It may be an important metric for other sites but for an eCommerce website, it’s a Key Performance Indicator.

Shopify classifies Bounce Rate as a key performance indicator for marketing in its blog “67 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Ecommerce”. Google defines Bounce as a “single-page session on your site” and calculates Bounce Rate as “single-page sessions divided by all sessions, or the percentage of all sessions on a site in which users viewed only a single page.”

Put in simple words, Bounce Rate is the fraction of people who visit your site but take off without interacting further with your site. These people reach your website, go through the page, and then exit without navigating to any other page on your website.

If you’re experiencing a high bounce rate on your website, then there are chances that you are committing one or more of the following mistakes. We compiled a list of whys and wherefores of your high bounce rates. Let’s take a look at reasons that could be accountable for turning your visitors into frogs!

Design

Take a look at your website from a layman’s point of view, or better ask a few of your close acquaintances to review your website.

What do they say?

How do they feel about it?

Do they like the design and feel of the website?

Do they find it clean and chic or does it feel too overbearing to them?

Take notes of what they say. They are probably giving you an exact overview of what your customers feel when they visit your site. Even if they’re not pros in website design, your customers will be fended off by a poorly designed e-commerce store.

A poor design does not necessarily mean the poor choice of color. A black and white theme can do wonders if the design is visually harmonious.

If you’re experiencing a high bounce rate there’s a fair chance that your e-store’s design is the culprit. If so, it’s time you consider revamping your store for good.

Layout

The cluttered showroom strategy may have worked for brick-and-mortar stores for a while but when it comes to selling online, beware! A messy landing page can scare off visitors as soon as they land on your site.

A website that has gained popularity as one of the most claustrophobia-inducing eCommerce stores is arngren.net – the Norwegian online electronic store. The website seems as if its former mail-order catalog has been dumped onto it.

We’re damn sure you’re store is in no way close to what the above-mentioned site looks like. However, the point we’re trying to make here is that the layout you’re e-commerce store follows is a determining factor in whether your customers just stop by or stop and buy!

And while we’re still at it, here an example of a clean and clutter-free page layout that you can take inspiration from.

The brains behind Not Another Bill decided on a complete website makeover when they evolved from just a gift subscription service to a full online store. With a minimal design approach, the designers who revamped NAB made sure that the UI allowed the products to shine.

Your eCommerce store layout is important. Don’t distract your visitors with too many visual elements. Instead, follow a simple layout to keep your visitor focused on the purchase.

Navigation

Steering through your eCommerce store should be easy. The problem of dealing with today’s internet generation is that they have too little patience and too many options.

If they do not find what they’re looking for, in a click, you know what their next course of action will be. And that is exactly why you need to guide them through your store.

There are a few things you need to work on to keep your bounce rate in check.

Firstly, make sure your website clearly reveals what you sell. Say you sell fashionable maternity clothes or run an online handmade bag store – one glance at your website should make that clear to the visitor.

Secondly, people are acquainted with a certain format – product categories on the top or left-hand side of the page, an add-to-cart button on the top right corner, and so on. Don’t confuse your audience by jumbling the page up. Stick to the conventions.

(P.S. – In case you wish to stand out, just make sure that you don’t make your visitors work hard to find something.)

Lastly, make your product categories visible in the main navigation. Also, if a visitor has landed on a particular product page, make sure that he/she is presented with main product categories so that they know where they are on your website and where else can they navigate to.

Product Info

Inappropriate and insufficient product information is another red flag of high bounce rates. People’s online purchase decision is often clouded with uncertainty about the product being good or bad. As such the amount of information provided by you can make or break the deal.

Product Info as Text

Describing the products briefly and in bulleted points works effectively in giving the right information to the visitor. Nobody likes to read paragraphs, especially while shopping. So, keep it concise.

Also, make sure the description contains essential keywords so that it shows up on the results pages of search engines.

Product Info as Images

The more visuals you provide, the less you’ll have to describe your product. Photograph your products from all possible angles to give your visitors a complete view of what they’re about to buy.

Also, keep in mind that online shoppers are always in a hurry. Even if they’re not, they won’t wait around for the image to load completely. A little delay and you’ll see the visitor quickly bounce to another site.

Product Info as Video

So, you got inspired and made an awesome video of your product. Hear us out when we say this – expect phenomenal results only if you’re willing to let users be in control of it.

Do not enable the auto-play feature. Let’s the visitor decide whether or not to play the video. Include call-to-actions to guide the user to the next step. Decide on an optimum video length to keep viewers intrigued rather than irritated.

Pop-Ups

We understand that you want to advertise, promote and inform your visitors about your offerings and pop-ups are one of the best ways to do it. However, your pop-ups should be well-timed and not come in the way of the visitors’ activity on your site.

We suggest that you test the timing of your pop-ups to make sure that they do not become the reason people abandon your site

Speed

It’s usually the last thing you read on a list that you remember first. And so, we strategically decided to place “Speed” at last.

Speed or rather a lack of it could be the evil sorceress turning your visitors into frogs. People don’t have the time or patience to stick around for long. Make sure you have kick-butt page load times. Dive into site speed metrics within your analytics program and see how your site speed might be an issue.

Concluding

No matter what your store’s bounce rate is, you should constantly be working to lower them. Checking the points we’ve mentioned in our list is a good start. Then, of course, there are more ways that you can use to attract and keep customers.

Check your sites speed, time your pop-ups, offer relevant information, make navigation easy and remodel your site for design and layout if needed. Do whatever it takes to make sure that your customers come to your site to stay.

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