Why is my website's bounce rate so high despite fast loading times?

[chong]

Hi, I've been using shopify's integrated analytics to see customer data and behaviour on my site. However, I am very confused by the bounce rate.

My site has a loading speed of 3 seconds, yet i have a 97% bounce rate and 97% of the average session duration is 0 seconds. I am currently trying to target the UK and I am shocked by these statistics?

I have another store that targets the USA and has a loading speed of 5 seconds, and my bounce rate was about 75-85 which is surprising lesser..? How does bounce rate work? Am I not getting the definition or its just a matter of USA having a better broadband infrastructure? 

Is it safe to assume an average session duration of 0 seconds means that the visitors left before the site could render? or does it mean the visitor did not interact with the site despite it being loaded and just left.

I would appreciate any advice on how these two statistics work and is calculated. Thank you

[Olivia]

Hey, @chong.

Olivia here from the Shopify team. Thanks for sharing your question with us.

I'd love to help provide some insight into your question. The official definition of a bounce rate as per our Marketing Analytics blog post is:

Bounce rate:The percentage of users who visit a single page on your website and leave before taking any action. A high bounce rate (usually higher than 57%) means your site is not giving a good first impression.

Based on statistical research you have about 3 seconds, on average, to capture your audience's attention. This is the typical amount of time spent on the first landing page, at which point a customer may be intrigued enough to click through, or they leave the site.

While it's safe to say the faster a site, the better, let's look at some other statistical data from customers on what is considered 'fast':

Without taking a look at your site, we can definitely assume that you might consider improving your site speed and performance or you could be targeting the wrong audience altogether. Since you are trying to penetrate the UK market for the first time, seeing higher bounce rates may even be normal until you figure out what works for your business in conjunction with your new audience.

If you are comfortable doing so, I encourage you to share your websites with our network to get feedback from other business owners and partners.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Warm regards,

[chong]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I suspect that my ads are being targeted by click bots, or shopify analytics have some bugs going on. Take a look at the bottom picture.

Add to cart with an average session duration of 0 seconds. What do you think about this?

[Olivia · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply, @chong.

While there are no reports of bugs in Shopify Analytics, it is possible that your site is experiencing bot traffic. It's very difficult to make that assumption based on that screenshot and little context, but I did find this app you might find particularly helpful for your situation:

• Lucky Orange - Heatmaps & Replay

They have diverse offerings, including:

1. Session recordings
2. Live views
3. Dynamic heatmaps

This can provide a lot of insight into customer behaviour on your site, and give you insight you may not otherwise have. 

Something to consider:

If the questions you have about your store's performance can't be answered with the data available in Shopify's analytics, then you can use Google Analytics. Google Analytics lets you track visitors, sessions, and other customer behavior on your store.

Warm regards,

[VanhishikhaB]

This one is solved beautifully by Olivia, but I'm going to summarize and add a few more tips around addressing high bounce rates. 

So bounce typically happens when a visitor does not see something of their interest instantly; and considering how short attention spans have become, the bounce is understandable. That's exactly why your go-to strategy needs to be hooking their interest with things of their interest - yes! 

A few strategies that have proven to work include:

- displaying the best deals and discounts using an exit intent popup to stop them 

- showcasing best-sellers/ fast-selling items on exit intent popups 

- triggering live chat welcome message to offer help almost instantly (make sure the widget is non-intrusive in size) 

- displaying live sales notifications (so the visitor instantly sees how many people are buying from you in that very moment) 

- if it's the home page, make sure you display your best sellers as product recommendations to guide a visitor 

- if it's the product page, make sure you have not just the right description, but also other items similar to it displayed clearly 

Lastly, I would recommend keeping a close watch on your Analytics and Reports in the Shopify dashboard to see how visitors progress through the site using the above, optimizing your marketing and sales strategies accordingly. 

[Olivia]

Hi, @VanhishikhaB!

Thank you so much for joining our thread and for taking the time to share your advice with our merchants. We very much appreciate your feedback, and I trust future readers will find your tips very helpful.

Warm regards,