High Bounce Rate: When Intent Does Not Equal Purpose

Recently, I had the opportunity to perform some Bounce Rate research as part of a regular performance report. While somewhat time consuming, I marveled at the insights one can develop by just using some common sense and doing some digging.

While there can be some variance in the definition of Bounce Rate, generally it is the proportion of visitors that enter the site at a page and then leave without proceeding to another page. A high bounce rate is not always bad; however it can indicate that the user is not able to find what he or she is looking for. Therefore, the user’s intent does not match the purpose of the page.

Interestingly enough, I stumbled over an excellent blog post by Avinash Kaushik that covers this very topic and offers tips on improving Bounce Rate: Six Tips for Improving High Bounce / Low Conversion Web Pages. Avinash covers the regular schism between User Intent and Webpage Purpose; I highly recommend that you read it. Using his suggestions as a guide, I feel that the key points are:

• Look at Traffic Sources to Understand Intent
• Use a Call to Action Consistent with Intent
• Ask Users’ Opinions: Does the Page Satisfy the Need?
• Use Site Overlay to Visualize Intent
• Test Page Layout
• Test First Impressions
• Make Pages More Relevant to Users’ Intent

I found that in my research, the pages in question were often too broad, included other items and promoted services that were not relevant to users. For example, a search for “pencil” that leads to “writing implements” page is considerably less relevant than a page focused on pencils; the result is often a bounce. In addition, while the Call to Action on each page was consistent with the user’s intent, they were difficult to pick out.

Matching page purpose with user intent is at the heart of decreasing Bounce Rate. While Avinash’s suggestions are valuable, reducing the Bounce Rate does not have to be complex; a business can start by spending some time and using common sense to determine whether their page(s) suit the needs of their clients and prospect.

Bill Rowland