Examining the Importance of Exit Page Ratios

 

As digital marketers, we’re often taught to maximize the time consumers spend on our websites. The thinking behind this is, the more time a consumer spends on the site, the more content they will consume, and the more likely they will complete a conversion. However, no matter how wonderful a website is, at some point, a consumer will want to leave. What markers also need to consider is why consumers are leaving, when in the customer journey are they leaving, and where on the site are consumers leaving.  Enter: the importance of exit page ratios.

What is an Exit Page Ratio?

Exit page ratios also referred to as exit rates, are defined by Google (n.d.) as the percentage of page views that were the last in a session on a website. In plainer terms, the percentage of people who left a website on a specific page. This can be calculated using the equation below from HotJar (n.d.):

Exit page ratios are crucial, in that they help marketers identify which pages most consumers are exiting a website from. 

Why Are Exit Ratios Important to Track?

Note. Quote sourced from Abbamonte (2021)

As previously stated, marketers need to understand why consumers are leaving a website, when they are leaving, and where specifically they are leaving from. The first step to answering these questions is by examining the exit page ratio. Pages with high exit page ratios indicate to marketers which pages they should focus on first. While every page on a website has different content and different goals, each page should also have different expectations for exit page ratios. Some pages should have higher exit page ratios, such as pages after a conversion is completed. It’s natural to expect that consumers will leave a website after a contact form is completed, an email subscription is submitted, a purchase is made, or a blog post is read. 

Additionally, other pages should minimize exits. Pages where high exit rates should be avoided, as well as possible reasons for high exit page ratios, are listed below.

• 404 Pages: SiteTuners (n.d.) suggests examining the exit page ratio for a site’s 404 page. If the ratio is high, marketers should consider adjusting messaging to direct consumers to other site resources. 

• Search Results Pages: SiteTuners (n.d.) also recommends examining the exit page ratios for search results pages. If these exit page ratios are high, it may be beneficial to alter how search results are retrieved on the site to better provide consumers the information they seek.  

• Checkout Process: If exit page ratios are high on a page in the beginning or middle of a checkout process, companies may want to test why they are losing customers at that specific stage. For example, if a payment page has a high exit page ratio, this may be an indicator that there is an issue with the payment process (Hotjar, n.d.). High exit page ratios in the checkout process should be examined continuously as it directly impacts a business’ profit. 

• Online Forms: A company may similarly want to look at the exit page ratios relating to forms to identify at what point consumers do not complete the desired action. From here marketers can test whether consumers are leaving due to specific questions, the length of a form, the number of pages of a form, or the time it takes to complete the form. This can have quick and immediate impacts on conversion goals.  

• External Links: If a webpage has a high exit page ratio and includes several external links, the marketing team may want to reexamine if the linking strategy is achieving the website’s goals. Andy Crestodina (n.d.) of Orbit Media specifically cautions of the dangerous impact that prominent social media links have on exit page rates, as often when consumers leave a page for social media they do not return to the original site. 

• Slow Loading Pages: Rachelle Burnside, of Best Company, suggests exploring the load time of pages with high exit page ratios (Abbamonte, 2019). If consumers cannot get the information, they require promptly they are inclined to leave, and therefore will not convert. 

• Calls to Action: Furthermore, marketers should always track the exit ratios of pages with valuable calls to action. If consumers are leaving a page without engaging with a call to action, business objectives are not being met. This could indicate that the call to action isn’t clear, doesn’t apply to the audience, or doesn’t correlate well with the information provided on the page. Pages with high-priority calls to action may include the homepage, product pages, and contact pages.

The importance of exit page ratios is summed up well by RJ Jacques of Big Sea when he states, “By reducing the exit rate on a particular page, you can improve the user experience for visitors, and see more of your prospects reach the bottom of your funnel” (Dopson, 2019). A company that recognized this and optimized their site in accordance is DesignDrops. After noting high exit page ratios on specific product pages, DesignDrops added pop-ups on those pages including a call to action to explore similar products and categories (Socital, n.d.). According to Socital (n.d.), DesignDrop enjoyed an astounding improvement in their website performance through the use of the exit page pop-ups including a 171% higher sales conversion rate, 157.7% increase in the average site session duration, and a 52% increase in average order value. Without the analysis of exit page ratios, DesignDrops would not have known which pages to target with pop-ups. 

How to Track Exit Page Ratios in Google Analytics

Tracking exit page ratios with Google Analytics couldn’t be easier. Once a Google Analytics account is established and set up for a web property, the website administrator can access exit rate repots. Exit page ratios can be seen by clicking on the “Behavior Tab” under “Reports”, and then by clicking “Site Content” and then “Exit Pages”. The report will show a breakdown for each page including the number of exits, the number of page views, and the exit page ratio in a percentage (Figure 1). 

Figure 1

Exit Rate Report

Note. Sourced from Google Analytics

References:

Abbamonte, K. (2019 August 14). The 14 website engagement metrics every marketing team should be tracking. Databox. https://databox.com/website-engagement-metrics

Crestonida, A. (n.d.). The complete guide to website exits, bounces, and goodbyes. Orbit Media. https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/complete-guide-to-website-exits/

Dopson, E. (2019, May 14). 13 Advanced Google Analytics metrics & hacks for measuring your marketing campaigns. Databox. https://databox.com/advanced-google-analytics-hacks

Google. (n.d.). Exit rate vs. bounce rate. Retrieved on March 27, 2021, from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2525491?hl=en

HotJar (n.d.). Exits and exit rate in Google Analytics. Retrieved on March 27, 2021, from https://www.hotjar.com/google-analytics/glossary/exits/

SiteTuners. (n.d.). 4 Web user engagement metrics you need to check. Retrieved on March 26, 2021, from https://sitetuners.com/blog/4-web-user-engagement-metrics-you-need-to-check/

Socital. (n.d.). DesignDrops. Retrieved on March 26, 2021, from https://socital.com/designdrops-case-study/