Is a High Bounce Rate Really a Bad Bounce Rate?

As defined by Wikipedia, a Bounce rate (sometimes confused with exit rate)^[1] is a term used in web site traffic analysis. It essentially represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.

Based on the above definition, one would assume the lower the rate the better, and for the most part that is correct. We typically tell our clients that a bounce rate of less than 45% is ideal for a non e-commerce site, however there are instances (detailed below) when a higher bounce rate is actually a good thing.

1) Deeplinking

Back to our friends at Wikipedia for definition, Deep linking, on the World Wide Web, is making a hyperlink that points to a specific page or image on another website, instead of that website’s main or home page.

This strategy is used not only by search engines when returning results, but also by advertisers who are becoming smarter about understanding audience needs and delivering the exact information they are looking for in one click.

As an example, if I am shopping for a new car on Yahoo! Autos and am interested in a “Green Car” with great gas mileage, I will be served an ad for the Honda Civic Hybrid. Upon clicking the ad, I will be taken directly to the page on the site that talks about the cars gas mileage. In years past, many ads and SEM campaigns defaulted to driving visitors to the site’s home page. As you can see, Deep linking is much more strategic, but it will cause a higher bounce rate because the user won’t have to search the site to get the information they want, which is a better user experience.

2) Links to External Sites

If the goal of your site is to have visitors actually exit your site via a link on your page, then a high bounce rate would be expected, and even desired. A couple of examples of this would be a site where users are asked to log in. If that login directs the visitor to a different site, this would be considered a bounce off your home page.

Another instance of wanting people to exit, would be if you generate revenue based on ad sales from your site. In this case, you want people to engage with the ads and design your site to do just that – a high bounce rate will confirm your strategy is working.

3) Loyal Visitors

Most of us have our favorite sites we like to go to on a regular basis. Mine is runnersworld.com to get the latest news on upcoming races. They always feature this information on a calendar on their home page, so typically I don’t have to dive any deeper into the site to get what I am looking for.

Another example of this would be sites that contain daily horoscopes, financial ticker updates and sporting event scores. An individual will bookmark the page that contains the updates they want, hit it once and exit.

In all of these cases, we are increasing user satisfaction by delivering what is sought, quicker and easier – however, if you have a high bounce rate on a site such as amazon.com, or any other ecommerce or lead generation site, you might want to think about a redesign. I will leave that topic for another day and another blog, because now I must see what races are coming up this weekend.