When online users click on your website, the ideal scenario would be that they engage in whatever content you have to offer. This may take the form of reading your blog, checking out your site’s various pages, purchasing a product, or even just leaving an inquiry in your contact form. However, this isn’t always the case. Some users click on your page only to leave without taking any other action. This constitutes your website’s bounce rate.

A bounce rate is a metric concerned with the percentage of users that visit your website without interacting with any of its parts. As you may have figured out, a high bounce rate means you’re failing to capture your visitors’ attention enough for them to stay. Ideally, you’ll want your visitors to engage with your website for as long as possible and avoid getting a high bounce rate. In line with that objective, here are some user experience (UX) design principles you may try applying to lower your website’s bounce rate.

Improve Page Loading Times

One of the main reasons why users click back on a website is because it takes too long to load. Not everyone has the time to wait for your page to finish loading, especially when there are so many other options available. Laggy websites can also be a source of frustration for users.

Hence, it’s important to improve the performance and responsiveness of your pages if you want users to stay. This can be done through choosing a reliable web hosting provider, compressing images, and by optimising placement of elements on every page.

Present Engaging Content

Content will always be a huge draw for users to visit and stay on a website. The way it’s presented plays into this as well. For instance, imagine a user clicks onto your site after taking an interest in your new blog post’s title that came up in their search results. However, if said post has poor readability, full of complex jargon, or just presented in a drab manner, then they’re likely to click away despite the initial interest.

Strive to produce content that’s able to keep your reader’s attention throughout the entire piece. Try not to drown the article in complex language, break up thoughts into lists or bullets, and include photos or videos to liven up its presentation. If you’re having trouble in this regard, you may try partnering up with a performance-based SEO agency in Singapore to help figure out ways on how to come up with web content that’ll pull your audience in.

Provide Intuitive Navigation

Clunky interface elements such as hard-to-find navigation links, cluttered content presentation, or broken links can easily turn away any visitor. The overall design of your website is what they first see upon the page loading, so make sure it looks sleek, user-friendly, and true to your branding. After all, your visitor is more likely to poke around your site if it’s easy to do so to begin with.

Try to strike a balance between style and usability. Minimalist designs that carry all the necessary functionalities you’d want your site to have are often your best bet. Careful not to fall into the trap of having too much blank space, however. Rather, learn to maximise your page use through smart use of images, colours, and visual hierarchy.

Make Your Pages Mobile-Friendly

According to a 2023 report by data gathering platform Statista, around 60 percent of online users access the internet via their mobile phones. That means there’s a significant number of people out there who are perhaps only seeing your website on its mobile form. If your website isn’t optimised for mobile, then it makes it more difficult to attract users to stay.

Ensure the responsiveness of your site’s content on various mobile devices, regardless of its screen size. Check to see if images, text, and other elements scale accordingly as this is key to providing a seamless user experience for your mobile visitors.

Maximise Internal Linking

Not all bounces are caused by a negative impression. There are times when the user has already gathered what information they want on the page they landed on, thus having no need anymore to interact with the rest of your website. It is here that you can use internal linking to suggest other content on your site that may be relevant to their needs.

Internal linking encourages your visitors to stay longer on your site but does so in an organic manner. They aren’t staying because they feel forced to do so but, rather, are following the breadcrumbs of interconnected and engaging content you’ve left for them. This strategy can also drive traffic to other pages of your site.

Precise Call-to-Action Placements

Particularly in e-commerce websites, a well-placed call-to-action (CTA) can spell the difference between a purchase and your visitor clicking off your site. Be mindful of your CTA placement, ensuring that they are easy to spot and clear with its message. Make them pop out by using unique designs or contrasting colours. Overall, CTAs can be your opportunity to turn passive users to potential customers so strive to maximise its use on your site.

High bounce rates can affect your site’s search ranking, so make sure you’re optimising your website to provide a pleasant browsing experience for your visitors. By addressing the points stated in this article, you can surely keep your visitors engaged in what your site has to offer.