Great headlines and compelling social media posts can help your website get that initial click. But if consumers are navigating away from your site after a single page view (a practice known as "bouncing"), it could indicate a big problem that will definitely lower your overall web traffic. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to reduce your bounce rate and get consumers to spend more time with your website after that first click. Here are five reasons visitors might be leaving your site and five ways to get them back.
1. No Responsive Design
According to comScore, 60 percent of Web activity now comes from mobile devices (including smartphones and tablets). If your website doesn't feature responsive design, which allows users to browse your site from desktop and mobile in an easy and intuitive way, you may be driving away potential customers. You could also be missing potential customers from search due to Google's preference for mobile-friendly sites. Implement a responsive design immediately to allow easy navigation from a variety of devices, and draw these consumers back.
2. Confusing Navigation
Although you may be thinking about products, marketing copy and images when you create your website, navigation cannot be ignored. If your site features inconsistent menu designs, confusing structure or — worst of all — broken links, customers will get frustrated and leave without a second thought. Not only is this damaging in the short-term, it can also have a long-lasting effect on your traffic: these users will likely form a negative opinion of your brand, making them even less likely to return. Fortunately, this isn't a hopeless scenario, as webmasters can relaunch a website and even publicize that key issues have been fixed.
3. Low-Quality Content
No matter what you're trying to sell, if your website has poor content, users will flee in droves. From product listings to blog entries, all content on your website needs to be polished and professional to build trust with your audience. Although it may take time, go through all your content and ensure that it's both unique to your site and free of any spelling or grammar errors so that users won't hesitate to return to your site.
4. Registration Walls
Even if your content is practically perfect in every way, if you require users to register with your website, sign up for a newsletter or do anything other than just click to view any of it, you'll lose customers immediately. Though you can ask visitors to sign up for a newsletter to download an e-book or offer information about signing up for an account in an article footer, you should reconsider forcing users to register before they can see any content or products so that your site can recapture lost traffic.
5. Poor Style Choices
Although there are plenty of memorable websites out there that buck conventional design trends, sites that are too "edgy," color schemes that are too bright or too dull, menus that are oddly shaped, images that are not formatted correctly or print that's too small or hard to read — all of these can drive your visitors away from your website. A well-publicized site redesign can help win them back. Familiarize yourself with the latest design trends and relaunch your website with a design that's perfectly suited to your brand's personality.
While it's never great news to hear that customers are leaving your website, once you're aware of what's driving them away, you can partner with a digital marketing expert who can help you focus on the important part — getting them back!
