored fast. It’s important to keep them hooked on your content to prevent them from exiting your website. Here are a few examples of Bucket Brigades:
- Wait! There’s more..
- Did you know that..
- Here’s the truth..
- Have you ever found yourself..
- Think about a time..
3. Use Table of Contents
If people can’t find what they are looking for, they will immediately leave your site. A table of contents with jump links will help users instantly find the main thing they want from your page.
4. Exit Interrupt
Exit Interrupts are like pop-ups but less annoying. Exit Interrupt only pops up when a user is about to leave your website. This is your last chance to make a user stay on your website or take action. Here are a few ideas on what to include in your exit interrupt:
- Downloadable materials
- Discount Code
- Access to Tips
- Copy of Report
Your website is a powerful first impression tool. Make sure your website meets your web visitors’ standards and you’ll definitely see an improvement in your bounce rates.
Parachute is a team of digital marketing experts who would love to help you improve your website. Contact us today.
