Conversion Optimisation
Bounce Rate
Plain English
People who visit and leave without doing anything else.
Definition
Bounce rate is the percentage of users who leave a website or page without taking any further action or interacting beyond their initial visit.
In practice
Used to measure whether landing pages or entry points are engaging enough to encourage further glossaryInteractionInteraction refers to any action a user takes within a product and how the system responds. It includes clicks, taps, gestures, and inputs that drive the user experience.Open glossary term.
In context
It is the most misread metric in analytics. A high rate on a page that answers the question completely (opening hours, a phone number) means the page worked.
The reality
A high bounce rate isn’t always bad - it depends on glossarySearch IntentSearch intent is the underlying goal or purpose behind a user’s query, such as finding information, making a purchase, or navigating to a specific site.Open glossary term. Some users get what they need and leave.
Compared with
Bounce Rate vs Exit Rate
Bounce rate counts glossarySessionA session is a single period of user interaction with a product, from entry to exit within a defined timeframe.Open glossary term that ended on the page they started on. glossaryExit RateExit rate is the percentage of users who leave a website or journey from a specific page, regardless of how they arrived there.Open glossary term counts sessions ending on a page regardless of where they began. Every bounce is an exit; most exits are not bounces.
FAQ
Common questions
A few practical answers to the questions that usually come up around this term.
What is bounce rate?
Bounce rate is the percentage of users who leave after viewing only one page.
Why is bounce rate important?
It indicates whether users are engaging with content or leaving immediately.
What is a good bounce rate?
It depends on the glossaryContextContext is the set of surrounding conditions that shape how someone behaves and decides, including their goal, their environment, their time pressure, and what happened immediately before. The same action can mean different things in different contexts.Open glossary term, but lower is generally better for most journeys.
How do you reduce bounce rate?
By improving relevance, glossaryClarityClarity is how easily users can understand what is happening and what they need to do.Open glossary term, and glossaryEngagementEngagement refers to how users interact with a product, content, or experience, including actions like clicks, time spent, and interactions.Open glossary term on entry pages.
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