Last Updated on Oct 31, 2019 by Numinix Developer
For any ecommerce store owner, raising your online visibility and gaining website traffic is perhaps the most pertinent and difficult element to success. Great products and strategic prices are useless if no one is seeing them, so we want to help you close the deal, every time. Before we jump into it, however, there are a few techy terms that you’ll want to know…
First off, bounce rates
Your bounce rate is the number of visitors who leave your website after visiting a single page. Each page has its own bounce rate, and the lower the rate, the better you’re doing at capturing your visitors’ attention. You’ll want to pay most attention to the bounce rates on your more important pages: Your landing page (where-ever customers arrive after clicking on an ad or link to your page), conversion pages (product pages) and any other high-traffic page.
All of the following ways of leaving your site constitute a ‘bounce’:
- Hitting the back button
- Typing a different URL
- Closing the window or tab
- Clicking on an external link
Next, there are exit rates
Similar to a bounce rate, an exit rate is unique to each page. It is the percentage of people who leave after viewing the given page. Sounds practically identical to a bounce rate, right? Well, the difference here is that a bounce rate tracks the people who leave after only one page… a single touch and then poof! They’ve bounced. An exit rate, on the other hand, can be influenced by someone who’s visiting multiple pages but then leaves mid-way through their browsing. Understanding which of your pages have the highest exit rate will likely show an inconsistency in information value or accessibility.
When you have high exit and bounce rates, that generally means you’re overlooking some key ecommerce essentials. Assuming your prices and products are absolutely amazing, there should be no reason why your website is driving traffic away rather than encouraging full baskets. A few common culprits for high Exit and Bounce Rates are:
Unattractive Design
If a visitor stumbles across your site and is unimpressed by your layout, images and font face, it is unlikely that they will stay very long. Much like a physical retail shop, unappealing paint and dirty floors will discourage any shopper. Gain credibility with a website that makes them stay.
User-Unfriendly
If your website is confusing, there’s no way they’ll stick around. Having broken links, page re-directs and incorrect information is the same as hiring an uninformed sales associate, having a maze as a shop floor and changeroom doors that just don’t open.
Misleading Information
Now, it’s one thing to have faulty links, but it’s another to link your visitors to something completely irrelevant. If your ads, meta copy and content marketing strategy lead shoppers to believe you’re selling something that you’re not, they’ll be sorely mistaken and extremely irritated when they can’t find what they came for. Don’t misguide your potential sales with a “we sell it all” approach. Shoppers know what they want and and will question your credibility if you’re promising products you don’t have.
To make sure you live up to their purchasing needs, ask yourself:
- What search terms did visitors use to get here?
- What website or ad did your visitors come from?
- What keywords are most popular, and do they match with my inventory?
- Would a different search term be more suitable for my products?
Lack of Calls to Action (CTAs)
Sure, people these days are tech-savvy, but that doesn’t mean they can’t use some added guidance to get them where they need to be. If a visitor enters your ecommerce store but then doesn’t know what to do once there, then he/she might as well leave, right? Make sure traffic is constantly being led in the right direction with clear CTAs and instructions.
Too Many CTAs
After reading about the last issue, it may seem impossible to offer too much visitor guidance, but this is quite often the case. On a site with too many CTAs, shoppers can be overwhelmed by all the possible directions. A fork in the road? How about five?! The sales journey for an online shopper should be clear and concise. Too many buttons and options, and your shoppers may just opt for a less stimulating competitor site.
If you’re looking to reduce your bounce or exit Rates, let the Numinix team make the most out of your online retail space. Specializing in ecommerce marketing, strategy, and design, we can make your visitors stay, subscribe and shop with ease.
