5 Visitor Engagement Hacks: The Bounce Rate Killers

Do you know that, in average, visitors spend no more than 190 seconds browsing through a website? According to Kissmetrics, a regular website has a bounce rate of approximately 40%. However, this statistic variates depending on the niche, industry, the type of content that you are publishing, and the very structure of your website. For example, if your website is based entirely on one page and users have to scroll down in order to access all of your content, naturally your bounce rate won’t show exact data (since this metric presents the time that users spend browsing through one page alone). Not to mention that your page views and sessions will present questionable results in Google Analytics as well.

There are various reasons why your bounce rate can go up. Some of them are of technical nature, but some of them can also depend on the style of your writing, nature of your content, or – you are not targeting the right audience.

There is a simple way to check your website for technical reasons which can influence your bounce rate severely. Just run your URL through Google Developers Insight tool, and if there are any errors on your website which can result with poor UX or slow loading speed, you will find out momentarily.

However, if there is no technical reason behind your high bounce rate (and you are looking for an advice which you can use to decrease this metric and keep your visitors engaged on your website), here are a total of 5 visitor engagement hacks which can help you keep users on your site, and boost your conversions eventually. Allow me to introduce to you…

The Bounce Rate Killers

#1. Improve Your Design

If you haven’t watched Hannibal series yet, this reference might confuse you. So if you don’t know who Will Graham is, let’s just say that he has a thing for design (He actually says “This is my design”). In the show, Will Graham can differentiate between different killers’ designs in order to catch them. This can be applied to the general public as they can intuitively differentiate between different websites just as Will can. The only difference is that they don’t have to catch their serial killer. They can just leave. This is the first bounce rate killer that will help you keep your users engaged.

Do you know how much time it takes for a visitor to form the very first impression of your website? A total of 50 milliseconds. And in the next three seconds, they will decide whether they want to stick around or not.

So, how many headlines can you read in under 50 milliseconds? Not that many, right? This can only mean that a good headline just isn’t enough to keep your visitors engaged. On the other hand, how many images can you process within that same period of time?

The answer: Almost five of them.

Your brain processes images 60.000 times faster than written content. This is why 94% of first impressions are based on the design of your website. So, when a visitor comes along and clicks through to your website, make sure that your design is nothing but captivating.

#2. Slice Up Your Content

What’s with kids today? – A question asked by Freddy Krueger almost three decades ago. The same question could be asked about your average internet user. In average, users read as many as 20% of the written content. They mostly focus on the headlines, but even if you do have an intriguing headline, the great majority of them will focus only on the focal point of your written text after they read the first few paragraphs.

So, what’s the solution? Well, slice up your content of course. Nobody wants to see great chunks of text anymore. People want to read short and comprehensive sentences. So keep your written content short and to the point to improve the readability of your text.

After all, it was Albert Einstein who said it – If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well.

#3. Test Your Web Page Life (Attention) Span

Jigsaw wanted to know “Do you want to play a game?” His goal was to test his victims about their will to survive. If you want your website to “survive” you need to conduct a number of tests. The goal of these tests is to find the fittest piece of content for survival. One of the best ways to determine which type of content your visitors want to see is to simply test all possible variations.

You can find lots of tips on A/B testing here, but here is a brief description that will help you understand the significance of this process: Split tests are conducted by presenting different types of the same page to separate audience. You can test different designs, different headlines, even different CTA buttons and all other elements on your web page. Since you are targeting the same model audience, the level of engagement of your visitors, and their attention span are measured across two separate versions of your content.

The rest of the process is quite simple – keep the winning page and add new versions of it. The best part about split testing is the fact that you can never optimize your page to a maximum level of performance.

#4. Insist on Consistency

Just like Jason from the movie Friday the 13th, you will have to insist on being consistent if you want your new friends to stick around. This part concerns your navigation the most.

UI design can be a tricky thing and sometimes it is very hard to actually understand what your users are expecting from your website. However, one element that will always remain the same, and is always welcomed, is simple navigation.

As much as 50% of visitors will use your website menu in order to navigate through pages. If that menu is not present, all chances are that they will navigate away from your website.

On the other hand, interlinking should also become a habit of yours. By connecting your web pages with links, you are not just keeping your visitors engaged – you are also improving your SEO.

#5. Be More Social

“They make it look so easy, connecting with another human being. It’s like no one told them it’s the hardest thing in the world.” said Dexter Morgan. When applied to website management this is actually true. If you are a people person, you won’t have any trouble with keeping visitors on your website. Ask for feedback, ask for comments, let people know that you want to hear their opinion. What is even more important – always answer their comments. Let the people know that you’re there.

Providing social proof can also be beneficial if you want to incite visitors’ engagement. In the show, Dexter brings doughnuts to create a social environment with his coworkers. When your readers stumble upon testimonials or find other readers posting on your website, they will feel more inclined to engage with your brand and stick around on your web page. Another thing you shouldn’t neglect are social networks.

For instance, Facebook has a total of 1.44 billion active users. LinkedIn and Twitter have more than 300 million of them. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit and Quora can certainly help you promote your content. Social shares should be an inseparable part of your content distribution strategy!

At the very end, you can also leverage social media by implementing social login option. By allowing your visitors to create an account on your website through a simple API integration, you are supporting their engagement as well.