Written by Does your marketing bounce? Do you know your bounce rate?
To know this, we first have to understand what a bounce rate is in marketing terms.
Then we need to know where bounce rates apply.
What is a Bounce Rate?
A Bounce Rate is a marketing term that refers to the percentage of visitors who enter and then leave without continuing to view other pages within the same site.
The Bounce Rate is calculated by counting the number of single page visits and dividing that by the total visits.
For Example:
50 Single Visits to your website ÷ 100 Total Visits = 50% Bounce Rate
A Single Page visit represents someone who visited only one of the pages of your website, regardless of the number of times they come back.
Total Visits is the sum of all visits to the web domain and includes multiple pages to a site.
Where does a Bounce Rate apply?
We look at Bounce Rates in two areas of our marketing.
The first place we look at them is our website, as mentioned above.
The second place we look at a Bounce Rate is in Email Marketing.
But, it’s interesting to note that they mean slightly different things in each capacity.
How do Bounce Rates Differ?
When it comes to our website, we look at a bounce rate to determine if people are hanging out on our website very long.
This is basically a measure of interest. It tells us if we are providing captivating information that our audience is looking for to determine if we are a good fit for them.
However, a Bounce Rate in Email Marketing is the percentage of addresses in a mailing list that didn’t receive the email because the recipient’s server returned it.
Simply put, the percentages of emails that can’t be delivered.
This can happen for a variety of reasons.
Why do Emails Bounce?
In Email Marketing, the reason an email bounces can be broken down into two categories.
A Soft Bounce and a Hard Bounce.
A Soft Bounce can include the following reasons.
- Inbox is Full
- Email is too larger for the server.
- Your web domain was blocked by the recipient
- Too many spam terms
- Too many images in ratio to the amount of text
A Hard Bounce is permanent meaning none of your emails will ever go through. They can occur for the following reasons.
- Expired Email Address
- No mail server for the address
- Invalid or incorrectly typed email address
How to Improve Bounce Rates?
Fortunately there are things we can do to improve our bounce rates both on our websites and email marketing campaigns.
On our websites, we can be mindful of what is important to our audience and ensure that information is on our site in the most captivating means possible.
In our Email Marketing, we’ll want to make sure that the emails are not too large or heavy in images, video and data that prevent it from being deliverable.
It’s also important that we’re not too salesy and “spammy”.
In both scenarios we want to remember that we are in the early stages of building a relationship.
We wouldn’t ask someone to marry us on a first date. So, we’re mindful that we’re not being too pushy, salesy or spammy.
What should your Bounce Rate be?
While it will differ by industry, a good general rule of thumb for email bounce rates is 2-5%.
Anything higher than that and you’ll want to examine your content and the audience email list to make sure you have a good fit.
A general rule of thumb for website bounce rates is under 40%.
If you’re floating between 40-55% it’s time to start monitoring.
And, of course, anything above 55% is a pretty good indication that you need to look at the content on your website as well as ensuring that your tracking codes that supply this information were installed correctly.
If you found this information helpful and wanting to learn more, it may be time for you to consider my online course, Private Practice Marketing Mentors. We supply you with the blueprint for marketing your private practice with clear, easy to follow instructions to create your marketing strategy for success.