September 3, 2018
Generating traffic to your website is all well and good: but what do your visitors do when they arrive? Do they stay, explore your business, and take the next step – or do they move on quickly, before they have a chance?
The number of people stopping off briefly (as a portion of your overall web traffic) is commonly referred to as your ‘bounce rate’: Google defines this as the percentage of single-page visits. Reducing this can be key to boosting your revenue, and optimising your conversion rates.
This blog will detail 5 ways to tackle your bounce rate problems – and send
your conversions skyrocketing:
1. Focus on readability.
Huge blocks of text with no distinguishing features are incredibly imposing, particularly in the ‘attention economy’ we all live in: people simply don’t have time to persevere with content if it’s tricky to understand, or difficult to read. So, make every effort to boost the readability of your content. That means clear headings and subheadings are a must. Bullet points are another fantastic way of conveying large amounts of information quickly and effectively. In the greetings card industry, visuals are incredibly important – the mantra ‘show, don’t tell’ can be a powerful one to follow. Above all, clarity is essential. The clearer you are, the easier it’ll be to communicate with your audience – and engage potential customers.
2. Don’t disrupt the flow.
Pop-ups that aren’t absolutely essential to the reading experience are more often than not extremely disruptive. They can severely interrupt the carefully planned flow of a user’s experience through your website. In fact, more than 70% of people find them a negative part of the browsing experience, with only 1 in 10 users indicating they’d respond positively to a pop-up.
Given that, instead of using gimmicks like pop-ups, working on a clearly defined, uninterrupted user journey seems a much more sensible way to slash your bounce rate. For most people, if the next step seems obvious to take, they will take it – the key is to ensure the journey flows smoothly from one logical point to the next.
3. Deploy tactical CTAs.
The latest research in the field indicates sites that include CTAs (‘calls to action’) boast considerably higher conversion rates than sites that don’t – as well as significantly lower bounce rates. That’s a potent combination, which means much more engagement, and vastly improved sales. So, why do CTAs work so well? Because, as users, our responses are conditioned. Years of browsing and online shopping mean we’re now used to reacting to strong, relevant CTAs: ‘find out more’, ‘see others like this’, or ‘buy now’ are a few classic examples. Of course, they must be compelling and make sense to the user. Irrelevant ones won’t help. Good CTAs, however, enhance usability, and that means potential customers will happily stay on your site. Remember, that every minute a user spends looking at your cards and perusing your other products boosts likely conversions – and cuts your bounce rate.
4. Keep your content fresh and exciting.
The data shows that businesses that update their blogs frequently, with regular, compelling content, generate up to 126% more leads than those who don’t. That’s a staggering differentiator, and it’s easy to see why this is relevant for reducing bounce rate. Your ideal customer is going to be interested in what you have to offer. If you can give them valuable, insightful commentary that’s relevant, they’re going to want to spend time taking it all in. They won’t be leaving in a hurry, and your bounce rate will reflect the change in their browsing habits. Sharing your content on professional platforms like LinkedIn can be a particularly effective strategy here too: you could quickly become a recognised ‘expert’ in the greetings card industry.