Creative Ways To Reduce The Bounce Rate of a Website

Digital Marketing, SEO

10min read

Creative Ways To Reduce The Bounce Rate of a Website

Does it hurt?

When you see that your website has failed to keep users stick for a long, do you feel uneasy?

I always think why bounce rate goes high with a website made of animations, content, and everything else to entertain users. All it seems just not enough because users simply deny to spend more time on website. They jump from one website to other in a blink of eye.

Why?

Before I tell you, let’s have a quick brief on Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of users landing on your site and leave it without further navigation.

Higher Bounce Rate = Users Exit Early without Navigating

Lower Bounce Rate = Users stay and navigate

As I promised, I will tell you why, even after creating a heaven like website, users jump off your site at the speed of light.

The harsh truth – no matter if your website looks like heaven, being a user, if I won’t find something useful that relates to me, I am not gonna waste another minute.

If your bounce rate is high, your site lacks some parts essential for users to stay long and navigate. It could be anything – an irrelevant content, complicated navigation, broken links, or something you are not aware of.

Don’t worry….

This article will give you 7 missing parts to complete your website’s puzzle and stop users from switching to others.

1. Useful, Relevant & Readable Content

I can go on and on when it comes to content. There is just too much to explore and we have only one section to brief it. So I will give you four quick formulas on creating compelling content:

Catchy Titles
Stories
Case Studies
Personal Experience

I always admired the Headspace website. It has everything a user needs to believe that there is a problem to his solution for which he came to the website in the first place. Let me show you.

Source

Why users visit a meditation site? Obviously, to find peace, health and happiness. This website promises it all. It makes you helpless to explore more and believe why you will find your peace here only.

That’s what content is all about – a promise to users’ problem. Create easy, relevant and story-rich content for your users to dwell in.

2. Keywords Matching Search Queries

Gone are the days when SEO people focused more on keywords relevant to their business only. Today, users are the ruler of Internet. They won’t spend much time on your site, if they don’t find words relevant to their search.

The most effective way to increase relevancy of your site as per users’ perspective is by including keywords matching well with users’ search queries

Source

Start prioritizing users’ query first over your business. Instead of piling up keywords for your website, research on queries that users often ask. Make a list of users’ queries applicable to your business and use them as a part of content. Ensure the content is natural not forceful.

3. Effortless Navigation

Users are lazy. They want to eat delicious food served on plate with a spoon to eat quickly and glass of water to drink afterwards. Now imagine, what if you tell these lazy users to use mind in finding the page they are looking for. Will it work?

Not at all.

They instantly think of trying another site with a least bit of effort.

““It doesn’t matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.”

― Steve Krug, Author of Don’t Make Me Think

Serve your website the same way – as effortless and mindless as possible.

4. Minimize Loading Time

Would you like to wait for a doctor when you are suffering from intense pain? Would you like to wait in queue for an event which is going to start in a second?

The truth is nobody wants to wait when they are curiously looking for something they want. When websites take more time to load, they increase waiting time for users. And who likes to wait at all.

Source

More loading time -> increase in waiting time -> higher bounce rate

You know well what happens if users see your site with big opened eyes waiting for loading time to end. Err…… they won’t wait at all. They look at your website with an irritating glance and step on another one taking less time to function.

Test your website to calculate how much time it takes to load. Make sure each page takes least time possible to come to life.

5. Don’t Disturb Users

Once I was looking for best communication blogs. Article of top 30 communication blogs ranked first on Google. I opened it and clicked the first listed site. I took merely 1 second to jump on second site.

Do you know why?

The website, I clicked first, popped up with notification asking for my email id instead of giving me a few quick tips on communication. It disturbed my search. Another drawback was it asked my email id without first building trust. Was’t I right to choose another site?

Of course, I was.

“According to a study in 2013, 70% of users said that irrelevant pop ups annoy them the most.”

Don’t disturb users with pop ups. Let them explore more about your business before you ask for something.

6. Engagement on Social Media Networks

As you know by now, bounce rate decreases when relevant audience visit your site.

