Matomo Bounce Rate: What It Is and Why It Matters?

In web analytics, bounce rate is the metric that measures the overall website performance and user experience. Matomo bounce rate displays the percentage of visitors who leave a website after visiting a single page, without engaging further by clicking on links, navigating to other pages,  and interacting with the content and events of the site.

1 – How to Calculate Bounce Rate?

We can count the Matomo bounce rate by calculating the number of single-page sessions divided by the total number of sessions (bounce_count / nb_visits), then multiplying it by 100 to display its percentage.  Here is the formula simplified:

The number of single-page sessions indicates the users who view only a single page of a site and exist from that very page. These visits are called “bounces”. Whereas, the total number of sessions highlights the total number of visits within a specific period. Work with the provided formula and you will get the accurate bounce rate calculation.

2 – Relation to Website Performance:

User Engagement – Bounce rate refers to low user behavior and engagement. The reason can be that the users are not finding the content relevant or your site’s content is not engaging enough that let them stay and explore the website further.

Content Quality – The content quality matters a lot in bounce rate. Maybe, the users are not finding the content matching their expectations due to which they are leaving the website from the landing page.

Navigation Issues – A high bounce rate may elaborate navigation issues such as confusing menus or slow page load times, causing the visitors to leave the site from the very first page.

Acquisition Efforts – Maybe a website’s high bounce rate is caused due to a particular channel not targeting in the right way.

SEO Analysis – If the landing page contains a prominent bounce rate then, there is a need for “content and design” improvements.

3 – Interaction Types that Affect Bounce Rate:

User clicks, time spent on pages, and number of page views are the interactions that affect the bounce rate of a website. A high bounce rate means more users are leaving the website after visiting one page of the site. On the other hand, a low bounce rate displays user engagement with website content and exploration of the website by navigating to other pages.

4 – Strategies to Improve Bounce Rate in Matomo:

You can follow the below given key strategies for improving the bounce rate in Matomo:

Optimize Website Design and Layout:

Refining Site Menus and User Interface – The menus or your website must be organized so that users can easily navigate. There must be clear labels and breadcrumbs to lead the users to their desired section. Your website should be responsive for a smooth experience across varied devices. This will reduce the bounce rate and improve website performance. Moreover, tactically place call-to-action (CTA) buttons for leading users to the desired actions. This will prevent them from bouncing. See an example of these implementations below:

Enhancing Visual Appeal and Branding – The visual appeal like consistent color schemes, fonts, and design elements should align with your brand or website purpose. Add professional-looking images, videos, and other media to enhance display attraction. Utilize white-spaces appropriately for clear and focused readability. Follow the guide Data Visualization for improving your site’s visual appeal.

Enrich Content Quality:

Engaging and Relevant Content – Create content that is based on your target audience’s interests and requirements that can appeal to them. Use user-understandable language that can be easy to read and digest for even non-technical readers, customers, or users.

User Search Intent-Based Content – The content of your website should be according to user intent and needs. Implement keywords that are searched by your audience. This will lower the bounce rate of your website.

Adjust Traffic Sources:

Targeting quality traffic sources – Monitor the traffic source of your site that is driving most of the engaging visitors to your website. Focus on these high-quality sources and optimize your marketing efforts accordingly.

Utilizing ad campaigns and re-targeting – Avail targeting campaigns or advertising for finding specific demographics and interests. You can also re-engage users by re-targeting ads that may have bounced in their earlier visits to your site. Hence, you can reduce the bounce rate on your website.

Manage Page Load Speed:

Methods to Speed up Page Loading Times – You should compress images, and minify CSS and JavaScript to ensure your website loads quickly. Use tools like Matomo’s Page Speed plugin to analyze the time your website takes to load the pages. This way, you can make improvements where you find a high bounce rate.

5. Using Matomo Reports to Analyze Bounce Rate:

Matomo reports like the “Pages” report can be utilized for analyzing bounce rate. Go to the Matomo dashboard and navigate to the behavior section, under the pages field, you will find the bounce rate for different pages on your website. You can segment data for varied dimensions like locations, device types, browsers, and traffic sources to estimate the high bounce areas.  

The formula for calculating individual page bounce rates is a bit different: entry_bounce_count / entry_nb_visits. Entry_bounce_count is the number of single-page sessions where the bounce begins, and entry_nb_visits is the total number of visits that started on the page.

6. Comparing Bounce Rate with Other Metrics:

You can compare bounce rate data with time-on-page metrics to estimate the users who are leaving the website too quickly. If your site has a high bounce rate with a low average time on the page, then, the reason can be content effectiveness and quality. Furthermore, analyze bounce rates alongside conversion rates to check the reason for the bounce rate for conversions.

It is vital to monitor the bounce rate in Matomo to optimize user experience and the efficiency of your website. It helps understand user attention and retention, reflecting whether the site fulfils user requirements and needs or not. Bounce rate highlights the issues with the website including page loading time, low-quality content and design, content-keyword mismatch, and poor mobile optimization. So, you can in continuously analyze your website and achieve your goals with bounce rate analysis.