Your ecommerce bounce rate is a vital statistic. The ecommerce platform can be an effective way of marketing your business and increasing sales, but there is one big problem. There are millions of competitors. If you’re attracting a huge audience but you’re not converting them to customers, your bounce rate may be the issue.
Today, we’re highlighting 6 reasons why your bounce rate is so high and how to reduce your website bounce rate.
What is bounce rate on Google Analytics?
Website bounce rate is the percentage of your audience which left immediately after visiting your website. For example, a bounce rate of 75% means that of your total audience, 75% did not click on through your site and went back to Google/closed off their tab. If that number goes up, then less people are spending time exploring your website.
What is a good bounce rate for ecommerce websites?
The average bounce rate for ecommerce is lower than other sites at 20% – 45%. This means if you are below 20%, you are performing well and anything above 45% is below average and needs improving. It should be said your content is structured in such a way that people are clicking between products, maximising sales and also lowering your bounce rate.
One important point to keep in mind though, is that Google does not differentiate between the reasons why someone “bounced” off your page. The person who leaves in frustration and the one who has no desire to buy both count towards the same statistic. In good web design, we don’t worry about the latter – they’re not our perfect customer. We worry about how we convert them.
Here is our simple guide that any ecommerce platform can follow to reduce bounce rate.
1. Your website’s design is poor.
The appearance of your website is crucial to bounce rate success. A website with a basic theme, or an outdated one, will suffer from higher bounce rates. People trust good design, because it is a sign of quality. It establishes your brand identity which creates assurance for your customer. If you are using a common theme, or you’ve slapped it together, then your e-commerce bounce rate will suffer.
2. Your website loads slowly.
A lot of websites we analyse have very poor loading times when Google Pagespeed or similar apps test them. You might think your website isn’t running slowly, but that’s only on your device and in your opinion. Good ecommerce websites are snappy and lightweight. They don’t offer flashy scripts. They offer efficient sales processes and one-click checkouts. If you are using too many plugins, strip it back.
Your customer will remember your customer service, not your brightly coloured GIF.
3. Your website isn’t optimised for mobile.
A lot of people you are going to sell to will be using their mobile or tablet device, especially the younger generation. If your website loads poorly on mobile, then it will eat away at the same reasons as our first point above and it will worsen your website bounce rate. Make sure that your desktop, mobile and tablet versions load well.
Also Read: How to Get Found on Google by Using Images
They don’t need to look identical – they just need to work for the device your customer is using it on.
4. Your CTA isn’t obvious.
You should never consider your selling point to be free delivery. Everyone does free delivery – and if they don’t, they offer a voucher code or a free trial that does. Instead, think of the benefit you are providing to your customer. We are (hopefully!) approaching the end of lockdown. Why not convince someone to buy their “freedom party outfit” with you? Or kit out their back garden for summer.
The second tip here is to make your CTA contrast from the rest of the site. Your navigation bar should blend into the rest of your site. Don’t take my eye off the main aim of your ecommerce site.
5. Your content doesn’t describe your offer.
Remember to use as few words as possible that describe your offering as accurately as possible. Nobody is as passionate about the product you sell. This means they don’t need to know every feature; they only need to know enough to make the purchase. Your headers should catch their attention, then your sub-header should intrigue them enough to read your content.
Your website should answer the question they wanted Google to answer. If they don’t get that answer, they will go back to Google and Google will mark you down. That damages your bounce rate.
6. Poorly planned pop-ups.
There are two types of pop-ups that will destroy your bounce rate. Those that pop up too much and those that won’t go away! If you annoy someone, they will go somewhere that won’t. You have other options available to you to increase your mailing list. They don’t need to be intrusive pop-ups that take away from your simplistic, efficient buying experience.
Improving your ecommerce bounce rate doesn’t have to be tricky
These are six easy tips to reduce your ecommerce bounce rate. Just keep it simple.
You don’t need fancy, convoluted, technical content and design. You need a speedy, lightweight, simple check-out process that sells the benefit of your products over its features. There are plenty of technical improvements you can make, but nothing will improve your bounce rate like the customer experience that you provide.
Concentrate on the identity of your brand so that people trust you. This trust will establish your name and that will help improve your bounce rate too. The more sincere you are in your delivery, the more success you will have online.
Fed up of users leaving your website? Say goodbye to high bounce rates, work with us.