But,

How will you reach targeted audience in the first place?

Don’t tell me you still believe in “Build and They will Come” phrase?

Throwing party is not enough if you don’t invite users. Same way building website is not enough if your targeted users are not even aware of it. Once your content-rich website is ready, it’s time to spread the word.

A fruitful way to reach maximum users is social media marketing.

Join business-relevant social media groups
Participate in discussions while promoting your website only where asked
Make your own group and invite users to join it
Promote your content with familiar hashtags on Twitter
Host webinars on social media networks

When it comes to social media marketing, sky is the limit. Keep learning, keep improving and keep implementing.

Follow 80/20 rule. Experiment with different social media strategies and work more on the ones with maximum results.

7. Take a Good Care of Mobile Optimized Website

As per StoneTemple data, 58% of web visits came from mobile devices in 2018.

Desktop website is not a priority anymore.

Smartphones offer comfort – an extension to laziness. Users won’t bother themselves to get up from bed and start the computer when they can have it all on their mobile. For the sake of comfort, users want mobile-friendly website for direct access to products or services on their fingertips.

If your website is not ready for mobile that means you can’t give comfort to users. On the contrary, you are pushing them away from your website and giving them an opportunity to explore competitors.

Is this what you want?

Wrapping Up

Now that you have 7 ways to reduce your bounce rate, what are you waiting for? Test your website, find errors responsible for higher bounce rate, repair everything and wait for the day to come where users don’t intend leave your website without turning into a customer.

By Hans Zimmer

01 April 2020

THIS IS WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS A RESPONSIVE WEB DESIGN

You want to read an article that recently caught your attention because of its compelling headline. You opened the link on your smartphone. Your expectations are high.

But wait…

Do you have to zoom in to make sense of the content on your small screen?

Do you put effort into reading it or will you switch back to the search engine to find a link that offers better content on your screen?

The latter is the obvious option.

With the growing number of smartphone users, it’s become more important than ever to have a site that responds according to users’ expectations.

If your site failed to do so, you probably know well by now how it backfires.

But how do you create a user-responsive design?

Responsive design is your answer.

So… What is Responsive Design?

As the name suggests, responsive design is a design that stands up to your users’ expectations. It makes your website look good and well-fitted to all types and sizes of devices.

The design and structure of a responsive website is the perfect solution to your customers’ expectations as it adapts well to the different resolutions across devices.

Plus, you don’t need to create multiple versions of websites for mobile and desktop. Instead, a single responsive website plays various roles depending on the type of devices users are coming from.

But Why do You Need Responsive Design?

In 2015, Google introduced a mobile-friendly update to its search engine algorithms signaling a website’s mobile presence as an essential ranking factor. The rise of mobile web traffic till today alone is enough to justify why any business needs a responsive design.

Besides, there are many reasons why your organization receives 4-sided benefits from responsive web design. The list is too big to cover in one article, so we compiled a list of the top 6 reasons to have a responsive web design to upscale your business for current and future trends.

Let’s dive in.

1. Mobile Viewers Outnumbering Desktop Viewer

Do you know that over 50% of web traffic comes from smartphone users internationally?

Statista predicts worldwide smartphone users will reach 3.8 billion by 2021, which is up from 2.5 billion in 2016.

No doubt, all the facts, and statistics are pointing towards the trend of small-screen devices.

This means that websites not optimized for smaller screen devices often experience a massive decline in search engine traffic and rankings. This means users don’t find them anymore.

As you already know, smartphones are scoring well above desktop visits, but most mobile users are abandoning unresponsive sites at first glance.

In fact, 76% of users admitted that if the site functions well and runs smoothly on their smartphone, they are more likely to revisit it.

Overall, if your prospects open your website on their mobile and end up closing it within 3 seconds because they couldn’t view content properly, you need responsive design.

2. Google + SEO-Friendly Site

Google considers the responsiveness of a website and has even stated that search engine rankings favour responsive sites over non-responsive ones.

