Do you know what one of the least obvious causes of business failure is? The answer is actually the bounce rate of your website. For those among you who have not heard of the bounce rate, continue reading to get a full understanding of the subject.
I realised the importance of having a website for my clothing business awfully late in the game, in comparison with the more tech-savvy entrepreneurs I’m associated with. Though later than the others, my website was developed with high growth in mind. I wanted it to have every function and tech element needed to bring in the sales.
As time progressed, my disappointment grew because the website wasn’t delivering the results I anticipated. What I thought would bring in a new wave of clientele did exactly the opposite! After much deliberation, I decided to procure the services of a web design company in the UK who could expertly assess the situation. This really was one of the best decisions I made!
The first action was to audit my website, and boy was that needed! This analysis revealed nearly a dozen issues that required immediate attention, one of which was a high Bounce rate. I had never heard of such a metric before, but the agency I was dealing with explained the concept in great detail.
What is ‘bounce rate’?
As defined by Google, Bounce rate is essentially the number of single-page visits to a website. In other words, if you log on to a website and find nothing relevant or interesting, your likelihood of leaving (or ‘bouncing’) away from the site is increased – the rate at which people disengage is collectively known as the ‘bounce rate’.
Now, in all honesty, When I learnt the bounce rate of my website was abnormally high, I was very concerned. Who wouldn’t be? An entrepreneur doesn’t only invest their capital; there is also an investment of time, effort, and so much more besides.
A high Bounce rate indirectly means you have a poorly performing website, with mediocre or even poor content, and the overall experience is not good enough to encourage a visitor to stay. A visitor with no intention to even browse will definitely never convert into a sale.
Websites that have an average bounce rate of 40% or below are typically doing just fine. Anything above that is a matter of concern. Here are a few factors that negatively influenced the bounce rate of my website:
Lack of responsiveness.
Have you ever logged on to a website from your mobile device and experienced it loading strangely and looking ‘wonky’?
Perhaps the font sizes alternate, or images are misaligned. Such errors occur because the website you are visiting is not responsive.
Responsiveness is the ability of a website to adapt to the screen size of a mobile device or Tablet. Unresponsive websites offer a very bad experience to visitors and discourage them from browsing further. This factor is highly relevant as the majority of web activity and browsing is performed today via mobile devices.
Slow loading
I personally hate websites that take a long time to load. The average user won’t spend more than a few seconds before jumping to an alternative website if your’s is too slow to load. Users have gotten used to acquiring information quickly, and patience has become a virtue held by very few these days. If your website is not able to load quickly, you can be sure it’s not going to have the amount of traffic it needs to be successful.
User experience
User experience is a factor that must be emphasised when designing a website for your company or brand. A site that has unintuitive navigation or offers an unfriendly user experience is bound to get less visitors.
It’s imperative to understand that websites are built for visitors, and every element or component of your site must, in some way, enhance the visitor’s experience and provide value for their time spent.
If your site is not easy to navigate, has poorly placed content, or is not interactive, the bounce rate will surely increase.
Uninteresting & misleading content
The content you display on your website is a very important factor to consider. At times you may visit a website with a great deal of content, but a complete lack of quality. It’s not uncommon for businesses to lose focus on quality.
Other aspects of content that discourages visitors from staying longer are poor use of language and misleading titles. Poor use of language eliminates credibility, and misleading titles are simply lies, and nobody likes to be lied to—the result – no referrals, low SERP ranking, negative reviews, and finally, loss of revenue and growth.
Visually unattractive.
In the world we live in today, a book is judged by its cover. If your website is unattractive, the bounce rates are going to be high. We’d all love to live in an idealistic world where substance is preferred over appearance; unfortunately, we’re far from it.Research tells us that it takes a visitor less than a second to form an opinion of a website. In that second, the eyes do not focus on the content but on the aesthetics of the site. This includes colours, imagery, placements, fonts and other elements that contribute to the overall attractiveness. Humans are drawn to attractive things, even if they lack substance. An ugly website will only repel visitors, causing the bounce rate to rise.
I would have never been able to understand the depth of these things covered here, if I had not approached a company for web design in UK to help show me the way.Web Choice brought more than just these issues to my attention; they also provided solutions that yielded results within three months of execution. Additionally, their team of experts developed personalised digital strategies tailored to meet my specific objectives.
From my experience, I found Web Choice to be one of the best web design companies in the UK and would encourage entrepreneurs looking to improve and enhance their website to connect with them immediately.
About the author:
Sam Dunning is the Sales Director and Co-Owner at WEB CHOICE, UK. He hosts the weekly podcast “Business Growth Show” with business leaders, experts and entrepreneurs from across the globe. You’ll learn actionable tips across marketing, sales and growth to help you skyrocket your business!
