Your website is the heart of your e-commerce business, so it's important to make sure it's doing its job well. There are a few metrics that you can use to check the health of your site, and one of the most essential ones to pay attention to is your bounce rate. Read on to learn more about what your bounce rate means and how HubSpot can help you improve bounce rates.
When people initially land on your website, they can either choose to navigate around more pages on your site or leave without looking at anything else. People who leave your site from the page they enter on are referred to as "bounces." These people either press the back button on their browser, completely exit out of their browser, or navigate to another website.
The percentage of people who leave your site without visiting any other pages makes up your bounce rate. To calculate this percentage, take the number of people who bounce from your site or a particular page, and divide it by the total number of people who visit your site or page.
While the definition of what makes a good bounce rate varies by industry, it's always a good idea to improve bounce rates whenever possible. Current data suggests that bounce rates for e-commerce stores tend to be around 45%. This means that nearly half of the people who initially land on your site leave without taking action.
This is a huge group of potential customers that your business can tap into if you make some changes to your website.
A high bounce rate sounds like a bad thing for your business, but it could indicate a few different things. It's important to keep these things in mind when thinking about this metric. Sometimes, when people visit just one page and leave, it means that they found the exact information they're looking for. Their questions were answered.
Alternatively, if people are spending a lot of time on your site or visiting a lot of pages, it could sometimes signify that they are having trouble finding the information they need. While it's important to be aware of individual metrics like bounce rate, time spent on-site, and the number of pages visited, these metrics should always be looked at as part of a whole picture so that you can get a clearer idea of your visitor's behavior.
For e-commerce shops, in particular, a high bounce rate is just part of shopper behavior. It may mean that you have a potential customer checking out and researching different products from different companies. They may be back to revisit your site later.
But you can't be sure that this is the case. When someone bounces from your site, it shows that they didn't make a purchase. At that time, you were unable to convince them to buy one of your products, and they left. Because your ultimate goal is to make more sales, improving your bounce rate is important.
Google doesn't view bounces as positive, either. A high bounce rate can lower your site's ranking. Why? It may appear to the search engine that you aren't properly answering searchers' queries.
Considering your entire site's bounce rate may not be as helpful as looking at the bounce rate for particular pages. When looking at bounces, take note of the amount of time that people are spending on your site, too. Are people bouncing after only a few seconds? Then it may indicate that they felt they landed in the wrong place.
On the other hand, if they're spending a few minutes on a page (for example, a product page), it may show that they are interested in the product. They may just choose not to buy at that particular moment.
Pages like blog posts will always have higher bounce rates because people visit these pages to read and find information. But if you find that your actual product pages are being visited for only a few seconds before people leave, this could mean that there's some element that people aren't connecting with.
When someone lands on a product page, they may be looking at images, descriptions of the product, or price. If this information isn't immediately visible and what potential customers expect to see, it can cause them to leave immediately.
Now that we know what a bounce rate is and how it can impact your business, it's time to look at how to improve bounce rates with HubSpot. HubSpot is a great tool to use to improve the function of many aspects of your website. Here are a few of the most powerful things HubSpot can do to improve bounce rates:
People are more likely to stay on your website and check out more pages if they feel like they are getting a personalized experience. HubSpot lets you create multiple customized landing pages. Make pages that appeal to different demographics or visitors in different stages of the buyer's journey.
HubSpot's CMS helps you create a website that's easy to navigate, so people always know where to find the information they're looking for.
No matter whether people are viewing your site on their phone, tablet, or computer, you want to make sure it loads fast and looks great. HubSpot can help optimize pages for mobile devices, create stylish copy and images, and speed up loading times for your pages.
No matter what pages your visitors land on, you want to make sure that everything on that page is clear, informative, and error-free. HubSpot can help ensure you're using the right keywords that are relevant to users, so you know you're providing them with the content they need.
In addition to personalizing landing pages, HubSpot can help you track buyer's behavior. Then you can provide them with more accurate recommendations and communications.
HubSpot can easily integrate with other tools you're already using, like WooCommerce, Shopify, and more.
HubSpot is the original inbound marketing expert. Adding elements of inbound marketing to your e-commerce store can help visitors feel that their needs and wants are being heard. Using inbound marketing tactics can also help you look like a trustworthy expert in your industry who is ready to help solve your customer's problems and answer their questions. People who are satisfied with the information they find on your website are less likely to bounce. This will improve bounce rates for pages throughout your site.
If you're concerned about your e-commerce site's bounce rate, don't panic. Remember, the bounce rate is simply a small piece of the whole picture. But at the same time, a high bounce rate can be indicative of something more concerning. It shouldn't simply be ignored. Take a close look at other metrics on your website and see how they relate to one another. If you're ready to start building a better e-commerce shop, then HubSpot is full of great tools that you can use. Eniture is a proud partner of HubSpot. Also, we can help you master the platform and the tools it has to offer.
Eniture Technology specializes in helping e-Commerce merchants grow by providing useful information, digital marketing services, off-the-shelf apps that solve common problems, and custom programming services. If you're interested in accelerating the growth of your online sales, please contact us. You might also enjoy this free information on the 10 reasons why you should be using HubSpot to grow your e-commerce business.
