More Web Site Stats

If you take a look at the table below you will see stats from 13 sites I watch to come up with some averages. This should help you and me determine how YOUR site is doing. I left several sites out of this study either because their traffic volume was not significant enough, their market is highly unique, and thus I do not think their stats would be helpful.

My intention is to give some overall understanding of WHY some statistics are important and to give you an idea of how your site is doing. You can contact me to find out which line is YOUR site - if your site is NOT in this study I can still give you numbers.

Bounce Rate
The overall bounce rate is the average for the entire site - what percentage of visitors leave the site after viewing only their initial page. You can see that the average bounce rate was 45%. You can also see that the Ave Time on a Web site is just under 2 minutes! This does include the 45% of those who leave after just one page.

Secondly, notice that (generally speaking) sites with the highest bounce rate have the lowest average time on the site. The more interesting your site is, the more time visitors will stick around and click around.

TAKE AWAY
It does matter that your site is relevant and interesting - good photos and graphics do help. I have a confession: one of my clients asked me to put videos on the home page two months ago. I warned that this could be detrimental to the bounce rate (which was already a problem we were trying to address).
WELL, I was WRONG. The bounce rate went from 74% to less than 50%. An interesting page keeps visitors interested.

Action Item
For most sites the contact page is where you want the visitor to go - the exit percentage from the contact page is important. In my survey, the average exit rate on a Contact page was 34%. If your contact page or quote page has an exit rate of more than 40% you probably have too much "friction."

A long form with too many fields, or required fields are two common examples of friction. I have conducted numerous tests that all confirm what has become my guiding principle: the easier/shorter the form - the better your contact page will work.

You want to reduce the "friction" on your "action" page - Less friction means more sales/leads.