Improve User Experience to Reduce Bounce Rate
Now that we have touched base on keyword optimization and keeping your website updated and secure. The next important key point for being competitive online is to make sure your users have a pleasant experience on your website otherwise they will just leave. When a user visits your site on any page and leaves without visiting other pages on the same domain, which is called a bounce. Your bounce rate is the percent of all visitors who land on a page before leaving without visiting any other pages on your website. No business owner likes to turn away potential customers before having the chance to win them over.
There are several strategies you can implement on your website to reduce a high bounce rate:
- Make your content easy to read, no one likes walls of text.
- Do not be invasive with popups.
- Create an attractive Call to Action.
- Provide relevant keywords in your content to attract the right user.
- Speed up your page loading time.
- Make sure your website is responsive on multiple devices: desktop, tablet and mobile.
Make your content easy to read, no one likes walls of text
The easiest way to have someone lose interest in what they are reading is making it difficult to digest the information. A wall of text can seem like a grueling task that will make the experience feel more like work. Break up the information and write it as if you are speaking to someone.
Make the heading bold and big to explain what most of the content will be about then use subheadings and bullet points to explain benefits or points worth noting.
Use charts, images, screenshots and quotes where appropriate to provide a break between texts. Make the content more engaging by inviting the reader to participate with a question.
Do not be invasive with popups
Do you like popups showing up as you are reading something on a website? If you are like us, most people will always hate popups and that will never change. Some users will be so annoyed by them that they will immediately leave the website once it appears.
In addition to pop ups being annoying, they can also distract, confuse, frustrate, and scare site visitors if they have irrelevant messaging or if the messaging appears at the wrong time on the users journey. However, pop ups can be an effective way to boost your marketing and sales campaigns if utilized properly.
If you decide to implement a pop up on your website, take time to consider the purpose and goal of the pop up, its messaging, size and page location. Keep the user’s experience in mind; don’t do anything you will find annoying because others will too.
Create an attractive Call to Action
Another way to decrease your bounce rate is to have an attractive call to action or CTA. You’ve done the hard work of attracting users to your website and built interest through your content, don’t lose them to a weak Call to Action. You want to give the user a reason to take action, weathers it’s to buy something or reach out to you for a consultation.
When optimizing the CTA, every element matters. Changing the text on a button, though it may appear insignificant, can have a significant impact. To reduce the bounce rate, it can specifically engage users and direct them to a resource page on your website. To make the CTA attractive you can offer a discount or free trial for your service.
Keep in mind that strong calls to action will enhance usability. Your ideal clients will gladly remain on your website. An improved CTA will increase your conversion rate and decrease your bounce rate for every additional second a user spends on your website.
Provide relevant keywords in your content to attract the right user
Higher bounce rates happen when you’re getting the wrong website visitor because of poor content keyword planning. This has a significant impact on the planning of web content since it shifts the emphasis from producing material around keywords to producing content for users but still using the keywords relevant to your niche. When planning your content you must ask yourself “What is the purpose of this page for a website visitor?”
The best way to create content for users is to show them how, why, what or when related to your niche. This will provide resources and give the user a feeling of learning something when reading your content. The quality of a consumer’s engagement is influenced by the content on your website. Your conversion rates are directly impacted by whether clients read and respond to your contact. As a result, by having a consistent, robust, and focused content plan for your website that covers all major social media platforms, you give your users additional options for involvement and methods to proceed on your site.
Speed up your page loading time
Another great way to reduce bounce rates is to improve the loading time of your website. In today’s digital age of fast devices and internet speeds consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less. You may be wondering what are somethings that you could do to improve your page loading times. A few quick and easy things you can do are optimizing your images, minifying CSS and JavaScript files, minimize http requests and most importantly choose the right hosting options for your needs.
One of the best examples of page speed reducing bounce rates and increasing conversions is Walmart. After improving their website, during the initial analysis, they found that visitors that converted had received page load times that were two times faster than those that did not convert. For every 1 second of site speed improvement they experienced up to a 2% increase in conversions and for every 100 milliseconds, their revenue grew by up to 1%.
Make sure your website is responsive on multiple devices: desktop, tablet and mobile
Does your website adapt to difference screen sizes and devices? With our handheld devices becoming more and more power, it’s more important than ever to make sure your website is also mobile friendly. Sometimes people are looking for answers to their questions when they are on the go and if your website is not mobile friendly, not only will users leave the website because they won’t find the experience pleasurable but Google will also rank your website lower in search results.
Conclusion
One of the key strategies for gaining user popularity is to develop a website that is enjoyable and frictionless. When people talk about a website, what they’re really talking about is their interaction and experience on the website. In conclusion, user experience should be one of the primary considerations of any business that wants to be successful online in today’s digital age.
