Why Are Patients Bouncing From Your Website? We’ve Got the Answers!
What Your Dental Website Bounce Rate Is Telling You
There’s no way around it: your dental practice needs a website, and a good one at that. Your ultimate goal is to get current and prospective patients to visit your website when they are looking for answers to their dental questions or searching for a new dentist, respectively. And once they get to your website, you want them to spend a decent amount of time there.
While the average web page visit is less than a minute, getting people to stay for 2 to 3 minutes can be the winning ticket. But if your visitors aren’t sticking around (i.e., jumping from your site in well less than a minute), it means you have a problem. And your problem is far more than just a high bounce rate.
What is a website bounce rate?
We know what you’re thinking: Bounce rate—what’s that? When it comes to dental marketing (or business marketing of any kind, really) understanding this key SEO metric is extremely important.
A bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your site after looking at just one page. For example, a page would be your “About Us” page, your blog page, your “Contact Us” page, etc. High bounce rates can indicate that your website isn’t engaging or relevant to your visitors’ needs. Typically, bounce rates fall between 26% and 70%, with the ideal range under 40%. The lower, the better.
Mobile devices typically have higher bounce rates compared to desktops. For instance, mobile bounce rates hover around 51% on average, while tablets are around 45%. This disparity often results from mobile users encountering slower load times, difficult navigation, or content that isn’t optimized for smaller screens. Helpful hint: Make sure your website is mobile friendly, which can significantly reduce bounce rates and improve user experience.
Reasons Your Bounce Rate Is High
If you are seeing bounce rates over 40%, especially closer to 70%, the chances are that something is wrong. As we said before, this could be a good indication that your website just isn’t engaging your visitors well. But there could be other factors at play.
Here are the top reasons we see high bounce rates on dental practice websites.
Unappealing Website Design
Outdated or cluttered website designs can quickly overwhelm or disinterest visitors, leading them to leave prematurely. A clean, modern, and visually appealing design creates a positive first impression, encouraging visitors to explore further and stay longer on your site.
Poor Navigation and User Experience
Intuitive navigation and a user-friendly experience are crucial for keeping visitors engaged. If potential patients can’t easily find the information they need or struggle to move through your site, they are highly likely to leave. So make sure your navigation menus are clear, concise, and accessible.
Slow Loading Times
Slow website load times can frustrate visitors, leading to a higher likelihood of them bouncing off the site before it fully loads. Aim for a page load time of 2 seconds or under. While a few seconds might not feel like much, it can feel like a century for site visitors, especially when they are on the go.
Lack of Relevant Content
Having content that doesn’t match the visitor’s search intent or fails to answer their questions encourages them to look for that information elsewhere. To keep them engaged, make sure your content is relevant, informative, and tailored to the needs and interests of your target audience.
A great way to keep your site up to date with relevant content is by incorporating a blog strategy. Posting one or two insightful blogs per week will help educate your patients on topics that matter to them and will also help boost your rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Nonresponsive Design
A website that isn’t optimized for all devices, especially mobile phones, can be a big problem. Many users nowadays scroll the internet on mobile devices, so if your site doesn’t display correctly or function well on these devices, visitors will leave quickly. This goes back to what we mentioned earlier about making sure your site is fully responsive and mobile friendly.
Overwhelming Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Too many aggressive or unclear CTAs can confuse or put off potential patients, ultimately leading to higher bounce rates. CTAs should be clear, concise, and strategically placed to guide visitors naturally through your site without overwhelming them.
We have found that simple CTAs such as “Book your appointment today,” “Request an appointment,” and “Contact us” work best for dental practices.
Need help revamping your website to lower your bounce rate?
Sometimes it’s worth calling in professionals to help you optimize your website and lower that bounce rate. Dental marketing solutions from Jameson Marketing can help you do just that. We are experts in the dental marketing space and can help you get your dental practice website exactly where it needs to be.
Contact us today to get started.
