How Does Your Bounce Rate Match Up to Others in Your Industry?

Bounce rates are inevitable. Every website has people who come, look around for a second or less (literally), and leave. However, some industries have better bounce rates than others. And not all websites within each industry fare as well as the best, or even average.

Product Information Pages

Image via Flickr by Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta

This includes comparison sites, tech information, and more.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 3.24%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 50%
• Average Bounce Rate – 33.03%

Have you ever looked for information on a product? There is a lot of information on these sites, and because of that the bounce rate tends to be significantly lower than other types of websites. Comparison charts and interesting information, as well as tips and tricks, will keep people interested and your bounce rate down.

Lead Generation Sites

Image via Flickr by FunnyBiz

This includes email grabbers, sales leads, quote sites, and more.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 5.24%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 81%
• Average Bounce Rate – 47.38%

The amount of information to read leads potential leads to read the page long enough that it does not count as a bounce when they leave the site. One way to help decrease your bounce rate is to make sure your information is interesting and informative.

Web Stores and E-Commerce Sites

Image via Flickr by decodrama visual

This includes any website selling a product or service.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 14.3%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 68%
• Average Bounce Rate – 33.9%

Have you ever gone to a website looking for a product, not found what you wanted right away, and left? That is how the bounce rate increases. To lower the bounce rate on your e-commerce site, try adding product descriptions with a lot of information to keep the customer on the page.

News and Media Sites

Image via Flickr by Andrew

This includes websites that have an affiliate news station and those simply reporting news online.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 25%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 81.4%
• Average Bounce Rate – 55.56%

So, why do news and media sites have such high bounce rates? Many people will take a look at the headlines, decide they don’t want or need to look any further, and leave the page. To lower the bounce rates on these pages, you need to ensure that your headlines are interesting and will pull the reader into the story.

Other Types of Sites

There are a lot of websites out there, and because of that, many industries get lumped together. Other industries combined have interesting bounce rates.

• Minimum Bounce Rate – 13%
• Maximum Bounce Rate – 85%
• Average Bounce Rate – 41.13%

Because of the broadness of this category, it is understandable why the numbers vary so much. One basic thing that can be done to improve the bounce rate is to make information more appealing to keep people on the site longer. Better images, higher quality content, and interesting information will keep people from bouncing off a site as soon as they get there.

So, what is the biggest take-away from all of this information? If you own a website, you need to make sure you content is interesting and quality. People are going to stay longer if they are actually interested in what they see.

By Jon Correll