A bounce rate refers to visitors who arrive at a web page and then promptly leave (bounce). High bounce rates are unattractive because they mean that users do not spend much time on your website. This can be especially problematic for nonprofits who provide a lot of information or actions on their website.

To help you understand how to get a user to stay on your site,  we’ve searched the web and put together a list of the best tips to help lower bounce rates.


1. Fresh Design

Web design is constantly evolving, and it is important that your organization does not appear dated or left behind in old design trends. Content needs to be current and attractive so that people want to engage with it. Great web design shows the users that your organization is credible, whereas bad design threatens your legitimacy.




2. Concise and Compelling Content

Keep your statistics up to date, simplify text into “bites” so that the user’s brain doesn’t get overwhelmed by a wall of text, and test different content layouts and calls to action.  Also be sure to use a variety of images to grab the users attention and direct them to other pages or articles. Advanced Google Image Search is a great way to find free images to use. Just select the ‘Usage Rights’ dropdown at the bottom of the page to see usability filter options.



3. Make Sure Site is Mobile Friendly

We say this all the time. As of August 2013, 17.4% of web traffic is coming through on mobile, and the numbers are only growing. You will immediately lose visitors if it is too hard to navigate your website on a mobile device.  Some users may return on their desktop computer at a later time - but many will forget or will find what they are looking for elsewhere.  Designing for mobile is especially important for donate pages.




4. Be Strategic with Pop-ups

Pop-ups are effective on certain sites for certain purposes (ie. for signups or donate pages) but some users get very annoyed with them. The only way to know if popups works for your audience is through a/b testing.




5. Aim for Short Load Times

Google Analytics can show you how a higher bounce rate is often paired with a high page load time, and it makes sense why – there are a lot of other sites competing for a visitor's attention, and who has time to wait for pages to load? For nonprofits, you can increase load times by simplifying your page, compressing images properly, using cascading style sheets (css), and keeping your code clean and free of nested tables. 



At Fission Strategy, we pay attention to all of these factors (as well as these, and these too…) in every project we work on. Whether you need a full redesign, or just a refresh - contact us today and let us help you craft the perfect website for your organization’s cause.