Conventional wisdom suggests that a “good” bounce rate (aka, the number of visitors who check out a single page on your site and then leave) falls between 30 to 50 percent. Alternatively, anything over 25 to 30 percent represents an opportunity to reach more potential customers through the implementation of design and user-experience hacks that keep visitors on your pages longer. Here are 5 hacks you can use to do just that.
Declutter your design.
This isn’t 1996. So if your site is still packed full of animated images, excess design features and other modern no-no’s, it’s time for a redesign. According to Tony Haile, the CEO of Chartbeat, you have just 15 seconds (or less) to convince new visitors to stay through the power of your site’s design alone.
Cut your number of fonts.
One immediate signal to readers that your site -- and, by extension, your company -- is out-of-date? The number of fonts you’ve used. If you’ve got more than two or three on your homepage, trim them down to create a more modern look.
Try a larger font size.
On a related note, the size of your fonts may also be affecting your site’s “stickiness.” An article published in Smashing Magazine suggests that anything less than 16 pixels could impair your site’s readability.
Apply visual breaks to your content.
Font size is important but big blocks of unbroken text are unacceptable in any circumstance. Quickly improve your site’s readability by adding headings, sub headings, bulleted lists and numbered lists to break your content into easily-digested segments.
Add images of people.
Medelia Art conducted an A/B test that pitted homepage images of artists’ paintings against photos of the artists themselves. The result? A conversion rate increase of more than 95 percent when the artists’ faces were shown.
The bottom line is this: people like to look at faces and they trust them more than stock graphics. Add them to your site today.
Make sure to use these hacks wisely and always keep your website and content fresh and up to date. If you’re looking to update your website, we can definitely help you with that. Give us a chat!