What constitutes a ‘good’ bounce rate is pretty subjective.
For some, a bounce rate of 70% may be fantastic. For others, it may seem catastrophic.
Either way, bounce rates are a fairly accurate indication of how appealing a website is to the visitor. And a high bounce rate suggests issues with the website, a poor user experience, and a lack of relevance.
Therefore, efforts should be made to keep bounce rates in check and reduce them as much as possible.
So to help marketers get started, this blog post will cover 10 ways to reduce landing page bounce rates.
Including marketing best practice, advanced personalisation, and targeted recommendations.
Firstly, review other metrics
Bounce rates should never be looked at in isolation.
Instead, marketers would identify if the bounce rate is on one specific page, a type of page such as blog posts, or the website in general.
A great place to start is reviewing time on site. For instance, if overall time on site is good, but blogs receive a high bounce rate, your issue could be with your blog content.
But, if bounce rates are high and time on site is also low, then the issue is likely to be with the website as a whole.
The key here is to investigate before making significant changes.
Optimise page load speed
Of all the issues a landing page can have, taking forever to load is one of the worst.
After all, if a visitor can’t even see your fantastic content. Then they are far more likely to bounce.
In fact, 47% of website visitors expect a website to load in less than 2 seconds.
To optimise page load speed, marketers should follow SEO best practice and begin with ensuring images are optimised, content is compressed, and minimise HTTP requests.
Include a clear CTA
The more CTAs that you feature on a landing page, the more confusing the website journey becomes.
The goal of user experience on a website is to clearly guide visitors to the desired outcome. Multiple CTAs may seem like a good idea; giving the visitor lots of options. But in reality, it can become overwhelming and lead to a bounce.
Instead, consider the visitor’s intent and how your landing page can help them achieve their goal. And design a clear CTA to support this.
Personalised banners
Key to reducing bounce rates is to grab the visitor’s attention immediately.
Real-time personalised website banners allow marketers to showcase an image, message, or offer that is most likely to achieve this.
These banners could be based on the categories of products or brands they regularly browse. Products purchased, or trips scheduled. Or simply whether they are new or frequent visitors to the website.
Recommended products
Targeting is key to keeping a visitor engaged on your website.
But by trying to target everyone with your promotions. You will fail to target anyone.
Instead, utilise dynamic product recommendations based on the visitor’s preferences, browsing behaviour, and previous purchases.
This offers the viewer a highly tailored shopping experience, full of the products they actually want to explore.
Exit intent popups
If a website visitor is just about to bounce, then stop them in their tracks with an exit intent popup.
These popups appear just as the visitor hovers their mouse to the top of the page. And will display a targeted message with the aim of keeping them on site.
This message could include information about help and support in case they can’t find what they want. A product offer to entice them into making a purchase. Or, an email sign up so brands can capture data for further communication.
Welcome back popups
However, if the bounce couldn’t have been avoided. Use a popup when the visitor returns to stop them from bouncing again.
Welcome back popups can help visitors to pick up where they left off.
The message can remind them of products viewed or added to their cart. Promote new products of interest that have recently been launched. Or again, offer a newsletter sign up to keep them in the loop.
Countdown timers
Countdown timers are one of our favourite tactics for reducing landing page bounce rates.
Firstly, they grab the attention of the visitor immediately. Offering something a little more visual than a regular static image.
And secondly, countdown timers add a sense of urgency. When used in conjunction with a promotion or limited-time offer, countdown timers let the visitor know that if they don’t act now, they could miss out.
Live pricing and availability
Brands can leverage real-time external data feeds, for example live hotel prices, personalised variable real-time pricing, or live availability to keep their website visitor engaged.
By updating content automatically at the time of every website view or refresh, brands can ensure that they are never promoting out-of-date content or unavailable products.
This reduces the chances of a visitor bouncing due to outdated information. And can also add a sense of urgency if prices are reduced or items are selling fast.
Mobile optimisation
We’ve been preaching the benefits of mobile optimisation for years now. However, for many brands, it still remains an afterthought.
But, mobile accounts for approximately half of web traffic worldwide. Which means if websites are not optimised for mobile, visitors will be bouncing quickly and heading to a competitor.
Launching an entire website as mobile optimised is a big undertaking. So start out by ensuring that any new or particularly important landing pages are mobile optimised first.
This could include landing pages for PPC ads, specific campaigns, or your most popular product pages.
Are you struggling with bounce rates?
If bounce rates are the bane of your marketing, then we can help.
Our all-in-one AI marketing platform and Customer Success Team can support you in optimising your landing pages to make them as relevant, personalised, and targeted as possible.
Get in touch to find out more.