One fact worth mentioning is that responsive design makes it a lot easier for search engines like Google to crawl your website and reduces the chances of errors with on-page SEO.

Not having a responsive website is a simple explanation for a lack of Google traffic you’re your declining ranking. Unfortunately, without a responsive design, many of your potential leads are turning to competitors offering excellent user experience. Before it gets too late, take the step now and turn your website into a responsive, SEO-friendly site.

3. Enhanced User Experience

Responsive websites load faster than non-responsive ones. They consist of a technology that displays websites on all devices with content that adapts quickly to different screen sizes. They behave as if you have created multiple versions of a single site for each device, giving your users a personalized experience based on their device choice.

Non-responsive sites, on the other hand, squeeze content into small screens, which takes more time to process and compromises the content quality.

Responsive web design eliminates all the problems created by non-responsive sites like poor user experience, higher loading times and small, difficult-to-read content. Responsive designs appeal to the ever-shrinking patience of mobile and tablet users who are not willing to wait for more than 3 seconds for your site to load its content.

Responsive sites offer an unbeatable user experience by loading sites in the least time possible. Thus, it results in leaving a positive impression among users of your brand. Because of the fast response from the site, users feel valued and are more likely to revisit the site.

4. Easy Management

Many businesses, especially small ones, can’t spare much time to update or refresh their website every now and then. At the same time, they can’t afford to hire costly services of web designers to take care of all aspects of the website. And, if you have different versions of a site for desktop and mobile, the cost of management skyrockets.

Responsive design is one of the most cost-effective solutions. Making changes to adopt a responsive design is as easy and smooth as spreading butter on bread. Also, whatever changes you make, you don’t have to worry about making the same changes in multiple versions. Responsive design takes care of everything automatically after you are done editing the design or updating the blog.

Additionally, with one website working at the center of your online business, managing other marketing elements becomes more accessible than ever.

So, when updating a social media button or redirecting a link, you don’t have to wonder whether all users (mobile users and desktop users) are enjoying your new changes or not. Responsive design eliminates the management stress of your business website.

5. Decrease in Bounce Rate

Is your website falling prey to a high bounce rate?

Non-responsive websites are one of the many reasons behind a higher bounce rate.

High bounce rate signals to Google that perhaps your website is not as relevant as it should be when it comes to solving users’ problems or answering their questions. Content is usually not to blame. Slower and non-responsive websites are the main reason behind users landing on your website and leaving it as soon as it fails to load. This entire scenario negatively impacts your search engine rankings.

Design plays a vital role in the user experience of your website. No matter how great your content is, if it fails to fit properly in small screen devices, users are not going to strain their eyes or wait longer to load its content. They know that they have other options waiting in the search engines’ list to explore and enjoy for a more seamless user experience.

Responsive design never makes users wait or zoom in. It makes websites adaptable to all sized devices without affecting the content quality.

6. Increase in Leads and Conversion

A large news media organization was fidgeting with the thought of whether to invest in responsive design or not. To decide, they A/B tested with a responsive and non-responsive site where the goal was to increase the number of free trial sign-ups.

Here’s the proof revealing which website design won the game:

The conversion rate hiked up by 56% from the implementation of responsive design.

Responsive design makes it easier for website visitors to find what they are looking for without zooming in, waiting or straining their eyes. The more effortless the design is, the more users convert. Mixed with a lower bounce rate and better SEO rankings, you’ll get a strong, successful model of a website.

Embrace it Now

If you’re not convinced about the abilities of responsive design, give it a chance and allow it to save your time and money without compromising the quality of your website. This is a modern strategy most businesses follow to stay within budget while turning their small business into a brand.

Image Preferences

https://this.isfluent.com/blog/2012/what-makes-a-great-mobile-site

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/03/googles-mobilegeddon-aftermath-eight-months-better-mobile-web/

https://sites.psu.edu/amandamelton/2018/10/07/from-mobile-friendly-to-responsive-design-a-user-experience-evolution/

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/experience-design/mobile-page-speed-load-time/